Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Pets available for adoption at the Summit County Animal Shelter

#Breckenridge, Colorado.

Photo Courtesy of Michael Yearout Photography

Pets available for adoption at the Summit County Animal Shelter.


Contact the Summit County Animal Shelter at (970) 668-3230.
CATS:
POOKIE, 10 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, tortie, spayed female
ALEXIA, 7 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, brown tabby and orange, spayed female
LUKA, 5 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, gray and white, spayed female
TAMALE, 6 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, gray and white, neutered male
CHLOE, 7 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, black, spayed female
PINO, 2 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, black and white, spayed female
DOGS:
HANK, 2 years, German Shepherd Dog and Chinese Sharpei mix, black and tan, neutered male
ARTHUR, 1 year, Parson (Jack) Russell Terrier mix, tan and white, neutered male
HOMER, 1 year, Scottish Terrier mix, black, neutered male
SCRUFFY, 4 years, Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier mix, white, neutered male
ROSIE, 8 years, Parson (Jack) Russell Terrier, white and tan, spayed female
COWBOY, 4 years, Australian Cattle Dog, red merle, neutered male
TIZOC, 3 years, Great Pyrenees and Labrador Retriever mix, blonde, neutered male
APRIL, 1 year 1 month, Pit Bull Terrier mix, black and white, spayed female
BUCK, 2 years, Labrador Retriever mix, chocolate, neutered male

Monday, June 29, 2015

Mountain Town News: Swollen Colorado rivers run wild and dangerous

#Colorado.


RED CLIFF, Colo. – It was called the May miracle in Colorado. After a ho-hum winter, it looked certain that the creeks and rivers would deliver a runoff that walked, not ran, that murmured instead of shouted.
In March, the weather became so hot that something happened in the Gore Range that usually doesn’t occur until June. The couloirs on the Grand Traverse, the 13,000-foot ridge overlooking Vail, became so saturated with melted snow that they slid to the ground. It’s called a climax slide, and it rarely happens before June.
“It was the most crazy thing I’ve ever seen,” said Darryl Bangert, who has been studying snow and river runoff in the Vail area since 1976.
Then, in mid-May, it started snowing — again and again. And when it didn’t snow it rained, continuing into June.
Last week, that snow and rain was evident as Colorado’s rivers became as crowded as a Chinese train station on a holiday. The rivers thrashed, they gnashed, they splashed in a hurry to get out of the mountains. There have been longer runoffs and higher runoffs, but it was impressive nonetheless.
Taking note of 11 snow-monitoring sites that he tracks, Chris Landry, from the Center for Snow & Avalanche Studies, reported that the rivers were more boisterous than the snowpack statistics would suggest. The water in the snow was short of the median for 1981-2010.
“Snowmelt runoff behavior has been (arguably much) more intense than these data would suggest,” he wrote carefully in a posting on his website.
South of Vail, that unruly runoff was evident on June 17 in Homestake Creek. In a quarter mile before it flows into the Eagle River, the creek has an incline comparable to that of a green or beginner ski slope. The water was pounding, droplets flying high into the air. A misstep on the boulders adjoining the water would have meant almost instant death.
In the nearby town of Red Cliff, a longtime resident was asked whether the Eagle River had peaked yet. “Just a minute,” he said, “I have a rock that I can see from my house that I use for measuring the height of the river.” Returning a few minutes later, he observed that the water on the rock was indeed the highest it has been this year.
That was probably peak runoff for the Eagle River, a full 10 days later than the locally acknowledged long-term average for peak runoff. In recent years, the trend has been to earlier runoff.
Bangert, an owner of Sage Outdoor Adventures, said there were much bigger runoffs and longer runoffs, such as those of the early 1980s. But this was stood out because it was pushed by big rainstorms.
Several people have drowned in rivers and creeks, mostly the result of kayaking, rafting, or inner-tube accidents.
The most unusual drowning occurred near Silverton, in the San Juan Mountains. The victim, who was 19, had moved to Durango to be with his dad. They were walking up a snowfield and the victim slipped and fell into a creek that was running below them, disappearing under the snow. The family dog jumped in behind him, San Juan County Sheriff Bruce Conrad told the Silverton Standard & the Miner.
The creek re-emerged from the snow 240 feet farther downstream, but the man’s body did not for three hours. The dog did later, but it was alive.
Beyond the individual tragedies, the big runoff in Colorado has implications up and down the Colorado River. Instead of 3 million acre-feet, Lake Powell will likely get 6.2 to 6.4 million acre-feet, said Eric Kuhn, general manager for the Colorado River Water Conservation District.
That allows the upper-basin states — Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico — to release more water from Powell to flow downstream to Lake Mead, near Las Vegas. This additional water in Lake Mead should help water-strapped California.
Now the big question mark is what the El NiƱo will produce. The last one was in 1997-98, and that is the last good water year for the entire Colorado River Basin.
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Summit Hiking: Mohawk Lakes Trail

#Breckenridge, Colorado.

Kim Fenske / Special to the Daily

Lower Mohawk Lake is located in the Spruce Creek Trailhead south of Breckenridge. The lake is nestled in a deep amphitheater formed by Pacific Peak, 13,950 feet, and Mount Helen, 13,165 feet, in the Ten Mile Range. The hike is an intermediate ascent of 1,400 vertical feet, with a total distance of 6.6 miles from the Spruce Creek Trailhead. The elevation of Spruce Creek Trailhead is 10,400 feet, a thousand feet below tree line, while Mohawk Lakes are surrounded by rocky tundra and krumholz. The Mohawk Lakes Trail provides access to an area with dramatic waterfalls, rich fields of wildflowers, and relics of the mining era.
Allow at least five hours to explore the area and plan to descend in early afternoon to avoid the frequent thunderstorms that tend to form over the mountains later in the day. Carry two bottles of water to remain hydrated during the hike or pack a water filter to take water from the stream. Be prepared to find a crowd of hikers on this popular trail, accompanied by many free-roaming hunting dogs.
From the Wheeler Trail junction, the hike to tiny Mayflower Lake is only a mile, with the spectacular spray of Lower Mayflower Falls located near the trail switchbacks a half-mile farther at 11,100 feet. Above the switchbacks are a miner’s cabin and the remains of an ore cart tram wheelhouse.
The Pike’s Peak Gold Rush of 1858 brought miners to placer gold in the plains waterways surrounding Denver. However, miners quickly discovered that larger concentrations of precious minerals could be found in the streams of the Central Mountains. The first settlements in the Blue River Valley formed to exploit gold deposits in the Breckenridge area. Within a decade, placer gold recovery declined and hard rock silver mining became more important to the economy of the area.
Silver rose in value due to federal legislation that authorized the United States government to purchase and coin silver under the Bland-Allison Act of 1878. With the increase in the value of ores, mining operations expanded. Federal government purchases of silver nearly doubled under the mandates of the 1890 Sherman Silver Purchase Act. However, the repeal of the Act caused the collapse of the silver market in 1893, leaving many mining camps in ruins.
On the western shore of Lower Mohawk Lake, at 11,860 feet, the walls of one mining cabin remain. A trail leading from the southern shore of Lower Mohawk Lake leads to the larger Mohawk Lake, 300 feet higher in the gulch.
As you wander among the wetlands, look for alpine wildflower species. You may find artic gentian, inverted bells of white with blue stripes along the sides of its petals. In boggy areas, look for the red elephant figwort, white bog orchid, king’s crown, and queen’s crown. On drier slopes beside the trail, rosy paintbrush and columbine clusters may greet you. Among the rocks, look for alpine forget-me-not, sky pilot, and moss campion. Descend slowly from the lakes and absorb all of the beauty, from gigantic rocky ridges to the tiny blossoms of tundra flowers.
HOW TO GET THERE
From Frisco, drive south for 10 miles to the Peak 8 gondola in Breckenridge. Continue for another 3 miles south to Spruce Creek Road, across the highway from the pond called Goose Pasture Tarn. Turn right and ascend west 1.8 miles to Spruce Creek Trailhead. Since the road above the trailhead is not well maintained for low-clearance vehicles, park here. Either continue driving up the road if you have a high-clearance vehicle or hike west for 1.3 miles to the junction with the Wheeler Trail. Hike 0.5 miles down the Wheeler Trail to a large beaver pond where the trail meets the Spruce Creek trail. Turn west on the Spruce Creek Trail to its terminus, then cross the road to find the trail to Mohawk Lakes.
Kim Fenske has written extensively on hiking trails throughout Colorado. His writing includes Greatest Hikes in Central Colorado: Summit and Eagle Counties; and Hiking Colorado: Holy Cross Wilderness, available from Amazon Kindle Books.
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Grammy-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux performs with NRO in Breckenridge

#Breckenridge, Colorado.


On Friday, June 27, the National Repertory Orchestra and music director Carl Topilow will present “A Spanish Evening” concert at the Riverwalk Center in Breckenridge. The event is the orchestra’s Pink Concert in support of Shaw Breast Center and Cancer Clinic in Frisco. Grammy-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux and mezzo-soprano Lindsey Falduto are featured guest soloists.
The Spanish-flavored program kicks off with a performance of Aaron Copland’s “El Salon Mexico.” This 1936 piece was the first popular hit of a composer who would go on to be one of the most prominent figures in the emerging American classical music scene of the 20th century. In it, Copland takes several melodies from Mexican folk music and blends them into an orchestral piece evocative of a lively Mexican dancehall. The addition of the gourd to the percussion section adds to the music’s authentic sound.
The next piece of the evening, Arturo Marquez’s “Danzon No. 2,” demonstrates the way in which traditional Mexican music continues to shape the classical repertoire. The composer’s 1994 piece is built around the rhythm and accent of the danzon, a dance popular in Cuba and in the Veracruz region of Mexico.
“This melodic and lively piece features solos across the orchestra and is one of the most frequently performed contemporary classical Mexican compositions,” said Doug Adams, CEO of the NRO.
Grammy-winning classical guitar virtuoso Vieaux joins the NRO’s musicians for a performance of Joaquin Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez.” The 1939 work, perhaps the most iconic piece in the classical guitar repertoire, complements the instrument’s soft touch and unique musical textures with sweeping accompaniment by the orchestra.
The beautiful second movement, Adagio, may be familiar to jazz listeners: Miles Davis adapted it into the centerpiece of his ground-breaking album “Sketches of Spain,” and Chick Correa used the melody in his jazz standard “Spain.” Its melodies are exemplary of the musical Phrygian mode, an alteration of the typical major scale that creates the expressive and colorful effects characteristic of Spanish music.
Vieaux has performed as a soloist with nearly 100 orchestras worldwide. His most recent solo album, “Play,” won the 2015 Grammy for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. NPR describes him as “perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation,” and Gramophone magazine places him “among the elite of today’s classical guitarists.”
The program concludes with another talented guest artist, mezzo-soprano Falduto, singing music from Manuel de Falla’s “Three-Cornered Hat.” The Spanish composer’s 1919 ballet was a great success on the dance stage, and its music has proved just as popular in the concert hall. The composer draws from Andalusian folk themes to give the dance-centric music a distinctively Spanish sound.
Falduto has experience in both musical theater and operatic roles. She has won several awards for her acting talents, and The Denver Post described her as having “the honeyed voice of a chanteuse.”
The Shaw Regional Cancer Center is the beneficiary of the National Repertory Orchestra’s Pink Concert. The Shaw Breast Center & Cancer Clinic, located at 323 W. Main St. in Frisco, offers 3D mammography, along with top physicians and experts who are available for treatments and consultations in a brand new, private setting. The American Cancer Society recommends women start annual mammography at age 40. To schedule a mammogram, call (970) 668-6400.
Sam Kuller and Downstairs at Eric’s are also sponsoring the concert. For tickets and more information, call (970) 547-3100, or visit www.nromusic.com
Benjamin Paul is the marketing and public relations intern for the National Repertory Orchestra.
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Forest Service approves backcountry skiing hut near Breckenridge

#Breckenridge, Colorado.

U.S. Forest Service

Summit County winter backcountry enthusiasts will soon have one more hut to huddle in near Breckenridge.
Or at least they will in three or four years after the Summit Huts Association finishes construction of the Weber Hut, estimated to cost between $1 million and $2 million.
White River National Forest supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams signed the final decision Wednesday, June 17, and his approval came after four years of the U.S. Forest Service’s formal analysis and review process and after many years before that of work and preparation.
“It’s a great feeling for the organization,” said Jack Wolfe, one of the association’s board members, adding that countless people with Summit Huts Association and the Forest Service have helped improve the project over the years.
Still, he was hesitant to celebrate.
“It’s kind of like running the first half of the marathon. We still have a lot of work to do.”Jack WolfeSummit Huts Association
“It’s kind of like running the first half of the marathon,” he said. “We still have a lot of work to do.”
A LONG TIME COMING
The nonprofit Summit Huts Association was founded in 1987, modeled after the 10th Mountain Division Hut Association, which manages the booking system for the Summit County huts.
Its newest hut is so named because it will be in Weber Gulch, on the north aspect of Bald Mountain, at roughly 11,500 feet. The structure will be one or two stories and 1,400 to 2,000 square feet.
The hut will join the association’s four other huts: the historic Section House and Ken’s Cabin along Boreas Pass, Janet’s Cabin near Copper Mountain (opened in 1991) and Francie’s Cabin south of Breckenridge (opened in 1995).
At the association’s other huts, demand outstrips supply, and folks looking to book a night on a weekend or during a popular holiday must contend with a lottery system.
A hut in the Weber Gulch area was part of the original master plan for the Summit Huts Association, developed with the Forest Service through a public community vision process in the late 1980s.
The association narrowed potential sites for the hut from 23 to five to one and changed many aspects of the proposal based on input from residents and local governments.
The hut’s access route went through half a dozen versions. Guests will use Sallie Barber Road, Nightmare on Baldy Trail and then 1.3 miles of new trail to arrive at the hut.
The Upper Trail of Tears singletrack trail will be widened for administrative ATV access in the summer, but motorized use by the public will be prohibited with gates and signs.
The hut’s environmental assessment analyzed all kinds of impacts to the surrounding environment and addressed public concerns that centered on wildlife issues — specifically habitat for Canada lynx, pine martens and elk ­— and off-site parking for the hut’s users.
Though the environmental assessment was prepared for a hut that sleeps 16 people, the hut will actually be built with a capacity of 14 guests as compared to the 20 guests accommodated at each of Francie’s and Janet’s cabins.
Wolfe said the Weber Hut, which has been the hut’s working name, will be about 3 or 3.5 miles from the trailhead and will appeal to all types of hut users.
“Right outside the hut going uphill is some really beautiful north-facing skiing,” he said. “There’s going to be great skiing right outside the door.”
LYNX, PARKING CONSIDERATIONS
The hut was not without opponents.
Dillon Ranger District deputy district ranger Cynthia Keller said some people were against any new huts because they believe backcountry skiing areas should be left alone.
Addressing public feedback was part of the reason the required National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process took four years instead of the usual two for a proposal of this size.
“It wasn’t a slam-dunk project,” Keller said. “We did have some controversy.”
She said the Forest Service received three formal objections after the draft decision was released in July 2014.
One was about impacts to Canada lynx habitat, and Keller said the Forest Service had already analyzed impacts to lynx and decided to close the hut and the new trail built to access it during the summers. The hut will be open from the third week of November through April 30.
Keller said lynx suffer when humans compact snow in their habitat because other predators can then use the trails to hunt snowshoe hare and compete with the lynx.
The Forest Service also closed a heavily-forested area north and below the hut to skiing because of lynx habitat impacts and administrators will monitor unauthorized use there.
As part of the response to the objection, the Forest Service gained written support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which protects the threatened lynx listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and added the monitoring plan for the closed skiing area to the environmental analysis.
Also to protect wildlife, dogs will not be allowed, and outdoor lighting will be kept minimal, like at most backcountry huts. Plus, hut guests use snowmelt for their water, and Keller said no one wants to use yellow snow from dog waste.
The other two objections were about parking, always a hot topic in and around Breckenridge.
Someone suggested hut visitors be required to ride the Summit Stage bus to the Bald Mountain Trailhead to access the hut.
“We all decided that that just wasn’t feasible,” Keller said. Hut users will still have that option but won’t be required to bus.
The third objection came from an adjacent private property owner, who met with the Forest Service and the Summit Huts Association several times. The groups decided to move the hut’s parking lot a little away from the property.
The parking lot, east of the Sallie Barber Road Trailhead on the north side of French Gulch Road, will hold about 17 vehicles and will only be open to the public during hut operations.
Keller said years of extensive field work, limited to summertime, also led to the especially long NEPA process.
“We did a lot of field work for this project to make sure it was in the right place,” she said.
Now that the environmental assessment is finished, the association will raise funds, design the hut and start construction.
Weber will incorporate what has worked at the other huts, with indoor restrooms, a comfortable layout with bedrooms that sleep two to six people, passive and active solar and construction that will save energy costs of heating the structure with a wood-burning stove.
Wolfe said he hopes to establish an endowment for maintenance during fundraising.
“If we had all the money and we had all the plans done, we could be done in two years,” he said. “We’d like to do it in three or four years if we could.”
For more information about this project, contact the Summit Huts Association at (970) 453-8583 or the Dillon Ranger District at (970) 468-5400.
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Vuelta a Dillon fondo-style road race returns to Summit County on June 27

#Dillon, Colorado.


Few races compare to a European-style fondo.
For decades, athletes from the cycling motherland have sworn by the laid-back, low-impact fondo format. It champions strategy over brute strength and stamina, rewarding cyclists for saving their energy until the exact moment when the clock starts ticking.
This weekend, for the fourth time ever and the first time under a new name, fondo racing comes to the High Country with the Vuelta a Dillon. Known in 2014 as the Vuelta a Keystone — and the Vuelta a Salida for two years before that — the race is the only true fondo to touch Summit County this summer.
Here’s a crash course on fondo racing: Cyclists complete a lengthy course and are only timed on pre-determined sections, much like a lap split for track runners. Rather than reward the top overall time, the style combines the best times from each section to determine the winner. It’s not only easier on cyclists, but also easier on roadside sanity — there’s no need to shut down entire stretches of pavement for only a few minutes of cycling.
“These became popular in Europe years and years ago,” says Rob Quinn, the Vuelta founder and a part-time Summit resident of 12 years. “You close maybe one or two sections, and time them separately to get your time and your place in the race. You don’t have as much of an impact on everything around you.”
THE ROUTES
The 2015 Vuelta features three routes on the same course, split between 20 miles, 60 miles and 90 miles. Each route begins in the new host town of Dillon, with 20 milers winding east to Keystone and Montezuma road, while 60 and 90 milers head northwest through Dillon to the first timed section at Ute Pass. The climb is 5.4 miles, beginning at mile 21.4, before racers are rewarded with a brief rest stop at the county line.
Once distance racers complete Ute Pass, 90 milers split from the 60 milers to tackle Heeney Road around Green Mountain Reservoir for the next timed section. The 11.3-mile stretch is relatively flat throughout, giving racers plenty of leeway to make up time on competitors who tapped their reserves on the first climb.
Back in town, 20 milers begin the day with the only timed section of the race, an 8-mile climb up Montezuma Road. Once there, cyclists turn around for a fun and fast cruise past Keystone Gulch before looping around Keystone Ranch. Then, it’s back to Dillon.
Long after the 20 milers have finished near Keystone, 90 and 60 milers cruise back through Silverthorne on their way to the final timed section on Montezuma Road. After tackling more than 50 miles apiece (plus another 20 miles for the 90 milers), cyclists will skip the trip around Keystone Ranch and, instead, coast leisurely along U.S. Highway 6 back to Dillon.
For Quinn, Dillon is a welcome addition to the Vuelta family. He looks forward to the race itself — over the past 30, years he’s hosted races across the world, including the first-ever Mexican mountain bike race at Rosarita Beach in Tijuana — but he’s just as excited for the post-event party, held in the heart of downtown Dillon with free music from Robert Randolph and The Family Band.
“This is a labor of love,” Quinn says of the Vuelta. “It really is because I love putting these things together, and I think we’ve found our home in Dillon. Even though it’s a lot harder putting it on without a giant corporate sponsor like Keystone, Dillon has taken us in, so to speak, and I know we have the same vision for the race.”
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Summit County's summer of cycling features races, clinics and events

#Summit County, Colorado.

Tripp Fay / Copper Mountain Resort

When winter turns into summer here in the High Country, residents and tourists alike put up their skis and snowboards and wheel their bikes back out into the sunlight. Once the necessary tune-ups are complete, they will have miles upon miles of trails — whether paved roads or hard-packed singletracks — to explore during the halcyon summer days.
Beyond the joys of everyday biking, Summit County has plenty of bike-related events to make your outing that much more special. From local competitions to rides to support charity, there are myriad options for bikers of all abilities:
BRECKENRIDGE
The Kingdom may as well add “Bicycle” to the beginning of its nickname this year. Not only isBreckenridge host to the USA Pro Challenge Stage 4 finish and Stage 5 time trials, but it also features a number of local races as well as some demo options.
BRECK DEMO DAYS
Formerly Breck Bike Week, Demo Days offers mountain and road demos, a poker ride and guided tours. Enthusiasts can try out the latest rides from Trek, Raleigh and Scott, plus demo bikes with the newest components from SRAM and Shimano.
When: June 27-28
FIRECRACKER 50
Thirteen years ago, it started as an idea; now, this race is a mainstay of Fourth of July festivities in Breckenridge, often leading off the Independence Day parade down Main Street.
When: July 4
BRECKENRIDGE 100 MOUNTAIN BIKE CHALLENGE
The “100” in the name isn’t just for show. This race spans 100 miles and goes 13,179 feet in elevation. The course crosses the Continental Divide three times and utilizes backcountry trails, double track, roads and bike trails. It’s the cap to the Rocky Mountain Endurance Series.
When: July 18
THE FALL CLASSIC
The last race of the summer, the Fall Classic has been around off and on since the early ‘80s and is beloved of locals.
When: September 6
COPPER MOUNTAIN
Copper’s biking events pair challenging courses with charitable events, which draw hundreds of participants each year. This year, a Stage 3 start for the USA Pro Challenge rounds out Copper’s cycling calendar. For more information on any of these events, visit www.CopperColorado.com.
CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL COURAGE CLASSIC
Over 2,000 riders hit the road to raise money for the Children’s Hospital in Denver. All starts and finishes are based out of Copper Mountain, making Center Village the hub for entertainment throughout the tour. This year’s routes include climbs of Vail Pass and Hoosier Pass as well as towns across Summit County and Eagle counties.
When: July 18-20
THE COPPER TRIANGLE
The famous Copper Triangle has long been considered one of Colorado’s classic alpine road rides featuring three iconic climbs.
The Copper Triangle is a 78-mile ride with an elevation gain of almost 6,000 feet over three mountain passes: Fremont, Tennessee and Vail.
This year’s event is raising money for the Davis Phinney Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping people living with Parkinson’s disease.
When: August 1-2
DILLON
Dillon will catch a piece of the USA Pro Challenge action during the Stage 2 push from Steamboat Springs to Arapahoe Basin Ski Area. The riders will be blazing down Highway 6, take a detour for a mid-race spring on Lake Dillon Drive, before returning to the highway and the A-Basin finish.
VUELTA A DILLON
Previously the Vuelta a Keystone, this Fondo-style road event offers 90-, 60- and 20-mile options. Cyclists of all skill levels — novice, intermediate, advanced and professional — will enjoy the Vuelta a Dillon and its festivities. It starts and ends in Dillon and is followed by the Robert Randolph concert at 7 p.m. that night.
When: June 27
FRISCO
CIRCLE THE SUMMIT/BOB GUTHRIE MEMORIAL RIDE
Put on by the Summit Biking Group, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to all kinds of biking, Circle the Summit is both a memorial to local biking enthusiast Bob Guthrie and a fundraising event for Summit Biking Group projects and programs.
Its funds have gone toward creating the Swan Mountain Road bike path, installing lighting in the tunnel near the top of the Vail Pass bike path, providing striping and signage on the Silverthorne bike path and funding for the Summit Bike Group’s youth program, among others.
Circle the Summit is a family-friendly event with the option of four different routes — 21 miles, 45 miles, 60 miles or 100 miles. Each route starts and ends at the Frisco Day Lodge.
When: August 16
KEYSTONE
All ages and abilities can take advantage of Keystone’s biking events this and every summer. Plus, visitors can take advantage of the gondola to take them and their bikes to the top of the mountain, from which they can let gravity take hold and explore a number of trails of varying levels of difficulty.
STRYDER BALANCE BIKE SERIES
This one’s for the little ones, ages 2 to 5 years old. Running from June 14 through early September, the eight-race series takes place from 10-11 a.m. in River Run Village. Registration is from 9-10 a.m., helmets are required and prizes are awarded to top finishers.
When: July 5, 12, 26; August 9, 23; and September 6.
THE BIG MOUNTAIN ENDURO
Part of the North American Enduro Tour, these courses will challenge riders to the fullest and combine the top trails on the mountain, along with unique course designs never seen before at Keystone. Throughout the weekend, expect to see at least seven rowdy stages and a nonstop festival taking place in the village.
When: July 11-12
WOMEN’S WEDNESDAY CLINICS
Each Wednesday from June through August, women interested in improving their mountain biking skills can get a lift ticket, bike, helmet and protective gear rental for $30.
They will then spend an hour and a half riding down the mountain with a coach from the VIDA MTB Series.
When: June 17 through August 26
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Mountain Town News: Whistler to make snow for glacier

#Breckenridge, Colorado


WHISTLER, B.C. — The Whistler Blackcomb ski area will soon begin to make snow to augment its shrinking Horstman Glacier.
The glacier serves as just one of two places in North America where commercial summer skiing operations are conducted. In most recent years — but not the last two years — snowfall on the glacier has actually increased. But winter gains have been quickly lost to summer’s sizzling temperatures.
Arthur De Jong, the mountain planning and environmental resources manager at Whistler Blackcomb, says studies that began in the 1970s show that winter-time temperatures have increased 0.5 degrees Centigrade, but those in summer have increased 2 degrees C.
The result: an average annual loss of a half-million cubic meters of snow and ice.
De Jong says that after commercial operations end in July, four snowmaking guns and other infrastructure will be installed. It is expected to be used beginning in October.
“If the pilot project is conclusive, this unique project will become a significant addition to Whistler Blackcomb’s list of adaptations to ensure long-term resilience against climate change,” he said.
Data obtained from the one-year pilot project will be used to determine whether an expanded snowmaking system could assist with preserving the Horstman Glacier, De Jong added.
The glacier is located above tree line, in the alpine zone, which at Whistler begins at 1,920 meters (6,300 feet). The glacier is in a band between 2,100 to 2,300 meters. (6,900 to 7,500 feet).
De Jong tells Mountain Town News that initially the snowmaking guns will be used to cover 26 hectares (64 acres) to a depth of one meter (39 inches) deep. The glaciers covers about 2,600 hectares (6,424 acres).
If the pilot proves successful, he said, 26 snowmaking guns will be deployed.
All of this will be at the top of the glacier. “Any glaciologist will tell you need to do what mother nature does, which is feed it at the top,” he says.
One determining factor will be whether the effort pencils out economically. Whistler Blackcomb hopes to boost skier numbers in early winter, beginning in October, while also preserving business in June and July.
In recent years, various methods have been tried to preserve shrinking snowpacks and glaciers. One method involves covering snow. Whistler Blackcomb tried “glacier blankets,” and they work on small locations, such as critical spots for snow preservation, says De Jong. But they are problematic.
“You have to be quick to remove them, because they will stick to the ice,” says De Jong. And on a large scale, he adds, they are awkward. “Putting blankets over a 2,600-hectare glacier is physically impossible with any realm of economic sense.”
In contrast, Whistler Blackcomb is heavily invested in snowmaking technology. It has an extensive infrastructure of 270 snow guns and three reservoirs. Too, the technology continues to improve and become less energy intensive.
In Europe, several ski resorts have experimented with new technology to halt the withering of glaciers. In January 2014, Bloomberg News carried an excerpt of a book called “Windfall: the Booming Business of Global Warming,” by McKenzie Funk.
Funk tells of an Israeli company called IDE that uses a technique that has, as its unlikely seed, a Soviet gulag along the Arctic Sea. This was during or soon after World War II. A Jewish engineer imprisoned there saw a primitive but effective method for desalting water. Later, he developed that idea in Israel, to which he had emigrated.
The idea was further advanced, using a vacuum chamber, and from there further modified to create a vacuum-ice machine. The machine was installed in South Africa, in the world’s deepest gold mine, where the temperature 2 miles below ground is 130 degrees Fahrenheit. A byproduct was prodigious amount of snow.
From there, the technology has been deployed in at least two ski areas in Europe. Zermatt, in Switzerland, and also Pitztal, located near Innsbruck, have tried out the idea of creating snow in a vacuum. At Pitztal, the glacier has declined so rapidly that the lift built to serve it has had to be moved up the hill three times in three decades. With this technology, the idea is that it’s cheaper to build the glacier than to keep changing the lift.
Rick Kahl, editor of Ski Area Management, an industry magazine, says he’s not sure the Israeli technology pencils out economically so far. It’s very expensive to make snow that way, just as it’s very expensive to make drinking water out of oceans.
Fat Tires gone from coolers in coal town
CRAIG, Colo. — Fat Tire and other brews by New Belgium Brewery as well as those of Breckenridge Brewery are out of most of the liquor-store coolers in Craig, a town located 42 miles west of Steamboat Springs.
The problem? The companies donated money to WildEarth Guardians, an environmental group that successfully filed a lawsuit arguing that environmental disclosure laws had been disobeyed when the federal government leased the coal at the ColoWyo mine.
U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson found that the U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement had failed to examine the indirect impacts of mining coal.
The coal is burned at a trio of coal-fired power plants in Craig to produce electricity that goes to Crested Butte, Winter Park, Durango, Telluride and a number of other mountain towns in Colorado plus other customers in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Nebraska.
The plants and mine are the largest employers in Craig — really, the main economic driver. People there are worried that if coal is no longer mined and burned, they will be without a livelihood.
This worry has motivated several large meetings. Last year, 800 people turned out to the high school auditorium to hear comments about the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan. While the plan does not necessarily say coal-fired power plants must shut down, it does order states to begin reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
In response to the latest legal twist, another meeting was called, drawing another 800 people to the high school auditorium, reports the Craig Daily Press. The newspaper tells of a legal process that is likely to drag on for some time.
Meanwhile, the beer companies are sensitive to the local outrage. New Belgium tells the Daily Press that the company gave WildEarth guardians $8,000 for river restoration, not specifically money to fight coal companies.
Nonetheless, both New Belgium and Breckenridge Brewery sent several representatives to Craig, to listen to the local complains. The bars and liquor stores told the Daily Press they were quite pleased at the effort by the brewers. “We spent about 45 minutes talking to them. It went very good,” said Lori Gillam, owner of Stockmen’s Liquor.
But she’s not ready to start putting Fat Tires in the cooler.
Robbing Peter to pay Paul on the fire line
DENVER, Colo. — Federal land managers in the American West were in Denver this past week to talk about fire. With the drought on the West Coast, managers worry about major fires there and, later in the season, northern Idaho.
But their strongest message was about the cost of fighting fires. There’s a 93 percent change that the U.S. Forest Service will spend somewhere between $810 million and $1.62 billion this year in fighting these fires, said Tom Vilsack, the secretary of the Department of Agriculture. The Forest Service is in that agency.
That pinches the Forest Service, Vilsack went on to explain, in that the money will have to be reallocated from other budgets. He predicted at least $200 million would have to be reallocated from funds designed to make forests more resilient, to reduce the “risk long term of these catastrophic and horrific fires.”
It’s a long-standing complaint, and the agencies have argued that money for fighting largest forest fires should come out of federal disaster funds, not the budget of the agencies. So far, the U.S. Congress has not gone along with that reasoning.
“Congress can’t have it both ways,” said Vilsack at a press conference. In winter, congressional representatives articulate the need for greater restoration of forests, expanded recreational opportunities “and all of the things that occur with a healthy forest.” But then, he added, Congress won’t give the agency the capacity and resources.
In Wyoming soon after, Vilsack continued the theme at a stop in Jackson Hole.
“People say we need more facilities. Absolutely,” he said. “But we’ve seen a 68 percent reduction in the facilities budget because of fire suppression.”
The budget trails has been slashed 13 percent, reports the Jackson Hole News&Guide, while deferred maintenance is down 95 percent and wilderness and recreation heritage programs have been cut 14 percent.
Shop local to help pay for cost of conservation
WHITEFISH, Mont. — Whitefish residents are being urged to shop local instead of traveling down the Flathead River to buy goods at Kalispell or Missoula.
By a wide margin, voters agreed to a 1 percent sales tax recently, with the money to be used to buy a conservation easement in a 3,000-acre basin. The easement, explains the Whitefish Pilot, is designed to protect the Haskill watershed, the primary source of drinking water for Whitefish.
Dylan Boyle, who directs the Whitefish Convention and Visitor Bureau, told the newspaper that the campaign is geared partly at “geo-travelers” who visit Whitefish. “We want to send the message that if you spend locally in Whitefish you are contributing to the protection of open space and water quality,” he said.
More summer use and grizzly bears
LAKE LOUISE, Alberta — Revised guidelines for the Lake Louise ski area open the door for longer hours, both earlier and later, but shifting use toward the top of the mountain.
This is designed, at least in part, to avoid disturbing the several grizzly bears that tend to loiter on the middle-level portions of the ski mountain. But the southern Alberta chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wildlife Society tells the Rocky Mountain Outlook of “serious concerns” about the impacts to the grizzlies.
“These animals have already adjusted to current summer use there, so they have a predictability,” said Anne-Marie Syslak, executive director of the group. Increasing the time for people on the mountain in summer, she added, means “less time for bears to be there and do what they need to do out in the wilderness.”
Dan Markham, director of brand and communications for the Lake Louise resort, said the changes, if approved by Parks Canada, will provide “better views” for visitors and a “much larger buffer zone for the grizzly bears.”
He said up to four grizzlies have been on the ski hill during the last month. If the top of the mountain is used by visitors, he said, they can possibly see grizzly bears below as they take the gondola.
Lake Louise is in Banff National Park, which had a 10.4 percent increase in visitors last year. That’s the busiest that Canada’s flagship national park has been in 15 years. It’s also in keeping with the marching orders of park administrators, who have been told they need to create ways to expand visitor numbers by about 2 percent a year.
But the Rocky Mountain Outlook isn’t persuaded that any of this is good. The newspaper talked about a tipping point and also described the gridlock found in Banff, the townsite located within the park of the same name.
“We’re focused on quantity, not quality,” said Colleen Campbell, president of Bow Valley Naturalists. “We’re not talking about visitor experience anymore. We’re just talking about visitor numbers. Is anyone measuring visitor happiness?” she asked.
Nurse files lawsuit against patient
ASPEN, Colo. — Who’d think that nursing could result in personal injuries? That’s the basis of a complaint of a nurse at the Aspen Valley Hospital, who was assaulted by a patient who was being treated in the emergency room.
The patient was drunk after falling and hitting her head on a street corner. Ambulance crews decided she needed to be seen at the hospital for the possibility of a head injury.
At the hospital, the drunk woman was combative, twisting the nurses’ finger and then kicking the nurse in her chest. The nurse has now sued.
Police later arrested the drunken woman. She was charged with assault and was given six months of probation.
Bring your own bud to cannabis resort
DURANGO, Colo. — The nation’s first cannabis-friendly ranch resort is how a 170-acre property near Durango describes itself.
Guests won’t be given marijuana, because that violates state law, explains the Durango Herald. Instead, customer will be allowed to take their own THC products and use them while at the resort. They can smoke on the porches of their own cabins.
In addition to getting buzzed, there’s also horseshoe and hiking, yoga sessions and workshops on marijuana cultivating.
Rates at CannaCamp start at $395 per person per night. Marijuana not included.
 
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.