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Mountain News: Colorado passes still less than 10 years ago

I-70 CORRIDOR, Colo. – Prices of season passes are flying higher along the Interstate 70 corridor in Colorado.

I-70 CORRIDOR, Colo. – Prices of season passes are flying higher along the Interstate 70 corridor in Colorado. The pass offered by Vail Resorts, which offers unlimited skiing at Keystone, Breckenridge and A-Basin, plus 10 days at Vail or Beaver Creek, has increased by 11 per cent, while Intrawest’s pass, good at Copper Mountain and Winter Park, increased 11.5 per cent.

But while The Denver Post found somebody willing to complain, the prices would be the envy of most places. The Vail Resorts pass costs only $419, about half what it would have a decade ago, before Winter Park — taking the cue from Idaho’s Bogus Basin — slashed the price of a pass to $200, precipitating the price war.

The Post notes that among the greater beneficiaries of the increased prices are the small operators like Eldora and Loveland, which have few revenue centres other than lift operations. Still, the season pass at Eldora, located west of Boulder, is $86 less than the $475 charged a decade ago.

By comparison, says the Post, the cost of a pass is $1,810 at Jackson Hole, $1,799 at Squaw Valley, $1,150 at Park City, and $1,399 (Cdn) at Whistler.

 

Aspen trailers now $1 million

ASPEN, Colo. – One of the things that makes Aspen charming is a trailer court called Smuggler Park located just up the hill from the art museum and no more than five minutes (walking!) from downtown Aspen. That park may well hold the world’s first million-dollar trailer.

The Denver Post explains that the owner of the park in 1987 sold the lots for $25,000 to many people who had been renting space. In time, lot-buyers began spiffing up their trailers, in some cases renovating them so completely that, once inside, you probably wouldn’t know it’s a trailer.

The newspaper cites the example of Doug Driscoll, a ski patroller and computer technician, who paid $58,000 for the trailer and space in 1989, then framed the home around the original trailer. He now has a 2,700-square-foot home, but doesn’t know what it’s worth.

But a 1983 Commodore mobile home was sold for $400,000 earlier this year. A 1980 Magnolia mobile home sold for $672,000. Another resident, Scott Lindenau, estimates his home’s market value at $1.2 million to $1.4 million.

 

Original Vail investor leaves

VAIL, Colo. – Dick Hauserman is leaving Vail at the age of 91, the thinner air of 8,000 feet finally catching up to him, moving to the East Coast.

He was among Vail’s original investors, but he did far more than just invest. He also created the stylized “V” that remains the logo for the ski area and a good many local businesses. As well, he was the unofficial marketing director.

Although the resort began operations in 1962, it wasn’t until about 1969 that officials were convinced their resort would survive. Soon after, Hauserman was off to Steamboat Springs, where he helped assemble the marketing image of Steamboat as cowboyland. Among his decisions was to hire Billy Kidd, the 1964 Olympic medalist, to be the first skiing ambassador. Kidd, of course, is still there, and although raised in Vermont, still skiing with a cowboy hat glued to his head.

Hauserman also lived in Breckenridge for a time, before finally returning to Vail in the late 1980s.

 

Peek at global warming

SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. – August was downright balmy in Summit County. Observations taken at Dillon Reservoir showed an average daily maximum of 76.5 degrees, fully 4 degrees warmer than the average as defined by records going back to 1909. Owing to nighttime clouds, the average low temperature was only 45 degrees, compared to the norm of 35.8 degrees. The Summit Daily News says it was a wet August, although a drier than average year.

 

Bad-news bears in news

ASPEN, Colo. – The bad-news bears continue to invade the news, as well as homes, in a great many mountain valleys of the West.

Aspen’s story has become a national one, with television crews now arriving to document the story of imperious bears unwilling to know their place. Of late, their place has included the crab apple tree in front of the Pitkin County Courthouse, which has a front-and-centre location in Aspen, and the park behind the city hall.

The Aspen Times also tells of a bear cub that, after tossing around a trash bin in a second-hand store, dashed amid customers on the patio of a coffee shop. Presumably, business shifted to de-caf after that.

Recently, state wildlife officers met with the public. Although expecting to hear an outraged public because of the bears they have killed, they got mostly thanks.

Still, Aspen Times columnist Su Lum, who has been in Aspen since the 1960s, can’t help but wonder why there is a bear “problem” now, when there wasn’t 30 to 40 years ago. She suspects that it’s because Aspen no longer has packs of dogs.

Aspen authorities report 20 to 40 bear complaints a day.

Jackson Hole’s problems sound tame by comparison, even if the News & Guide reports a “blockbuster summer for bad-bear behavior.” With more than 100 human-bear-conflicts, Wyoming Game and Fish Department officials say the number could surpass the 152 conflicts during the past five years combined.

“In the 12 years I’ve been here, we’ve had some dry years, and lots of black bear activity, but nothing like this,” said Game and Fish spokesman Mark Gecke.

Dry, hot weather and late frost that reduced the berry crop in the Rocky Mountains is partially blamed for the bears visiting valley-bottom locations in search of food, but wildlife officials are nearly unanimous in blaming humans for offering easy temptations.

If carelessness by humans has drawn bears to both Aspen and Jackson Hole, officials in Whistler are wondering what they can do next. “The current system is not working,” said Sylvia Dolson, executive director of the Get Bear Smart Society. “We need a waste management system that works for everyone.”

 

Skier’s streak now 336 months

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Tom Szwedko has a hobby — oh boy, does he ever have a hobby. He has skied every month for 336 consecutive months, or 28 years.

It’s the longest known streak in North America, possibly the world, although it’s hard to be sure because there aren’t any official stats on the subject, explains the Rocky Mountain News.

Szwedko began his streak in 1979, and what makes his streak all the more remarkable is that he lives in Englewood, a suburb located about five miles south of downtown Denver. Now retired, the 60-year-old Szwedko worked most of his skiing years as a programmer analyst for rocket manufacturer Lockheed Martin.

He earns his turns. He only uses ski lifts when they’re free. He buys his gear at ski swaps and rummage sales, and goes through four or five pair per year.

Some years, he has skied virtually every day, and in one year logged 365 days. But it was during a leap year, explains the newspaper, so technically he missed one day.

The newspaper also tells of several other streak-skiers, including Jim Becia, also of Englewood, who now has 57 months under his belt. Becia figures he needs 50 linked turns per day to qualify.

Szwedko has no arbitrary limit, although he’s no slacker, as anyone who has skied with him can testify.

 

Telluride adds hike-to bowl

TELLURIDE, Colo. – Backcountry lite continues to be the theme in ski area expansions. The latest case in point is at Telluride, where the resort is opening an area called Black Iron Bowl. The eight trails will be challenging to ski and modestly challenging to get to, requiring a hike of anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes.

Included in the new terrain will be the expansive Mountain Quail Couloir, with its European-style faces, open glades and steep chutes, according to a press release issued by the ski area operator.

 

Alberta awaits the beetles

BANFF, Alberta – Officials are bracing for the advance of bark beetles into the aging forests of Alberta. The Interior of British Columbia has been the hardest hit area in North America, owing to the relative homogeneity of forests, both in species type and in elevation.

Forestry officials had hoped to conduct a prescribed burn this year, on the east side of the Continental Divide. “I don’t pretend for a minute that what we are doing is 100 per cent going to stop the pine beetle, but it will buy some time,” said Ted Morton, sustainable resource minister in Alberta.

Ron Casey, mayor of Canmore, at the west entrance to Banff National Park, said that between Lake Louise, Banff and Canmore, “the fire risk is almost astronomical.”

 

Leadville claims highest film fest

LEADVILLE, Colo. – Pin another superlative to the already festooned high-altitude hat of Leadville, elevation 10,182 feet, the highest city (but not town) in North America. It also has North America’s highest airport and, according to film director Lawrence David Foldes, the highest film festival in the world.

To achieve that distinction, Foldes held at least one event of his new Independence Film Fest at — what else — Independence Pass, located between Leadville and Aspen. There, the elevation is 12,095 feet.

Foldes told The Denver Post that it was love at first sight when he saw Leadville last year. He said he had no difficulty talking film director John Landis into showing up for the festival once assured of the city’s ample mining history.

 

Miners extracting debris

PARK CITY, Utah – Miners are still going to work in Park City, but instead of silver, which sustained the city for about 80 years, they’re making sure that water can be extracted from the old Ontario mine, located south of Park City’s original downtown.

Instead of extracting ore, the miners are charged with removing debris that stops a steady flow of water, explains The Park Record. Much of Park City’s municipal water supply comes from the mines.

 

Locals against Forest Service move

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Both chamber and resort officials from Jackson Hole are speaking out against a possible plan to relocate the supervisor’s office for the Bridger-Teton National Forest to outside of Jackson Hole.

The Forest Service would like to cash in on the sale of the property located in Jackson. Also, while 50 per cent of existing Forest Service employees in Jackson Hole own homes there, the agency is considering the high cost of new homes.

The Bridger-Teton National Forest embraces areas far beyond Jackson Hole. There are no places to remove the local ranger district.

“We don’t see any positives of moving that office out of our community,” said Tim O’Donoghue, executive director of the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce.

Lost would be the participation of Forest Service employees in everything from volunteer firefighting to helping the local high school speech and debate team.

The big ski area, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, also opposes a move. Jerry Blann, the resort president, recalled that when he was president of the Aspen Skiing Co. in the 1980s, he found it difficult to work with the forest supervisor, located 45 miles away in Glenwood Springs.

 

School enrolment rising

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Add the schools in Jackson Hole to the list of resort-based valleys of the West with growing enrolment, most notably in the kindergarten class. The 2.4 per cent increase is the “largest increase we’ve had in a number of years,” schools superintendent Pam Shea told the Jackson Hole News & Guide. “It’s definitely racially mixed. It’s not just Hispanic growth.”

Increases have also been reported by a number of school districts in the mountain valleys of Colorado, where school enrolment was flat or even declined in the lull after 9/11, despite increased population growth. The leading theory at the time was that Gen Xers, the leading baby producers, had decamped for cities, because of lower living costs.

What exactly explains the spurt of enrolment, school officials don’t seem to know, although the larger numbers of Gen Y, a.k.a. Generation Next and the Echo Boom generation, are now having babies, and unlike Gen X, they have numbers similar to those of Baby Boomers.

Meanwhile, in the Rifle schools, a bed base for many of Aspen’s service and construction workers, Hispanics now slightly outnumber Anglos in one elementary school. District wide, Anglos still outnumber Hispanics nearly two to one.

 

New school targets immigrant dropouts

GYPSUM, Colo. – A new school, geared toward Latinos and other immigrants who have dropped out of school, opened last week at Gypsum, 37 miles west of Vail. Enrolment at New American is 47.

Because many of the students are parents, the $200 a month the school provides for daycare is a big draw. The school also aims for flexibility, given that most of the students have day jobs.

The Vail Daily explains that the students also range broadly in their skills, with some knowing very little English, while others just need some help with writing. Some are U.S. natives, while others recently immigrated.

The school offers everything from language arts to computer courses.

Hispanics (but not necessarily immigrants) now are 25 per cent of the population in Eagle and 40 per cent in Avon.