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A weekly roundup of what’s happening in other mountain towns Compiled by Allen Best Ski area operators endorse global warming proposal ASPEN, Colo.

A weekly roundup of what’s happening in other mountain towns

Compiled by Allen Best

Ski area operators endorse global warming proposal

ASPEN, Colo. — Two-dozen ski area operators have expressed support for the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act. The proposed bill seeks to reduce emission of heat-trapping greenhouse gases from sources in the United States.

The Aspen Skiing Co. originated this position, and the National Ski Areas Association agreed to shepherd support more broadly from within the ski industry. That group, NSAA, earlier this year had begun fostering awareness of global warming and the ski industry’s vulnerability.

Evidence is conclusive that substantial global warming has been occurring. In the last several years scientists have largely come to agreement that people are causing some of that warming, although there is much that scientists are still unclear about.

Among the uncertainties are how global warming will affect localized areas, but models developed by scientists broadly "suggest that as warming continues, we could experience decreased snowpack, warmer nights, wetter shoulder seasons, and reduced weather predictability," according to the letter signed by the ski areas.

Most vulnerable are those ski areas located at lower elevations and with shorter winters. But even higher elevation ski areas, according to these same models, could be subjected to increasingly erratic storm cycles.

Ski areas for some years rejected the global warming debate, arguing that ski areas themselves do not contribute significantly to greenhouse gases. This letter takes much of that attitude. It says, "We are a relatively small source of greenhouse gas emissions, however, and will need the help of other industries to turn this problem around. We support the Climate Stewardship Act because it will encourage major industrial emitters to invest in the most cost-effective means to reduce emissions."

The following ski areas signed a letter sent to the two senators:

CALIFORNIA: Mammoth, June Mountain, Northstar-at-Tahoe, Sugar Bowl.

COLORADO: Arapahoe Basin, Aspen Highlands, Aspen Mountain, Buttermilk, Copper Mountain, Snowmass, Steamboat, Winter Park.

MAINE: Sugarloaf/USA, Sunday River.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Attitash Bear Peak.

NEW YORK: Bristol Mountain, Greek Peak.

OREGON: Mt. Hood Meadows, Cooper Spur.

UTAH: The Canyons.

VERMONT: Haystack Ski Area, Killington and Pico Resorts, Mount Snow.

WASHINGTON: 49o North.

WYOMING: Jackson Hole.

Governor-elect Arnold eyes sheep in Ketchum

KETCHUM, Idaho — So how did Arnold Schwarzenegger celebrate becoming governor of California?

By flying to Idaho to watch woolies trotting through the streets of Ketchum, which was hosting the Trailing of the Sheep Festival. Th guv-elect, wife Maria Shriver, and assorted offspring were seen in a photograph in the Idaho Mountain Express. Schwarzenger owns a home near Ketchum.

Sotheby’s buys Jackson Hole’s largest RE firm

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Sotheby’s International Realty has acquired Jackson Hole Realty, the valley’s largest real estate firm. Sotheby’s is a publicly traded company with 22 offices around the world.

Essentially what happened was that Jackson Hole Realty had reached its maximum value in a market increasingly driven by out-of-state clients. "Jackson Hole is not a local market," explained Stuart Siegal, president and CEO of Sotheby’s. "It became abundantly apparent in the last five years that our clients were talking about Jackson Hole more frequently."

At Real Estate of Jackson Hole, the No. 2 firm in the valley, Bob Graham said he wasn’t surprised by the Sotheby’s acquisition, because "merging companies is the wave of the future."

Jackson Hole Realty claimed control over 52 per cent, and Sotheby’s 10 per cent, of Teton County’s $750 million in annual sales.

Wolves near Colorado both north and south

ASPEN, Colo. — A decade ago it seemed wolves, after being extirpated in Colordo in the 1940s, would not return on their own to the state for many decades yet. Now, it seems only a matter of a few years. This prospect has Coloradans both excited and appalled.

Wolves introduced in the mid-1990s in the Yellowstone region have trotted down to the Rock Springs, Wyo., area, within 50 miles of Colorado. Meanwhile, wolves introduced in New Mexico in the late ’90s may have entered Colorado on the south.

State wildlife officials remain adamantly opposed to reintroduction of wolves to Colorado, despite studies that suggest habitat in the Flat Tops and San Juans that could support up to 1,000 wolves. But with wolves at both front and back doors, so to speak, the state wildlife commission has authorized a study of what to do when the wolves arrive, if they do, and what to do in the meantime, notes The Aspen Times.

Under current regulations, wolves south of I-70 have full protection. That means, unless there is danger to a person, they cannot be shot, even if attacking livestock. North of I-70, ranchers can harass wolves on their property but may not shoot to kill unless given permits issued by the state wildlife agency.

Killington settles with foreign winter workers

KILLINGTON, Vt. — Complaints made last year by some international workers recruited to teach skiing, clean rooms, and operate lifts at Killington Resort have resulted in a settlement.

However, several commentators say the case poses broader concerns about the practice of hiring foreign students. "This is something that is happening throughout the industry," James Haslam, director of the Vermont Workers’ Center in Montpelier, Vt., told The Associated Press. "There hasn’t been enough scrutiny put on these internship programs, and these guest workers probably have among the least amount of protection of anywhere."

In this case, several ski instructors received less work than they had expected because of weather. Because their housing costs were deducted from their paycheques, some got no payments or even deficits – they were required to pay the company. This year, as a result, workers will have the right to choose their own housing.

Drew Palcsik, an attorney with Vermont Legal Aid, said many international workers at ski resorts are in a tenuous position, because their work status and hence visa status is connected to their employer. The result discourages people from exercising their rights because of the "implicit threat of being sent home or not being invited back," he said.

Cheney mixes it up on the river trips

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — Vice President Dick Cheney is a man who has been known to ski in blue jeans at Jackson Hole, wears duct-patched waders when fishing the Snake River, and isn’t afraid to hear contrary opinions.

That’s what the guides who take Cheney flyfishing in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana tell the Jackson Hole News & Guide. Some have known Cheney, who has a $3 million home in Jackson Hole, for 30 years.

Although Cheney has a reputation in the national press for arrogance, the guides refute that perception. "He values everybody’s opinion," said one guide, Jack Dennis. "He wants to know what people think."

And the guides tell him what the average people are thinking in Jackson – that they view him as an oil man who cares little about the environment and that the Bush administration did a lousy job of selling the war in Iraq to the American people.

They also feel comfortable enough with him to tease him. During one recent camping trip, they gave him a gag gift: a pair of glasses with missiles glued to the lenses, so that he can find weapons of mass destruction.

One guide feels strongly that the Arctic National Wildlfie Refuge in Alaska should not be touched for oil, but the guide says Cheney is just as forceful in his defence, arguing that drilling can be done in winter, without damaging the tundra.

All in all, says the newspaper, which apparently tagged along on a rafting and flyfishing trip, the Dick Cheney around the campfire is "anything but the stiff, humourless authoritarian he often appears on TV."

Housekeeping director alleges discrimination

PARK CITY, Utah — The former director of housekeeping at The Canyons has sued the owner of that ski area, American Skiing Co., claiming discrimination against Hispanics.

Mario E. Escobar claims that after recruiting undocumented, immigrant workers, the ski area often then discriminated against those Spanish-speaking workers, reports The Park Record. Escobar was fired from the $61,000-a-year job in September. He says he was fired shortly after – and because – he explained to his supervisor that The Canyons had recruited and hired many Hispanic workers in violation of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

Escobar claims a double standard. When recruiting Spanish-speaking people, he says, the company provides a job application in Spanish, but announcements about parking rules and health insurance changes were always in English.

The lawsuit estimates half of hourly employees at The Canyons are Hispanic and speak Spanish, and in the housekeeping department that figures exceeds 90 per cent.

Four lanes into heart of Canadian Rockies

BANFF, Alberta — Federal authorities have committed $50 million to four-laning a 35-kilometre section of the Trans-Canada Highway where 25 people have died in traffic accidents in the last five years. The segment is from east of Lake Louise to the Icefields Parkway. Works begins in 2005.

As well as saving human lives, and expediting access to ski resorts and other attractions, the new twining project may save the lives of grizzly bears and other wildlife. Environmental activists are pushing Parks Canada to ensure effective wildlife crossing structures, reports the Rocky Mountain Outlook.

Compromise sought for OHV use of high passes

TELLURIDE, Colo. — The debate about OHVs – the acronym commonly used to describe all-terrain vehicles and dirt motorcycles – is in full bloom in Telluride.

The high-mountain passes around Telluride are among the most renowned in the nation among four-wheelers and others. It’s considered high sport to cruise from Silverton to Telluride to Ouray while traversing a trio of above-timberline passes. Ouray definitely caters to this motorized crowd, and Silverton does, too.

San Miguel County, where Telluride is located, bans OHVs on these roads. Enforcing this ban is nearly impossible, however. Plus, there’s also the issue of neighbourliness. The Ouray area absorbs some of the workers from Telluride, and Silverton is among Colorado’s poorest, dependent entirely on about 10 weeks of summer business.

Art Goodtimes, a San Miguel County commissioner, wants a compromise on a regional level, leaving two passes open to OHV use, but keeping one closed. While some people seemed to concur with the compromise, The Telluride Watch reported a sourness evident at a recent meeting. "This is something you don’t compromise on," said Telluride Town Councilman Mark Buchsieb. Telluride, he said, is "not responsible for serving every group. Nationwide the abuse of these groups is outrageous."

Bachelorette and her boy buffed in Vail

VAIL, Colo. — For the third year, the Vail area has an UnVailed calendar, in which locals post for what might be called posteriorerity, although in fact discrete frontal shots seem to be more common.

It’s a mixture of cheesecake and beefcake, grins and bare it. The theme this year is celebrities and legends. The cover couple is Ryan Sutter, the ex-football player turned Vail firefighter, and his heartthrob, LA gal Trista Rehn, who courted on a national television show. Another month this year features a women’s mountain biking team called High Maintenance, whose members are posed atop their titanium tools, clad only in shoes.

It’s not all young and buff, however. Several silver-haired individuals appear, including octegenarian Earl Eaton, a legend because in 1957 he showed Vail ski area founder Pete Seibert the mountain that would become Vail.

Contractor leaves angry subs with a bevy of bills

GRANBY, Colo. — Police are at work in the Granby area after a home-building company, Altus Construction, closed shop and its owner fled town, leaving at least $500,000 in unpaid bills. The owner, who was interviewed by the Sky-Hi News, said he left because of threatening phone calls that made him fear for his safety.

The firm was founded with the goal of building stick-built affordable homes for local residents. At one time, there were 30 employees. What went wrong isn’t clear, but a concrete contractor blew the whistle when his bills had mounted to $48,000. After he filed liens, others similarly did so.

Studying the money trail, police report no evidence of hanky-panky. The newspaper reports unexpected costs, problems with employees, timing issues, and then a panic by customers, all of which contributed to the company’s demise.