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Canmore man ends upright

CANMORE, Alberta - A Canmore man got lucky recently when caught in an avalanche on Mount Sparrowhawk, a 10,000-foot peak south of Canmore. He was alone when caught by the slide, and shoved against a tree.

CANMORE, Alberta - A Canmore man got lucky recently when caught in an avalanche on Mount Sparrowhawk, a 10,000-foot peak south of Canmore. He was alone when caught by the slide, and shoved against a tree.

He was only buried to his armpits, and his hands ended up outside the snow. The latter may not seem important, but you must understand that snow after an avalanche sets up almost as firmly as concrete within just a few seconds. Not cement but concrete. And third, he had a cell phone and cell phone reception.

"If any one of those things were different, it could have possibly been a different ending," Mike Koppang, a public safety assistant for the provincial government, told the Rocky Mountain Outlook. As it was, the man was hypothermic when search crews arrived by helicopter.

 

Aspen explores tax on plastic shopping bags

ASPEN, Colo. - Aspen is moving in the direction of public policy that would discourage use of plastic bags for shopping. The city council did not take a formal stance, but indicated support for a tax of five or 10 cents a bag.

This would be different from the law in Telluride. There, officials have banned non-biodegradable plastic bans altogether.

Why not voluntary recycling? Nathan Rutledge, director of a non-profit called Community Office of Resource Efficiency, said only three to five per cent of plastic bags get recycled. And, at least in Aspen, recycling is a labour-intensive effort and because of Aspen's distance from Denver, where recyclable goods are taken, the carbon footprint for plastic bags is fairly high. "So your net energy gain is probably negative, which is not the goal," he said.

 

Public, outdoor funeral pyres in mountain town

CRESTONE, Colo. - The Associated Press tells of a public cremation of a 48-year-old woman in Crestone, a small town at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Colorado. Funeral industry officials say that Crestone is the only place in the United States where public, outdoor funeral pyres are performed for people regardless of religion.

Only a 100 people live in Crestone, but 1,000 in adjoining areas, which is located north of the great Sand Dunes National Monument and at the foot of five 14,000-foot peaks. It has become a very unusual community with a broad mix of religious faiths and lifestyles. The woman who died of a heart attack was no exception.

The AP report said the woman lived with both her husband and boyfriend, in apparent harmony. "We had a friendship between the three of us that very few people could share," said her widower. She was described as a giving if stubborn person who loved motorcycles, the outdoors and smoking pot. During the cremation of her body, somebody dropped a bag of marijuana

Funeral pyres, a part of the Hindu and Buddhist religions, are unusual in Western cultures. Conducting the cremations is an organization called Crestone End of Life Project, which has performed 18 since its first in January 2008. It does so only for local residents, however.

 

Pot shops cash cows or struggling businesses ?

MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. - It sounds a bit like a tea party brouhaha. While part of Mammoth Lake's governing body would like to tax the marijuana sales, at least one dissenting member says government should keep its grubby hands out of the transaction.

"I take offense to government taxing my business, and I look at the dispensaries as another type of small business," explained John Eastman, a councilman. But initial research by another council member poses the possibility of levying a 2.5 to 10 per cent tax. A higher rate might drive shoppers to the black market from which they presumably came.

Governments in California, as well as Montana and Colorado, have been mulling how to regulate the profusion of marijuana vendors. This came after the federal government tow years ago announced it wouldn't attempt to enforce federal laws in states that have authorized small sales for medical marijuana.

 

Real estate improves in Aspen, Vail areas

ASPEN, Colo. - The year-end figures for the Aspen and Vail areas confirm continued improvement of the real estate market.

In Pitkin County, which includes Aspen, total real estate sales last year were $1.26 billion, an increase of 18 percent over the prior year. There were $1.37 billion in 2008, the year the recession struck. The record volume was $2.64 billion, set in 2006, according to a Land Title Guarantee Co. report cited by The Aspen Times .

In the Vail area, the Vail Daily cited no figures, but said the volume increased by two-thirds over 2009.

In both cases, there's a huge difference between what is happening in the ski towns themselves, and the outlying bedroom communities, where the contractors, plumbers, and electricians typically lived. In those down-valley locations, for-sale signs typically spread as the high-paying jobs in building new hotels and spec homes have dried up.

 

Towns continue talk of economic diversification

JACKSON, Wyo. - Now the third year into the down economy, mountain resort towns continue to talk about diversifying their economies.

Aspen has been making a conscious effort to be more accommodating to somewhat lower-income people, the merely middle class. Vail has been talking about reaching out to active women and, alternatively, to a broader international clientele.

But there is also talk that instead of real estate and tourism, mountain valleys need a stronger component of paychecks tied to a more stable, or at least different part of the economy. Steamboat Springs, which already has a huge number of software developers, is talking about even greater Internet connectivity.

In Jackson Hole, incoming Teton County Commissioner Paul Perry has stressed the importance of creating an economic development team focused on bringing high-tech companies. One thought is to create a nurturing climate and environment for people from high-tech companies, he told the Jackson Hole News & Guide .

 

Cohousing group seeks Park City plot

PARK CITY, Utah - Cohousing is a concept that takes the concept of neighborliness and draws it more toward that of extended family. Everybody has his own house, even if they tend to be smaller, but there is much more sharing of common spaces.

Colorado has 16 co-housing communities, mostly small, while Utah has two, New Mexico 5, and California 51. As well, cohousing can be found at Calgary, Nelson, B.C. and North Vancouver, among other Canadian locations.

Now, a not-for-group is seeking sites in Park City that could be incorporated into a development using the cohousing theory. That theory, explains Jeff Werbelow, the executive director of the Greenhouse Foundation, involves collaborative efforts in designing communities. It makes a community of likeminded people, he told The Park Record .

 

Towns continue talk of economic diversification

JACKSON, Wyo. - Now three years into a down economy, mountain resort towns continue to talk about diversifying their economies.

Aspen has been making a conscious effort to be more accommodating to somewhat lower-income people, the merely middle class. Vail has been talking about reaching out to active women and, alternatively, to a broader international clientele.

But there is also talk that instead of real estate and tourism, mountain valleys need a stronger component of paychecks tied to a more stable, or at least different part of the economy. Steamboat Springs, which already has a huge number of software developers, is talking about even greater Internet connectivity.

In Jackson Hole, incoming Teton County Commissioner Paul Perry has stressed the importance of creating an economic development team focused on bringing high-tech companies. One thought is to create a nurturing climate and environment for people from high-tech companies, he told the Jackson Hole News & Guide .

 

Ski Town USA becoming more like Anywhere USA

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. - Steamboat Springs is taking a step toward becoming more like other places across the country. With a single dissenting vote, the City Council has authorized a long-discussed Walgreens at a prominent location in the newer part of the city, near the ski area.

Steamboat has long had a history of worrying about its individuality. In the 1980s, it kept Wal-Mart at bay for a long time even as other towns were chomping at the bit to get the discount store and the boost in sales tax revenues. Over the years, the community has also fretted about how to prevent national franchises from overwhelming the older, downtown shopping district.

 

Efforts continue to save small ski area

JACKSON, Wyo. - Nothing firm has been put into place, but negotiations and investigations are continuing about how to keep Snow King, the ski resort in the town of Jackson, operating.

In December, the existing owners announced that the lift operations had been losing money for decades. They set a date of May 1 to find a replacement operator. They have no plans to discontinue operation of a lodge and conference center.

To make this happen, town and officials from the Jackson Hole Land Trust hope to purchase two base-area parcels, to provide continued access to the ski hill. The ski area, located just six blocks form downtown Jackson, has a vertical of 1,571 feet.

"It's the most visible open space in the valley," Laurie Andrews, the land trust's executive director, told the Jackson Hole News & Guide . Value of the parcels has been estimated at between $2 million and $6 million.

Another group, called Friends of Snow King, has been investigating how to ensure continued operation of the ski area. Several models came to mind, including the community-based operation of Bridger Bowl, near Bozeman, Mont., and Howelsen Hill, in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Katharine Conover, the foundation's executive director, said concrete information about the options was expected by mid-February.

 

It was cold as a.... well, plenty cold at 36 below

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. - We have a variety of expressions to describe how cold it can get, most involving well drillers, brass monkeys, and bankers' hearts. But in Steamboat Springs, it was cold enough to close the schools, the first time in at least 22 years that has happened.

The official reading one morning last week was 36 below zero (Fahrenheit). Technically, that wasn't sufficient to meet the school district policy, which specifies 40 below. But the temperature at the bus barn was that low in the pre-dawn morning, and diesel fuel can gel, making it impossible for buses to do their routes.

The last time it got this cold was in early February 1985, when the temperature hit 44 degrees below.

It has gotten into the 40-below range several times in the last century, and a few more times of 50 below. But the record low was 54, a benchmark established a century ago, according to records cited by the Steamboat Pilot & Today .

Meanwhile, the snowpack continues to build. The Steamboat Ski Area had registered 263 inches of snow by February's start, more than all of the snow received last year. However, it lags the memorable year of 2007-2008.

North of Steamboat, at Buffalo Pass - by some accounts the snowiest place in Colorado - there was 10 feet of snow by late January, reported the Pilot & Today .

 

School closings being considered in Colorado

GRAND LAKE, Colo. -- To keep the budget balanced, officials at a school district in Colorado are talking about closing two elementary schools. The closings, if they occur, can be seen as a direct consequence of the economic slowdown.

One is at Grand Lake, at the west entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, and the other at Fraser, near the Winter Park ski area. The two are 56 kilometres apart. Students would be bused to Granby, equidistant between them.

Declining enrollment is part of the problem in the school district. The enrollment dropped 9 per cent from last year. Because state aid to schools in Colorado depends upon enrollment, this has meant less money for operations. Compounding the problem has been declining state revenues, which has caused state officials to ratchet down aid to all schools. Escalating costs, particularly for health care and retirements, are the final piece of the financial bad dream. Altogether, the district of 1,325 students must cut $1 million from its budget.

"It is clear our school district is in crisis," wrote one local resident, Reggie Paulk, in a letter published in the Sky-Hi News . "The problem is that it's been in a crisis phase ever since the downturn began in late 2007, and it's beginning to take a toll on our communities."

Nancy Karas, the school district superintendent, points to the comatose construction industry as the reason for the enrollment decline.

"With this recession, it has come to pretty much of a grinding halt," she says of construction. While families are leaving Grand County, student enrollment in Colorado overall continues to rise.

In the Fraser-Winter Park area, many people argue that school closings will be viewed as some sort of white flag of surrender.

"Schools are the hubs of their communities and have an importance that goes beyond education," said Scott Ledin, of Fraser. "They play a major role in the economic development of their communities, and they make communities more attractive to newcomers. Businesses are more likely to move to communities with schools. And families will not move to communities without schools."

Several ideas are being kicked around to help bolster revenues, at least delaying the day of reckoning for the schools. The Winter Park Town Council has discussed offering an appropriation to help keep the Fraser school remain open.

Another idea is to increase the sales tax, with revenues to the school district. The Steamboat Springs school district has such a tax. Another option would be to strip elective classes, athletics, and extracurricular activities. And, of course, there are complaints that school administrators make way too much money.