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Extreme skier is in extremely hot water

TELLURIDE, Colo. — A celebrated "extreme" skier’s name seems to be mud in Telluride at the moment.

The skier, Scott Kennett, who has been featured in several films as well as in the pages of Powder , used the lifts to ski an out-of-area run called Contention that is known for its considerable avalanche risk. Boosting the avalanche risk was a storm that was in the process of dropping a foot of snow.

After he badly broke his leg, Kennett used a cell phone to summon rescuers. The storm made a rescue so difficult that the rescue supervisor, Eric Berg, wasn’t sure he could get Kennett removed from the slope without substantial risk of harming the rescue personnel.

"That’s a very difficult thing to say to somebody – that you can’t get them out because you can’t make sure the rescuers will be safe," Berg told The Telluride Watch.

Then, ski patrollers volunteered to ski down to him, to splint his leg, and as they did, the storm unexpectedly broke long enough to allow helicopter access. But that’s when the rescuers discovered that the companion of Kennett was a 16-year-old freeride team skier that Kennett coaches.

Locals were cranky and indignant.

"If somebody chooses to be irresponsible and it’s a real dangerous day, at least leave the cell phone behind." said the local sheriff, Bill Masters, a card-carrying Libertarian. "We’ll find you in the springtime; that’s fine. But if you’re going to go in there, don’t’ call us and say, ‘You have to come get me now.’"

In addition to losing his skiing privileges at Telluride for two years, Kennett faces civil charges for violating the ski area boundary and could face criminal charges of child endangerment.

Passing hat for air service

DURANGO, Colo. — Like other resort areas, boosters of airplane service to Durango will be passing the hat more broadly in the community than just the traditional suspects.

Durango has a much more diversified economy than most ski towns. A study by the local Fort Lewis College finds that whereas tourism formerly accounted for 32 per cent of the local economy, but is now only 27 per cent. The old funding formula to subsidize air services – passing the hat to the ski area, the hotels, and the train operator – no longer works.

The local La Plata Economic Development Action Partnership is seeking $750000 in federal funds this year to subsidize flights, but is trying to round up $150,000 of local money.

If the group gets the federal money, it is most interested in patching together flights allowing more efficient access to and from cities in the East.

Those flights, said Mike Boyd of the Denver-based consulting firm, The Boyd Group, will allow Durango to remain a part of the global non-tourism economy. "And without air service, you will return to people coming to Durango to visit the mountain and ride the train."

But he also said that airlines will continue cutting back and consolidating flights. For Durango, that means working with United to try to bring in bigger planes.

Already, one high-tech entrepreneur from Durango has shifted his base to Denver. Part of the reason, he told ColoradoBiz Magazine, is to be more guaranteed of arriving in Houston in time for scheduled meetings.

Convention centre still on hold

VAIL, Colo. — Vail town officials continue to take steps toward building a conference centre at a cost of $36 million to $45 million, but have not fully committed themselves.

As has been the case for 20 years, that unresolved question is whether there will be enough 450-person groups booking conferences to justify this investment. Vail, while better served by transportation than most resorts, remains a bit off the beaten path. Convention planners figure a conference facility needs to be within 30 minutes of an airport. Vail is now 125 miles from Denver International Airport, separated by an increasingly congested Interstate 70. The local Eagle County Regional Airport is only 35 miles away, but the flight schedule – except possibly in winter – remains suspect.

Both the town council and a civic advisory committee appear dead-locked on the issue of whether to proceed with the building plans.

Nobody doubts that the conference centre would incur a deficit. The question is how much. A lodging tax approved by town voters three years ago, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, is generating $3.4 million a year. If bonds for construction are sold, they cannot exceed $2.7 million per year. That would leave $700,000 a year to cover operating deficits, although estimates of the deficit run up to $1.2 million.

A study by HVS Convention Sports and Entertainment Facilities Consulting found enough demand to justify the conference centre. The conference centre would generate $33 million in new spending in the town economy and support 329 jobs, the consultants said. As well, municipal tax coffers would fatten by $1.4 million annually. But to succeed, the convention centre must be architecturally attractive, they added.

But an influential group called the Vail Village Homeowners Association wants to delay moving forward and instead is calling for another community vote. Since the original vote in November 2002, notes Jim Lamont, the group’s executive director, significant financial investment in Vail – current estimates run to $1 billion – has been committed. The conference centre, he says, is not needed.

The link between water & warming

CANMORE, Alberta — Some people use bumper stickers to plead their causes. Bob Sanford goes a step further. He is carrying around a carbon dioxide concentration metre in his car.

With this device as the conversation-starter, Sanford explains the link between carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases and the warming climate in Western Canada. The warming climate is already affecting water supplies, which is his real cause.

Sanford is involved with a project called Water for Life, a program of the United Nations. Southern Alberta is an important place for water issues for three reasons, he says. The population is growing rapidly, there is increased competition for water use, and receding glaciers and other manifestations of climate change will affect future water supplies.

"This area is already undergoing significant changes in timing and amount of annual precipitation, which is going to profoundly affect tourism, industry, agriculture and even human settlement patterns in the West," Sanford told the Rocky Mountain Outlook.

Sanford’s car is a Toyota Prius, which gets 70 miles to the gallon on the highway and 60 in the city. On long downhills in the mountains, the car’s gas-burning engines shuts down and operations revert to battery power. "It’s a bit weird," he said. "All our lives we’re used to being alarmed if the engine stops."

Ski areas going green

DRIGGS, Idaho — Ski areas on both sides of the Tetons are wearing green.

Targhee Resort has adopted a "strategic energy management plan" that includes buying electricity produced at dams, instead of power created by burning coal. The resort is also changing light bulbs to compact fluorescents, which consume less electricity.

At Jackson Hole, the ski area purchases enough wind power to operate several chairlifts and is switching its snowmobile fleet to four-stroke engines, which emit less air pollution than traditional two-stroke engines. Too, it is changing light bulbs. Finally, to encourage car-pooling, the ski areas offers free parking to skiers with at least three people in a car.

Park name in dispute

CANMORE, Alberta — Canmore is having a disagreement about the name of a park. The park is called Indian Park, and while some thought it was so-named to honour the aboriginals, in this case the Stoney people, other say that it was colloquially called that because natives would fall asleep in the park after drinking at a nearby hotel.

Meanwhile, the Rotary Club wants to contribute $50,000 for the park’s upkeep, but insists the park’s name must somehow recognize Rotary. One possibility is the Rotary Friendship Park, although other iterations would more directly recognize Rotary ties to Japan.

Fraser getting attention

FRASER, Colo. — After being basically ignored for a long time, the Fraser River is suddenly getting much attention.

The city of Denver for years has siphoned 65 per cent of the water from the river and its tributaries, and now it wants to boost that number to more than 80 per cent. Intrawest and other developers want to tap the river for new housing projects in and near the towns of Winter Park and Fraser.

Now, America Rivers and allied groups including Trout Unlimited, has named the Fraser No. 3 on the list of the nation’s most endangered rivers. The groups want the Army Corps of Engineers to deny a permit for Denver’s plans.

In the short term, there is also good news. Colorado has allocated $475,000 for work to reconfigure the river bed. Because there is so much less water in the river, the bed no longer operates effectively in producing insects, which are needed to feed fish. As a result, local officials and environmental groups plan to deepen the river channel in specific areas to create a "ruffle, run pool" configuration.

Whiskers flow as does the beer

KETCHUM, Idaho — Ketchum held its first whiskery competition at the urging of a local reporter, Mike Ames.

Two years ago Ames had gone to Carson City, Nevada, to scout out the potential for a book about the beard and moustache contest being held there. He returned with not only goods for a book, but also the inspiration for a contest in Ketchum to see who had the best whiskers. Beer seems to be at the centre of the competition, and Germans seem to take it very seriously.

Ironically, the budding author has been able to grow neither a ‘stashe nor a beard. His bewhiskered entry was sideburns, reports the Idaho Mountain Express.

Expansion plans scrutinized

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. — The Crested Butte Town Council is getting a preview of plans for a new ski area. The ski area, located on Snodgrass, would be new in the sense that it’s not directly adjacent to the existing ski area, but instead separated by a road and residential areas.

Planning for Snodgrass began in 1978, but the owners of the Crested Butte ski area postponed it because of financing problems. It was proposed again in 1994, but this time the community rose up in opposition. Now, after working with a task force appointed by the Gunnison County commissioners, the owners of the Crested Butte ski area have a new, down-sized plan before Forest Service offices. Just how much the plan has been reduced is at the core of what the town council wants to know.

The new ski area is to have 250 to 325 acres of intermediate skier terrain. Ski area officials say that the biggest deficiency of this existing ski area, when trying to get destination skiers to return for a second year, is the absence of much intermediate terrain at the existing ski area. The new ski area will expedite development of base-area real estate. The ski area hopes to break ground on the expansion in 2008.

Discovery got it right

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. — Careful scientists often are unhappy when television producers try to dramatize the ways of nature. That doesn’t seem to be the case with the Discovery Channel’s docudrama about what a super volcanic eruption at Yellowstone might look like.

"All in all, they did a very thorough and careful job of trying to get the science and the human aspects as true to life as possible," said Jake Lowenstern, the top scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey at Yellowstone. Discovery consulted 40 experts in a wide range of fields in assembling the film.

The Jackson Hole News & Guide explains that a catastrophic-type explosion at Yellowstone has occurred at roughly 600,000-year intervals, most recently 640,000 years ago. That leads some observers to call Yellowstone a time bomb that’s overdue. But Lowenstern said it could happen again – or maybe never.

More likely are non-explosive lava flows such as occurred 70,000 years ago in Yellowstone. Something similar occurred between Vail and Glenwood Springs, only much more recently, 3,500 years ago.

Lawsuits lead to cleaner air

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — Skies have cleared and the rain and snow has become more pure because of pollution-control devices installed on coal-burning power plants near Steamboat Springs.

The coal-fired power plants are located upwind of Steamboat Springs, near the towns of Hayden and Craig. During the 1990s, the Sierra Club sued the owners of the power plant to force retrofits. The first of the retrofits to control emissions was installed in 1999.

Monitoring conducted from 1995 to 2003 shows a clear before-and-after sequence, reports The Steamboat Pilot after analyzing a new study issued by state and federal regulators.

First, as anecdotally observed by local residents, the air has become clearer. While clouds of steam remain, the haze described as a "big yellow-orange-brown thing" that most often appeared during spring months has receded.

Second, monitors show that two key chemicals, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, have also diminished. These chemicals can create particles that create the haze, but they can also cause acid rain and snow. One monitor near Buffalo Pass showed a 40 per cent decrease in sulphur dioxide. Another monitor showed a 20 per cent decrease in sulphate.

In sampling snow at four sites in the surrounding national forest, the U.S. Geological Survey found smaller declines in acidity.

The Pilot explains that acidic snow is harmful because when the snow melts, nearby creeks and ponds are drenched in an acidic pulse. This can be dangerous to salamanders, fish, and small aquatic species, which are breeding in the spring.

Repairing the damage may take some time. For example, the lake chemistry showed little change, as had been expected. Because lakes store so much water, sulphates can build up and have to be flushed out.

But environmental conditions remain less than perfect. The nearby Mount Zirkel Wilderness Area still has highly acidic snow, among the top five in acidity among the sites in the West that are monitored. This partly suggests that not all the pollution is created by the power plants, but also local cars and other sources.

Butte buses back to biodiesel

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. — Buses in Crested Butte were scheduled to start burning biodiesel in April after a winter devoted to using only petroleum-based diesel.

Bacteria in the winter’s supply of the fuel was blamed for clogged fuel filters that caused buses to breakdown at Christmas. Representatives of the oil company that supplied the faulty fuel declared the problem fully addressed, with no return of recurrent problems, according to the Crested Butte News.

Biodiesel is also used in a 20 per cent ratio to 80 per cent petrochemical diesel in the bus fleets at Breckenridge, Telluride, and Jackson Hole, and in snow cats at A-Basin and Aspen-Snowmass. However, Breckenridge buses were also reported idled temporarily this winter by a bad batch of fuel.

That trouble has darkened the reception being given biodiesel in other ski towns. The representative of another biodiesel manufacturer, Blue Sun, had to field skeptical questions when he showed up in Steamboat Springs to talk up biodiesel. The representative, John Long, acknowledged the problems at Crested Butte and Breckenridge, and traced the problem to the absence of standards dealing with the way in which alternative fuel is blended with petroleum-based diesel, reports The Steamboat Pilot.

Long defended biodiesel as causing less pollution. While it’s possible that biodiesel emits more nitric oxides, Long said that it emits 78 per cent less carbon dioxide. While some problems have been reported in converting to biodiesel, Long minimized those problems. Finally, he noted that the cost has come down in just the last year, to 10 to 15 per cent more than conventional diesel.

Both Steamboat and Vail Resorts officials are reported to be considering biodiesel.

Downed lawman mourned 110 years later in Park City

PARK CITY, Utah — It began with two young men, one 20 and the other 21, filching strawberries from a produce cart in Park City. Lawmen gave chase, and so did deputies, including 63-year-old Thomas A. Stagg, a father and grandfather.

At length, the outlaws had shot two lawmen, and before heading off into Utah they killed Stagg and another man. The two men were finally caught, and, after due process, one was executed. All this transpired in 1895.

For reason not entirely clear, Stagg was memorialized in a ceremony at the cemetery near Park City where he is buried. Among those in the audience were his granddaughter, now 87 and living in the Wasatch Front.

Telluride follows roundabouts

TELLURIDE, Colo. — Add Telluride to the list of ski towns with roundabouts. Work could start by June on the $1.8 million traffic-flow design at the town’s entrance. The roundabout is expected to double the projected traffic potential in 2025, reported The Telluride Watch, without substantial risk of accidents at the intersection.

Compromise in offing

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. — A compromise is in the offing that will keep the door slightly shut on automobiles from the outside world in the Crested Butte area.

Currently, the area is isolated, with just one paved road to the Crested Butte area, and in summer just a handful of more difficult gravel roads. For some years, the U.S. Forest Service has been trying to increase access, by paving the road across the Sawatch Range at Cottonwood Pass. That road would provide a much easier link from Buena Vista and, by extension, from metropolitan Denver and Colorado Springs.

In this compromise, local officials support and will help provide improvements to the road in Taylor Park, between Crested Butte and Cottonwood Pass. In return, the federal government will cool its heels on paving the pass on the west side (it’s already paved on the east side). With transportation funding drying up, that may stall the paving question for another 10 years or more.