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Mountain News: No country for young skiers

KETCHUM, Idaho – The average age of skiers had crept up, and that’s good and well in very many ways. But at Ketchum and Sun Valley, there’s a sense that the demographics have veered too much to those of a retirement community.

KETCHUM, Idaho – The average age of skiers had crept up, and that’s good and well in very many ways. But at Ketchum and Sun Valley, there’s a sense that the demographics have veered too much to those of a retirement community.

Dick Dorworth, a well-known ski journalist, tells the Idaho Mountain Express that when he goes into a Sun Valley base lodge in the morning that often he’s the youngest person there, “and I’m almost 70.”

Dorworth claims that the skiing on Bald Mountain is the best — and he should know. He’s taught skiing at many places, and skied most of the others, and in his younger years won a lot of ski races. But the culture at Sun Valley, he says, is not the best, although he did not explain why.

The Express suggests that the cost of skiing discourages younger people. A season pass this year is going for more than $2,000. A stripped-down 20-day pass costs $800.

Even Aspen is less expensive, with a $1,300 pass available to members of the local chamber of commerce. Far cheaper yet is the Epic Pass being offered by Vail Resorts, which costs $579 and offers unlimited access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin, plus California’s Heavenly Pass.

Bair Gourlay, a ski shop owner in Ketchum, said the high cost of skiing at Sun Valley discourages young people from spending a winter ski-bumming there — and makes it harder for local shops to find employees.

“The retail is a real struggle, especially for small, mom-and-pop stores,” Gourlay said. “We have to look at who it’s competing with — at some point we can’t just keep catering to the retired community.”

Of course, Vail’s ski areas all have relatively close proximity to major metro areas, which means that while they offer low prices for ski passes, volume is high. The closest city to Sun Valley is Boise — fast growing, but small compared to Denver and the Bay area.

 

Building debris must be sorted

BANFF, Alberta – Builders and craftsmen in Banff are now being required to separate construction waste for recycling. Last year, only 33 per cent was separated as necessary for recycling.

The requirement was adopted to help meet a regional goal to divert 70 per cent of trash from the local landfill through recycling. It already costs more to dump construction debris at the landfill, but not high enough to spur the builders to sort more thoroughly, reports the Rocky Mountain Outlook.

The law applies to kiln-dried lumber, drywall, metal, cardboard, concrete and asphalt shingles.

 

Hydro projects a concern

REVELSTOKE, B.C. – A private company has filed for the right to divert water from the Illecillewaet River, a tributary of the Columbia River, in order to produce electricity. The application by Chasm Power Corporation is among dozens of proposed hydroelectric projects in the interior of British Columbia as part of the provincial government’s goal of boosting electrical production.

The Revelstoke Times Review notes concern among environmentalists. The river in question provides habitat for bull trout, a species with declining populations, says Sarah Newton, director of the North Columbia Environmental Society. There are also concerns about secondary impacts, such as the disruption to grizzly and mountain caribou populations caused by clearing of trees for new transmission lines.

Norm Macdonald, an elected representative, disagrees with the provincial government’s strategy. “You have these private power projects being put in place without an overall plan. In my constituency there are 26 proposed projects. Individually, some of them may make sense, but as a whole it is a disastrous policy environmentally as well as economically,” he said. He also objects to the lack of local say-so in new hydroelectric projects.

 

East West Partners wins kudos

CANMORE, Alberta – Colorado-based East West Partners last year bought a major real-estate development in Canmore called Three Sisters Village. It was, and is, only partially completed.

East West is a major presence along Colorado’s I-70 corridor, in Utah’s Park City, and California’s Truckee-Tahoe area. But this was its first foray into Canada, and the Canmore area was apprehensive. Not helping anything was the recent news that East West had been fined significantly for allowing construction activities to muddy a creek in California with sediment, harming the fishery.

But the Rocky Mountain Outlook notes it likes what it sees. East West has announced it is reducing its density, but also has hired two of the most respected wildfire watchers in the valley to figure out where the third and final wildlife corridor should be based on what undeveloped land remains.

This, says the newspaper, is very much unlike the previous ownership. It says wildlife corridors were previously chosen based on whether the land had any value for houses. Land without commercial value, such as steep hillsides, was then designated as that area designed for wildlife, without any consideration whether it was useful to wildlife, either.

“Today, however, a new dawn seems to have arrived,” proclaimed the paper.

 

Real estate down 23% in July

ASPEN, Colo. – Real estate sales remained dampened in Aspen and Pitkin County during July. A study by Land Title Guarantee Co. found total dollar volume was down 23 per cent. But an even sharper drop-off of 47 per cent was recorded for the year.

 

Foreclosure auction planned

DONNELLY, Idaho – Clouds continue to pile up over Tamarack, the ski-based resort located 90 miles north of Boise that only three years ago drew President George W. Bush for a vacation. The latest bad news for the developers is that two banks, Bank of America and Sterling Bank, that had loaned money for a conference complex and an employee housing project at the resort plan to have the properties sold by auction.

The Associated Press, in stories published in the Boise Statesman, also reports that Bank of America forced a new agreement to cover lease payments on two ski lifts.

Separately, co-owner Jean-Pierre Boespflug conceded he may be forced to quit as chief executive officer to lure a new investor. Speculation also continues that the resort will be sold.

 

Money pours into races

VAIL, Colo. – With candidates for mayor in ski towns spending $30,000 and more to get elected, as was the case in Aspen last year, is it surprising that state legislature candidates are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars?

In the state house district that includes Summit, Eagle and Lake counties, Republican candidate Ali Hasan has already spent $191,000, nearly all of it his own money. His opponent, Christine Scanlan, a Democrat, has only raised $31,000, and spent only a third of it.

But the story is also of what outside sources are spending. That’s where Scanlan may be leading, the Vail Daily suggests. A group called Accountability for Colorado is doing mailings on her behalf. Big-dollar donors for that campaign include Pat Stryker, a medical-supplies heiress, and Tim Gill, the founder of the software company Quark.

 

Utility aims to get all renewable

ASPEN, Colo. – Customers of Aspen Electric, the municipal utility that supplies about two-thirds of the city, will see a rate increase of about 20 per cent. City officials describe it as a way to leverage the city’s electrical supply to 100 per cent renewable sources. Currently, Aspen Electric operates on about 75 per cent renewable sources.

However, the increased costs will not be fully shared. The new rates will be incremental, so that consumers who use more kilowatt hours monthly will pay more. A consultant, Todd Cristiano, told the Aspen City Council that it’s possible some customers will see a decrease in their rates.

Aspen already buys a great deal of wind-generated electricity from outside sources, and in the 1990s invested in retrofit of a nearby dam, at Ruedi Reservoir, to give it hydroelectric capacity. It is also refurbishing hydroelectric plants on two local creeks to deliver electricity. Other sources of heat and energy, including ground-source heat pumps and geothermal energy, are also being explored.

 

Copper says it’s green

COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. – Copper Mountain got an F in the Ski Area Report Card that was issued last year by Colorado Wild and other environmental groups. It was the worst rating in the western United States.

The resort angrily denounced the rating and fired back that it was doing a lot. Recently, the resort announced some of those gains.

For example, the transportation centre now has a 4.2-kilowatt photovoltaic solar collector. It gained certification of a 45,000-square-foot building under the Green Globes program, which is parallel to the better-known LEED certification which rates energy and other environmental efficiency of a building. The resort also replaced paper plates with washable plates in three of the resort’s four food courts, reports the Summit Daily News.

In the last year, the resort hired an environmental program coordinator.

 

Telluride edges Aspen in bag fight

TELLURIDE, Colo. – In the summertime battle of the bags, Telluride edged Aspen. Grocers there recorded the use of more than 29,000 reusable bags between Memorial Day and Labour Day, compared to not quite 27,000 in Aspen.

The contest had been sponsored by environmental groups from the respective towns, who want to discourage one-use plastic bags. World-wide attention has been focused increasingly on the plastic bags, which are made from petroleum. Several cities have banned them outright.

Environmental leaders are considering asking for similar bans in Aspen and Telluride, or possibly the idea of requiring charges for the bags.

 

Just for teachers

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Teachers in Wyoming’s Teton County get paid $52,582 to $77,082 annually. Throw in the benefits package, and it’s a pretty good living in most of the country.

But teachers’ wages have not been rising nearly as rapidly as housing costs. Housing commissioners, reports the Jackson Hole News & Guide, have been hearing recently about a small subdivision that would be dedicated to teachers. Three-bedroom houses would range in price between $295,000 and $325,000. With a downpayment of 20 per cent on the latter house and 5.75 per cent interest, would mean a monthly mortgage of $1,900.

 

Thinning not always best

I-70 CORRIDOR, Colo. – Thinning of forests near homes in areas hit hard by mountain bark beetles continues in communities along Colorado’s Interstate 70. But the experience in Summit County has been that making neighbourhoods in these wildland-urban interfaces less susceptible to fire is both expensive and not without counter-intuitive twists.

Consider this effect of thinning. The conventional wisdom is that removing the trees makes nearby homes safe from wildfire. But fire expert Ross Wilmore, of the U.S. Forest Service, tells the Summit Daily News that removing dead trees allows more sunlight to hit the ground, allowing grasses and shrubs to grow. When dried, this vegetation becomes “ladder fuels” that enable fires to spread and climb into the tops of trees.

Such so-called crown fires are the most intense. This, said Wilmore, means that some lower-elevation areas will have moderate fire risks, instead of low.

The thinning is very expensive. In the last three years, chain-saw-wielding timber crews have “treated” — to use the word preferred by professional foresters — 400 acres in locations considered of greatest danger if fires should occur. That leaves 8,600 acres to go.

The total cost of this future cutting, according to the Summit County Wildfire Council, is nearly $39 million. The county government figures it can cough up $13 million, but hopes to get a county tax increase approved that will yield another $6 million in the next 12 years.

The wood is worth relatively little. A new mill in Kremmling, about 40 miles away, makes pellets for burning in stoves. However, the Daily News story suggests that the mill’s rate of $10 to $20 per ton won’t defray much of the cost.

The U.S. Forest Service is willing to pay $1,500 to $2,000 per acre for tree removal, but the actual cost is estimated to range from $4,500 to $8,000 an acre.

As they have for several years, representatives from the I-70 corridor have trundled to Washington D.C. to argue that the bark beetle epidemic requires stepped-up federal aid.

“I don’t think the federal government fully understands how much of a national issue this is, and we’re going to raise their attention,” State Rep. Christine Scanlan told the Summit Daily.

Scanlan asked for federal appropriations during the next three years of $200 million, about half to be devoted to wildfire mitigation, with the balance to be used to cut down trees that threaten existing structures or threaten public safety. Trees falling into powerlines could disrupt electrical service, she says.

Another legislator, State Sen. Dan Gibbs, said $200 million falls far short of what is needed. “We need to get more federal funds earmarked for Colorado,” he told the Summit Daily News. Gibbs in the past procured $1 million for logging operations, plus other state funds for thinning projects in municipal watersheds that would be adversely affected by fire.

The epidemic, which is traced to 1996, is briskly turning most of the lodgepole pine forests in northern Colorado a rusty red. Forestry officials warned in January that 95 per cent of lodgepole pine in the state will be dead within five years.

 

Ad space for rent at schools

ASPEN, Colo. – Aspen School District officials seem ready to authorize sale of advertising space at athletic facilities. Already, scoreboards at the outdoor stadium and the high school gym have advertising. Down-valley at Glenwood Springs, advertising produces $20,000 to $30,000 for athletic programs.

But the school board, reports The Aspen Times, appears set against advertising within classrooms and also permanent naming, such as for donors.

“There’s a sense that some on the board feel that when you come to school, you shouldn’t necessarily have the names of some of your classmates in your face — because they have a lot of money and you don’t,” noted Fred Peirce, a school board member.

 

Boring continuing

SILVERTON, Colo. – Drills are bore into an old mine at Silverton as a company called Colorado Goldfields continues it examination of what minerals may still be available for extraction.

The company this summer drilled two holes in the Gold King, a mine active from 1895 to 1920. The mine produced about 345,000 ounces of gold and 4 million ounces of silver.

Steve Guyer, the chief financial officer, told the Durango Herald in August that production costs are well below gold prices. Still, Goldfields has not yet begun mining, although it does proclaim that profitability on its operations will arrive within 18 months.

The company also continues to drill into the Mogul Mine, in the hope of intersecting the historical vein that had been mined. Historical data indicated a good grade of silver, lead, copper and zinc.