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Aspen expecting fullest house in at least six years Compiled by Allen Best ASPEN, Colo. - It was the week before Christmas, and in Aspen they were expecting crowds not seen since 1997-98.

Aspen expecting fullest house in at least six years

Compiled by Allen Best

ASPEN, Colo. - It was the week before Christmas, and in Aspen they were expecting crowds not seen since 1997-98.

"If we had an unlimited supply of ski-in, ski-out condominiums, airlines eats, and four-wheel-drive rental cars, we could probably sell this resort three times over, based on the demand we're seeing," said Bill Tomcich, president of Stay Aspen Snowmass, a reservations agency that handles 7 per cent of overall bookings. Individual properties, reports The Aspen Times, are reporting similar demands. One chalet owner, for example reports that January is "absolutely full."

Demand at last year's Christmas holiday was also strong, but took a dive after President Bush announced in late January potential war against Iraq.

Both Aspen and Vail face a pinch of outbound airlines seats during the first week of January. In response, some vacationers are lengthening their stays.

How can ski areas cater to minority racial groups?

DENVER, Colo. - In 50 years, people with black hair - primarily Hispanics, blacks, and Asians - will outnumber pale-skinned people in the United States. But, at present, only 8 per cent of the nation's skiers and snowboarders are Hispanic or of colour.

The ski industry hasn't ignored these trends. In Southern California, several resorts have done very well catering to Hispanics who are part of the skatebaord culture. And Tahoe-area resorts are seeing increasing numbers of Asian descent.

In Colorado, though, skiing remains distinctly a white sport. Hispanic activists want to change that, and they cite evidence that minorities who are the majority in some jurisdictions, including Denver, are very interested in the sport.

It's not a problem of money, points out Bill Jensen, chief operating officer at Vail Mountain. With discounted season tickets, skiing is now readily accessible to nearly all income brackets. The problem is, in some ways, more broad. "If you've never experienced it, if it's not a part of your lifestyle, then price really doesn't matter," Jensen told The Denver Post. "We need to do a better job with our visibility and communications."

Manny Fields, co-founder of Denver's Altura Communications, says the key is finding a ski industry message that will resonate across all cultures.

Funicular as a novelty annoys Vail neighbours

VAIL, Colo. - It may be premature to call it a fad, but Vail town officials are being careful nonetheless.

Two funiculars, which are tram-like devices on rails, have been built to homes on steep slopes that are otherwise reached only by dozens or hundreds of steps. Now, a third funicular has been installed to a home, but this time seemingly for its novelty. The home is otherwise reached by cars from both the top and bottom. Neighbours objected to the shiny rails in otherwise wildflower-strewn meadows.

Town officials are now taking action to require municipal review of funiculars unless access to the property is restricted, such as in the first two cases.

A failure to communicate

CANMORE, Alberta - More education probably would not have prevented the deaths of 27 people in avalanches last year in the Canadian Rockies. Just the same, reports the Rocky Mountain Outlook, a trio of new reports say that more public education about avalanche dangers is needed.

"Attitudes toward risk have changed in 20 years, and so has equipment," said Grant Stratham, an avalanche forecaster who now working for Parks Canada. "The way we talk to a 45-year-old from the city who wants to do the right thing is different from how you talk to an 18-year-old who is at Lake Louise for the season. We recognize we need to improve the way we communicate to people."

One thing now being discussed is creation of icons that quickly communicate avalanche related information.

More difficult to create would be an avalanche-risk checkoff list that allows users to quickly but thoroughly evaluate risks. Such a system was devised by Werner Munter, a Swiss climber and mountain guide. Munster's system, however, would have to be substantially modified to be relevant in western Canada's dozens of micro-climates.

Ski area report cards range from A's to F's

PARK CITY, Utah - A coalition of environmental groups in Colorado, Utah, and California has issued its fourth annual report card on ski areas. The report card's purported purpose is to push ski resorts to embrace practices and strategies that lay a lighter hand on the environment.

As usual, there were very few A's, a fair number of mediocre grades, and a lot of ski areas flunking. Those resorts with expansions or base-area real estate projects, including all of those owned by Vail Resorts and Intrawest, were most likely to get torpedoed.

Some ski areas co-operate with the survey, and they tend to get better scores. Others ignore it, and they get both good and bad grades. For example, Deer Valley helps out, but only got a C, owing to an expansion in 1998 that continues to bother the environmental critics. Park City Mountain Resort didn't co-operate with the paperwork but nonetheless got a B.

The Canyons, operated by the American Skiing Co., co-operates. "We want these types of special-interest groups to endorse us," said Fran Amendola, vice president of planning and engineering. "Skiers are sophisticated consumers when it comes to environmental issues, so being considered a good steward of the environment is good business practice," he added.

Christa Graff of Deer Valley Resort agreed. "We answer the survey for a couple of reasons. It shows that we're really trying to step up things that we can improve upon... and it helps us put a gauge to our efforts."

The coalition maintains that ski areas can improve the quality of experience without getting bigger. "The ski industry is not increasing enough to warrant such development," said Lisa Smith, executive director of Save Our Canyons.

Jackson Hole gets fourth newspaper

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. - Jackson Hole now has a fourth newspaper, the Jackson Hole Journal, a weekly that is being distributed on Saturdays.

The newspaper is the product of a business group that also owns four Jackson-based radio stations. The general manager of the station is a member of the Jackson Town Council, Scott Anderson.

Last year the two primary newspapers, the News and the Guide, joined forces. They also put out a daily newspaper. Another small newspaper, Planet Jackson Hole, is also published.

In its report on its new competitor, the News & Guide suggests that politics is involved. Anderson, a fervent supporter of a downtown rezoning proposal that has embroiled the town this year, was distraught at what he considered biased coverage by the dominant weekly.

Wolves now problem predators at Red Lodge

RED LODGE, Mont. - Wolves wandering from Yellowstone National Park to Red Lodge and other parts of Carbon County are now considered "problem predators."

Although the resolution passed by Carbon County Commissioners carries little weight of law, some proponents said it gives the county the right to someday invoke predator regulations, allowing unregulated killing of wolves. Several other counties in Montana have or plan to adopt similar resolutions, reports the Billings Gazette.

The commissioners said wolves have "historically proven to be detrimental" to agriculture production in the county. John Kuchinski, ranch comptroller for Sinclair Oil, said the ranch lost 110 calves to wolves or undetermined causes last year, at a cost of $120,000. Four of the losses were confirmed wolf kills and the ranch was reimbursed.

But opponents of the resolution said labeling wolves as predators is inappropriate, because it means under state law that wolves are to be eradicated.

Since wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone several years ago, they have proliferated. As such, the species is a candidate to be delisted under the Endangered Species Act. However, before that occurs, states must have plans in place to guarantee that populations will be sustained.

Management plans from Montana, Idaho and Wyoming this month received tentative approval, but not necessarily endorsements, by 11 wolf experts who reviewed them for adequacy in maintaining the wolf populations. Wyoming's proposed plan has drawn fire because it would classify wolves as trophy game if they're in the national parks or designated wilderness areas, and as predators elsewhere in the state. Predator designation would allow them to be killed any time and by any means.

Feds take drugs from ailing cancer patient

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. - A conflict between state and federal laws regarding marijuana use is highlighted in the case of a 57-year-old man from Hayden, a town west of Steamboat Springs.

Suffering from diabetes and cancer, the man is in extreme pain. In Colorado, one of nine states that allows medicinal marijuana use, he is permitted to have and use marijuana.

But a federal drug task force in October confiscated two ounces of marijuana from his home as well as growing equipment. Recently, a Routt County judge ordered the equipment be returned to the man as well as the drug. U.S. Attorney General representatives in Colorado said they would announce a response by New Year's Day.

Meanwhile, an attorney representing the man is demanding reimbursement for the plants that were pulled from his client's ground. "We're breaking new ground here," he told The Steamboat Pilot without evidence of intended irony. "I don't know what's going to happen.

Martis Valley likely to be new high-end haven

TRUCKEE, Calif. - Usually trends and fads begin in California and then spread across the West. But in mountain development, Colorado - particularly Vail and Aspen - are the epicenter, and this time California is now getting the high-end ripples.

The story here is at the Martis Valley, located between Truckee and North Lake Tahoe. Some years ago restrictions on development along Lake Tahoe were instituted. That makes the Martis Valley, already an attractive place, with Northstar and other ski resorts close at hand, all that much more attractive. A plan approved in the mid-1970s allowed up to 12,000 houses in the valley, but only 2,000 homes have been built.

During the last four years officials in Placer County, where the valley is located, have heard from developers, environmental groups, and residents. Recently they approved a new plan that caps development at 8,500 houses, as well as one small new ski area and a few hundred units of affordable housing. High-end homes are contemplated in a valley where 800,000 is already the average price.

This is still too much, say a trio of local environmental groups, who call it a "nightmare of traffic, pavement, and smog." They are backed by the San Francisco Chronicle, which has repeatedly inveighed in the matter. The newspaper accuses the county supervisors of being "too willing to rubber stamp the developers' wishes - a reckless approach that seems destined to get them a lawsuit."

Among the developers are East West Partners and Booth Creek Ski Holdings, both headquartered in the Vail Valley.

Cities could reduce snow to nearby peaks

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Scientists have long understood that cities can create their own weather. Now, they're wondering if pollutants from urban areas are reducing how much water falls on nearby mountains.

Cities produce large amounts of aerosols, which include tiny particles of dust and the byproducts of the combustion of diesel and other fossil fuels. One study in New York City showed that aerosol levels regularly grew during the work week, spiking on Wednesdays, possibly due to a sharp increase in diesel truck traffic.

When hoisted skyward, explains the San Francisco Chronicle and other papers, the microscopic pollutants act as multiple surfaces on which the moisture in clouds can condense to form tiny droplets. That may explain why such cities as Atlanta and Houston have received increased rainfall. It could also explain why areas downwind of cities, such as one east of San Diego, may be getting less water.

Do weather records support this theory? Not in all cases, but atmospheric scientist Daniel Rosenfeld of Hebrew University says measurements since World War II show that the Eastern Slope of the Sierra Nevada - where most of California's ski roosts are located - is issuing roughly 15 per cent of its historical runoff, the mountain tops 7 per cent and the Western Slope, which San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley depend upon for water, about 20 per cent.

Seniors annoyed by unshoveled sidewalks

CANMORE, Alberta - It's been snowing hard this winter in the Bow River Valley communities of Banff and Canmore. In the latter town, the snow has led to complaints, particularly from senior citizens, about unshoveled sidewalks.

Many towns have laws mandating shoveled sidewalks within 24 to 48 hours after a storm, but such laws are a double-edged sword. If a town adopts one, it has to enforce it or face liability, according to Canmore's chief administrative officer. Banff, however, gets out the stick only when somebody complains.

Smoke an authentic Colorado experience

FRASER, Colo. - At Devil's Thumb Ranch, a famous cross-country ski mecca, air pollution is part of an authentic Colorado experience.

Oh, that's not quite how the developer put it, but it came out much the same in a report by the Winter Park Manifest. A zoning ordinance adopted a decade ago attempted to minimize pollution in the Fraser Valley. Temperature inversions there are notoriously common, causing cold air and smoke below a layer of warmer air. That layer of smoke on some winter mornings is as defined as a lid on a pickle jar. As such, the law allows only one wood-burning fireplace per commercial establishment. Other resort areas, including Vail and Beaver Creek, have similar laws.

But the developers of 24 cabins wanted to install 32 enclosed wood-burning fireplaces. Gas logs, they said "detract from the ranch's spirit of authenticity," while burning wood "provides a traditional Colorado experience."

Proponents said the fireplaces, called Biz Panorama, are 90 per cent more efficient than traditional fireplaces. Several neighbours continued to object to the aesthetics as well as health effects of smoke, but not all. One neighbour, Andy Miller, noted that firewood is abundant as a result of a bark beetle epidemic and furthermore noted hat if burning of slash piles is not limited, why should fireplaces?

Radio buyer vows to add alternative play

BRECKERNIDGE, Colo. - Tim Brown has been buying radio stations in Colorado resort towns, and he vows to put some variety back into their playlists. At KSMT in Breckenridge, for example, he has said he will add 2,500 titles to the existing 1,500-title music library.

A report in the Summit Daily News suggests Brown has the means to ensure something other than cookie-cutter radio format. His father-in-law is $2 billion man Phil Anschutz, who folded his oil fortune into railroads, then fiber optics at Quest Communications. He also owns 16 sports teams in the West, including a one-third share in the LA Lakers basketball team.

More and faster is story at Beaver Creek.

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. - More and faster is the prevailing theme in the ski industry. And that's the case at Beaver Creek, where a 14-minute double-chairlift has been replaced by a detachable quad lift that doubles passenger capacity and in half the time.

The new lift services the area once called the Birds of Prey. Site of the downhill run, the area has been renamed The Talons.

For Beaver Creek, this helps provide a marketing device to broaden the appeal. "In addition to being a great family mountain, we have some of the most challenging terrain in the Rockies," said John Garnsey, who heads operations at Beaver Creek for Vail Resorts.

Inholdings from Aspen to Crested Butte targeted

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. - Preservation groups are targeting private holdings in what is called the High Elk Corridor, between Crested Butte on one side of the Elk Range and Carbondale and Aspen on the other.

That corridor is chequered by 6,000 acres of private inholdings created during the mining era, notes the Crested Butte News.

The Trust for Public Land has now secured $1 million from the federal government to purchase 700 acres, to be conveyed to the U.S. Forest Service for administration. Land trust representatives credited the Colorado congressional delegation, all of them Republicans, with shaking the federal money tree.

Ketchum YMCA gets $1 million donation

KETCHUM, Idaho - People of Sun Valley and the rest of the Wood River Valley have been trying to put together the funding for a YMCA recreation centre. They got a big boost when the Works for Grace Foundation, a Texas-based non-profit, committed $1 million if matching grants are received by Feb. 1. The YMCA would cost $16 million, notes the Idaho Mountain Express.

McDonald's in Aspen has fireplace, couches

ASPEN, Colo. - Hamburger giant McDonald's is trying to upgrade its image at select locations across the nation.

In New Orleans, there will be a French-designed McDonald's that serves Cajun cuisine and features chandeliers. In Aspen, Big Macs remain - at a cost of $3.40, compared to $2.29 in Denver, notes the Rocky Mountain News, but purchasers can enjoy fast-food burgers while reclined in leather sofas and in front of a flickering fireplace.

Highest town in North America 130 years old

ALMA, Colo. - An old mining town, Alma's most significant claim to fame is that it's the highest municipality in North America. It sits at 10,578 feet, or 426 feet higher than nearby Leadville.

Most of the 300 residents work across the pass at Breckenridge, and they were planning a big pre-Christmas party - something Alma's faithful are known to have from time to time - to celebrate the occasion of the town's 130 th birthday. The Summit Daily News reports that high-altitude traveler Santa Claus was scheduled to stop by, presumably for schnapps.

For those splitting hairs, Leadville can claim to be the highest city in North American, or at least Colorado. Colorado law distinguishes cities and towns by population, with 2,000 being the dividing line.