Mountain Town News
By Allen Best
Uphillers being segregated
WHITEFISH, Mont. – Ski area managers at Whitefish Mountain Resort intend to restrict uphill travel.
The new policy will likely designate a so-called “summit route” on the one of the ski area’s most popular groomed runs, reports the Whitefish Pilot. As well, the policy would allow uphill climbers only from early morning until the final sweep by ski patrollers.
Ski area officials tell the newspaper that in crafting this policy, they are seeking to strike a balance in reducing the risk to skiers while still providing mountain access to the uphillers.
The policy mirrors that of one recently adopted at Oregon’s Mt. Bachelor.
“The amount of uphill traffic has grown rapidly in the last few years,” said Alex Kaufman, a spokesman for Mt. Bachelor. “More uphillers equal more conflicts with downhill traffic that may not see or anticipate them. Also, there were conflicts and safety concerns with winch-cat grooming and avalanche-control operations.”
The newspaper interviewed Tim Thomas, from a shop in Whitefish that sells free-heeled ski gear. Sales, he said, have spiked in recent years.
“I think there is a large demographic that doesn’t want to invest in a ski pass and who spends most of their time in the backcountry,” he said. “But when they are short on time, skinning up Big Mountain is a very convenient thing to do. They have 2,500 vertical feet of skiing at their fingertips.”
Uphillers interviewed by the newspaper were of mixed thoughts. “It would stink,” said one skier. But another, saw the logic of it. “On a day when it’s busy and foggy, skiing up maybe isn’t the smartest thing to do,” she said.
Bakery becomes toast
TELLURIDE, Colo. – Baked in Telluride, the town’s oldest continuously operating eatery, got baked itself earlier this month.
Investigators concluded that the bakery’s huge oven — it measured seven feet by nine feet – had slowly, steadily warmed the ceramic tile below it, eventually drying out the plywood and other wooden supports below. After 20-hour heat, 364 days a year, the wood eventually dried to the point it could no longer absorb more heat.
The Telluride Watch reports that firefighters tried to cut a hole in the floor, to get at the source of the smoke and hence the fire, but were stymied by a difficult flooring structure. Firefighters theorized that the structure had once been a livery and had been fortified to support the weight of horses.
The building was a complete loss, but Baked in Telluride hopes to reopen. It has been in business since 1976.
Frisco signs housing deal
FRISCO, Colo. – As real estate prices have dropped, the one-time frantic demand for affordable housing has receded but not entirely disappeared.
“It’s not the frantic demand it was for anything within the attainable price range,” said Jennifer Kermode, using the term that in Summit County is favored over “affordable.” She directs the Summit Combined Housing Authority, and she said demand remains high for people who have incomes at 100 percent of the area median income. In Summit County, that’s $85,100 for a family of four.
Demand has declined among those in the 120 to 140 percent, she told the Summit Daily News, as people have left Summit County — or possibly, think they may be able to buy housing that is not deed-restricted.
The target in Summit County, which includes Breckenridge, Frisco, Silverthorne and other towns, is to augment the existing 770 attainable housing units with 2,500 more units.
Several projects hope to nudge Summit County toward that goal, the Daily News reports. Breckenridge has a 42-unit project called Valley Brook, which will be available to people who make 80 to 120 percent of the median income.
A larger project in Frisco of 72 duplexes and single-family homes aims for an even broader income spectrum, up to 160 percent of median income.
The town has also agreed to waive certain fees, to keep costs down. Town officials hope for ground-breaking in April. The development team more cautiously asks to be given 10 years to complete the project, instead of the 4 years normally allowed when a development is authorized.
Proof of interest in hard liquor
PARK CITY, Utah – Several months ago a whiskey-maker called High West Distillery opened in Park City. Now, plans are being reviewed for a business that wants to create a vodka distillery.
The distiller would be at a restaurant and health club called Club Lespri. The goal, said club founder Scott Rogers, is to create a vodka that is far superior to mass-produced vodkas. “The smaller the still, the more hands-on, the better product you’ll get,” he told The Park Record.
Is the earth flat in skitopia?
KETCHUM, Idaho. – The snow sports industry, says the Idaho Mountain Express, is missing the boat. Instead of trying to entice visitors to luxurious lodges set among beautiful landscapes, ski areas and ski towns need to reach out more.
“Snow sports are often viewed as only for the young, the rich, the incredibly fit and those who don’t mind risking their lives going 90 mph down a hill,” says the newspaper in an editorial. “Shredding this baggage will require the industry to reach out with new programs for people of all ages and fitness levels.”
The newspaper cites several strategies, although most of them bring to mind past efforts by – well, the snow sports industry.
One of the bloggers on the newspaper’s website also took this position. “The ski industry is not missing the boat,” wrote the blogger. “Plain and simple, the heyday is over.”
Fewer overseas workers in skitopia
ASPEN, Colo. – Echoing stories done in 2002, the New York Times heralds the return of the well-educated ski bum. The newspaper tells of an investment banker, an information technology specialist and an international marketing manager who respectively are now selling ski school lessons, monitoring chairlifts, and serving vegetarian fare.
“For well over a decade, many of the people operating lifts and ladling soup into bread bowls at restaurants in Aspen and other resorts had come from Australia, Europe and South America,” says the Times, seeming to have forgotten about the economic slowdown in 2002-2003 when employee housing sat empty and people with master’s degrees were also schlepping coffee and brooming off chairlift seats.
But the change from the last two years is undeniable, and the Times cites statistics: Only 15 percent of Aspen’s staff is from overseas this winter compared to 26 percent in a previous season. Wyoming’s Jackson Hole Mountain Resort has 6 employees from overseas this winter compared with 200 just two years ago.
