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$100 lift tickets at Aspen and Vail

ASPEN, Colo. - Quietly this winter, a milestone was surpassed in the ski industry. Two ski areas have now charged more than $100 per day for lift tickets. Vail was the first, during the Christmas holidays, charging $108.

ASPEN, Colo. - Quietly this winter, a milestone was surpassed in the ski industry. Two ski areas have now charged more than $100 per day for lift tickets.

Vail was the first, during the Christmas holidays, charging $108. Then, on the Presidents' Day Weekend, Aspen came in with a $104 price.

"It's been looming there for a long time," David Perry, senior vice president of the Aspen Skiing Co., referring to the $100 threshold. "Had the recession not occurred, the barrier would have been cracked more rapidly," he told The Aspen Times .

"The price increase has garnered little media attention and "not one negative guest comment," Perry said.

But the Aspen Times does note that there had been an uproar in 1987 when the company announced an increase to $35 a day. By at least one measure, inflation would have turned that to not quite $68 today.

How many skiers will actually pay the $104 price at Aspen? In the past, walk-up lift-ticket sales have accounted for 10 per cent at Aspen, Perry explained, but the company's evolving pricing structures encourage multi-day ticket packages purchased in advance at discounted rates. For example, a two-day ticket purchased at least seven days in advance goes for $91 per day. A six-day ticket a week in advance costs $85 per day.

How about the skier who buys a six-pack but uses only four days? The company offers a refund for a processing cost of $5 or offers to apply the difference as credit for future skiing.

Banff Snails die

BANFF, Alberta - There's some concern in the Banff area because of the lack of flows in one of six hot springs that harbor a scarce snail called Physella johnsoni, which is the size of a lemon seed. The snails are found nowhere else in the world.

This same Kidney Springs also ran dry in 2002. No theory was given as to why it ran dry, but other springs have also gone dry in the last century, one of them 12 times in the last 15 years.

Banff National Park officials didn't try to intervene to protect the water-dependent snails from dying. In other cases, the species has repopulated after the springs have dried.

However, local environmentalists disagree. "If this appears to be in any way related to global warming, then that's not exactly letting nature take its course," said Mike McIvor, president of Bow Valley Naturalists.

 

IPP criticized

GOLDEN, B.C. - A company's plans to build a run-of-the-river hydro power project involving several creeks east of Glacier National Park have been drawing criticism from residents in Golden, environmental groups, and at least one public official.

The North Columbia Environmental Society argues that such independent power projects need to be regionally planned, acceptable to First Nations and local government, and built with high environmental standards.

Wildsight, an environmental group, has led opposition to the project, reports the Revelstoke Times Review . It claims the project will disturb fish and amphibian habitat and in general erode wild spaces.

 

Two more victims of deep snow

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. - Another person has died in non-avalanche deep snow this winter, this time at Howelsen Hill, the small ski area in Steamboat Springs. That brings the total to either 6 or 7 in the United States, depending upon what the melting snow ultimately reveals in the case of a missing skier at Washington state's Crystal Mountain.

In the latest case, 19-year-old Cooper Larsh decided to cap off a day at Steamboat ski area by exploring the smaller and older Howelsen Hill, a ski area close to downtown Steamboat Springs. It has night skiing, but after he failed to show up at the bottom of the ski area at closing time, 8 p.m., a companion notified authorities.

The victim was discovered 90 minutes later buried headfirst in deep snow outside the ski area.

"What it looked like to me is he hit a bump, went airborne, landed, hit another bump, ejected from his skis, went airborne, and went headfirst into a snowbank," Steamboat Springs Police Department detective Nick Bosick told the Steamboat Pilot & Today . "It's an unfortunate accident."

In Washington, a skier disappeared on March 1 at Crystal Mountain, and ski patrol director Paul Baugher believes the individual got buried in a tree well. "We searched this place with a fine-toothed comb," he said, but noted that the snow was 10 feet deep then, and it's now two feet deeper.

Ironically, Baugher was first to draw attention to what he calls non-avalanche related snow-immersion deaths, or NARSID. Like many others, he had thought it a fluke when the first happened at Crystal Mountain in the early 1990s, but when a second occurred a decade later, he set out to collect statistics, sketchy from 1970 but firm since 1990.

In most cases, the individual gets hung up in a tree well. But somewhat contrary to what you might think, it can be virtually impossible to get out, and the person mostly common suffocates in very short order, perhaps 20 minutes. Snowboarders are no more vulnerable than skiers, despite the absence of releasable bindings. Four of the 7 presumed victims this winter have been on skis.

"It's really not about their feet," says Baugher. "It's that their feet are up in the air and they can't get to them. They're compromised no matter what they have on their feet and can't get out."

Of this winter's victims, two each have been in California, Colorado and Montana, plus the one in Washington. Another two have occurred in British Columbia.

Because more people are skiing beyond groomed slopes or in the sidecountry, near but outside a ski area's boundary, the potential for such deaths would seem to be rising. But spurred by Baugher, the ski industry has stepped up its efforts to warn customers of the danger.

Be careful around the trees and in deep, unconsolidated snow, warns Baugher, and follow the same rule as when going into avalanche territory: always keep your partner within sight. Meeting up at closing time isn't soon enough.

 

New Avie signs

KETCHUM, Idaho - New signs warning skiers of potential avalanche risk beyond the boundary ropes are being erected atop Sun Valley's Seattle Ridge and Bald Mountain.

"Anyone getting off the lifts and going out of bounds should be able to see them," said Chris Lundry, executive director of the Sawtooth National Avalanche Center.

The concern, reports the Idaho Mountain Express, is whether the signs will be effective in deterring inexperienced or unprepared skiers. Many local skiers are savvy to the avalanche risk that will be posted.

By that measure, moderate risk snowpack is less likely to have avalanches - although if caught in one, the consequences are just as deadly as that of an avalanche that occurs after a warning of extreme danger.

 

Hoping for a strong finish

TELLURIDE, Colo. - After lackluster January and February, ski towns and resorts in Colorado are hoping for a strong finish.

In Telluride, the story translates into more money if not necessarily more visitors. Lodging officials there report expected growth in occupancy for December through March of 1.5 per cent as compared to the same period the previous year, but 12 per cent increase in the average daily room rate.

At the ski area, a strong December was not sustained, perhaps a consequence of marginal snow conditions, and ski area officials expect a decline from last year. Other ski areas in Colorado still hoped to match or surpass last year, but only the Vail Resorts empire seemed on firm footing to do so.

Winter turns to slush,

CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. - Crested Butte got cabin-fever growly in mid-March after extended days of warmer weather turned side streets into car-swallowing marshes of partially melted snow.

Unlike the more affluent, polished resorts, Crested Butte allows packed snow to build on some of its less-traveled parts of town in big snow years, as this one has been. In late February, normally the time when winter begins loosening its grip, town crews begin "peeling" back the snow.

But during this peeling, town crews got hit by another big storm, officials tell the Crested Butte News , and then got diverted by need to import snow into a downtown celebration for a special event. So, when spring temperatures suddenly arrived, remaining snow on side streets turned to slush, becoming impassable to buses, tourists and delivery trucks.

There was plenty of concern, some of it markedly annoyed. Town manager Susan Parker reported getting more than 70 phone calls, and expected more. "No one is very happy, and we understand. We are as frustrated as everyone else."

"The reality is, we are a town located at 9,000 feet, and sometimes it snows a lot. This is one of those years. It's life," said Chris Larsen, director of the local bus agency, Mountain Express. More money would deliver more machines and more staff, he explained. "But how close to Vail do we all want to get?" he added.

 

Aspen architects canary in coal mine

ASPEN, Colo. - Architectural firms in Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley have been hiring employees, although nowhere near the level of the boom years, reports The Aspen Times.

Poss Architecture and Planning, for example, peaked at 56 employees three years ago, then cut back to 22 and is now creeping back toward 30 workers, Bill Pass said. He said that 2007-2008 were the best in his business's 35-year history.

As the Times points out, architectural firms are somewhat like a canary in the coal mine for the construction industry. Projects they work on translate into work for contractors and subcontracts six months or so later.

Harry Teague, another longtime veteran architect in Aspen, said that it has always been common for architectural firms to expand and contract, depending upon their projects. In those cases, employees commonly drift from one company to another. What's different this time is that all the firms cut back by about half.

John Cottle said the Aspen market is stronger than other markets his firm, Cottle Carr Yaw, has been working in.

Design Workshop has also been doing more international projects. Kurt Culbertson, chairman of the board for the firm, said that he has been with the firm through five recessions, and the name of the game is living to fight another day.

 

Incentives move real estate

VAIL, Colo. - High-end real estate has been moving in Vail, but not to the extent that anybody is talking about constructing more product.

In Eagle County, of which Vail is a part, $1.5 billion in sales volume was recorded last year, a 67 per cent increase over the dark-of-night 2009. However, that figure lags far behind the boom years of 2006-2008.

Some sellers are getting buyers by dropping prices, 25 to 30 per cent, or by sweetening the benefits, reports the Vail Daily . Such is the case with the new Ritz Carlton Residences. The 14 units sold last year had an average price of $1.379 per square foot. But the developer, Vail Resorts, also threw in two lifetime ski passes per unit plus membership in the private slope-side club.

"We were all drinking the same Kool-Aid back in the heyday, and I think some sellers are still drinking the Kool-Aid," said long-time real estate agent Larry Agneberg. "For the owners who have stopped drinking it, the deals are getting done.

Will prices continue to rise and more deals get done? Citing other agents, the Vail Daily offers an answer that is less than bridled with optimism. "It feels better year after year, but we still have a long way to go," said Kyle Denton, an associate agent.

Meanwhile, plans for the next big thing have moved to the town council in Vail. Proposed by Vail Resorts, the ski area operator, the project is called Ever Vail, and it calls for 381 units, nearly 1,500 in parking spaces, a hotel, and many other aspects, such as you would expect of a $1 billion project. As most of the details have already been worked out, observers expect a short review process. But company officials say they have no plans to launch construction even if the entitlement is awarded.

 

Hispanics drive growth

TRUCKEE, Calif. - In ski towns and mountain valleys, the growth of Hispanic population was notable during the last decade.

In Truckee, the number of Hispanics went from 13 per cent of the population a decade ago to nearly 19 pe rcent in the last census.

In Idaho, the number of Hispanics more than doubled in Blaine County, and they now constitute 20 percent of the county's total population. But there was also a shift in that the two upper-valley towns, Ketchum and Sun Valley, lost population, while the three lower-valley towns all gained population. By far the largest town in the vicinity is Hailey, which grew 28 per cent during the last decade. It is also the county seat.