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A tale of two winters in Colorado

WOLF CREEK, Colo. — As is so often the case, it’s shaping up as a tale of two winters in Colorado. Along the I-70 corridor and north at Steamboat Springs, the stories have been about the abundance of snow.

WOLF CREEK, Colo. — As is so often the case, it’s shaping up as a tale of two winters in Colorado.

Along the I-70 corridor and north at Steamboat Springs, the stories have been about the abundance of snow. Snow shovelers and plowers are making a good living, although some places are running out of places to dump it.

This snow, along with everything else, has produced what was described in several resort locations as a banner holiday period. At Beaver Creek, the manager of Charter Sports told the Vail Daily that more skis were rented during Christmas week than had ever been rented before there – or any other Charter Sports store. Somewhat similarly, the number of cars parked along the frontage road in Vail was up substantially.

A similar story comes from Aspen, where the Buttermilk ski area set a "modern-day record" for users, some 3,163. But all four of the local ski areas at Aspen were reporting gains, none more significantly than at Highlands, where a new double-black-diamond area is drawing visitors. Again, the biggest story seems to be good snow.

In Southern Colorado, the story is an all-too-familiar one of recent years. Wolf Creek Ski Area, which often leads the state’s ski areas with an average snowfall of 435 inches, had received only 82 inches by early January. Snowpacks in that part of the state are reported to be 35 to 50 per cent of normal, echoing readings of the early part of the 21 st century.

No more Sustainable Slopes Day

LAKEWOOD, Colo. — After three years, the Sustainable Slopes Day that has been held at ski areas across the U.S. in February has ended. The sponsoring group, the National Ski Areas Association, did not explain why the event was pulled. However, the group’s Geraldine Link said the organizations will continue with its "Keep Winter Cool" campaign. That campaign aims to direct attention at global warming and how people can incorporate energy-saving methods into their lives.

The Summit Daily News says that one ski area, Arapahoe Basin, plans a special Climate Awareness Day in February, with activities similar to those in the past. The newspaper reports that 2005 is expected to be the second-warmest year on record by the Switzerland-based World Meteorological Organization.

Aspen wants Front Range skiers

ASPEN, Colo. — While 20 per cent of Aspen’s skiers come from foreign countries, and most of the rest come from New York and Los Angeles and other high-rent districts, the Aspen Skiing Co. isn’t above scrapping for the low-hanging fruit of the Colorado Front Range.

In addition to taking out big newspaper ads bolstered by radio spots, the ski company has sent 25,000 pieces of mail to promote its last-minute lodging deals. "This is one of the biggest Front Range pushes we’ve ever done," ski company spokesman Jeff Hanle told the Aspen Daily News.

Aspen is offering an attractive pass, which allows admission to the company’s four ski mountains at a cost of $38 a day. The trick is getting the Front Rangers to range for nearly four hours on the highway to Aspen.

Less frost, more heat

ASPEN, Colo. — Temperatures taken at Aspen’s water treatment plant record a warming trend, three more frost-free weeks each year since measurements were begun in the late 1940s.

In fact, the entire globe warmed by a half-degree during the 20 th century. But, even if the emission of greenhouse gases were stabilized today, the planet will warm by another half-degree, reports Gerald Meehl, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

And what if, as some believe possible, global temperatures rise 2 degrees in the next half-century? The result in Aspen, says Meehl, will be an additional three months of frost-free weather each year.

Meehl is participating with Aspen, which has launched a project called the Canary Initiative. The study, which is expected in March, will attempt to estimate snowpack for future ski seasons. Aspen hopes to document its own contribution to global warming, including the fossil-fuel-guzzling ways that most of its visitors use to get there.

Four resorts hold out

TAOS, N.M. — Only four ski resorts in the United States remain truly that: allowing only skis, and one of them is Taos, which is now in its 50 th season.

"We see it as something that differentiates us from other ski areas," general manager Gordon Briner said in a story distributed by the Associated press.

Of the other three ski areas, one is Vermont’s Mad River Glen, and two are in Utah: Alta and Deer Valley.

Snowboarding last season accounted for 28.7 per cent of national lift ticket sales.

Jackson digging out

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — An eight-day sequence of storms left six feet of snow in Jackson Hole. The storms caused nearby Teton Pass to close and forced the closure of the ski area’s Bridger Gondola when a tree fell on the cable line. Two avalanche deaths were reported during the sequence, one of a skier and the second of a snowmobiler.

Patrons asked to pitch in

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. — Operators of the Crested Butte ski area have begun asking patrons of its restaurants and retail stores for a 1 per cent donation to the local open space program. Some 60 businesses in the Crested Butte area participate in the program.

"Open space is a huge part of this valley and the drive for people to come here, explained the ski company’s Ethan Mueller. He added that few other ski resorts have the open space, views and serenity that Crested Butte has. "The I-70 resorts either never had it, or lost it and will never regain it. It’s important to preserve the reasons locals came to live and guests came to visit."

Yet another Aspen magazine

ASPEN, Colo. — Aspen already has a glut of magazines devoted to the local lifestyle. Now, it’s getting another one – sort of. The magazine is actually focused on Woody Creek, the semi-rural area near Aspen where the late writer, Hunter Thompson, held sway. It is to be co-edited by Thompson’s widow, Anita.

The neighborhood is home to some of the Aspen area’s more eccentric residents. For its premier issue, which is scheduled for February, satirist and commentator P.J. O’Rourke will profile – surprise, surprise – Hunter Thompson. An initial press run of 1,000 is planned.

Clean but maybe not sober

PARK CITY, Utah — Like so many ski towns, Park City has its roots in the mining era. As such, Main Street first was a place of grocery, hardware and other such stories.

Main Street now serves a different clientele, of course, but curiously sandwiched between two art galleries is an old-fashioned Laundromat, where it’s $1.25 a load. The Park Record doesn’t say exactly why the owner hasn’t long ago cashed out, except that the place seems to thrive – partly because it’s so close to the bars. For some, a load of laundry is just enough time to get a quick beer.

Health club building healthy facility

HAILEY, Idaho — A health club being built in Hailey, 10 miles west of Ketchum and Sun Valley, is taking the concept of wellness one step further. The developer intends the building itself to be healthy.

The 19,000-square-foot facility will have active and passive solar heating, European "breathing walls," non-toxic building materials and natural daylighting and ventilation, reports the Idaho Mountain Express.

The building's "clearstory" windows and large overhead glass-covered atrium will let in abundant natural daylighting, thereby reducing dependence on artificial lighting. The overall effect of the natural lighting will be to create a healthier environment more conducive to working out, said architect Dale Bates.

The editors of Natural Home and Garden magazine recently named Bates one of the top 10 green architects in the country for 2005.

Three bears take a stroll

ASPEN, Colo. — Three bears were roaming Aspen in early January, but wildlife biologists tell The Aspen Times bears occasionally come out of hibernation during winter.

One roamed in Silverthorne last year, and avalanche blasting at Steamboat has occasionally flushed groggy bears from the three dens found at the ski area. Wildlife officials do not suspect warmer temperatures or that hunger aroused the bears in Aspen.

More likely, the bears didn’t find a good den early enough and hunkered down for winter under a tree or shrub that may be too close to a road. The bears were expected to return to hibernation within a few days.

More consolidation talk

FRASER, Colo. — The towns of Fraser and Winter Park, which sit cheek by jowl, are talking about consolidation. Already, they share a border and also police officers. They will soon share building inspectors. And, says the Winter Park Manifest, it would make sense for them to share land-use planning. Heck, the newspaper even foresees the day of the two sharing a name.

What name would that be? Fraser is the older of the two community, with a history dating to the post office that was established there in 1876, even if it was not incorporated until 1953. Winter Park began life as a railroad camp in the 1920s, but very quickly became something of a ski resort that, after World War II, was known as Hideaway Park. It was incorporated in 1978 and given the name Winter Park, to create a common identity with the ski area of the same name.

Telluride restored one stone at a time

TELLURIDE, Colo. — Brick by brick, Telluride is being restored. The Telluride watch tells of the town’s Nugget Building, which was originally built in 1892, at the height of the town’s mining boom. The building, located on a prominent corner in the town’s business district, is being restored in a five-year project that is described as a labor of love.

More curious is the restoration of what is unremarkably called the Old Stone House. It is similarly described as a "small, square, gray-stone building." It isn’t even a designated historic building in a town that reeks of history.

Despite this lack of specialness, the house has been dismantled, brick by brick, because the mortar had elevated levels of lead, as was common in buildings of that era. Moreover, the soil beneath the building is being treated, and then the house is being reassembled in the same way.