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Mountain News: Telluride wrangles with avie retrievals

TELLURIDE, Colo. — The death last week of a snowboarder in the exhilarating but often deadly Bear Creek drainage adjacent to the Telluride ski area has renewed a discussion about who bears the responsibility for rescue of avalanche victims.
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Who pays for backcountries is a constant debate and the topic is hot at Telluride following a backcountry death last week.

TELLURIDE, Colo. — The death last week of a snowboarder in the exhilarating but often deadly Bear Creek drainage adjacent to the Telluride ski area has renewed a discussion about who bears the responsibility for rescue of avalanche victims.

Most skiers and snowboarders in Bear Creek access the steep slopes after first riding the lifts. After several deadly avalanches in the 1980s, the Forest Service ordered backcountry gates closed.

But about a decade ago, the Forest Service decided it was time to open the gates. An estimated 150 to 300 trips are made into the bowl every day during ski season.

Bill Masters, the sheriff of San Miguel County, says he's left with the responsibility for responding when people are buried, and often killed, in avalanches. One rescue operation alone can cost $30,000 to $500,000, he estimates. And even if no avalanches occur, he has to be prepared, with a staff that is equipped and insured.

Masters tells The Telluride Watch that he wants local government jurisdictions to consider imposing a lift ticket tax to fund search and rescue operations.

Dave Riley, chief executive officer of Telluride Ski and Golf Co., the ski area operator, dislikes the idea of a lift ticket tax. Few people who purchase lift tickets go into the backcountry. "I think from an equity point of view, dinging visitors to pay for services they are not using isn't justified."

Masters says that Telluride's situation is different from that of other sidecountry ski experiences at other ski areas.

"Here it is so easy to leave the ski area boundaries, ski extremely hazardous, dynamic terrain and then get back on the lift. When I say we have 150 to 300 user trips a day in Bear Creek, there aren't that many people skiing it, but there are a lot of people doing it five times in a day."

Neither the ski area, which provides the uphill transportation, nor the Forest Service, which controls the gate, has to deal with the aftermath, he says. He suggests — as has been discussed for the last few years — that the Forest Service extend the boundary of the ski area into Bear Creek and give it responsibility for administration — and for rescues.

The decade-long sheriff in San Miguel County, Masters has handled many avalanche fatalities. He says that none of the victims he has recovered would have been saved by ABS air bags or Avalungs.

Houses get bigger over the decades

PARK CITY, Utah — It would seem that houses are continuing to get bigger at Park City. The city is big enough to have both the old miners' houses, which are mostly small, and the mansions of Deer Valley.

Yet based simply on averages, houses are getting bigger: a 35 per cent increase since 1990. As of 2010, the average new home was 6,824 square feet.

The Park Record explains that the larger houses typically are built on large lots and by people who think they need a mansion for all their kids and grandchildren on Christmas Day.

But both real estate agents and an architect tell the newspaper that there's now a slight downward trend in house size, owing partly to utility bills.

Scientists in Banff track pika haystacks

BANFF, Alberta — A study is underway of the "hay piles" built during summer in Banff National Park. The hay piles are the small stashes of grass assembled by pikas, to see them through the winter. They do not hibernate.

Relatively little is known about the pikas that frequent the high elevations of the Rocky Mountains, but evidence that has emerged during the last decade suggests that the changing climate is making survival even more difficult for the small creatures.

"We really don't know much about pikas in our area, but pikas in other areas are susceptible to changing temperatures, precipitation and timing of spring snowmelt," says Jesse Whittington, wildlife biologist for Parks Canada.

The Rocky Mountain Outlook reports that Whittington and other researchers counted hay pile storage sites built by pikas at 12 locations in Banff and Kootenay National Park last year. They will return this summer to compare the piles.

Ski area beacons a no-no in Whitefish

WHITEFISH, Mont. — What's advertising, and what's merely educational?

At Whitefish, the ski area wanted to erect two flashing beacons on the side of a local microbrewery. One beacon would indicate fresh powder on the ski hill, and the other would indicate an inversion, leaving the town in fog but with clear skies up on the mountain. Both, of course, would indicate it's time to head to the slopes, if at all possible.

But because that's essentially a commercial message, reports the Whitefish Pilot, the signs violate the city's sign code. One option, reported the city attorney, is to put the same beacons on a city-owned building. As such, the beacons would then be considered information that benefits the public.

The resort seems uninterested in that.

Biz boost expected from airport name

BOZEMAN, Mont. — The airport just west of Bozeman now has a tuxedo name. Instead of plain-old Gallatin Field, reflecting the valley where it is located, the new name is the Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport.

The new name comes on the heels of a $40 million upgrade in the terminal, which will allow the airport to accommodate 1.5 million people arriving and departing each year. Last year, a record, the airport handled 400,000 passengers.

By adding the name "international," directors think they may be able to attract more visitors from foreign countries. They aim to make the airport the first choice for visitors to Yellowstone National Park, which is an hour-and-a-half away. Airport director Brian Sprenger says the simple name change should increase business by 5 to 10 per cent.

Of course, business hasn't been bad before. Passenger volume has grown by 19 per cent since 2005. It serves as a link to the Big Sky, Yellowstone Club and other ski areas about an hour away, as well as the closer-in Bridger Bowl.

The airport has direct flights to 14 metropolitan markets across the country, and is adding a direct flight this summer to and from New York City. The flight, which costs United Airlines $68,000 per trip, is being subsidized with a $950,000 federal grant augmented by $688,000 from resorts at Big Sky and the Bozeman chamber of commerce.

Race will take runners from Aspen to Breck

ASPEN, Colo. — A company called Ragnar Events plans to produce a running race in late July for teams of runners. The 322-kilometre run will begin at Aspen, continue down-valley to Glenwood Springs, and then continue east to Vail and then Breckenridge.

The cost per team is $1,200, and each team must have a van with at least six runners. Each leg typically ranges between five and 13 kilometres. The format allows for a mix of abilities, with presumably the more challenging uphill of Vail Pass relying upon the hardiness of the more experienced runners, race coordinators tell The Aspen Times.

Jackson Holers get fond of chickens

JACKSON, Wyo. — Chickens aren't allowed in Jackson or many of the rural subdivisions. Just the same, when saddle shop owner John Bauer began selling chicken feed a few years ago, he was "absolutely shocked how many people came in."

"All over the valley, as in other parts of this country, people are crazy about their backyard chickens," reports the Jackson Hole News&Guide's Elizabeth Clair Flood. "They are popular like cupcakes and iPads."

Last summer, 70 people showed interest in starting a 4-H chicken club. Ginny Mahood, the mother of four children and 12 chickens, agreed to do so. Raising chickens is an easy way for children to learn about agriculture, animals and responsibility.

Chickens are fun, testify any number of Jackson Hole residents. Michelle Metzer, of Wildflower Bakery, likes to sit on the fence with her chickens. "It just makes you feel good to be around these animals," she told the newspaper. "I can't explain it."

Then there are the eggs. Some owners get two-dozen per day — useful for barter or just being generous.

Carol Parke said she hopes to someday be like a chicken: "peaceful, focused, entertaining, perfectly happy with who I am and what I do to express my tiny glimmer of God's amazing creation."

It's feast time for famished ski areas

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLO. — For many ski areas facing famine at the start of ski season, it's now feast time.

The Steamboat Ski Area had 69 centimetres of snow on Sunday, breaking the previous record for a one-day dump. When the snow from the storm stopped falling on Monday, there were another 18 centimetres at mid-mountain. Meteorologists tell the Steamboat Pilot that they expect the good fortune to continue through the week, with snow possible every day.

At Idaho's Bogus Basin, snow was so scarce that the ski area, located near Boise, didn't open until Jan. 19. Now, Bogus has more snow than it did during last year's season of big and regular storms.

More snowmaking this year? Spokeswoman Gretchen Anderson says no. There's just no water to be had, she explains.

But while winter has returned, it's still a relatively warm and so-so winter in many spots.

In Aspen, Ferrari has had to modify its first winter driving school and refund money to some participants because a lack of snow and warm temperatures made it impossible to maintain an ice-and-snow course, reports the Aspen Daily News. Instead, for $11,300 per person, 40 drivers participated in a two-day program that involved driving Ferraris on 350 miles of mountain roads in the Aspen area.