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Mountain News: Rock/pop stars hit the high notes at 8,300 feet

NEDERLAND, Colo. – Caribou Ranch was a storied place in its time. From country rocker Joe Walsh in 1972 to Christian singer Amy Grant in 1985, dozens of well-known musicians recorded at the studio.

NEDERLAND, Colo. – Caribou Ranch was a storied place in its time. From country rocker Joe Walsh in 1972 to Christian singer Amy Grant in 1985, dozens of well-known musicians recorded at the studio.

Chicago, Elton John, and Carol King recorded there, as did Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and Rod Stewart, among several dozen others.

The studio’s popularity was owing to its soothing mountain scenery but also its remoteness. It was located just east of the Continental Divide, halfway between the college town of Boulder and the ski town of Winter Park. Musicians tended to hunker down with their work, free of distractions.

But there was also something else – the thin air at 8,300 feet. “You could sing an octave higher,” says Jim Guercio, who founded and operated the recording studio. Rod Stewart, who recorded “Tonight’s the Night,” recorded at Caribou for that very reason. “Could never hit the notes (at sea level),” Guercio told the Rocky Mountain News, a Denver newspaper.

Bass player Kenny Passarelli, who recorded with Elton John and Joe Walsh (“Rocky Mountain Way”), said that after a few recordings, other musicians came to associate Caribou with a particular sound they had not heard before.

“I was showing the band and everybody the control room, and you know what Elton said? He goes, ‘Is this where (Rick Derringer’s) ‘All American Boy was done?’’ I said yes. He said, ‘That’s the sound I want.’”

Thin air wasn’t a high note for everybody. Freddie King, the bluesman, who weighed 300 pounds, needed an oxygen mask. And John Lennon, who spent four days at the ranch serving backup on an Elton John recording, also wanted hits of oxygen.

 

H2B visa cap has employers worried

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Winter is a slower time in the economy of Jackson Hole than is summer. That’s why it’s all the more concerning to employers there that they can’t find enough hired hands to clean the sheets, wash the dishes and do all the other tasks in a service-oriented tourism economy.

Sharpening the tension, reports that Jackson Hole News and Guide, is the fact that the federal cap on H2B temporary worker visas was reached on Jan. 3, well in advance of Jackson’s high season. That leaves some employers considering recruitment from Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories, where visas are unnecessary. Others may use J1 student visas, although they tend to draw more transient and less loyal workers.

The wages are relatively high, about $14 for many jobs as housekeepers, which is too low to interest U.S. citizens, but high enough to draw dozens of Mexicans. A business owner, who spoke to the newspaper only on the condition of anonymity, said he takes whatever document prospective workers give him.

“Now I just have everyone complete I-9s, show me their driver’s licenses and Social Security cards,” he said. “We all know they’re not legal, but we look the other way.”

The business owner estimated that his Mexican workers make $4,000 to $7,000 a month.

Would higher wages draw U.S. citizens? Mark Walker, a restaurateur, thinks not, but he also says he can only pay so much. “You can’t pay $30 (per hour) for unskilled labor.”

 

Frisco now requiring LEED of all buildings

FRISCO, Colo. – Frisco town authorities have adopted a new building code, one that demands greater conservation of energy and other environmentally friendly building designs and materials.

The new building code demands the basic level of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification of all new buildings, reports the Summit Daily News. LEED has four levels of certification: basic, silver, gold and platinum. The basic level demands a 14 percent improvement in energy efficiency.

“It’s been a long process to get buy-in from all the stakeholders, including builders,” said Carly Wier, director of High Country Conservation.

An article in Ski Area Management says that LEED certification building cost up to 10 percent more in the past. However, some building professionals now insist that the LEED building process costs no more. What all agree is that buildings built to the higher standards can result in substantially lower operating costs.

In Summit County, architect Tim Sabo credits Frisco with leadership. “It’ll help to break out of the box of the conventions of building today.”

Frisco has been working with other towns and the county government in Summit County on the revised building regulations. Other jurisdictions will be asked to adopt similar or identical codes.

 

It’s one step forward, then it’s back you go

AVON, Colo. – “It’s one step forward, then it’s back you go.” Mary Chapin Carpenter was talking about the vicissitudes of love when she sang that line, but it also seems to apply to Avon’s efforts to tighten its carbon belt.

The town has made significant strides to reduce consumption of fossil fuels. It first conducted an energy audit, and is beginning to take steps to reduce energy use in buildings, cars, and other municipal operations. It has bought two buses that are supposed to be 80 percent more efficient than the older models. And just recently, it bought wind-generated electricity at an annual cost of $61,000 to cover all municipal operations.

Now, in their effort to create a “there” there, Avon officials are planning a major pedestrian mall, to be called Main Street. To make it more pedestrian friendly they propose to install a snowmelt system that employs a gas-fired boiler. The town staff recommends snowmelt coverage that, reports the Vail Daily, would be responsible for about a 20 percent gain in the carbon dioxide that the town was responsible for. More traditional methods of snow removal, shovels and plows, would incrementally increase the carbon footprint by about 3 percent.

The Vail Daily found kickback. Snowmelt is about one of the “nastiest” things you could do for the environment,” said one resident, Heidi Hinderman. Several council members interviewed by the newspaper indicated they aren’t crazy about the idea. “There’s a whole bunch of people who don’t mind walking around in snow,” said Councilman Brian Sipes.

Also noted is the potential hypocricy. Commercial buildings along the mall will be required to be LEED-certified, meaning they must meet energy efficiency standards 14 percent more stringent than conventional building codes.

 

Global warming theory not disproved by chilly weather

ASPEN, Colo. – It’s an inconvenient truth of another nature. This winter has been cold across much of ski country in Colorado, with among the lowest temperatures in 15 winters.

Proof that global warming theory is bunk?

No. Climatologists have long warned against ascribing any single weather event – be it a warm and dry winter or a hot, hot summer – to global warming.

The reverse is also true. Epic winters will always remain possible; they’re just likely to be shorter and more rare.

“Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get,” says John Katzenberger, director of the Aspen Global Change Institute, in stressing that climate change is all about long-term averages, not the short term.

The Aspen Times points to the real-estate market to make the same point. Sales during December plummeted 22 percent. “But using the performance in that one month to predict how the market will perform for ht next 5 to 20 years would be ridiculous,” notes the paper’s Scott Condon.

Writing in a Colorado Central, a magazine based in Salida, Colo., outdoorsman Hal Walter arrives at the same conclusion. “I find a certain irony that in the age of global warming I am freezing my ass off,” he says. Still, he says, the broader evidence of change over time and (around) the globe is compelling. “It’s absurd to think that man’s activities – particularly the overuse of fossil fuels – have not had at least some effect in all this.”

For the record, it’s been plenty cold this winter in Fraser, the self-proclaimed “icebox of the nation. There have been plenty of 30 below nights. However, in the mid-1980s the thermometer occasionally got to 40 below.

In Eagle, old-timers report similar trends. It’s a good winter, with some 10 below nights. But a few decades ago there were spells of 30 below.

 

Authorities irritated by extreme rescues

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Backcountry rescues are on such a rise in Jackson Hole that local authorities are considering billing adventurers

That such a drastic measure would be considered says much about the frustration of local authorities, who say that rescue costs have increased from $15,000 only eight years ago to $160,000 now. Three-quarters of that budget is devoted to having a helicopter on call. Costs of operation are an additional $1,500 per hour.

The Jackson Hole News and Guide says that the irritation is elevated by the risk faced by rescuers. In late afternoon on New Year’s Day, a snowboarder broke a cornice and slid 1,300 vertical feet. Rescuers marched up the mountain in the dark, reaching the man by midnight, ministering to him until he could be flown out the next morning. However, they almost didn’t go. The newspaper, rescuers debated an hour before voting – by a narrow margin – to execute the rescue, because of the dangers. Some say they believe the man would have died without their help.

Traditional search-and-rescue teams have traditionally eschewed charges, for fear it will discourage calls for help, but have had no qualms about charging for helicopters.

Doug Meyer, the coordinator of Teton County Search and Rescue, said he expects to respond to 10 events by winter’s end. Some involve skiers and snowboarders who use the lifts of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort to access what is called the “resort backcountry.”

Teton County Sheriff Bob Zimmer indicated he’s had enough of “extreme” adventuring.

“The word extreme is thrown around everyday,” he told the newspaper. “You go out, put yourself in harm’s way, get yourself cliffed out, stranded, and we then take five or 25 volunteers and put them in harm’s way to rescue you when you use poor judgment.”

Too, he wonders if at some point Teton County will cease to provide a helicopter.

One idea submitted for a community conversation is the idea of permits for backcountry adventurers. To get one, skiers would have to prove they’ve taken an avalanche course. Another idea is European-style rescue insurance, such as is sold at ski resorts.

 

Skier avoids becoming third in the rule of threes

VAIL, Colo. — They say that bad luck comes in threes. Two snow riders have already died this winter in avalanches in the East Vail Chutes, which is located adjacent to, but not within, the Vail ski area.

A skier caught in a recent slide somehow avoided completing the triad. The Vail Daily says the skier was carried over some cliffs before he was able to escape cascading snow. Conditions have been risky all winter. The newspaper notes report of another avalanche, prior to the fatal incidents, in which a skier was carried 800 to 900 feet, losing a ski, clothing, poles, and part of his shovel.

 

Ski patrollers will be covered for rescues

KETCHUM, Idaho – Authorities in Blaine County are expected to be paying workers’ compensation for ski patrollers from Sun Valley who help rescue skiers who have headed from the ski area into the backcountry.

Ski patrol personnel weren’t previously covered by the Sun Valley Co. policy for beyond-the-rope work.

But ski area officials emphasized that it does not mean that the ski patrol will take on responsibility for skiers and snowboarders who use the ski area lifts to gain access to the backcountry.

“With the introduction of fat skis and easily accessible run-out trails, more and more people are heading out there, which means there will be more injuries,” said Mike Lloyd, director of the Sun Valley Ski Patrol. “We aren’t responsible, but we are the best resource already, being at the top and having intimate knowledge of the mountain.”

Avalanche danger is of concern. “As always, it’s important to ski one at a time and make sure everyone is equipped with shovels and beacons, in case someone gets buried.” Probe poles are also advised.

 

There are cows, but better are human-type cash cows

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – It’s called agritourism, this idea that farmers and ranchers can make some money off visitors, and if the idea has been around for decades, it’s getting new attention in the Yampa River Valley.

The Steamboat Pilot and Today reports that dozens of farm and ranch owners gathered recently to hear about how travel and agriculture could be intertwined. From elsewhere in Colorado, Duke Phillips explained why he chose to take on visitors. The cattle on his ranch in the San Luis Valley could not alone pay his $100,000-plus lease, he said.

Farmers were also told to think about cows differently, “People come first – they’re your cash cow,” said Wayne Iacovetto. “Whatever they want, you deal with.”

In the case of a retreat of Nike employees, “whatever” included shooting plastic deer with paint guns while riding snowmobiles, he said.

 

From Banff to tar sands to Colorado is two step

BANFF, Alberta — A handful of celebrities – actors Alec Baldwin and Kelsey Grammar and sons of politicians Justin Trudeau and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – gathered on a recent weekend at Sunshine Village, a ski resort near Banff, to talk about water. In a curious but direct way, there was a connection to Colorado.

The event, says the Rocky Mountain Outlook, was sponsored by an organization called WaterCan, which believes that Canada must tighten up its water uses.

“We are the highest per capita users of water in the world. No one uses more water per day than Canadians,” said Trudeau. There is, he added, the mistaken notion that Canada has lots of fresh water.

It does, but it also has many uses, and those uses are expanding. Among the large new uses for water is in the extraction of oil from tar sands in Alberta. A healthy portion of that oil is shipped by pipeline to a refinery in Denver, where it is processed for sale at Phillips- and Conoco-branded gas stations that are common in the mountain valleys of Colorado. Suncor has about one-third of the market share in Colorado.

 

Settlement possible in Wolf Creek base case

WOLF CREEK PASS, Colo. – Could there be a settlement in the years-long lawsuits between the operator of the Wolf Creek Ski Area and a developer – formerly a partner with the ski area – who wants to build 2,100 housing units at the base. The land, formerly national forest land secured in a land-swap during the 1980s, currently has no housing, nor is there any other housing development at the ski area.

The trial is scheduled for July, but The Durango Herald reports that both parties said a settlement appears possible. “Both of you said it was possible; that caught me by surprise,” said Durango Magistrate Judge David L. West.=

The counter lawsuits come down to a conflicted vision for the base area. The ski area at an earlier time eagerly anticipated major housing development at the base, but in the late 1990s had a change of heart. It remains among the most old-fashioned of ski areas, as reflected by the fact that it calls itself just that: a ski area, not a resort.

Yet a third party, Colorado Wild and the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council, still have a lawsuit pending in their attempts to block the project.

 

Median home price slid seven per cent in Durango in 2007

DURANGO, Colo. – The median price of homes that sold in Durango last year slid seven per cent from the previous year, to $389,000. “We’re not immune to conditions that exist nationwide,” said Bob Allen, a Durango real-estate appraiser. However, the first $1 million sale in the condo-townhome category was registered at Durango last year, reports the Durango Herald.

 

Avalanche fence proves its worth at Crested Butte

MT. CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. – For years the slope-side town of Mt. Crested Butte had an avalanche problem. In 1989, snow buried a boy outside condominiums located at the base of the hillside. Several other times snow slides have damaged condominiums, sometimes rupturing windows.

Finally, in 2006, a tall fence of galvanized steel, about 10 feet tall, was installed on the hillside. This winter, the $1 million fence has come into use, successfully blocking snow from cascading down the hill.

“Now we can have a sense that it’s a success, and it can save lives,” said William Buck, a town council member.

Having the fence tested has created a greater sense of comfort, says one resident, Donna Oros. Before, she said, “we had a level of uncertainty doing things like walking up the driveway or sitting in the hot tub. I think that is resolved,” she told the Crested Butte News.