Colorado Sunday issue No. 111: "This way to safety"

Good morning, beautiful Colorado people!

Here’s hoping that your week was lovely, even though it was cold, and that your travels, on foot or by auto, were unfettered by pesky ice left over from the last snow.

I am from a long line of bat-out-of-hell mountain drivers, people who navigated precarious stretches of highway over Red Mountain, Loveland, Battle Mountain, Berthoud, Wolf Creek, Monarch and Vail passes before there were tunnels and traction control and lived to tell about it. I like to think that some of the white-knuckled courage that allowed them to just keep going, even in the worst of weather conditions, rubbed off on me. Still, I shiver a bit thinking about people who pilot 18-wheelers over what I learned last week are some of the tallest, steepest and longest grades on the continent.

Like many other mountain travelers, I also have wondered about those long gravel lanes running next to particularly hairy stretches of highway and am always curious when I spot tire tracks deep into them. This week’s cover story by Kevin Simpson answers my questions, explaining how Colorado’s 13 runaway truck ramps (shouldn’t there be more??) work and why drivers who bail out into them rarely do it again.

A graphic showing how much the ingredients in a burger have increased
Vehicles pass under a sign for the Lower Straight Creek runaway truck ramp on westbound Interstate 70 near Silverthorne. The ramp has stopped 75 vehicles in five years. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)

We’ve all seen them somewhere during our travels on Colorado’s mountain highways — aggregate-filled exits bending away from steep downhill runs and then rising sharply against imposing slopes. Runaway truck ramps have been a part of the state’s landscape for roughly a half-century, and who can pass by one without wondering about the courage it would take — behind the wheel of an 80,000-pound rig that’s lost its brakes — to steer into the gravel bed and surrender your safety to the laws of physics?

State transportation officials and the trucking industry have been taking a renewed look at the ramps and their role in mountain highway safety, moved in part by the tragic 2019 crash caused by a Texas truck driver on Interstate 70 who bypassed the familiar-to-many Mount Vernon ramp on the descent into the Denver metro area. So we talked to the folks behind the efforts to make drivers — especially out-of-staters unfamiliar with Colorado’s treacherous terrain — aware of steps they can take to, yes, avoid needing to use runaway truck ramps in the first place. But also to update and improve ramps, including rethinking the structure, look and feel of the Mount Vernon ramp to make it seem a less frightening option.

They’re using technology, new traffic law, industry feedback and even the voice of the late, great C.W. McCall to make it happen, good buddy. Be safe out there, folks.

READ THIS WEEK’S COLORADO SUNDAY FEATURE

From the world’s point of view, Colorado is best known for the Rocky Mountains. But beneath the peaks, in the valley floors and on the plains, there are many stories worth sharing. And there are a million ways to tell those stories visually, from lighting to composition to moments. Here are some recent Colorado images.

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Shoppers browse the Denver Christkindlmarket on Monday in Civic Center park. The German-style market will be open through Dec. 23. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)
A graphic showing how much the ingredients in a burger have increased
Crews bore 500 feet into the ground on the Third Street Center property near downtown Carbondale. The work was part of Clean Energy Economy for the Region’s work to create a utility-scale geothermal project that, if it works, could meet at least 50% of the heating and cooling needs in the area. (Aaron Orelup, GreyEdge Group)
A graphic showing how much the ingredients in a burger have increased
Homestead Natural Meats’ butcher Ector Felix cuts off the rib-cage section from half of an 800-pound cow at the packing facility Nov. 21 in Delta. U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, recently introduced legislation to support small meat processors in Colorado and across the nation that would create grant and loan opportunities through the U.S. Department of Agriculture amid petition drives to shut them down. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)
A graphic showing how much the ingredients in a burger have increased
President Joe Biden meets with people on the tarmac near Air Force One at Denver International Airport Wednesday before traveling to Pueblo Memorial Airport for a campaign stump stop. (Andrew Harnik, The Associated Press)
The sun begins to set on the Chapel of All Saints, or La Capilla de Todos Los Santos, on Wednesday. The Spanish Moorish style adobe church sits prominently on the flat top mountain overlooking the town of San Luis. (John McEvoy, Special to The Colorado Sun)
(Peter Moore, Special to the Colorado Sun)

According to a random guy on a random Christmas Tree lot, the price of Christmas trees is up 5% to 10% this year. Just like everything else. And if you’re lucky enough to have a cathedral ceiling in your living room, you’ll pay dearly for a tall one: “The market is pretty competitive,” the random guy told CBS Colorado. “The bigger trees have gone up, especially the 10-footers and up because there’s a severe shortage of those. You’re going to be paying more if you can even find them.”

The state’s Forest Service is stepping in again to fill the greenery gap. Yuletide skinflints can buy permits ($5-$20) to cut trees in specific ranger districts of the Arapaho and Roosevelt, Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison, Pike and San Isabel, Rio Grande, San Juan and White River national forests on a B.Y.O.S(aw) basis. You’ll hike to find your tree, kneel in the snow to cut it, muscle it out of the forest yourself, and then tie it onto the roof of your car. Good luck with the drive home!

Still want to cut your own? Illustrator Peter Moore has been there and cut that, and provides these Christmas-timely warnings.

There are lots of trees near Boulder. And lots of creatures that live in the trees.

Red Feather Lakes is an option.

There are other dazzling options, too.

SEE MORE OF PETER MOORE’S BRIGHT CHRISTMAS IDEAS

EXCERPT: Anna Koob was an exceptional young woman in many ways, as the flirtations of the men along the German riverside made clear in this excerpt. Author Stefan Scheuermann’s historical novel based on his real-life, 17-century relative tracks the tragic path of a beautiful and outspoken woman of intellect — eventually burned to death as a witch. In telling her story, Scheuermann aimed to highlight “parallels between the persecution of women then and now.”

READ THE SUNLIT EXCERPT

THE SUNLIT INTERVIEW: What started as genealogical research for Scheuermann expanded over the years as the author skirted dead ends in his research by applying his imagination and ultimately arriving at his novel. The excerpt explores the difficult and unsuccessful efforts for Anna and her would-be suitor, Jost, to connect.

SunLit: Place this excerpt in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole? Why did you select it?

Scheuermann: The excerpt is from Chapter Seven, which covers the often awkward courtship of Anna and Jost. I chose this section because it demonstrates the flawed humanity of people who are admired for lofty traits. It’s part of the long, bumbling courtship of two intelligent people. Their minds connect on a high level, but their romance seems to knock heads together until a better understanding of the other develops.

READ THE INTERVIEW WITH STEFAN SCHEUERMANN

A curated list of what you may have missed from The Colorado Sun this week.

Conditions may have changed in the last day or two, but midweek Colorado’s mountain snowpack was an abysmal 60% of normal. That’s a problem for ski area in the Interstate 70 corridor where limited terrain is open. But climate forecasters told Shannon Mullane they’re more worried that the slow start to the snow season signals bone-dry soils will soak up more than their fair share of moisture. (Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun)

🌞 Joe Biden was in town last week, mostly stumping but also touting the impacts of Inflation Reduction Act investments in clean energy projects in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. He had some sharp words for U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, who represents the 3rd and voted against the IRA. Jesse Paul and Olivia Prentzel were there for it all.

🌞 A four-story apartment building is rising in south Denver. It looks like any number of other multifamily complexes in the city. But Jennifer Brown reports the new Urban Peak building will function more like a neighborhood for homeless kids trying to launch their lives.

🌞A proposed ballot measure that would overhaul the way candidates for statewide office get on the ballot and also eliminate vacancy committees for filling seats left empty by resignations has skeptics from every quarter, Sandra Fish and Jesse Paul explain. Related: With the resignation of state Rep. Ruby Dickson on Friday, 28 of 100 members of the General Assembly got to the legislature via a vacancy committee appointment.

🌞 In the latest entry in our High Cost of Colorado series we learn from Olivia Prentzel that while hiking is free, it’s not always cheap. And Parker Yamasaki explains why the cost of concert tickets has skyrocketed. (Hint: It’s not because the artists are demanding more dough.)

🌞 Most school administrators will say they didn’t get into education to become real estate developers. But necessity is the mother of invention, and leaders of at least two mountain school districts told Erica Breunlin that the only way they can make sure they have enough teachers is to build housing affordable to them.

🌞 Count us among the skeptics who figured out-of-state wolves wouldn’t set a paw in Colorado by the Dec. 30 deadline set by voters. But Colorado Parks and Wildlife is confident enough that it has added a “Living With Wolves” brochure to its library of literature on how to avoid conflicts with wildlife. Tracy Ross reports on this and other developments in the most fractious species reintroduction work to date.

Thanks for hanging out with us today. We’re grateful for the many ways you support us, including by sharing links to stories that you liked. We’ll see you back here next Colorado Sunday morning!

— Dana & the whole staff of The Sun

This byline is used for articles and guides written collaboratively by The Colorado Sun reporters, editors and producers.