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Steamboat targets Big Apple

By Allen Best STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – Look out Aspen and Vail; Steamboat is gunning for your skiers.

By Allen Best

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – Look out Aspen and Vail; Steamboat is gunning for your skiers.

The resort is adding a substantial number of airplane seats next winter, and will have 490 potential passengers every Saturday from the three major airports in and near New York City.

“Accompanying the fact that New York is the single most lucrative ski market is the fact that it’s the single most expensive media market,” said Andy Wirth, vice president of sales and marketing for the Steamboat Ski & Resort Corp, “but in this case, we felt the financial reward is there.”

Unlike flights from Atlanta, in which case about 40 per cent of passengers actually come from Atlanta, about 98 per cent of passengers on the Saturday flights from New York will come from New York.

Wirth told the Steamboat Pilot & Today that this is the “single biggest undertaking of total capacity and new markets the resort has ever seen.” Following the 2001 lull, Steamboat had 128,000 passenger seats, which increased to 154,000 last winter. Wirth says he is “highly confident” the air program will reach 175,000 next winter.

 

Ketchum considers future

KETCHUM, Idaho – The Idaho Mountain Express reports that a standing-room-only crowd turned out for a presentation that would have done Einstein proud. As it has for five years, the town is talking about adding hotels. Three of them are proposed, and the task was to give an idea of how the height and bulk of what is being proposed would change the town.

It doesn’t matter, said a real-estate agent, Pam Colesworth. “We are withering as a tourist town. We need to infuse this town with tourists again… I ask you not to be afraid. Go forward and get it done.”

But a city councilwoman, Terry Trace, said the trick is to get visitors to stay in these future hotels, the larger issue that Ketchum is facing as it seeks to strengthen its air connections.

Despite being North America’s first destination ski resort, Ketchum and neighboring Sun Valley have flattened and now declined as ski resorts.

Developers have said they need to include real estate in a hotel offering, similar to what has been done at most other resorts. The city now allows such condo-hotels. For its part, says the Express, the council wants a firm commitment from developers, experience in hotel development, evidence that the hotels will add to a tourism economy,   and affordable housing.

 

Bikers want to see wilderness

DURANGO, Colo. – Two conservation organizations, the Sierra Club and the San Juan Citizens Alliance, are advocating a designated wilderness in Hermosa Creek, a 145,000-acre tract northwest of Durango. While the San Juan Mountains have plenty of wilderness, the ecosystem there is somewhat different: a lower-elevation, mixed-conifer forest.

While Mark Pearson says he and other conservationists recognize it’s not feasible to shut out mountain bikers from the entire area, mountain bikers are talking about a management designation that would exclude motorized use, but not mechanized use. The International Mountain Biking Association favors a national scenic area or primitive area designation, notes the Durango Telegraph.

 

Housing-income gap widening

SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. – The gap between housing and income continues to widen in Summit County.

A new study finds that median priced homes, which in 1999 were 491 per cent higher than the median income, are now at 851 per cent, reports the Summit Daily News.

In other words, while median incomes rose from $64,000 to $78,000, median home prices rose from $317,500 to $670,300.

The survey also found that most in demand from locals are two-bedroom homes with a base price of $200,000. Also in that mountain town dream are balconies/decks, two-car garages, and private yards. In fourth place on the wish-list was energy efficiency.

 

Residents asked to cut back

PARK CITY, Utah – Municipal officials in Park City have asked residents to cut back on use of their outdoor watering. “Maybe people haven’t switched their thoughts to the bigger picture around us,” said Mayor Dana Williams. City officials say that daily water use is consuming 85 per cent of capacity, with three-quarters of that use devoted to landscaping. Fire officials, reports The Park Record, are worried about the fire danger after a hot May and June elevated the risk of wildfires.

 

Fireworks cancelled

SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. – It’s been hot and dry in Summit County, as nearly everywhere. Temperatures in Breckenridge reached 84 degrees on July 1, tying a record set in 1935.

The Summit Daily News reports that the 1.4 inches of precipitation in Breckenridge during June made it the 16 th driest June since record-keeping began more than 100 years ago. The town is located at 9,600 feet in elevation.

Mindful of the wildfires at Lake Tahoe, Summit County commissioners and local towns banned open fires and fireworks. The district attorney, Mark Hurlbert, promised offenders the sternest response law books would allow.

 

Basalt back to bottled water

BASALT, Colo. – Hewing to the national green thought that finds bottled water horribly indulgent, Basalt’s town government two years ago stopped offering bottled water at town meetings. Instead, water and paper cups were set on tables.

But because the town hall has such a small water heater, it wasn’t clear that the pitchers were getting sterilized in the dishwasher. The town has now switched back to plastic bottles of water, reports The Aspen Times.

 

Finger-point begins

TRUCKEE, Calif.—Some 226 homes have been burned around Lake Tahoe, and it’s time for the finger-pointing to begin, says Bryce E. Keller, chief of the Truckee Fire Protection District.

And in an essay published in the Sierra Sun, he points his finger: “I’m tired of hearing excuses as to why people can’t and don’t maintain defensible space on their properties.”

He says that creating defensible space around a home is no guarantee it will survive a wildfire, but it will dramatically increase the odds of doing so.

 

Only billionaires need inquire

ASPEN, Colo. – The 56,000-square-foot house near Aspen owned by Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the former ambassador to the United States from Saudi Arabia, remains for sale. It went on the sales block last summer for $135 million, the highest price ever asked for a home. The house also comes with 95 acres.

Perhaps playing off a now aging Aspen joke, the Times says that mere millionaires need not apply — only billionaires, of which Forbes Magazine says there are 946.

A majority of the serious shoppers for the property, called Hala, have come from old money, fortunes gained at least a generation ago, real estate broker Joshua Saslove told the Times. As to why, he could not say. As to whom, he would not say.

 

Who’s counting?

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – For the sixth time in seven years, the U.S. Census Bureau is reporting a declining enrolment in Steamboat Springs. If the bureau’s estimation is to be believed, Steamboat population last year dipped to 9,315. But school officials tell the Steamboat Pilot & Today that enrolment is now up. Tom Leeson, the city’s planning direction, thinks the population is close to 11,000.

 

Bear-proof dumpster unsafe

VAIL, Colo. – If Vail’s new wildlife law isn’t a threat to human life, it’s at least a threat to limbs.

So says one of the town’s councilmen, Farrow Hitt. Hitt voted for the law earlier this year that mandates bear-proof dumpsters and other trash containers. But in his duties as the manager of a condominium complex, he sees significant problems.

Hitt says that the lids on the dumpsters provided by Waste Management are too heavy. “If someone was lifting that lid up and it fell back down on their hand, it would take their hand off,” he told the Vail Daily.

For several years, Vail town officials had laws on the books that mandated no garbage could be left out until the day of pickup. Failing that, bear-resistant containers were required.

But resistant containers only delayed the efforts of bears, and hence the requirement for greater fortification. Hitt tells the newspaper that he believes the trash-removal company can do better. “We put a man on the moon,” he said. “We can get a dumpster lid that doesn’t chop people’s hands off.

But the local manager for the trash company, Jerry Valasquez, said lids any lighter would not be effective. It is not dangerous if used properly, he insisted.

 

Taos Pueblo still not sold on runway

TAOS, N.M. – Taos city officials and members of the Pueblo tribe, owners of an 800,000-acre property at the city’s edge, appear to be no closer to agreement after a supposed demonstration airplane flight. The test plane was supposed to fly about 2,000 feet over the pueblo, but because of potential conflicts with firefighting aircraft, flew at about 7,500 feet. As such, the demonstration proved nothing, Pueblo officials told The Taos News.

Taos city officials for 14 years have wanted to add a crosswind runway to the town-owned airport. For at least as long, the Taos Pueblo has resisted. Pueblo officials say airplanes already intrude above their 800,000-acre property, and more flights will worsen the situation. They fervently object to flights that disrupt private, traditional ceremonies held at various sacred sites.

Because Taos Pueblo is one of 20 World Heritage Sites located in the United States, stringent rules apply to aircraft flying above it. In particular, aircraft are supposed to stay at least 2,000 feet or higher, although Pueblo representatives say that limit is routinely flouted.

 

Jackson looking up again

JACKSON, Wyo. – Jackson’s town government is talking about taller buildings in the community core once again — and how much is too much.

Current regulations allow 35 feet by right. Projects that deliver affordable housing and extra parking are given 48 feet. But the latter height has produced buildings that are bulkier than what municipal councilors want to see.

In response, the city is now looking at a proposed 42-foot limit right in the downtown area, reports the Jackson Hole News & Guide. The thinking is that a little bit taller buildings will result in more residential housing on the upper levels, and hence mixed-use, walkable communities. Councilor Mark Obringer said the change could net a “couple hundred housing units in downtown Jackson.

Councilor Bob Lenz, who has long opposed four-storey buildings, said he believes the proposed 42 feet will result in high-ceiling living units — directly conflicting with Jackson’s avowed goal of having a smaller carbon footprint.

“It is a hypocrisy saying we are going green and going to conserve energy and then create more large living units. It takes more heat to heat a 10-foot ceiling than an 8- or a 9-foot one.”

 

Bolivians want soccer at elevation.

LA PAZ, Bolivia – So why can’t international soccer matches be held at 11,800 feet? That’s the elevation of La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. But, according to a ruling by soccer’s world governing body, it’s too high.

The controversy dates to February, when an influential Brazilian club called Flamengo, which trains at sea level, played Bolivia’s Real Pootisi in a freezing rain at 13,120 feet. Although the Brazilians took oxygen and eventually drew 2-2 with the Bolivian club, the Brazilians vowed to never again play at such a high altitude.

Subsequently, in May, the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) announced a ban on international events held above 8,200 feet. The ban was explained as a response to medical issues and a concern that home teams at higher elevations had an unfair advantage.

That ban excluded the capitals of Columbia, Bogota, elevation 8,661 feet, and Ecuador, Quito, elevation 9,200 feet, and understandably, neither country was happy.

In June the FIFA partially relented to the protests, raising the limit to 9,800 feet.

Now, only Bolivia is left in the cold — and Bolivians are none too happy about it.

The stadium in La Paz is somewhat informally known as the Condor’s Nest. Since 1957, it has been the site of most of Bolivia’s national team games during World Cup qualifying. Bolivia has only rarely won international matches, but the New York Sun notes the stadium was the site of a 1993 defeat of Brazil — the first time that Brazil had ever lost a qualifying round match.

Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, has made it a case of political football. He has called emergency cabinet meetings and even donned his soccer gear for a match at 20,000 feet on the slopes of Sajama, Bolivia’s highest mountain. The Associated Press says Morales scored the only goal of the game.

While critics say Morales is trying to deflect attention from the problems of Bolivia, the poorest country in South America, Reuters says many ordinary Bolivians back the president.

“We didn’t have the luck to be born anywhere else,” says one 45-year-old pastry seller in La Paz. “We have to play sports wherever we are.” Bolivians acknowledge their country’s natural advantage in high-altitude matches with unabashed delight.

The FIFA plans a medical conference on sports in extreme conditions — heat, cold and humidity, in addition to high elevations — in October.