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Mountain News: New technology for slides and highways

EMPIRE, Colo. — Enough of this World War I-style shelling of snow-laden slopes to bring down avalanches.
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EMPIRE, Colo. — Enough of this World War I-style shelling of snow-laden slopes to bring down avalanches. The Colorado Department of Transportation wants to test a new system of triggering avalanches above highways already used in Europe plus three U.S. states.

C-DOT proposes to test a system called Gazes, which ignites propane and oxygen at the bottom of a galvanized 12-foot steel tube. The explosion is remotely detonated, creating a shockwave and initiating an avalanche.

The test site for this technology would be the Stanley Slide, which originates on the eponymously named peak along the Continental Divide above Berthoud Pass, about 72 kilometres west of Denver. The path slides during most winters, endangering cars and trucks on Highway 40, which goes to Winter Park and other destinations.

To reduce the risk, state crews since World War II have used artillery, firing shells into the start zones of the path. This same technique is also used on Loveland, McClure and many other passes in Colorado. Shells don't always detonate, however, even if they do, debris remains.

The new technology could be set off remotely — assuming traffic had been stopped and backcountry travellers warned, notes the Sky-Hi Daily News. State highway officials say they believe the technology could result in more, smaller avalanches and fewer avalanches that reach the road, blocking traffic.

Support lacking for secessionist vote

HOT SULPHUR SPRINGS, Colo. — The secessionist movement that has some rural counties of Colorado talking about forming a 51st state seems to be lacking a groundswell of support in Grand County.

Located at the headwaters of the Colorado River, the county includes Winter Park and Grand Lake and several other ranching-dominated towns. Some residents are aggrieved that they are forced to share representation in the Colorado State Senate with Boulder County. If physically proximate, the two counties are separated by the giant wall of the Continental Divide. Further, they tend to be polar opposites in political philosophies.

However, county commissioners failed to hear a "groundswell" of discontent at a recent meeting. Failing further evidence in that regard, the commissioners will likely let the matter drop, reports the Sky-Hi Daily News.

Folk Festival diverts 94 per cent of landfill waste

CANMORE, Alberta — Since 2008, the Canmore Folk Music Festival has aimed to divert more than 80 per cent of waste from the landfill. This year's festival reached a new benchmark, hitting 94 per cent diversion.

Eliminating bottled water sales helped, organizers of the Toward Zero Waste Initiative say, as did the active efforts of the 52 volunteers. They also tell the Rocky Mountain Outlook that working with vendors was crucial to hitting the higher mark, as food vendors are eliminating throwaway packaging.

A birthday leap into thin air

WHITEFISH, Mont. — Age doesn't matter, says Giselle "Jessie" Harring, a retired microbiologist who has hardly retired from adventurous pursuits. Five years ago, she began leaping from airplanes at 6,100 metres to celebrate her birthday.

This year, she continued that tradition in the company of her two grandsons. She's 90.

Harring was in a 2,400-metre freefall for nearly a minute before the parachute was deployed. She described that first minute as a "bit hairy." After that, "It's just beautiful. It's heaven."

"I'm 90. So what?" she told the Whitefish Pilot.

Uranium warriors gather

URAVAN, Colo. — Little other than a historical marker remains to indicate the presence of Uravan, a company town once located along the banks of the Dolores River. This is in the canyon country between Telluride and Moab.

The hamlet existed for a few decades, flourishing after World War II as the United States scrambled to build a stock of uranium for creation of nuclear weaponry and, it was hoped, a host of peaceful uses.

The town was abandoned in 1986 and the site reclaimed. But every Labour Day, according to The Telluride Watch, 500 to 600 people gather to celebrate what once was. The event is co-hosted by the Rimrocker Historical Society and the Cold War Patriots.

Ketchum tries to return to normal

HAILEY, Idaho — After nearly a month of fire and smoke, the Beaver Creek Fire that burned 111,000 acres and forced 5,000 people to be evacuated from homes in the Hailey, Ketchum and Sun Valley areas is now extinguished.

Even before the last hot spots were put out, Ketchum had determined to return to life as normal, as best it could. A tradition of Labour Day weekend since 1975 is an event called Wagon Days, which celebrates the mining history of Ketchum. Those old ore wagons from 1890 rolled once again.

Started by lightning, the fire burned for almost a month and cost $25 million to extinguish, most of which will be paid by the U.S. government. At the peak of operations, 1,800 firefighters were at the scene, aided by 12 helicopters and six planes.

The fire also cost the local economy: The Idaho Mountain Express reports that hotel occupancy dipped to 37 per cent at the height of the fire, just half that of the same week during 2012.

Remarkably, just one house was destroyed, that being a million-dollar log house with a wood-shake roof. But firefighters saved 30 others in the same area of Greenhorn Gulch, aided by strips of lawn that were not amenable to the spread of fire.

Mike Elle, the fire chief in Ketchum, told the Idaho Mountain Express that he will be "fighting tooth and nail" to get wood-shake roofs banned on new construction in Blaine County. Flammable roofs put firefighters in danger and slow their response to other homes.

"The wood shingles have got to go," he said.

Also in question is the adequacy of defensible space requirements. Blaine County has a $1,000-per-day fine for those who do not clear their yards of brush and other flammable materials for nine metres away from their homes. But fire officials say they have little time to spend on enforcement.

winter outdoor markets studied

ASPEN, Colo. — Can an outdoor winter market add zip to the winter in Aspen, especially during the weeks leading up to Christmas?

Nobody in Aspen seems to know, but the idea is intriguing enough to the city council that it agreed to spend $3,500 to send a delegation of two people to study outdoor markets in Chicago, reports The Aspen Daily News.

Once in Chicago, the two Aspen representatives are to meet with representatives from the German/American Chamber of Commerce, which is the largest producer of "Kris Kringle" outdoor winter markets in the United States. Originating in Europe, the outdoor markets feature a combination of food and merchandise.

carbon reduction plan stalled

ASPEN, Colo. — In promulgating the Canary Initiative in 2005, Aspen had hoped to reduce the community's carbon footprint by 11 per cent by now. Instead, it has gone down only six per cent.

But to get to a 30 per cent reduction by 2020, as the plan specified, or 80 per cent by 2050, giant steps must be taken in coming years. Now at the helm is Ashley Perl, the fourth director of the program in eight years.

Perl tells the Aspen Journalism Project that ground transportation, which was responsible for 43 per cent of the city's greenhouse gas output, must be tackled in a more substantive way. Electricity consumption was the second largest, at 28 per cent.

"These are our two biggest pieces of the pie," she said. "These are where we will put the majority of our time."

Just how do you reduce ground transportation? Perl confesses to being overwhelmed. Already, the Aspen area has one of Colorado's best public transit systems. Aspen also has car-share and bike-share programs.

As for reducing electrical consumption, the city's municipal utility is already providing 70 to 80 per cent of its power from renewable sources, and expects to bump that up next year when it begins buying power from the Ridgway Dam, located near Telluride. The dam is currently being retrofitted with a hydroelectric generator.

We evict you, but we really don't mean it

PARK CITY, Utah — Make what you will of this latest round of snarls in Park City. Vail Resorts has now served an eviction notice on Park City Mountain Resort effective Labour Day.

But no, we really don't mean it, says Vail spokeswoman Kelly Ladyga. There is no intent, she said, "to take any action that would prevent PCMR's ability to operate their resort during the 2013-2014 season."

It's a complicated legal case. Canada-based Talisker owns Canyons ski resort but also the bulk of land underneath the Park City Mountain Resort. PCMR had leased the former mining properties from Talisker since 2004, but the lease renewal in 2011 did not go smoothly. The dispute ended up in court.

Then Vail leased Talisker's operations and, in so doing, took over the legal fight.

The Salt Lake Tribune explains that PCMR owns its base facilities and has stated in court documents that it invested $100 million in improvements in recent years with assurances that it could lease the ski acreage until at least 2051.

The lease specifies payment of $155,000 a year to Talisker, a figure originally set in the 1960s when Park City began skiing operations on the mining land. In contrast, explains the Tribune, Talisker pays the private company that owns the terrain where the Canyons is located $3 million annually. Talisker, in turn, now gets $25 million from Vail Resorts.

The Tribune also notes the obvious problems of this uncertainty just when ski resorts are trying to sell passes and reservations for winter months. Nathan Rafferty, the president of Ski Utah, a trade group, took a neutral stance but urged resolution. "I don't think that there won't be skiing on that mountain this winter, one way or the other. There's too much at stake for that to be a realistic option."

Mike Lindbloom, who owns a deli in Park City, said he's not overly worried, but cautious. "It's all lawyers, so who knows what's going to happen."

Forest Service lots go for $7 million

ASPEN, Colo. — The U.S. Forest Service sold five undeveloped lots in Aspen for a total of $7 million and plans to use the proceeds to remodel its Aspen headquarters. The money would go towards a visitors' center, plus storage space and employee housing. Real-estate agents told the Aspen Daily News that the sales prices favored the buyers, as other lots in the same neighborhood were going for $2 million two years ago, when the real estate market was more tepid than it is now.

Location is everything

DILLON, Colo. — Location, location, location, the real-estate guys say. And that's the refrain as we search for locations appropriate for renewable energy, whether in baking deserts or cool mountain valleys.

A case in point is a solar array built near an elementary school in Summit County, near the town of Dillon. Some residents of a nearby subdivision called Summit Cove, are up in arms, or at least giving full throttle to their throats, over what they contend is destruction of an area needed for wildlife.

"Most of us agree solar energy is a positive thing, but it needs to be done in the right place and in the right way," local resident Carol Northcut told the Summit Daily News. "This qualifies as neither."

She said she wants the solar panels gone and the ground revegetated.

Survivors of ski fatality suing sheriffs' offices

DRIGGS, Idaho — Last January, a 46-year-old man from New York named Eddie Fitzgerald was skiing at Grand Targhee Resort when he went out of bounds and out of the ski area, in an area called South Leigh Canyon.

He had a cell phone, and he summoned help. But help did not arrive until it was too late. He was found the following morning wet, hypothermic and unconscious.

That this occurred in Wyoming, but along the Idaho border matters entirely, because two different sheriff's departments and two search and rescue groups were involved. The Teton Valley Citizen notes that soon after Fitzgerald's death, authorities admitted that big mistakes were made in communication.

Now comes the question of who will pay. Members of the dead man's family have filed a lawsuit against Teton County, Idaho, and plan to do the same against the corresponding office in Teton County, Wyoming, a place somewhat synonymous with Jackson Hole.

governments slowly shrink energy

JACKSON, Wyo. — Little by little, the governments of Jackson and Teton County have been reducing the carbon footprints of their buildings and other infrastructure.

The Jackson Hole News&Guide reports a raft of proposals for upgrades, including more than $1 million for solar panels, high-efficiency boilers and other improvements to buildings.

One project has already been completed. With $42,400 in various funds, a local water and sewer district installed more efficient motors for the aeration, which pumps air through sewage to break it down. That saves the district $8,400 per year in electricity costs.

TAXING marijuana but KEEPING SALES ABOVE GROUND

BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. — Breckenridge council members will ask residents in November to approval a five per cent excise tax on sales or recreational marijuana. The state also plans to levy a 25 per cent tax on all marijuana sales. This is on top of existing local and state sales taxes of 8.275 per cent.

Town officials, according to the Summit Daily News, say that they need the tax revenues to cover administrative costs of overseeing marijuana retail operations. But just what that cost will be, nobody knows. If the tax is too much or too little, voters will be asked at a later election to adjust the rate.

A broader issue is whether taxes will drive sales back underground. Tim Gagen, the town manager, told the council that Breckenridge will have different buyers, most of them visitors, as compared to businesses in Denver. "The visitors don't know that black market and I don't think they're going to go hunt for it," he said.

Breckenridge already has several medical marijuana dispensaries and, as per the state law, they will have the first crack at licenses to sell recreational marijuana. The Daily News says many are expected to seize the opportunity.