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Mountain News: A midnight glimpse of nirvana in Aspen

ASPEN, Colo. — In 1949, when Aspen was still a ski town emerging from the decayed shell of a mining town, a young architect arrived one cold, winter night, seeking shelter.
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ASPEN, Colo. — In 1949, when Aspen was still a ski town emerging from the decayed shell of a mining town, a young architect arrived one cold, winter night, seeking shelter.

The Aspen Daily News explains that this traveller was named Charlie Paterson, who explains that there wasn't a room to be had in Aspen. "And we walked the streets at midnight. It was cold, we were freezing, and we didn't know what to do."

Knocking on the door of an old Victorian house, the door opened to reveal the woman. "All she had on was her long blond hair," Paterson said.

Appreciative of their predicament, said Paterson, she swung the door wider to reveal a floor covered with sleeping bodies. So, the wayward travellers pressed on, ultimately finding shelter in the unlocked Elks building.

"But I thought, 'This is a pretty good place. No locked doors, women greeting you at the front door naked,'" Paterson said.

The Daily News explains that he went on to become a storied architect, and a 2011 proclamation from the city government said his expertise has affected a quarter of all properties in the city.

The story was told as part of the new "Journeys" exhibit at the Aspen Historical Society's museum.

Anticipating impacts of a warmer planet

REVELSTOKE, B.C. — Climate models are notoriously imprecise. Wetter or drier? Atmospheric systems being so complex, even our most powerful computers can model the future with very little reliability.

Still, climatologists are confident they know the general directions as we begin to feel the effects of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases accumulating in the atmosphere. It will get warmer, winters will get shorter, rainstorms will become more epic, and droughts will intensify.

The Revelstoke Times Review reports that a non-profit group called the Columbia Basin Trust has recently issued a document that outlines the impacts caused by climate change and the adaptations needed.

The report says that the growing season could expand by anywhere from 18 to 35 days by 2050, compared with the baseline period of 1971-2000.

Existing infrastructure, such as dams and storm-sewer systems, may not serve us well in the future.

Projections of the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium at the University of Victoria indicate springs will be warmer and wetter. But Trevor Murdock, a climate scientist at the consortium, tells the Times Review that the projections are for ranges of weather. El Niño and La Niña, for example, will continue to play a role from year to year in precipitation.

"There's a range in the projections, and it's hard to talk about," he said. "It's not uncertainty in the sense of not knowing. It's uncertainty in the sense that what we know with a good deal of certainty is the change in the 30-year average."

Former mayor's house now is net-zero carbon

MOUNTAIN VILLAGE, Colo. — He did it! For years Bob Delves, then mayor of Mountain Village, the joined-at-the-gondola municipality with Telluride, committed his community to seeking dramatic reductions in carbon-based energy use.

Taking it on as a personal challenge, Delves and his wife, Jenny, set out to see what could be done at their 5,200-square-foot home. Together, with their three sons, they looked at their energy consumption. Hanging their clothes to dry instead of using an electric dryer saved energy, as did removal of unnecessary "show" lighting. They turned off the icemaker and drained the hot tub.

They also slapped on 24 photovoltaic solar panels, capable of producing about 50 per cent of the home's consumption. Then, they purchased 18 more panels in a solar farm in the Paradox Valley, about 80 miles west, getting them over the finish line of a carbon-free home as it pertains to electrical use.

Jasper ski area wants expanded snowmaking

JASPER, Alberta — Peering into its future, Marmot Basin ski area sees more snowmaking. The ski area already has snowmaking on the lower slopes, allowing it to generally open by Remembrance Day (Nov. 11).

"There is nothing in our company that has affected us more and the community of Jasper more than the snowmaking system that we have on the lower lifts," said Dave Gibson, president and chief executive of the company.

However, environmental assessments and public consultations must take place first. If approved, a new water reservoir and pumping station must be created at the mid-mountain level, reports the Jasper Fitzhugh.

Colorado resort has first civil union

SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. — For the first time, a gay couple in Summit County has entered into civil union. The Summit Daily News explains that Rhoda Lynne Whitney and Priscilla Ann Ledbury first made vows to one another in a church in Denver 22 years ago.

This year, the couple returned to the same church to repeat their vows, this time with the legal authority of the civil unions now allowed in Colorado.

Practical effects of their new legal status will change little in their lives, however. They bought property in Summit County in 1983, when both were working, and then moved there full time in 1998, after both had retired. Their absence of legal status as a couple presented no problems in the property purchase, nor has it in the case of hospital visits.

But gay couples still cannot marry in Colorado. The state's constitution defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Ron Holland, the mayor of Dillon, says that's not right. "This is America, and gay couples are entitled to the same rights and privileges as any taxpayer," he says. He's been with his male partner for 18 years, he tells the Summit Daily.

420 advocates poke at opportunities, limits

SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. — Colorado now has its first business specifically dedicated to marijuana tourism. The firm, My 420 Tours, sold out when it held its first tour on April 20, the day celebrated by marijuana users as a sort of holiday, peaking at 4:20 in the afternoon.

Colorado voters last November legalized marijuana, now called 420 by many, making it legal to ingest marijuana, as long as you do so privately. Sales for recreational use won't become legal until Jan. 1, although sales for those with certified medical needs have been legal for several years.

Laws approved by legislators this past winter allows visitors, as defined by their primary residence being elsewhere, to purchase smaller amounts of marijuana than Colorado residents can purchase.

The Summit Daily News talked with Matt Brown, a co-proprietor of the new tourism business. "(Say) you're going to take a ski vacation, and you're going to go to Utah or Colorado. If you enjoy marijuana, the case became much clearer for Colorado," he said.

"People are coming to Colorado already because this law has changed, and the extent to which mountain towns allow it or tolerate it will make those kinds of tourists more comfortable or less comfortable," said Sean McAllister, an attorney in Breckenridge.

Meanwhile, in Aspen, marijuana advocates gathered for a three-day symposium. The Aspen Daily News says that during a break in the session, which was hosted by the national Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, many of the lawyers and activists in attendance spilled out into a courtyard, pulled out pipes and joints, and lit up.

While Colorado has legalized marijuana, it has not legalized smoking and driving. But many advocates argue that Colorado's new law, which establishes a legal limit of five nanograms of TCH, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, say that the presence of THC in the blood does not prove impairment.

Park City welcomes Vail Resorts to party

PARK CITY, Utah — Hosannas were sung and palm fronds were waved last week in Park City as the community's leaders welcomed Vail Resorts to the party. Clearly the continent's dominant ski area operator now, Vail has taken over operations of the Canyons Resort, one of the three ski areas at Park City, under a long-term agreement with Talisker, the Canada-based owner.

"Vail is a strong brand and should further enhance Park City's reputation as an elite destination," said Andy Beerman, a member of the Park City Council. "A home run for all of us," local lawyer Joe Wrona told The Park Record.

With this, the Epic Pass has become even more valuable and will likely boost traffic at Canyons beyond 450,000. The pass already provides entry into eight major resorts in the West, two lesser ones in the Midwest, and privileges at another in the Alps.

"It's been a missing link for us. Park City is one of the economic destination ski towns in the West," Blaise Carrig, president of the mountain division at Vail Resorts, told the Salt Lake Tribune.

The most interesting aspect of this may be the tangle of lawsuits from the past lurking in the background. Vail Resorts sued Talisker in 2007 when it failed to get the ski area coming out of failed hands of the American Skiing Co. We can assume that bygones are now bygones.

Talisker, meanwhile, is embroiled in litigation with the adjoining Park City Mountain ski area over use of Park City's land. Vail will inherit that legal case.

The Park Record wondered about ski links. A link between Canyons and Park City Mountain resort has been speculated upon for years. The lawsuit mentioned that Talisker and Park City had held talks for several years about capital upgrades that included a possible connection between the two resorts.

Canyons Resort has also been pushing the idea of a ski link with resorts on the west side of the Wasatch Range, an idea hotly disputed by environmentalists but also Salt Lake City public officials.