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Wind power purchase lifts price of Vail stock

DENVER, Colo.

DENVER, Colo. — Vail Resorts’ announcement last week that it is following in the footsteps of Aspen Skiing and going 100 per cent wind for its electrical energy needs at its five ski areas, 10 hotels, and 125 retail stores attracted broad attention.

The story ran on the front page in Denver’s two biggest newspapers, but even got prominent play in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

The company’s chief executive officer, Rob Katz, said the wind power purchase was motivated fundamentally by the desire for the company to get closer to its customers. What does that mean? It included, he said, broad concerns about the potential impacts of global warming.

While Vail Resorts representatives said they would be paying an undisclosed additional cost in making the commitment to wind, they also told Mountain Town News they believed it would be good for the bottom line. Stockholders seem to agree. The Rocky Mountain News notes that the stock price for the company went up $1.

The Summit Daily News interpreted Vail’s announcement as a challenge – and a welcome one. The newspaper said the wind-power decision means "good environmental stewardship will become an expectation for all high country businesses, if it’s not already. Simply put, if Vail can do it, so can we."

The newspaper suggested that Intrawest – another major ski company and real estate developer – will surely follow the example set by Aspen and Vail.

Denver eyes 2018 Olympic bid

DENVER, Colo. — Denver has taken the first step toward becoming a candidate to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. The Rocky Mountain News reports that Reno/Lake Tahoe, Salt Lake City, and Lake Placid have also expressed interest in the 2018 event.

Denver has been named a "community partner city," which the newspaper says is a critical step in the city becoming an Olympic candidate. Denver must explain how it has changed since the city in 1972 withdrew its sponsorship of the 1976 Olympics. Colorado voters had chosen to withdraw taxpayer funding because of concerns about poor administration and lack of accountability in that effort, plus more over-arching concerns about runaway development.

It’s not clear which resort or resorts might be included in Denver’s bid.

The pain of flying commercial

ASPEN, Colo. — Earlier this year, Aspen released its study that attempts to document the greenhouse gas emissions caused by residents of the town and its visitors. Those impacts are huge, about double those per capita of U.S. residents. And a good part of the story – although certainly not all – is the jet travel that requires enormous amounts of fossil fuels.

Among the most extravagant ways to fly, of course, is by private jet. But new fractional-share jets make it something more affordable, if still something reserved for the über rich. The New York Times on Sunday explored this rarified world, in which use of jets can be purchased the way lower-income immigrants purchase long-distance telephone cards.

Venturing to Aspen, the newspaper explained that private air travel has become almost ordinary to even GenX entrepreneurs, not just old men. Such was the case of the couple in their 30s who, because of equipment problems, were forced to fly commercially from Aspen to Denver’s airport.

"There, the clients’ children, 4 and 6, never having experienced a commercial airport, sat on the floor of the vast and bewildering concourse and wailed," explained the paper. "And who among us, truly, has not at some point experienced a similar urge?"

The newspapers also mentioned Sun Valley and Jackson Hole as being among the A-list for people with money enough to burn jet fuel in a private sort of way.

Middle-aged, and still the youngest

KETCHUM, Idaho — John Rember in 1994 issued a book called "Cheerleaders from Gomorrah: Tales from the Lycra Archipelago," a book that was basically about the culture of resort valleys such as in the Ketchum/Sun Valley area, where he lives. He has recently begun writing a column once again in the Idaho Mountain Express.

In that column, Rember, who is 55, remarks upon one important characteristic of Sun Valley, namely the fact that it has become a retirement village of sorts. "There were still days on Baldy last winter when I was the youngest skier on the mountain," says Rember.

A billion here, a billion there

VAIL, Colo. — Vail is now well underway in what was long called its $1 billion renaissance, in which substantial parts of both the Vail Village and LionsHead base areas are being torn down and replaced.

But that $1 billion is now rapidly moving toward $2 billion. In addition to the $285 million Solaris project, which is replacing the Crossroads Mall, the town is now contemplating replacement of the LionsHead Parking Structure. The parking garage has 1,150 spaces and a few stories and offices.

The town is negotiating with two possible developers, locally based East West Partners and Dallas-based Open/Hillwood. The company includes Ross Perot Jr., son of the former presidential candidate and also a developer. His interests include a ranch that was subdivided in Jackson Hole.

Both developers see this as a $500 million project.

Their specific visions, however, are somewhat different. The Dallas firm sees another five-star hotel, both a W Hotel Retreat and a St. Regis, to add to the handful of five-star properties already existing in Vail or being planned.

East West sees stepping down a notch, to a four-star hotel, to better appeal to families. East West’s plans include 150 hotel rooms, 50 to 100 time share units, and 82 to 132 condos, plus a relatively small conference centre, and various stores.

Open/Hillwood sees some expansion of parking spaces, more hotel rooms, about the same number of condos, but more of a performing arts venue.

Carbondale takes aim at emissions

CARBONDALE, Colo. — Although located just 30 miles west of Aspen, Carbondale takes its name from the coal seam that lies just west of the town, then slants west of Glenwood Springs and northward to Craig. While coal continues to be mined at Craig, powering several power plants in the vicinity, the giant mines near Carbondale now have all closed.

Just the same, Carbondale is paying a lot of attention to carbon. Some 100 citizens attended an event called the Energy Extravaganza last November to offer ideas how to depend less on fossil fuels and, more generally, reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases.

Further work by an environmental board yielded the Carbondale Energy and Climate Protection Plan. Town trustees have now approved that plan and allocated up to $140,000 per year to implement it. The goal is to grab the low-hanging fruit first, with the town leading by example.

For example, reports the Valley Journal, plans are afoot to conduct energy audits of town-owned facilities. A recreation centre being planned may be made "green," as energy efficient buildings are often described. A large-scale solar installation is possible, and the town may revise its building codes to further encourage energy efficiency.

While the town figures it needs at least one staff member to make these things happen, it may instead subcontract with a locally based non-profit group, called Community Office for Resource Efficiency. That group, CORE, also operates projects in Aspen and Pitkin County.

In addition, the town has applied for more than $1.5 million from the federal government in Clean Renewable Energy Bonds. The federal government, through the 2005 energy bill, agrees to pay the interest on such bonds.

Tom Baker, the town manager, says the plans can be broadly seen in three categories: town buildings and operations, citizen outreach and initiatives, and renewable programs and projects.

Heat brings vitality, gas

ASPEN, Colo. — Aspen has pledged to reduce its emissions by 1 per cent a year. But just how difficult that may be is illustrated by a story told by The Aspen Times.

In an effort to boost vitality in its downtown area, the city had installed an outdoor fire hearth, to be used in winter.

It turns out that the hearth can produce as much greenhouse gas as one-fifth of the Aspen City Hall. That puts the city in a peculiar position, given its new commitment to fighting global warming. While it is looking at any and every way to reduce energy use, does it make sense to then heat the great outdoors?

The Aspen Times reports town officials haven’t decided what to do.

The horror of the ‘small’ home

ASPEN, Colo. — Pitkin County in early July adopted a law capping sizes of new homes at 15,000 square feet. Some homebuilders seem to fear even more restrictive laws could be enacted.

"The general atmosphere is one of fear in terms of eventually reducing house size in the future," said one real estate broker, Tim Estin, of Mason & Morse. He told The Aspen Times that with land prices so high in Pitkin County, real estate buyers probably feel compelled to build houses as large as possible on their property.

Of course, Aspen does cater to the world’s wealthiest 1 to 3 per cent of citizens. That probably explains why the average new home in Pitkin County is about 5,000 square feet, compared to the median of about 2,450 square feet nationally. But even that national figure is 250 per cent larger than comparable homes built in 1950.

In taking aim at large homes, Pitkin County had several justifications. A larger home requires more large construction vehicles, such as dump trucks, which create more damage to roads. Once completed, according to a 1999 study conducted by the county, homes larger than 3,500 square feet generate more demand for services such as cleaning and landscaping than do smaller homes.

And finally, larger homes require more energy to heat and, even in Aspen, cool. "The trend we’re seeing, including the trend in luxury homes, is moving in the opposite direction of that which we need to go," said Dan Richardson, the global warming coordinator for Aspen.

However, Richardson cautioned that larger does not always mean more polluting. One 11,000-square-foot house surveyed by the town in its global warming program, called Canary Initiative, had fewer total emissions than one that was 8,000 square feet.

Still, the general moralistic bent is expressed well by Mick Ireland, a county commissioner. Aspen "has a late-empire-of-Rome feel to it that’s kind of disturbing," he told the Times. "Excess, everywhere you look."

Supporters testify for upgrades

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Vail Resorts has lined up witnesses to testify on behalf of its proposed upgrades at the Heavenly ski area.

The message given at a recent meeting is that the ski area upgrades being proposed are necessary for Heavenly to keep pace with other ski areas, particularly in competing for the lucrative destination travelers. Specifically, Heavenly wants several high-speed chairlifts, an amphitheater, and a new restaurant.

The Tahoe Daily Tribune reports some backlash. Environmentalists protest the removal of 230 trees considered old growth. A lift could be realigned. Also, loyal tree skiers are loath to lose their turf.

Aspen sticker price $82/day

ASPEN, Colo. — The stickers on the ski product have been issued at Aspen and the three other ski areas operated by the Aspen Skiing Co. The one-day walk-up rate this year will be $82, and for the locals buying an unrestricted season pass through the local resort association the cost is $1,179, if purchased by early September. Aspen also has passes good two days a week, and also passes good for one day per week. Few actually pay the sticker value, of course, although it does set the tone.

Adventure ski terrain grows

SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. — The "adventure skiing" opportunities in Summit County continue to expand. Last winter Breckenridge opened an expansion area serviced by what is now North America’s highest ski lift. The Forest Service is looking benignly on plans by Arapahoe Basin to substantially expand with above-timberline skiing in Montezuma Bowl.

The latest news comes from Keystone, which now has government permission to expand both guided and unguided bowl skiing in an area in the Upper Jones Gulch, off Independence and Bear mountains. Nearly all of the skiing will be in open bowls above 11,400 feet, with some pitches approaching 50 per cent.

This additional 278 acres gives Keystone a total of 858 acres of Sno-cat skiing.

The Summit Daily News notes that some concerns had been expressed of potential damage to habitat of Canada lynx. However, most of the new terrain is above the prime habitat, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded the additional skiing will have only a slight effect on lynx, with no lingering harm.

Website provides wildlife alerts

CANMORE, Alberta — Last year Isabelle Dubé and a friend were trail running near Canmore when she was mauled, and killed, by a grizzly bear. In response, her husband, Heath McCroy, has set up a website, trailex.org, so that backcountry users in the Bow River Valley can exchange information about where the bears, mountain lions and other wildlife are.

It seems to be a big hit, so to speak, as it is already getting 10,000 hits a day. McCroy believes that had his wife known about the bears, she would have chosen to go elsewhere. The Discovery Channel is producing a documentary about bear-human conflicts, and is focusing on Canmore.

Aspen numbers keep climbing

ASPEN, Colo. — The economy has continued to bulge this year in Aspen on all fronts. Sales tax revenues through June were up 9.1 per cent as compared to last year, and within that sector lodging collections were up at least twice as much. The real estate tax yielded a 20 per cent increase.

Ketchum prices stall

KETCHUM, Idaho — The real estate market is taking a breather in the Ketchum-Sun Valley area. The Idaho Mountain Express reports 1,100 homes on the market in the Wood River Valley, where the resort is located. That’s 400 more than was the case this year.

Meanwhile, the aggressive upward march of prices has started to slow. In some cases, people have dropped their prices by up to 10 per cent. However, values aren’t actually dropping.

What’s happening? Interest rates are higher, and people are reacting to higher gas prices and the worrisome situation in the Middle East.

But at least one component of the market doesn’t seem to be affected, that for custom-built vacation homes. "The custom market for second homes is going strong, as always," said Jon Anderson, vice president of the Building Contractors Association of the Wood River Valley.

Robins arriving earlier

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. — Can there be any doubt that the climate is changing? Anecdotal evidence continues to pour in.

At the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, located in the ghost town of Gothic, near Crested Butte, the caretaker has spotted robins returning weeks before they typically did 30 years ago. Plus, reports the Crested Butte News, robins are more likely to be spotted at higher elevations, another sign of warming.

Lake Tahoe, meanwhile, has the warmest water temperatures ever recorded there in the 30-plus years of measurements, scientists tell the Tahoe Daily Tribune.

Writing in the Vail Daily, columnist Butch Mazzuca takes aim at the Al Gore movie about global warming. Called "An Inconvenient Truth," he suggests a more apt title is "An Incomplete Truth." Mazzuca contends that Gore glosses over the nuances of the global warming issue. As such, it only preaches to the choir, leaving skeptics still skeptical. A better strategy, he believes, would have been to link global warming to U.S. dependence on foreign oil in a call for alternatives – a move that he believes George W. Bush should have made in the wake of 9/11.

Wind delivers Chinese soot

TRUCKEE, Calif. — Further evidence is arriving that the flapping of butterfly wings in Beijing can affect the mountains of the West. Except that in this case it’s not just butterflies.

Two air-monitoring stations in the Sierra Nevada of California are revealing pollution from China and other Asian countries. About a third of the pollution is dust, which is increasing due to drought and deforestation, says a researcher, Steve Cliff. The remainder is composed of sulfur, soot, and trace metals from the burning of coal, diesel, and other fossil fuels.

Sixteen of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are in China, according to a World Bank estimate. Coal-fired power plants supply two-thirds of China’s energy and are its biggest source of air pollution. Worse, China is building a new coal-fired power plant every week to 10 days.

Scientists have long known that dust and presumably other pollutants from Asia can be, and frequently are, transported across the Pacific Ocean and into the American West. The transport can take anywhere from five days to two weeks. Dust on snow is frequently noted in the spring months in Colorado, for example, with the dust sometimes originating in Arizona. But dust from the Gobi Desert, even in mid-winter, has also been noted. By determining the chemical composition of the dust particles, scientists are able to trace its origin.

University researchers are studying the dust-on-snow phenomenon in southwestern Colorado in the area between Silverton and Telluride, with a particular concern about how it could result from – and in turn help cause more – global warming. (Darker snow melts more rapidly, as white reflects but dark absorbs solar rays. Dark ground absorbs solar rays, causing more heat, which discourages snow).

Scientists do not consider the current pollution from China a health problem in the West, but warn of greater consequences if India and other less-developed countries, adopt the high-polluting standards of the United States, Australia, and other developed countries.

"If they started driving cars and using electricity at the rate of the developed world, the amount of pollution they generate will increase many, many times," said Tony van Curen, a researcher at the University of California-Davis.

No leaping tall building regs

PARK CITY, Utah — Park City is thrashing out whether to allow taller buildings in a district of the town called NoMa, or North Main.

Existing city regulations cap building heights at 35 feet, explains the Park Record, but 40 feet if the building has a pitched roof. Taller buildings yet are possible if the developer provides public assets, such as open space. This new proposal would allow buildings of 45 to 65 feet.

One developer, Rodman Jordon, champions the increase. Such buildings are not skyscrapers, he insists, but do have the virtue of reducing sprawl, by concentrating uses in one area.

A property owner in the district, Mark Fischer, further argues that taller buildings will more easily provide affordable housing.

Steamboat building up

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — A project described as a catalyst for redevelopment of the base area at the Steamboat Springs ski area has received the blessings of the city’s planning commission. As so often has been the case in base-area redevelopments, however, there was dissent about the size of buildings.

Developers of the project, called One Steamboat Place, have asked for a variance that would allow a building 104 feet tall. Existing zoning allows 67 feet in that location.

The Timbers Company, the Carbondale-based developer, says the additional height is needed to provide enough residential units – 85 in all, to go along with 15,000 square feet of commercial space – to create a profit.

Building heights capped

DURANGO, Colo. — Building heights have been capped, at least temporarily, at 55 feet in downtown Durango. Several corner buildings are already that high, but not mid-block buildings. Greg Hoch, the town’s director of planning, said it was imperative that the 40-foot limit be adopted while the city considered how taller buildings will affect the character of the district. However, a variety of business owners and developers said that restriction was unnecessary. At least four significant infill projects are reported to be in the works for the downtown district.

Cheapest house listed for $528,000

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — The housing market in Jackson Hole continues to march upward. The Jackson Hole News&Guide reports that the cheapest single-family home with land was listed for $528,000. It sits on a quarter-acre and has nearly 1,400 square feet. The lowest-price condominium was listed for $205,000. It has 800 square feet.

Mudslide roars down creek

TELLURIDE, Colo. — A 45-minute rainstorm on July 31 caused a landslide on Royer Creek, a tributary of the San Miguel River that is located on the east side of Telluride. Included in the slide were boulders as large as Volkswagen bugs.

Lary Simpson, whose house sits next to Royer Creek, compared the noise of the mudslide to that of an F-14 jet taking off. Or, to that of railroad cars crashing over a cliff.

Durango-based Art Mears, a geohazard specialist who has worked in virtually every Colorado mountain town in the last 30 years, estimated the mudslide as a 100- to 300-year event. Debris on the valley floor was 10 to 15 feet deep, and removal will require several hundred dump-truck loads, reported The Telluride Watch.

The Watch reported no injuries, and apparently only minor inconveniences. The mudslide closed roads over both Imogene Pass, which goes to Ouray, and Black Bear Pass, which goes to Red Mountain Pass. Imogene has been closed several times in July due to rockfall.

South Lake Tahoe wants WiFi blanket

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Add South Lake Tahoe to the list of resort towns that believe that blanket WiFi, or wireless Internet access, is a must. "It’s the wave of the future," says Councilwoman Kathay Lovell. One tech firm has estimated the cost at $500,000, reports the Tahoe Daily Tribune. However, Vail this summer announces a 95 per cent WiFi blanket with a firm, with the first hour free, but with incremental fees thereafter.

Forest users square off

SILVERTON, Colo. — The conversation – more like growling, in some cases – between the self-propelled and the motorized contingents continues in San Juan County. For several years the factions have been squaring off about how public lands at Molas Divide – between Silverton and Durango – should be used. Now, the new Forest Service travel management plan has people talking again.

That plan, according to the Durango Telegraph, proposes separation of uses, meaning that snowmobiles and other motorized conveyances cannot go in some areas. To at least some snowmobilers that means being shut out. Dale Jaramillo, of Silverton, wonders how much more area the quiet users must have.

But Paul Conrad, also of Silverton, sees the story differently. Machines, not people, would be prohibited. Those machines, he argues, impact wildlife species that are already challenged by high-elevation winters.

The split thinking extends to the county commissioners in San Juan County. Some commissioners oppose the plan, but they won’t formally object, because the majority of their constituents seem to support it, says the Telegraph.

More retail planned for corridor

AVON, Colo. — The proliferation of retail establishments along the I-70 corridor is far from over. Newspapers report major increases planned in both Glenwood Springs and in Avon.

In Avon, which is already home to a Wal-Mart Supercenter and The Home Depot, another 260,000-square-foot shopping centre is being planned. Representatives of Traer Creek, the developer, say they do not yet have a tenant for the 30,000-square-foot anchor slot, but figure they need a national name to draw people. They figure to have an open-air plaza, underground parking, and perhaps condominiums in the mix.

Multi-use fair structure now open

EAGLE, Colo. — It’s fair time in Eagle County, and this year a new 45,000-square-foot pavilion is now in use. When proposed, some saw it as an extravagance, to be used primarily by the equestrian crowd of the Vail area. However, boosters argued it would be a true multi-use facility, well worth the $4 million. The facility is booked for a dog show and a metaphysical fair, while the local chamber of commerce is working on booking a car show and other events, reports the Eagle Valley Enterprise.