A peek inside Kindred Resort, Keystone’s $300M residential and commercial project

 #colorado #realestate #keystonecolorado

In Keystone’s River Run Village, hundreds of workers toil under towering cranes on a 320,000-square-foot development that project leaders hope will be the ski area’s new centerpiece. 

Kindred Resort, a more than $300-million-dollar project set to open in 2025, will house 95 luxury condominiums, a 107-room hotel, restaurants, ski school, event space and more, all steps away from the River Run Gondola. 

“We’ve all been excited for a project like this to come along,” said Shervin Rashidi, a co-founder of the development team. “Keystone hasn’t really had a true base center.” 

With an endorsement from Vail Resorts, which is set to operate the planned hotel under its hospitality wing, Rashidi said the project has remained on budget and on schedule. While inflation and supply chain issues since the COVID-19 pandemic have provided challenges, Rashidi said the development has been able to avoid some of the pitfalls of other projects. 

“We did a good job with OZ Architecture when it comes to overall design. A lot of our walls and steel structure and so forth are pre-manufactured and then brought in,” Rashidi said. “So that’s helped us avoid a lot of those bigger supply-side issues.” 

For the full story click here

Summit County public health director encourages residents get COVID and flu shots ahead of fall and winter season

 #colorado #realestate #breckenridge

Amy Wineland, Summit County Public Health Director

As the cold and flu season approaches, Summit County’s public health director is recommending residents receive fresh COVID-19 and flu vaccines. 

Cases for both are likely to rise heading into the fall and winter, said Public Health Director Amy Wineland, adding, “COVID is here to stay.”

“COVID-19 will continue to mutate, not unlike the flu virus,” Wineland said. “It will be expected, going forward, that we will likely have a new COVID-19 shot every season like we do with flu.” 

Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows more than 88% of Summit County residents have received an initial round of COVID-19 vaccines, while 24% have received the most recent booster shot. 

Staying up-to-date on boosters will be critical for avoiding severe infection, Wineland said, as each iteration is designed to target the current virus mutation. 

While vaccines remain free through most health insurers, access is available in the county for children and adults who are uninsured or underinsured, Wineland said. 

Walk-in clinics for COVID-19 and flu shots will be held at the Summit County Public Health Department building at 360 Peak One Drive from 2-4:30 p.m. every Monday through Nov. 13. 

Additionally, clinics will be held at Dillon Valley Elementary on Oct. 12 and Upper Blue Elementary on Oct. 19 from 3:30-6 p.m. in the school cafeterias. A clinic will also be held at the Summit County Elks Lodge in Silverthorne from 5-7 p.m. Oct. 24. 

Keystone voters approve town charter, securing home-rule status

 #colorado #realestate #keystone #breckenridge

Keystone voters paved the way for the recently incorporated town to become a home-rule municipality

after approving a proposed charte in an election that ended 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 26. 

Approximately 83% of voters cast ballots in favor of the charter, with 288 votes of approval and 57 votes of disapproval, according to unofficial results released Tuesday night around 8 p.m.

Keystone has roughly 900 registered voters in total. 

Under a charter, Keystone is able to set specific parameters around government structure, tax collection and rules for boards and commissions, among other priorities. It provides the town greater latitude in how it governs compared to statutory municipalities, which must defer to state statute on many of these policies. 

Had the proposed charter ultimately failed, Keystone would have automatically become a statutory town. 

Home-rule status, Riley said, “gives the town tremendous flexibility” that will “meet Keystone’s needs.” 

Read the full story here

Snowmaking season begins at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area

 #colorado #realestate #breckenridge

On Saturday, Sept. 23, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area announced that it fired up its snow guns beginning at 3 a.m. Saturday morning. The first dusting of man-made snow marks the first time the snow guns have been fired up ahead of the 2023-24 season.

The front side of the mountain received the most snowmaking with a focus on High Noon, which is typically the first run to open, followed by Ramrod.

A-Basin’s opening day is still to be decided, but the ski area will open as soon as conditions allow. Last year, A-Basin opened on Oct. 23 and was the first ski area to open in Summit County.

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.
 

Summit County’s adoptable pets for the week of Sept. 24

#colorado #realestate #breckenridge

Majik and Boddy a bonded pair

 Call the shelter at 970-668-3230 with questions. The most recent list of animals available for adoption can be found on the shelter’s website Here

Colorado’s fall leaf-peeping season could be one of the best in years

 #colorado #realestate #breckenridge

The 2023 leaf-peeping season has officially kicked-off in Colorado’s High Country, bringing pockets of fall color to mountainsides across the state. 

Thanks to above-average precipitation in past months, forest experts say this year’s ephemeral event is likely to be one of the best in years. 

“This year, aspens are just proliferating with all the successful moisture we had over the winter,” said Dan West, entomologist for the Colorado State Forest Service. “I expect the color to be more than we’ve seen in the last few years.”

West, who recently completed an aerial observation of the state’s 24 million acres of forest, said aspen trees haven’t looked this good since 2018, which he called the last great snow year prior to 2023. 

The heavy snowfall of winter and spring helped make Colorado drought-free for the first time in four years this July. Though the reprieve didn’t last, it was enough to keep trees from becoming parched. Coupled with a cooler start to summer, the conditions created the perfect environment for thriving forests. 

For the complete story and forecast click here

‘It’s all talk’: Dillon Town Council looks to ‘save’ Arapahoe Cafe as development proposal spooks businesses

#colorado #realestate #breckenridge

Dillon Town Manager Nathan Johnson and Mayor Carolyn Skowyra met with representatives of Arapahoe Cafe & Pub on Tuesday, Sept. 19, days after the longtime small business announced it would be closing its doors next month.

Skowyra, responding to concerns from Dillon residents who spoke during public comment, said the town is aware of the “ripple effects” businesses are feeling as developer Jake Porritt has pitched a luxury hotel where the Best Western Ptarmigan Lodge now stands.

“We can’t do anything about (Porritt) talking to this hotel owner, preventing the hotel from renewing a lease with the Arapahoe Cafe,” Skowyra said, adding that she and Johnson met with the business. “We’re doing everything we can. We understand their importance in town.”

Porritt in a June town council meeting pitched a major redevelopment, including a 4- or 5-star hotel on the Dillon Reservoir waterfront, an indoor amphitheater, 300 units of workforce housing, a public conference center and a high-tech parking structure are also proposed as part of it.

Uncertainty around these massive redevelopment proposals prompted Arapahoe Cafe to announce in a Facebook post last week that it will be closing Oct. 15.

As budget season approaches, Breckenridge reviews its ongoing and upcoming capital improvement projects

 #colorado #realestate #breckenridge

Well, it's offical.  The Town of Breckenridge has more money than God.  At least it appears that way when you read their capitdal impromement budget for this next year.

As the deadline to finalize a budget for next year approaches, the Breckenridge Town Council received an update on capital improvements projects around town. Many of them are multiyear projects that aim to improve areas such as public infrastructure and recreation. 

Last spring, the council members identified priorities within the capital improvement plan. At the Sept. 12 meeting, they received updates on some of those projects. 

Kingdom Park

This project intends to replace the two existing grass ball fields with synthetic turf in 2024 and renovate the amenity space between the fields in 2025. The cost of these renovations is estimated to cost roughly $6.9 million. Town staff said in a memo that the synthetic surface will handle inclement weather better by draining faster than the existing grass.

Riverwalk Center

Plans are taking shape to renovate the Riverwalk Center. The goal is to give the center a refresh while updating some of its amenities. This project is budgeted through 2028 and is anticipated to cost $10.5 million. 

There are too many projects to list here, so click the link below for the full list and costs.

Breck Budget

43rd Breckenridge Film Festival kicks off next weekend

 #colorado #realestate #breckenridge

The Breck Film Festival will host its 43rd annual event  Sept. 21-24. This will be a weekend full of independent films, diverse voices and festive social gatherings.

Over 80 films will be featured, including world and national premieres. In addition to the screenings, the festival will host three panel discussions throughout the weekend focused on topical issues in the film industry and opportunities to meet and connect with filmmakers.

Breck Film Festival also features a variety of educational programs for youth. This includes a free Children’s Program in partnership with Breck Create, a High School lm showcase, and a 3-day filmmaking workshop, Girls in STEM, in partnership with the Keystone Science School.

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Tickets and passes:

• Peak 9 Passes (access to all films): $160
• Peak 10 Passes (access to all films, parties and the VIP Lounge): $225
• Single tickets cost $14 to $18 are available for major screenings at the Riverwalk Center: “Fancy Dance,” “Story Ave,” “Full Circle” and “Elemental: Reimagine Wildfire”
• Additional events are free, though advance registration is encouraged for some to ensure a spot

For more information, visit Breck Film

Summit County’s adoptable pets for the week of Sept. 17

 #colorado #realestate #breckenridge

Call the shelter at 970-668-3230 with questions. The most recent list of animals available for adoption can be found on the shelter’s Website Here

Dillon Town Council eyes improvements to Tiki Bar, including potential change in concessionaire

#colorado #realestate #breckenridge

 The Dillon Town Council is scheduled to continue discussing a potential change in the concessionaire who runs the Tiki Bar at the town marina, according to the agenda for the upcoming Tuesday, Sept. 19 work session.

About two weeks ago, the town council members discussed its concessionaires agreements with Pug Ryan’s Brewery, which currently runs the tiki bar, and Stand-Up Paddle Colorado, which runs the paddleboard rentals.

Council members discussed what kind of improvements they would like to see at the tiki bar, everything from the quality of the food to architecture and traffic considerations. It also discussed the competing interests at the marina, including those of concert-goers, nearby residents, slip holders, beach-goers, and regatta competitors and attendees.

“Because the tiki bar is so passionate for all of us here at this table and probably everyone in this room also, we’re trying to figure ways to improve it,” Council member Brad Bailey said at the Sept. 5 meeting. “Make it better for the public. Make it better for the concessionaire. Make it better for the voters. And it’s a tough thing to do because it is a public-private partnership.”

The town’s current Capital Improvement Plan contemplates sea wall improvements in 2025 and potential infrastructure improvements in 2026, which could impact efforts to improve the tiki bar, according to a staff memo to the council.

Beloved restaurant is making a return to Breckenridge

 #breckenridge #colorado #realestate

Back in its original spot, in a building still belonging to its original owner, the longtime locally adored Horseshoe restaurant is making its return to Breckenridge.

Originally known as Horseshoe II, the original restaurant opened 1978 and went on to have a 30-year run, becoming one of Breckenridge’s most-loved local spots.

This revival has strong ties with the restaurant’s original roots as the new owner works with the previous owner to “give Horseshoe back to Breckenridge.”

This establishment, officially called Horseshoe Breck, and unofficially deemed Horseshoe III, puts a new twist on the Horseshoe name.

Kelly Boyd, a San Diego native and the current owner of Horseshoe Breck, first met Horseshoe II’s former owner, Reggie Gray, in May. Months later, Boyd would reopen the doors to an establishment that locals had sorely missed. 

Reggie Gray named the spot after his father’s restaurant, the original Horseshoe, which was in Trenton, New Jersey. After completing his degree in restaurant and hotel management from Cornell University, Gray landed in Breckenridge in 1974 and began working in the restaurant scene. Almost four years later, he was given the opportunity to buy a restaurant on 115 Main St. and Horseshoe II was born. 

For the rest of the story click here

Breckenridge and Summit County September Real Estate Report

 #colorado #breckenridge #realestate

Nancy Yearout's September / 2023  Real Estate Market Update  ​​ Breckenridge  Frisco  Silverthorne  Dillon  Keystone  Copper Mountain  Hello Fall! ​ ​​Fall is a great time to visit and check out the myriad of leaves as they turn into their brilliant fall colors of yellows, oranges and reds that will blanket all of Summit County soon.  And, it's a great time to check out property and find your mountain home before the snow flies and the 2023 / 2024 ski season gets under way! ​ Summit County Residential Sales  (Includes all types of properties except land) Check out the below chart that shows the year-to-date sales through August from 2000 to present. It includes the average residential sold price, the total number of sales for each year, and the percentage changes year to year.   The number of properties sold shows a slight drop of 11% with a 4% decrease in the average sale price compared to last year but, I see it as a "back to reality" nomal real estate market after the enormous price increases of the Covid years.  Plus, one has to take into account the affects of the varied short term rental restrictions that have been put in place in the County over the past year.   After all, this is a Resort Community and most property owners in Summit County are 2nd homeowners...new buyers are looking to be able to have the same full ownership rights. And, you got to be impressed in how much the Summit County real estate market has grown in average residential property sale prices...$300,000 in 2000 to $1.3 million in 2023.  Despite the slight pullback in recent prices, the long-term trajectory showcases the continuing appeal and demand for Summit County, Colorado real estate. ​ Looking to buy or sell property in Summit County, Colorado?  And/or, do you know anyone who might be interested in resort mountain real estate?  I'm never too busy for referrals and I'd love to hear from you.  Call, text, or email me anytime! 970-485-0293 or nancy@buyinbreckenridge.com Now, attention please...Check out the details and new drop in price for this Prime Rental,  4 Bedroom, 4 Bath investment opportunity in the Beaver Run Conference and Resort Center!   MLS#: S1041068 Single Family Home Sales Single Family Home sales for the County and each Town is the focus of this month's update.  Each chart below contain January 1 - August 31 statistics for each year and show the average sold price, the number of sales from present, back to 2004.  The 2023 Quick Stats shows this year's Average Sold Price, the Number of Sales, the Percent of List Price to Sold Price, and the Average Days on the market (whew!) Nancy Yearout Broker Associate RE/MAX Properties of the Summit 970-485-0293 nancy@buyinbreckenridge.com ​Nancy's Website​​​

Driver who got pickup stuck on Colorado 14er is hit with hefty tow bill

 #colorado #breckenridge #realestate

The now-infamous driver of a pickup truck that became stuck on a Colorado 14er late last month initially balked when Mountain Recovery, a local tow company, quoted its rates to retrieve the vehicle.

But about a week later, the driver who somewhat inexplicably traversed his GMC Canyon up a hiking trail at Mount Lincoln, a 14,293-foot peak in Park County, on Aug. 27, called Mountain Recovery back. 

After an unsuccessful attempt to recover the truck, the vehicle was still at the top of the mountain, and he decided he needed the tow company’s expertise afterall, Mountain Recovery owner Charlie Stubblefield said.

The driver had apparently continued to drive as the trail narrowed and became stuck when his rear wheel slid off the trail, Colorado 4×4 Rescue wrote in the post. He reportedly walked down to Alma to find help to retrieve the vehicle.

For the rest of the story click here

Snow falls across Colorado Rocky Mountains, hitting every ski area in Summit County

#colorado #breckenridge #realestate

White-tipped mountains stoked excitement on Monday, Sept. 11, for the upcoming ski season as Coloradans throughout the high country awoke to some summer snow. 

From Arapahoe Basin to Breckenridge, a dusting of snow fell on every major ski resort in Summit County. After a warm spell, September temperatures finally dipped low enough that a small storm system dropped snow throughout the state’s high peaks overnight, National Weather Service Forecaster Robert Koopmeiners said.

“It’s getting late enough in the season, you get up to a high enough elevation and you’re going to get snow,” Koopmeiners said. “It’s that time of year. It’s September, right? One would expect that.”

For the full story click here

Summit County’s adoptable pets for the week of Sept. 10

 #colorado #realestate #breckenridge #adoptablepets

Call the shelter at 970-668-3230 with questions. The most recent list of animals available for adoption can be found on the shelter’s Website Here

Frisco to host Repair Fair where outdoor gear with minor damage can be repaired for free

 #colorado #realestate #breckenridge

Frisco will host its second annual free Repair Fair from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23, at the Frisco Historic Park, according to a news release from the town.

Sew Tough Repair and Frisco town staff will be on site to patch holes and repair minor tears in outdoor equipment, including coats, tents and backpacks. A Rebel Sports bike mechanic will also be at the event to help provide simple bicycle repairs.

Frisco’s sustainability committee — known as the Green Team — launched the Repair Fair last year, according to the news release. The event is inspired by existing programs developed by several outdoors manufacturers that facilitate the repair, reuse, resale and recycling of used gear.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 146 million tons of solid waste ended up in landfills across the U.S. in 2018, with materials most commonly used in outdoor equipment, such as plastics, leather and textiles, comprising over 29% of that waste.

Attendees at the Repair Fair are asked to bring one piece of clean equipment for repair, as well as their own cup or mug for the beverages that will be provided, the release states. Free pizza and snacks will also be available.

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Colorado’s mountain town homeowners are tired of being cast as villains in the fight over short-term rentals

 #colorado #breckenridge #realestate #shorttermrentals

Tommy Jefferies has had more than 220 guests this year rent rooms in the four-bedroom home he has converted into a hostel in a neighborhood north of Breckenridge. 

He does all the cleaning and reservation work on top of his gigs as a snowcat driver, ski shop manager and dog walker. The 35-year-old who scraped up just enough to buy the home six years ago calls Airbnb “my full-time job.” 

“Without income from my guests, I could not live in this town,” he said.

When Summit County’s new regulations on short-term rentals land next month, Jefferies will be limited to 35 reservations a year. He’s certain he will not make enough to pay his mortgage with a nearly 90% annual reduction in bookings. 

He pleaded with county commissioners to help him protect the only way he’s found to stay a resident in the county. 

“It’s so frustrating,” he said. “I went to so many meetings where all this was being discussed and we were literally laughed off the speaking podium. I’ve never experienced such a gross display of not being heard. They are not counting me as a local. They have shown this dark light over everyone who is a short-term renter and they want us to all look like absentee owners. I’ve lived in this valley for 13 years and they are forcing me to leave. They treat me like an outsider in my own home.”

Last month a group of more than 100 homeowners sued the Summit County commissioners in federal court, calling a recently adopted rule that limits property owners to 35 bookings a year and a 2% tax “a blunderbuss response” of “successively more severe, wide-ranging, misguided and unlawful regulations.”

A group in Breckenridge “is picking up momentum” with plans to challenge the town of Breckenridge’s new caps on short-term licenses and zoning that curtails rentals in residential neighborhoods, said Bill Ray with the newly formed Colorado Property Owners for Property Rights. The Breckenridge town council in 2021 approved a $400 per-bedroom annual fee on short-term rentals in the town after a housing assessment survey showed 14.5% of renters in Summit County had had their lease terminated because the owner was converting the property to short-term rentals. The annual short-term rental fee climbed to $756 per bedroom this year. 

For the full story click here

Courtesy of the Colorado Sun

Frisco launches home improvement loan program aimed at keeping full-time residents in the community

 #colorado #frisco #realestate #breckenridge

The town of Frisco is launching a home improvement loan program to enable full-time residents to make the repairs and improvements to their homes that will allow them to stay in the community, according to a news release.

In April, the Frisco Town Council approved a resolution establishing a home improvement loan program that sought to acknowledge that the cost of repairs can be a barrier to staying in the community, the release states.

Applicants to the program must own their Frisco home, be full-time residents and make a qualifying repair or improvement to qualify for up to a $50,000 loan, according to the release. 

For more information Click Here

Frisco Police Department warns of caller impersonating made-up police ‘officer Brad’ in phone scam

 #colorado #frisco #realestate #breckenridge

Frisco town officials are advising residents to just hang up if they receive a phone call from a caller pretending to be a police officer and asking for money. It’s a scam.

On Thursday, Aug. 31, three concerned residents contacted the Frisco Police Department reporting they had been contacted by someone claiming to be a Frisco police officer, according to a news release from the town.

The caller, who identified as “Officer Brad,” reportedly asked for $500 in bond payments after claiming that a missed jury summons had resulted in arrest warrants. Police will never ask for payment or inform someone about an arrest warrant over the phone, according to the news release.

The Frisco Police Department does not even have an officer by the name of Brad, communications director Vanessa Agee said in an email.

“This is completely made up,” Agee said.

These types of fraudsters can be convincing and play on trust and fear, Agee said. When receiving a suspicious call, people should never provide personal information and hang up immediately, she said, adding that a legitimate company or government agency will never have an issue with someone hanging up to double check.

“These types of phone scams involving someone impersonating a police officer are common, very believable, and unfortunately often successful, as the fraudsters use fear and a knowledge of the community to appear legitimate,” the release states. “If you have doubt about a phone call that you are receiving, we urge you to hang up and call the police department in your area.”

For the complete story click here

‘Even the sheriff double locks his bike’: Bike thefts total more than $87,000 this summer in Summit County

#breckenridge #realestate #colorado

Silverthorne resident Benjamin Umayam has never owned a car in his life. So, when Umayam, 68, retired from his career as chef in New York City and moved to Summit  County three years ago, he invested in an electric bike worth $1,800 to get around.

Like many retirees, Umayam has a routine: Most mornings he’ll hop on his bike in the morning and coast down the big hill from Wildernest to Silverthorne to have coffee at Red Buffalo Cafe before swinging by the recreation center.

“The bike is my attraction to getting places in my retired life, it’s essential,” Umayam said, adding that he writes short stories, some which have been published, about “riding around and enjoying nature.”

But for the past two weeks, Umayam has been taking the bus. 

After returning late from a ukulele performance on Sunday, Aug. 20, Umayam found his bike had been stolen. He said he used a cable lock to secure his bike in a carport the night before, right where he usually does when he gets home. But it was gone — not even the lock had been left behind.

 ust like ski and snowboard theft in the winter, bike theft ebbs and flows in Summit County and along the Interstate 70 corridor all summer long, according to Summit County Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons.

The proximity to the fast moving and crowded highway, as well as the high concentration of recreationalists with expensive equipment, makes these Colorado mountain towns popular targets, FitzSimons said.

“These thieves are opportunists,” FitzSimons said. “They drive around looking for these bikes that are unattended and they snatch them pretty quickly — really quickly.”

Between July 1 and Aug. 8, FitzSimons said 18 bikes worth a combined $87,000 have been reported stolen in Summit County alone. Meanwhile, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office is working jointly on more than one bike theft case with law enforcement in Vail, he said.

Meteorologists release early predictions for Summit County’s 2023-24 ski season based on historic El Nino data

 #breckenridge #realestate #coloradorealestate

Meteorologists have released early predictions for what the 2023-24 ski season could look like in Summit County and across Colorado. 

While experts maintain that nothing is certain and that their tools for predicting snowfall this early remain limited, one atmospheric weather pattern is providing some clues.

“For the upcoming winter season, an El Nino looks to be in store, and better yet, current sea surface temperatures are showing a strenghting El Nino event,” wrote OpenSnow meteorologist Sam Collentine in an Aug. 30 post.

But the relationship between El Nino and the state’s snowfall tends to be a mixed bag, Collentine wrote. For example, data shows the 30-year median for snow water equivalent (the amount of water held in snow) for Copper Mountain Resort on March 31 is 14.6 inches, according to Collentine. When comparing Copper’s median for each of the past seven significant El Niño years dating back to 1982, just three were above normal. The high was 16.5 inches in 2002-03, Collentine wrote.

For the full story click here

Summit County’s adoptable pets for the week of Sept. 3

 
#colorado #breckenridge #realestate

Call the shelter at 970-668-3230 with questions. The most recent list of animals available for adoption can be found on the shelter’s

https://www.summitcountyco.gov/877/Animals-Available-for-Adoption Website - Here

Glories of the summer’s end

 #colorado #realestate #breckenridge

Courtesy of Karn Stiegeimeier, chair of Eagle-Summit Wilderness Alliance, an all-volunteer nonprofit that helps the U.S. Forest Service protect and preserve the wilderness areas in Eagle and Summit counties.

This summer has been amazingly wet and green, which is exactly what we want for many reasons, a great wildflower season among them. The regular afternoon rains create excellent conditions for most flowers, and even for the end of the summer flowers — the gentians! Gentians are in the Gentianaceae family, which includes some of our richest colors and most fabulous shapes. In our sub-Alpine and tundra wet zones, you may get to see the many purple-to-lavender and rose-colored gentians: purple star gentian, Swertia perennis, bottle gentian, Gentiana parryi, blue fringed gentian, Gentianopsis detonsa, rose gentian, Gentianella amarella, moss gentian, Gentiana prostate and the tiny Lapland gentian (Gentiana tenella). Each of these beautiful flowers have unique petal shapes.

Gentians are seen in our high mountains at the end of the summer season in Summit County. Different species of gentians are well-known in the European high mountains, and can be found blooming earlier in the summer at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail. They grow on every continent except Antarctica, and take on many different forms in different locations, usually preferring wet locations next to creeks or wetlands. Like many plants, gentians were used historically for a variety of medicinal uses, especially in European areas. The botanical genus came from Gentius, a second-century B.C. king of Illyria, who supposedly introduced its use in healing. However, gentian was an ingredient in medicines described on an Egyptian papyrus dating back to 1200 B.C. It was used for digestive problems and as a topical wound healer.

The bottle gentian, Gentiana parryi, also called Parry’s gentian, named for Charles Parry, the explorer/botanist who traveled in Colorado and the West in the mid 1800s, spending summers in a cabin at the base of Grays and Torreys peaks, collecting botanical specimens. He named the peaks Grays and Torreys after other botanists he worked with at the time. It is fun to watch as these these beautiful and bizarre bottle-shaped blooms are sought after by nature’s specialized pollinators. The bottles are deep and often closed bottle shapes, so it takes a specialized pollinator to get the job done right. The bumblebee somehow knows instinctively just the right spot to touch at the tip of the bloom to open the “trap door” and dive deep into the bloom, hidden while it gathers a reward. Hummingbirds have no difficulty inserting their long bills into the flower.

For the complete story click here