Mountain Town News

Whistler bans strip shows

WHISTLER, B.C. – Clothes must stay on in Whistler during the Olympics. That’s the mandate from the municipal council, but not all the locals are impressed.

“It’s interesting to note that while Whistler’s mayor and council are attempting to ban stripping, they have taken no action to outlaw escort services or erotic massage providers, many of which provide sexual services at a price,” writes Dan Pitcairn, president of a “naturists” group from the Vancouver area. Naturists believe clothing should be optional.

G.D. Maxwell, a columnist for Pique

Newsmagazine, explains that with the escorts ramping up to supply what they expect to be heightened demand during the Olympic games, one of the local clubs decided to join the flesh trade. That’s what caused the verdict from the municipal council.

“While I’m not a fan of peeler bars, I’d personally rather see strippers than any member of the International Olympic Committee plying their trade on the mean streets of Whistler,” he adds. “Strippers sell an honest – silicon notwithstanding – product to willing buyers.”

Hate group vows disruption

TELLURIDE, Colo. – Members of the Westborn Baptist Church, an independent Baptist church known for hatred of bisexuals and homosexuals, plan a protest at Telluride during the Telluride Gay Ski week in February.

The Telluride Watch reports it has received a copy of an announcement from the church, which is based in Kansas, of plans to “picket Judy Shepard during the fag ski trip crap…”

She is the mother of Matthew Shepard, the openly gay 21-year-old who was murdered in 1998 outside of Laramie, Wyo. She now heads the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which supports diversity and tolerance in youth organizations.

Colorado snowpack

AVON, Colo. – Snow surveys conducted by federal officials in early February have revealed snowfall totals in parts of Colorado this winter rank it as among the more meager in the last 30 years.

“Right now, due to a good October, it’s about 76 percent of average,” said Rick Bly, a National Weather Service observer in Breckenridge. “But December through January were only 56 percent of average.”

More generally, runoff forecasts were 65 to 75 percent in the Colorado River headwaters, a region that extends from Winter Park to Crested Butte.

Shovel races return

ANGEL FIRE, N.M. – Shovel races have returned to the slopes of Angel Fire, reports the Wall Street Journal, but with restrictions imposed since the races were last held in 2005.

The newspaper explains that the shovel races began simply enough several decades ago. People parked their rear ends within the scoops of the old-fashioned grain shovels and let fly. That alone can produce plenty of thrills.

But competitors soon began modifying the shovels to achieve ever-greater speeds. “An early prototype fused a shovel with a bicycle. The sport morphed into a cross between soapbox derby and bobsledding,” notes the newspaper.

One competitor, who recalls blowing his student loan money on one contraption, recalls a goliath made from a B-52 bomber’s fuel tank. Other had roll cages and hydraulic braking systems. Speeds sometimes exceeded 70 mph.

The result was rather predictable. The most serious injuries were to a competitor in 1997, at the inaugural Winter X Games, who cracked his sternum, bruised his heart, and broke his jaw, leg and back in three places. He had to declare bankruptcy because he couldn’t pay his medical bills.

Now, the competition has returned to the slopes at Angel Fire, but with nothing extra added to the scoop shovels other than paint and wax. To the sport’s more rabid garage tinkerers, notes the Journal, this is akin to asking a NASCAR driver to take to the track in the family sedan.

Mountain Town News is written by Allen Best