Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Mountain News: Bozeman worried about coal trains

B OZEMAN, Alberta — Utilities in the United States have been switching from coal to natural gas for electrical production, with many more coal plants expected to close.
news_mtnnews1
energy export Coal moving through Bozeman, Montana is on the rise and residents want to ensure it doesn't divide the town.

BOZEMAN, Alberta — Utilities in the United States have been switching from coal to natural gas for electrical production, with many more coal plants expected to close. Instead, coal producers from Wyoming's Powder River Basin are looking to export the coal to China and other Asian countries.

For Bozeman, Mont., located between the Big Sky and Bridger Bowl ski areas, that could mean a dramatic increase in coal traffic. Currently, 15 trains pass through the town daily. But increased export of coal from the West Coast could yield an additional 40 trains. Coal trains typically have 120 to 125 cars, making them a mile and half long.

The Bozeman Daily Chronicle says the town needs to talk with the railroad and coal producers about helping pay for crossing structures, so that the trains don't further divide the town.

Two more smothered in ski area tree wells

YAKIMA, Wash. — It's easy to die while having great fun sliding down mountains. Two have done so in recent weeks after falling headfirst into tree wells and, unable to leverage their way out, suffocating as the cascading snow closes in around them.

One of those occurred in the Blackcomb portion of Whistler-Blackcomb. The victim was a 30-year-old man from France. The second was a 22-year-old woman from Yakima, Wash., who had been snowboarding at White Pass, a resort close to Mountain Rainier National Park. The woman had previously lived in Park City, Utah.

Last year, five people died in California, two in Montana, and one each in Colorado and Washington as a result of immersions into either tree wells or deep snow. Nobody seems to track immersion deaths in British Columbia. Because of the lower snow levels this year in most of the U.S., the toll has dropped.

For more about immersion deaths, see: www.treewelldeepsnowsafety.com.

Jasper ski area sets record for snowfall

JASPER, Alberta — The Marmot Basin ski area has received 560 centimetres of snow so far this season, the most ever since the resort in Jasper National Park opened in 1961. Average for the ski area is 400 cm, or 160 inches. With a base elevation of 1,698 metres, Marmot has the highest base area elevation of any ski area in Canada. It expects to stay open until May 6, reports the Fitzhugh.

Huge avalanche buries 117 Pakistani soldiers

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Associated Press reports 138 people were buried in an avalanche in the Karakoram Range of the Himalayan Mountains Saturday. Both India and Pakistan have troops at the Siachen Glacier, called the world's highest battlefield. There have been skirmishes since 1984, although none since 2003. The Siachen Glacier is known as the world's largest non-polar glacier. Elevations range from 3,620 metres to 5,753 metres.

Snowmelt system gets dim view in Park City

PARK CITY, Utah — Owing to both costs and environmental concerns, businesses along Park City's Main Street take a dim view of installing a snowmelt system.

City officials recently estimated the cost of installing the system at between $1.3 million and $3.6 million. The larger installation would be accompanied by annual energy costs upwards of $100,000 a year.

A survey of 55 businesses, reports the Park Record, found that 78 per cent did not support the snowmelt system, an even higher margin did not expect it would help improve business, and 58 per cent said they were very concerned about the environmental impacts. Presumably that impact has to do with the energy required, which in Utah means burning coal, producing the green house gas carbon dioxide.

Two of three towns stay course on bags

BASALT, Colo. — Although distribution of plastic bags at grocery stores will soon be banned in two towns in Colorado's Roaring Fork Valley, voters in a third town have overturned an edict that would have banned the bags and added a 20-cent fee for paper bags.

The margin in Basalt was a narrow 52.5 to 47.5 per cent against the ban, reports the Aspen Daily News. "They need to stay out of people's lives," says Roy Chorbajian, a 42-year resident of the valley, who spearheaded the petition that led to the vote. He said he does not use plastic bags himself.

In Carbondale, voters by an even more narrow margin affirmed their town's ban on plastic bags. They will join Aspen, where a ban goes into effect on May 1.

Jasper students ask for net-zero school

JASPER, Alberta — Students in Jasper are lobbying provincial officials to make their new school net zero. As the Fitzhugh explains, a net-zero building is one that achieves zero net energy consumption through a combination of efficiencies and independent power generation.

The newspaper reports that students and their faculty advisors left the meeting feeling as if their pleas had fallen upon deaf ears. The provincial officials expressed skepticism that the idea was practical, but did allow the students a month to submit a checklist of what would be needed and associated costs.

Tahoe committee to explore Olympic bid

LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — An exploratory committee has been formed by California and Nevada to investigate what it would take to secure the 2022 Winter Olympics. Utah and Colorado have formed similar committees. The Colorado report is scheduled to be out imminently. Also reported to be tinkering with a bid proposal are Bozeman, Mont., and Lake Placid, N.Y.

Vail begins work on 50th birthday present

VAIL, Colo. — To help launch its 50th anniversary ski season, Vail Mountain will get a new gondola along the same alignment as its original gondola that debuted in 1962. It replaces the Vista Bahn, a high-speed detachable quad installed in 1985.

Construction begins in mid-April, reports the Vail Daily. Half of the gondola will be manufactured at the Leitner-Poma plant in Grand Junction, Colo., while other portions will be constructed in Europe.

Rents, sales taxes tell of a busier economy

JACKSON, Wyo. — The economy continues to improve. The Jackson Hole Daily reports that apartment rents rose 2.7 per cent and house rents 6.9 per cent from 2010 to 2011. Meanwhile, the sales tax collections have also tallied better than projected.

Winds latest of ski season challenges

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — Could things get any worse at Steamboat — or, for that matter, other ski areas in the snow-poor resorts of the West?

Mud has become the dominant theme at many resorts, and not just at the last pitches. Although sticking to its commitment to stay open until April 15, Steamboat closed most of the lower portion of the mountain going into April. That forces customers to upload and download on the gondola, something that hasn't been necessary in the waning days of ski season in 15 years, reports the Steamboat Pilot & Today.

The newspaper talked with several visitors, and they weren't entirely happy. One had purchased a week-long ski pass months ago with no expectation he would be looking at mud. "I'll make the best of it," said another thrilled Steamboat visitor.

Then, things did get worse. Winds howled across Colorado from Durango to Steamboat on Friday. Even the gondola had to close. The winds, says the Pilot & Today, were "wicked" and "brutal." And the hot wind didn't do the snowpack any favors.

What about making snow? The company has tried that, but with little success, a spokeswoman said. Corn snow and new man-made snow don't meld well, she said.

Aspen lowers lid on downtown buildings

ASPEN, Colo. — Reversing a policy adopted a decade ago to stimulate real estate development, elected officials in Aspen have lowered the ceiling for new buildings in the downtown core.

The old limit was 42 feet (12.8 metres), plus 10 feet (3 metres)for mechanical elements. The new maximum is 28 feet (8.5 metres), effectively limiting new buildings to two storeys. Council members said there may be cases, such as historic renovation or overnight lodging, that justify three-storey buildings, but they would be approached on a deliberative process, reports the Aspen Daily News.

The Aspen Times said the 3-1 vote was sure to send shock waves through the local real estate and development community. Among those criticizing the new limits was the former mayor, Helen Klanderud, who said it amounted to a moratorium on development.