Olympic-sized Dew Tour begins in Breckenridge Wednesday

#Breckenridge, Colorado.

Sebastian Foltz / sfoltz@summitdaily.com

At this year’s Dew Tour, 21 of the 32 Sochi Olympic freeski and snowboard medalists are expected to participate. For many of them, it will be the first major competition of the season and the first time facing one another since Sochi.

But if last week’s U.S. Grand Prix halfpipe competition at Copper Mountain — which featured a handful of the world’s best — is any indication, Breckenridge is in for a big show.

There was no Olympic hangover for freeski gold medalist David Wise or four-time women’s snowboarding Olympian Kelly Clark, both of whom topped the podiums last week — even though for Clark, like most of the athletes, it was only the fifth day back in a halfpipe since early in the summer. Clark will face some serious competition this week with gold medal teammate Kaitlyn Farrington also scheduled to attend.

All three top men’s skiers scored in the 90s at the Grand Prix, showing that some of the heavy hitters are coming out swinging.

“Usually a lot of guys fall and there’s a lot of mistakes, but everybody was skiing pretty solid,” Wise said of the high level of early-season competition. “If that’s any indication of what Dew Tour and X Games are going to be like this year, it’s going to be pretty unreal.”

While there was no slopestyle at Copper last week, Sochi gold medalist Joss Christiansen said the first two days of on-course practice at Breckenridge look like the competition there will be just as high.

“It’s crazy to see all the new tricks people have learned over the summer. Everyone’s killing it,” he said Tuesday. “You can really see who has been motivated and dedicated all summer. It’s a lot more intense than it has been. A lot of people are trying to prove themselves, it shows how much the sport is growing.”

Christensen will be joined by U.S. teammates Gus Kenworthy and Nick Goepper. Together the three completed the Olympic podium sweep for the inaugural Winter Games slopestyle competition.

The competition in snowboarding will be equally high, with U.S. slopestyle gold medalist Sage Kotsenburg, Canadian silver medalist Mark McMorris and Swiss halfpipe gold medalist Iouri “IPod” Podladtchikov.

“It’s going to be a real dog fight,” Christensen said.

REDEMPTION SONG

While Clark and Wise look like they’re picking up right where they left off, other athletes might be looking for a little Sochi redemption.

Both snowboarder Arielle Gold and freeskier Torin Yater-Wallace came out of the gates strong last week, each finishing second. Gold suffered a dislocated shoulder just prior to dropping in the qualifying round at Sochi and missed the rest of the year. Yater-Wallace dealt most of the season with a twice-punctured lung — once after a medical treatment and the second time during Dew Tour practice — which kept him out of a halfpipe until right before the Olympics. He was awarded a coach’s discretionary selection to the U.S. team.

“I was pretty rusty and not doing so hot,” the six-time X Games medalist said of his 26th-place finish in Sochi.

Arielle’s brother and fellow Olympian Taylor Gold will also be one to watch coming off a Grand Prix win. The 21-year-old rider finished third at last year’s Dew Tour.

LOCALS IN THE MIX

Breck locals and U.S. Olympic slopestyle freeskiers Bobby Brown and Keri Herman could also be in the running on their home turf. The pair finished ninth and 10th respectively in Sochi.

On the snowboard side they’ll be joined by fellow local Eric Willett, who was on track to qualify for Sochi when a crash during training at Copper cut his season short with a cracked vertebra. He was back on snow late in the season and is reportedly back to 100 percent after spending some of the summer riding in Australia, New Zealand and Whistler, British Columbia.

For the seventh Dew Tour at Breckenridge, course designers lived up to their reputation, with both the superpipe and slopestyle courses getting the thumbs up from athletes.

“It’s pretty rad,” Christensen said after two days practicing on the slopestyle course. “Coming back to a full-size slope course is pretty intense.”

Chief among the challenges, he said, are the rail setups.

“The rails on the course are pretty tricky. There’s a lot of consequences.”

But he added that they’re also set up for some creativity.

Overall, he said, “I think it’s a big, fun course that’s going to allow everyone to throw down.”

On the halfpipe, it’s all about steep walls and length.

David Wise said the extra length compared with the pipe at Copper tends to allow for a little more creativity.

“I love the Dew Tour halfpipe. It’s long. I’ll probably be able to get six hits, which adds an extra trick to my run, which is always fun. I’m looking forward to it.”

And the steep walls make it easier to maintain speed for higher amplitude, according to Clark. She also said it gives her more options for her run.

The competition gets underway Wednesday with women’s halfpipe and slopestyle qualifiers for skiers and snowboarders.

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Vail to invest $50M, connect 2 Utah ski resorts

SALT LAKE CITY — A new high-speed gondola is set to be built this summer to connect two Utah ski resorts and create one of the largest ski areas in the country, Vail Resorts Inc. announced Monday.

The lift connecting Park City Mountain Resort and Canyons Resort is the key part of $50 million in investments planned at the two resorts ahead of the 2015-16 ski season. Other plans include making two other lifts bigger and faster, building one new restaurant and upgrading two others, and improving snowmaking.

It will be a transformational makeover that will give skiers and snowboarders a much better experience, said Bill Rock, Park City Mountain Resort chief operating officer. The projects are pending approval from city and county officials in Park City.

“Putting the two resorts together has been the vision for a long time,” Rock said. “It’s great for our company, it’s great for Park City, and it’s great for Utah skiing.”

Vail bought Park City Mountain Resort in September for $182.5 million, resolving a messy legal battle between Vail and Powdr Corp. that threatened to cancel the ski season. Vail began leasing and operating Canyons in May 2013.

“Putting the two resorts together has been the vision for a long time,” Rock said. “It’s great for our company, it’s great for Park City, and it’s great for Utah skiing.”
Bill Rock
Park City Mountain Resort chief operating officer

The 7,300 combined acres of skiable terrain certainly will make it among the nation’s largest, said Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association. His association doesn’t track the size of U.S. resorts by skiable acres to say for sure which is the biggest.

Skiers already can buy one ticket and ski both resorts this season. But without a connecting lift, they’ll have to take ground transportation to do that.

The makeover is one of the largest investments in Utah ski resorts since Talisker Corp. invested about $75 million over several years in the early 2010s to improve and upgrade Canyons before Vail took over the resort.

It marks yet another significant moment in what has been a big year for the Utah ski industry, which is garnering attention across North America, said Ralf Garrison, a Denver-based ski industry consultant with The Advisory Group. History shows skiers are drawn to new and more combined terrain.

Also in the past year, Deer Valley Resort bought Solitude Mountain Resort and will take it over in 2015. Powdr Corp. executive Ian Cumming purchased the majority interest of Solitude Mountain Resort. And officials continue to work toward a long-term plan of building a series of chairlifts that would link seven ski areas and give Utah a European-style experience

That plan gets a turbo charge from the connecting lift at Park City Mountain Resort and Canyons, leaving only two connecting lifts to be planned and constructed to make the ambitious project a reality, said Nathan Rafferty, president of the trade group Ski Utah.

The new plans help shine the spotlight on Utah, which is vital in a very competitive ski industry, Rafferty said.

“Skiers and snowboarders are adventurists, and they are always looking for the next adventure,” Rafferty said. “People get to pour over the map and plot out how they are going to ski those two mountains together. That’s a lot of skiing.”

Not everybody in Utah was thrilled about the announcement. Carl Fisher, executive director of Save Our Canyons, said the connecting lift plan is less impactful on the mountain than other proposals. But he said the totality of the projects represents the continuation of a troubling trend of hyper-development of ski mountains that started years ago.

“Skiing is an activity to try and get out and connect with nature, whether it’s at the resort or in the backcountry,” Fisher said. “This is taking away from its core.”

The new gondola will seat eight people and take about 9 minutes to get from the Silverlode lift at Park City Mountain Resort to the Flatiron lift at Canyons, Vail officials said. It will include a stop-off point midway at Pine Cone Ridge, where skiers will be able to cruise down two new trails.

It marks the first gondola at the resort since an old one was shut down in 1983.

The combined resorts will be known in the future as Park City Mountain Resort, Rock said. Canyons will be known as Canyons at Park City.

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Dog that led Summit County animal control officers on a two-week chase in October has recovered

#Breckenridge, Colorado.

Special to the Daily

Zip the dog lived up to her name when she slipped away from her handlers on Oct. 15 during a stopover in Frisco. The Vizsla was on her way from Durango to a foster home on the Front Range via the Colorado Wyoming Vizsla Rescue Group when she got loose.

The skittish dog then proved nearly impossible to capture.

Rescue group volunteers put up posters around Frisco and Copper Mountain and notified Summit County Animal Control, whose officers used multiple tools, from live traps to net guns, in their attempts to capture the dog, all without success.

“We didn’t have somebody that she was familiar with to come catch her,” said Jesslyn Swirka, an animal control officer. “So she had a bunch of strange people who were like, ‘Hey, come over here.’”

Vizslas are Hungarian bird dogs, with one layer of sleek short hair. Often they are referred to as “Velcro dogs,” according to Shawna Wells, a volunteer with the rescue group, because they are so keen to be physically close to their owners. Zip, however, was skittish, likely due to the transfer, and in unfamiliar territory.

“Really, any type of breed of dog would be horrified in that situation,” Swirka said. “They’re in an area they don’t know, they’ve got a bunch of people trying to catch them. Whatever animals or people she came across in the time she was out could have been a horrifying experience for her as well.”

As one week stretched into another, the local animal community was on high alert as the Vizsla rescue volunteers came out in force to hand out posters and follow up on sightings with Animal Control and Copper Mountain security staff. Weather was a concern, with temperatures dipping low at night and the occasional snowfall, as were potentially harmful interactions with wildlife, like foxes and coyotes, and the idea that the dog might attempt to cross the interstate.

As one of the volunteers, Wells came up as often as she could from her Boulder home to follow up on sightings of Zip.

“It’s not that we couldn’t find her. We had sightings all the time,” Wells said. “It’s just that we couldn’t capture her.”

Wells did everything she could think of, from talking to people on the street to calling up businesses in areas where the dog had last been seen, like Copper, and asking them to keep an eye out.

“It’s such an amazing community,” she said, explaining how often she ended up speaking with the same person multiple times. “Nobody got upset with us, nobody got tired of hearing our story. Everybody was so kind.” People bought dinners for the volunteers and, after hearing that many of them were sleeping in their cars over the weekend, offered them places to stay.

“It was really incredible,” she said. “I mean, where does that happen?”

Finally, on Oct. 28, Wells got good news. Copper Mountain security team was alerted to a thin, shivering Zip who had been found in a bathroom stall inside a Copper building.

“She was pretty emaciated,” Wells said. “She was cold and I don’t think she would have survived that day, and I certainly don’t believe she would have survived that night.”

Wells then facilitated Zip’s rehabilitation from her Boulder home. Though it took some time for the dog to build up trust, she eventually settled down and gained a healthy amount of weight again.

“I had given up hope, honestly,” she said. “I was hopeless at that point. I really thought that was (the end), and the worst part would have been not knowing. It’s so fortunate that it ended in a good way, and it couldn’t have ended in a better way, and most of that is the community in Frisco.”

And just a few weeks ago, Zip was matched with her new family, who had been among the volunteers searching for her in October.

“She really surprised us all in her ability to rebound, and she has found her forever family, and they’re really great,” said Wells.

Wells attributes Zip’s happy ending to the helpful efforts of the Summit community.

“It’s so incredible to me,” she said. “When you do rescues, you lose a lot of hope in humanity because the things that you see, and to have that kind of community support and assistance every day for almost three weeks, unyielding support like that, just really sort of gives you a restored faith and hope in humanity, for sure.”

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Hundreds of Santas hit Main Street during the Lighting of Breckenridge

#Breckenridge, Colorado.

Jessie Unruh / GoBreck

Breckenridge “officially” transforms into a holiday scene on Saturday, Dec. 6, with the Lighting of Breckenridge and Race of the Santas, when hundreds of runners and walkers don Santa suits to benefit Adopt an Angel Summit County. Free hot cocoa and cookies keep revelers warm until sunset.

After the race, the real Santa Claus lights the town tree and visits with families. Race registration is $15 if you provide your own suit or costume, or $45 with a Santa suit included.

Both price points include a donation to Adopt an Angel Summit County. Kids race free with a parent, reindeer antlers and jingle bells included.

Breckenridge’s holiday activities continue throughout the month and include the BreckCreate Handmade Holiday Market, Dew Tour and New Year’s Eve parties. The town’s independent retailers are also offering up all manner of gifts: made-in-Breckenridge jewelry, funky children’s wear, mountain fashions, artisan foods and more.

Visit www.gobreck.com for more information and details.

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Breckenridge, Copper and Arapahoe Basin among 2015 Pro Challenge host locations; Vail out

#Breckenridge, Colorado.

Sebastian Foltz / sfoltz@summitdaily.com

With the ski and snowboard season barely underway in the High Country, a handful of Colorado resort destinations are already looking ahead to summer cycling fever.

Seven Colorado sites learned this week where an estimated 1 million rabid cycling fans will flock to see the fifth edition of the ever-changing USA Pro Challenge cycling stage race. Each year race organizers mix up the course with new routes and new host venues throughout the state.

“Changing the route every year keeps it exciting and fresh,” race CEO Shawn Hunter told the Summit Daily in a phone interview Thursday.

Breckenridge, Copper Mountain and surrounding Summit County will be at the center of the action for the 2015 race, while another popular nearby venue was noticeably absent.

Pro Challenge officials announced some of next year’s host sites with a twist Thursday. The start and finish of one of the race’s seven stages has yet to be determined. Fans will be able to suggest venues and a course for Stage 6 online at the race’s website.

While the exact courses will be announced in the spring, organizers released the start and finish sites for six of the seven stages.

Breckenridge, Copper Mountain Resort and Arapahoe Basin Ski Area were selected as host locations, meaning four of the race’s seven days will start or finish, or both, in Summit.

“Summit County as a whole has been extremely supportive,” Hunter said, describing both the fans and the host locations’ organizing committees. “They’ve generated huge crowds. It’s natural that we go back. ... The crowds at Breckenridge have been as good as any stage we’ve had in four years.”

Denver, Aspen, Steamboat Springs and Golden are the additional stops that have been announced thus far.

Notable among the changes to this year’s course is the absence of the popular Vail Time Trial up Vail Pass — which was featured in three of the previous four races.

Instead, Breckenridge will host this year’s time trial stage on a course that has yet to be finalized.

While he could not confirm whether Hoosier Pass or the famously steep section of Moonstone Road will be incorporated in the time trial route, Hunter said, “It’s certain that there will be some healthy climbing.”

He added that they were exploring options for a two-lap time trial course through the town.

Equally noteworthy will be a finish at Arapahoe Basin.

“It’s going to be a very intense uphill finish,” Hunter said. “How far up we go will be determined after site visits. I think it will be one of our more spectacular finishes. It’s going to be a wild spectator experience.”

Hunter said the finish could potentially be at the top of Loveland Pass, or at the base area at A-Basin.

Another major change to this year’s event will be the starting site. For the past two years Aspen has hosted a circuit course for the race’s opening stage. This year Steamboat Springs will host the opening stage, and Aspen will host a Stage 3 finish and Stage 4 start.

As to the decision to leave Vail out of the mix this year, Hunter said it was based on Vail and Beaver Creek hosting the 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in February and the resources devoted to that event.

However, Vail Valley Foundation spokesman John Dakin said the foundation — which helps attract and host major events in the Vail area — had made efforts to host a portion of 2015 cycling race but was not selected.

“What we were told was that there would be times when Eagle County would not have a stop,” Dakin said.

“We actively bid for 2015,” he added, saying the foundation would still be interested in being considered for Stage 6.

“If the online folks decide that they want to see a Vail stop, then we’ll be happy to welcome them back,” he said regarding the yet-to-be-determined Stage 6 sites. “Right now this is up to the Pro Challenge. It’s their tour and their process and we respect that.”

Hunter indicated that Vail would not be involved this year, adding, “in the future we will talk to them about 2016 and beyond.”

He also said that the Pro Challenge no longer has a bidding process but instead meets with organizing committees in order to make its selections.

Looking to the future, Dakin said, “We’re confident that we will be back on the schedule as early as 2016.”

The 2015 race will take place Monday, Aug. 17, through Sunday, Aug. 23. From the opening circuit-course stage in Steamboat, the race will head to a finish at A-Basin for Stage 2. Stage 3 will run from Copper Mountain to Aspen.

The following day the competition will return to Summit with a course between Aspen and Breckenridge. Breck will then host a time trial for Stage 5. Stage 6 has yet to be decided. Hunter said it will need to start at a location within a two-hour drive from Breck. The stage finish will also need to be within a two-hour transition distance to the Stage 7 start in Golden, so that participants and their crews will not have to travel too far between sites.

The final stage will run on a course from Golden to Denver incorporating laps through Golden and up and down Lookout Mountain — a popular previous location.

The specific routes for each stages will be determined early in 2015, Hunter said. Rabbit Ears, Independence, Hoosier and Vail passes all are in the mix to be included in the route.

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

The Hartford Ski Spectacular in Breckenridge creates moments of thrills and therapy

#Breckenridge, Colorado.

Alli Langley / alangley@summitdaily.com

An avalanche bomb exploded at Breckenridge Ski Resort a couple peaks north of the slope where Chip Sell stood. The skier stopped talking and turned away for a moment.

“I don’t like to ever be near the big booms,” said the 46-year-old Army veteran. “That takes you right back.”

The sound and the accompanying concussive force sometimes remind him of the life-changing mortar attack he experienced while serving in Iraq in 2003.

That blast exploded 10 to 15 feet in front of him, he said, and lodged shrapnel into his leg, chest, face and scalp.

“I was able to walk away, and I still have my arms. I still have my legs. I feel very, very, very lucky and very fortunate,” he said.

“Everybody loses a little bit of themselves when they get injured.”

Chip Sell
Army veteran

The attack left Sell with a mild traumatic brain injury. He retired from his military career and did a few years of speech and cognitive processing therapy.

On Wednesday, Nov. 3, Sell was one of roughly 800 participants in The Hartford Ski Spectacular, an event in its 27th year put on by Disabled Sports USA and the Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center.

Held at Beaver Run Resort, the five-day-long event draws people from all over the U.S. to celebrate adaptive snowsports.

The ski spectacular offers training classes for adaptive instructors, lessons in adaptive skiing and snowboarding for people with disabilities, opportunities to try activities like curling and sled hockey, and a chance for adaptive amateurs and professionals to gather with their families and enjoy time on the mountain.

‘SOMETHING EVERYBODY SHOULD FEEL’

Sell left his wife, a teacher, and his 9-year-old daughter at school to come to the event to support the other participants. He doesn’t ask the people he meets about how they might’ve been injured or in what ways they might have been disabled since birth.

“If somebody wants to tell me what happened to them, I let them tell me,” he said. “I just want to ski with them.”

Sell volunteers with an adaptive skiing program where he lives and has volunteered as an ambassador for Disabled Sports USA. He’s always willing to lend a hand or simply share a smile.

“Whatever support I can give in whatever way I can give,” he said. “If I can somehow help them through it, you know, it helps me in a way.”

At the top of a lift, he skate-skied up to where a monoskier’s adaptive equipment had gotten stuck to see if he could help.

“Everybody loses a little bit of themselves when they get injured,” he said.

But instead of dwelling on the negatives, he said, people can overcome fears at the event, push their bodies’ limits at their own pace and discover or renew a passion.

“It’s all about that feeling,” he said, describing the excitement and enjoyment that comes with learning a new skill or speeding confidently down a ski run. “It’s something everybody should feel and experience.”

Snowsports can be therapeutic for anyone, regardless of whether they have PTSD or all four limbs, he said.

“I don’t like saying disability. I hate saying that word,” he said.

All over the mountain, people with different abilities are challenging those abilities, he said. Almost all are smiling.

‘A TOUCHING OF SPIRITS’

A constant stream of people flowed in between Beaver Run Resort and the slope above the Quicksilver Super6 chairlift Wednesday.

From beginners on snow for the first time with their dedicated instructors to elite athletes training with their coaches, the event came alive with hundreds of resilient people with inspiring stories.

One professional athlete, Shawn Cheshire, stopped for a few minutes before putting on her alpine skis. The 39-year-old lost her sight after an accident while working as an EMT five years ago.

Cheshire, a single mother of two, has since won medals representing the U.S. in international competitions as a runner and tandem bicyclist, and she will compete as a tandem cyclist in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio, Brazil.

She had never skied as a sighted person, but she quickly added accomplished cross-country skier and biathlete to her resume, and she brought those skills to the last two ski spectaculars.

This year’s event, though, was her first to try downhill skiing.

On her third day on alpine skis, she said she and Margie Sinton, her guide and instructor, had worked out a counting system that helps Cheshire time when to make her turns.

In between lessons Wednesday, another instructor explained that he tells the skiers with adaptive equipment the same thing he tells his other students.

Ralph Marche, a 56-year-old from Massachusetts who has volunteered to give lessons for at least 15 ski spectaculars, said he pointed a frustrated student on Tuesday toward someone else learning on the slopes.

“Look, she’s able-bodied. She’s doing all the same things you are,” he said.

Beyond the incredible physical feats participants accomplish at the spectacular, Marche said, many participants are even more affected by the human bonds and connections formed.

“It’s hard to really describe the healing,” he said. “It truly is a touching of spirits that happens.”

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Dillon Ranger District’s nonprofit arm boasts mighty army of volunteers

#Summit County, Colorado.

Courtesy Friends of the Dillon Ranger District

Though Summit County is home to hundreds of nonprofits, few can boast volunteers who contribute thousands of hours every summer for environmental stewardship projects.

“We’re probably the largest volunteer-based organization here,” said Mike Connolly, executive director of the Friends of the Dillon Ranger District.

“We can marshal up to 700 people to go out and work on things,” he added, speaking of the number of volunteers who helped FDRD last season.

Created in 2004, the nonprofit supports the local Forest Service agency that manages White River National Forest lands that make up three-quarters of the county.

The organization has leveraged the power of volunteers for the last decade to ensure the national forest lands enjoyed by millions of people each year aren’t negatively impacted by their popularity.

With more than 60 projects last season, FDRD volunteers maintain and improve trails, plant trees, pull invasive weeds and educate forest visitors.

Now the nonprofit is celebrating its 10th anniversary and its continued growth. For the first time, the organization will have three full-time employees through the winter.

“We’ve got a whole new staff in here, but the mission and goals are all the same,” said Doozie Martin, programs manager.

Martin recently replaced Scott Fussell, and Connolly took the reins from former executive director Jessica Evett.

NEW FACES FOR FDRD

Connolly graduated from the University of Michigan and Dartmouth College and worked as a business executive for more than 25 years, specifically in finance and corporate partnerships.

Not long after he moved to Summit County seven years ago, he started volunteering with the FDRD as a ranger patroller. In 2012, Connolly joined the FDRD board, and he was named treasurer a year later.

Connolly became the primary administrator and grant writer of the FDRD’s small staff in September.

He has also volunteered as a firefighter, Girl Scouts leader and United Way organizer. Locally, he’s a member of the Rotary Club of Summit County and has been active with Mountain Mentors, the Summit and Breckenridge Chambers and Summit County Social Services as a foster parent.

Martin recently moved to Colorado and worked with FDRD over the summer before becoming programs manager.

He grew up in Kansas City and earned a master’s degree at the University of Missouri in parks, recreation and tourism with a focus on natural resource management. While in school, he worked on a forestry crew felling trees and maintaining city trails.

With the FDRD’s $250,000 annual budget this year, its leaders created a third year-round position.

Jasmine Hupcey is now the nonprofit’s office administrator in charge of marketing and outreach.

Born in Colorado, she returned to the state in 2008 after 14 years in New York where she received a BFA in neon and graphic design from Alfred University and started and managed two farmers markets.

Hupcey lives in Leadville and runs the SOS Learn to Ride program there.

FDRD also saw some changes to its board this fall. Its members are now Gail Shears, Daryl Roepke, Marcia Newhart, Suzanne Reed, Beth Rognerud, Linda Tatem and Forest Service representative Ken Waugh.

GIVING BACK TO THE FOREST

Martin said he’s thrilled to coordinate projects that strengthen people’s appreciation for nature and help the Forest Service, which employed two people full-time last summer to manage about 400 miles of trails.

With volunteers, he said, “we’re able to do in a day what would take over two weeks for the Forest Service trail people.”

This summer, volunteers cut about a mile of new trail and did maintenance work on 4.5 miles.

Martin’s job also involves managing the ranger patrol program, where volunteers complete a minimum of four four-hour hikes on Summit County trails and talk to those they meet about local history, leash laws, wildflowers, mushrooms and animal tracks.

The volunteers act as the eyes and ears for the Forest Service, reporting anything hazardous or illegal.

This summer, Martin said, ranger patrollers completed 202 hikes, patrolled nearly 1,100 miles of trail and talked to 4,153 trail users.

From the outside, the FDRD seems quiet through the winter months. Its staff members stay busy, however, writing grant applications, securing more funding, strengthening partnerships and doing community outreach.

On Tuesday, Dec. 9, the nonprofit is hosting an event for Colorado Gives Day at The Warming Hut restaurant in Breckenridge, which Connolly’s wife owns and manages. Martin said people can drop in between 5 and 9 p.m. for free food, cheap drinks and to learn more about the organization.

He hopes the event draws new potential members with fresh ideas and encourages those already familiar with the nonprofit to keep the organization in mind through the winter.

Then on Dec. 19, the organization will start its annual Ski With A Ranger program, where skiers and riders at Breckenridge Ski Resort and Copper Mountain Resort join a volunteer ranger for a couple runs to learn more about the area’s natural and cultural history.

Connolly said as executive director he plans to step up fundraising activities, involve the FDRD in larger projects and increase volunteer participation from younger residents who are already on the trails hiking and biking.

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Summit County pets available for adoption

#Breckenridge, Colorado.

Summit County pets available for adoption.  Contact the Summit County animal shelter at (970) 668-3230.

CATS

MUNCHKIN, 8 months, Domestic Mediumhair mix, orng tabby, spayed female

ISABELLE, 5 months, Domestic Shorthair mix, gray, spayed female

ISAAC, 5 months, Domestic Shorthair mix, gray tab, spayed female

INDY, 5 months, Domestic Shorthair mix, gray and white, spayed female

IVY, 1 year, Domestic Shorthair mix, gray and white, spayed female

COCO, 6 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, calico and tortie point, spayed female

ZENA, 14 years, Domestic Mediumhair mix, black, spayed female

CLARA, 1 year 2 months, Domestic Longhair mix, black, spayed female

SYLVIE, 1 year 8 months, Domestic Shorthair mix, gray, spayed female

FELICIA, 10 years, Persian, black, spayed female

LUCY, 4 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, black and white, spayed female

BIRDIE, 8 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, black and white, spayed female

CHLOE, 6 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, black, spayed female

SMOKIE, 6 years, Domestic Mediumhair mix, gray, spayed female

ARABELLA, 1 year 2 months, Domestic Shorthair mix, black, spayed female

ASHLEY, 1 year 11 months, Domestic Shorthair mix, brown tabby, spayed female

KIWI, 9 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, black, neutered male

DAISY, 7 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, gray and white, spayed female

MILDRED, 12 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, black, spayed female

TAZ, 8 years, Domestic Shorthair mix, orng tabby, neutered male

NORMA JEAN, 4 years, Domestic Longhair mix, black, spayed female

DOGS

BAILEY, 3 years, Pit Bull Terrier and Welsh Corgi - Pembroke mix, white and brown, spayed female

BENNY, 9 years, Pit Bull Terrier mix, blue, neutered male

PENNY, 4 years, Chihuahua - Smooth Coated mix, red, spayed female

WILLOW, 5 years, Staffordshire Bull Terrier mix, brindle, spayed female

RUSH, 7 months, Australian Kelpie mix, black and tan, neutered male

MISSISSIPPI, 1 year 8 months, Labrador Retriever mix, black, spayed female

THELMA, 2 years, St Bernard - Smooth Coated mix, white and brown, spayed female

TANSY, 1 year 7 months, Australian Shepherd mix, red, spayed female

LIZZIE, 4 months, Labrador Retriever mix, black, spayed female

LEXIE, 4 months, Parson (Jack) Russell Terrier mix, white and tan, spayed female

MURPHY, 2 years, Labrador Retriever mix, yellow, neutered male

HONEY, 1 year 7 months, Labrador Retriever, yellow, spayed female

FLOWER, 1 year 1 month, Labrador Retriever mix, tan and black, spayed female

LUCILLE, 5 years, Labrador Retriever and Australian Cattle Dog mix, black and white, spayed female

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.

Summit County hosts public meeting on Summit Cove road project

#Summit Cove, Colorado.

Summit County Government

Summit County residents will see big improvements to bicycle and pedestrian travel in Summit Cove over the next few years, as the county government embarks on a project to add bicycle/pedestrian lanes along a 2.4-mile loop through the neighborhood.

The Summit Cove Loop Project will include striped bicycle/pedestrian lanes in both directions along Summit Drive and Cove Boulevard, and county officials hope to create safer and more enjoyable walking and riding experiences along the most heavily traveled roads in Summit Cove.

The project also will include crosswalks, roadway improvements, drainage improvements and enhanced connectivity with the Summit County recpath and Summit Stage public transit services.

The county currently is developing preliminary designs and meeting with stakeholders in the neighborhood. Officials want to gather public input at a community open house Wednesday, Dec. 10, at 6 p.m. at Summit Cove Elementary.

“Cove Boulevard and Summit Drive are both fairly wide, with an overall lack of striping, so vehicle speeds can get somewhat high, and it can be difficult to tell where you’re supposed to drive and where you’re supposed to walk or ride a bike,” said Kate Berg, county senior planner. “Through this project, we’ll create clear, visual cues that separate these modes of travel and minimize the conflicts between them.”

Cove Boulevard and Summit Drive will be striped within the existing rights-of-way to accommodate 4- to 5-foot-wide bicycle/pedestrian lanes along each side. Pavement markings will delineate them from vehicle lanes.

Widening of the asphalt will be minimized to the greatest extent possible.

“Along Summit Drive, we’re going to design all the improvements to fit within the existing road bench — from the edge of one shoulder to the edge of the opposite shoulder,” said Thad Noll, assistant county manager. “We won’t be widening the road onto private properties.”

Roadside drainage will be improved at locations throughout the loop to increase safety and pavement life. Portions of the roadway will likely be overlaid with a new asphalt surface or completely rebuilt in some sections.

The county will adjust several intersections to enhance visibility, reduce vehicle speeds and improve pedestrian safety.

The project will be divided into three sections, with each constructed in a separate phase over the next three summers. At the same time, the county will make every attempt to complete needed improvements on roads adjacent to the loop.

Enhancements to pedestrian and bicycle routes in Summit Cove are called for in the Snake River Master Plan, adopted in 2010.

In 2009, Summit County completed a “walkability” study that identifies Summit Drive and Cove Boulevard as key areas for pedestrian improvements.

“We’ve received a lot of input from Summit Cove residents who would love to see dedicated spaces for pedestrians and cyclists. And there’s particularly strong interest in strategies to make it safer for children in the neighborhood to walk and ride their bikes to school,” County Commissioner Thomas Davidson said during a November commission meeting.

At the community open house on Dec. 10, Summit County will present proposed designs, discuss project details, answer questions from residents and collect input to help guide the final design.

“We’re really excited to work with the community on making Summit Cove a more bicycle-friendly, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood,” Berg said.

For more information on the Summit Cove Loop Project, including a map, visit www.co.summit.co.us/summitcoveloop. Those with questions or comments can contact county senior planner Kate Berg at 970-668-4204 or kateb@co.summit.co.us.

Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.