Sneak Peek of the Week
A Silverton trustee suggested allowing protection of the town’s wetlands to expire. Now she’s fighting to get it back.
85
Acres of wetlands environmentalists and developers are haggling over
Olivia “Liv” Cella Edwards didn’t mean to be the trustee who put Silverton’s 85-acre patch of wetlands at risk — she cares about the community, including its environmental health. It’s just that the Jan. 22 trustees meeting to discuss the future of the town’s biggest carbon sink, a natural area good at sequestering carbon and filtering pollutants from surface water, seemed like it would never end, and Cella Edwards was feeling unwell.
So she suggested the board chose option one, or “no action” as their plan for a wetlands and one peatland within town limits, and that allowed a moratorium on developing them to expire. All of the trustees present agreed.
It was only after the meeting that 27-year-old Cella Edwards realized what she had done.
Many of the wetlands high in the San Juan Mountains have for decades been in a state of flux as far as protections from the Army Corps of Engineers go, she said, and a study the board had commissioned to would determine what level of new protections they could get was only half-finished.
Lots of people were “chomping at the bit” to build homes on the wetlands, said Jim Harper, another trustee and an owner of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and the Grand Imperial Hotel in Silverton. But without the completion of the study, Cella Edwards said, “it’s difficult for the community to determine what level of protection the wetlands should have based on whether they are naturally occurring or man-made.”
In the worst-case scenario, they could lose all protection, just like millions of wetlands across America after the Supreme Court’s ruling in Sackett v. EPA, which amended the definition of protected “waters of the United States” and narrowed the scope of the Clean Water Act and the agency’s power to regulate waterways and wetlands. The town of Silverton estimates about 8.8 acres of the wetlands, which are on private property, were directly affected by Sackett.
Going into the meeting, it seemed four of six trustees wanted to keep the moratorium until the study was completed, since it would give them insight into how various wetlands functioned ecologically — and the service they provided the community. But by the end of the evening, with frustrations running high and no compromise in sight, they decided to let the moratorium expire on Jan. 31.
Because the trustees went down the line in giving their answers to Cella Edwards’ question, it was considered an official vote. But immediately after, “Folks around town were saying, ‘What the hell just happened? What the hell happened?’” Harper said.
The next morning, Cella Edwards woke up and thought, “I’ve just returned us to square one. Wetlands can be built on and there’s nothing we as a board can do to stop it.”
But in the weeks since, Cella Edwards has drafted a proposal to instate a moratorium, adopt the wetlands map as an overlay district and on the map show which wetlands should be protected and which developers can build on.
No one knows what’s going to happen, but Cella Edwards says she’s going to bring the matter up at the Feb. 12 meeting. And she says if no one else forces a vote on it, she will. It’ll be a big deal for a tiny town where tensions run high over issues like this one. Head to The Colorado Sun next week to read Tracy Ross’ full story.
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Breaking Trail
Fly-fishing is becoming more female — thank god, say women who are sick of salesmen ogling their chests
30
Percentage of fly anglers who are women
After Dylan Demery’s husband, Tony, died of cancer in 2009, she would dig out his fly-fishing gear and piece through it because it made her feel connected to him.
Tony loved to fish. Dylan loved watching him fish. She loved the joy it brought him and the way he’d say, “Hey, little guy,” before releasing a trout he’d caught back into the river.
Dylan found peace in fishing and, later, fly-fishing, and eventually she wanted to find gear for herself. That’s when she discovered fly-fishing gear stores were not prepared for women.
It turns out fishing waders weren’t built for curvy bodies, and the biggest they normally ran was size 14. That was leaving out a whole lot of potential anglers, says Demery, because 70% of women in America wear size 14 and above.
But it wasn’t until a guy at a fly-fishing shop gaped at her chest when she asked him to help her find some waders that she had a revelation.
“The gentleman helping us was kind,” said her friend and fishing buddy Emily Anderson, who was with her that day. “But his eyes went straight to her chest. At that point we both wanted to do things differently.”
So in 2020, the two women opened their online business, She’s Fly, to introduce women to the sport, empower them to go fishing and give them gear made by and for women, like the Miss Moxie Women’s Chest Wader, which ranges in size from slim to curvy to plus and supreme and are designed to fit a woman’s body.
She’s Fly is going strong as more women are getting into fly-fishing. But they’re still in the minority, says Demery, because many women still consider traditional outdoor sports like fishing to be the guy realm. Others are afraid to venture outside alone. But several Colorado women, including guides, outfitters and fly-rod builders, are changing the paradigm by making it more welcoming and inclusive.
Meet Demery, Anderson and others in freelancer Dan England’s story of how Colorado fishing is becoming more female next week at The Sun.
The Guide
OnX, best known as a hunting app, enters avalanche safety. And the verdict is …?
5,813
Number of avalanches reported in the 2022-23 season, with 11 resulting in deaths, four more than the annual average over the previous 10 years, according to CAIC
OnX entered the navigational game in 2009, when founder Eric Siegfried, wanting to see public land boundaries while hunting, envisioned a device with plug-and-play simplicity that could help hunters stay in their lane, so to speak.
Since 2013, when he turned his vision into a chip, onX has morphed into onX Hunt, onX Offroad, onX Backcountry and onX Access Initiatives, which has helped open or secure access to 154,688 acres of land and 255 miles of trails.
Now the company is entering the very serious avalanche safety game, with a new layer in mapping called the Avalanche Terrain Exposure Scale, or ATES. The new maps give snowsports enthusiasts another tool to plan and navigate routes better in the backcountry, the company says, by helping them assess the potential risk of avalanches in a given area.
It works by color-coding terrain in a backcountry area someone wants to ski based on its likelihood to slide no matter what the forecast is predicting.
That’s just one piece of the puzzle, of course. Any given avalanche forecast depends on multiple factors including weather, snowpack, slope aspect and other things.
But the only tool available to understand avalanche terrain (one part of that forecast) is slope angle, which dictates skiers “stay off or away from 30+ degree slopes,” onX spokesperson Abby Railton said. “With ATES, we’re trying to create the tools to communicate this better, because there’s more than just slope angle to understanding avalanche terrain. ATES creates visualization and a language around avalanche terrain that is more nuanced than just slope angle.”
OnX claims ATES “brings in multiple variables to help a skier map and/or visualize avalanche terrain” and gives them “a common language for discussing terrain as it relates to the avalanche hazard.” Those variables reveal the terrain’s ability to produce an avalanche, she adds, so ATES “can connect the avalanche forecast directly to someone’s terrain choices and planning and helps ease some of that guesswork. Elements of the avalanche forecast change daily (weather, snowpack, etc.), but terrain generally remains the same and can be evaluated independently.”
Our verdict is out because we haven’t had a chance to use the technology yet. And Ethan Greene, director of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, says as all tools are good, “but people need to know how to use them.” Check out ATES, via subscription, at onxmaps.com/backcountry/app, good for desktop and phone.
The question for Arapahoe Basin under Alterra: How will Ikon Pass access change?
The sale of Arapahoe Basin to Alterra Mountain Co. announced this week surprised a lot of people, said Alan Henceroth, the 19-year boss of the ski area.
“Very, very surprised,” said the chief operating officer who joined Arapahoe Basin’s ski patrol in 1988.
Alterra, which formed in 2018 and launched the Ikon Pass as a rival to Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass, counts Arapahoe Basin as its 18th wholly owned ski destination.
Alterra CEO Jared Smith came and spoke with the mountain’s senior team and staff Monday, shortly after the acquisition plan was announced.
“I think everybody realizes that Alterra is buying this place because they really like it, not because they want to change everything,” Henceroth said. “There’s been no discussion of changing things.”
When Alterra launched the Ikon Pass, there was a lot of fretting over the future of independent resorts. Would the small resorts be forced to join either the Ikon or Epic to survive? Nope. Independent resorts are thriving, carving a niche and finding opportunities in the shadows of the dueling giants.
And the 1,428-acre Arapahoe Basin was the leader of those unaffiliated owners, forging its own path by abandoning the Epic Pass in 2019 and partnering with Alterra to offer Ikon pass holders limited access.
Arapahoe Basin flourished for 26 years as owner Dream Unlimited, a Canadian real estate investment company, pumped many millions into improvements and expansions. The company replaced every chairlift and expanded twice, adding 400 acres of new terrain in Montezuma Bowl in 2007 and 468 acres in the Beavers and Steep Gullies in 2017.
Dream Unlimited, which manages $24 billion in assets, called 2022 Arapahoe Basin’s best year ever, with the ski area generating $43.4 million in revenue and earning $12.6 million in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, known as EBITDA.
Resorts typically sell for multiples of EBITDA with prices typically falling around eight to 10 times the earnings metric. But resorts with panache sell for higher multiples. (Sources say Alterra paid more than 20x earnings for Utah’s high-end, skier-only Deer Valley in 2018, for example.) No one is talking about the sale price for Arapahoe Basin, but the ski hill everyone calls The Legend is steeped in swagger.
Vail Resorts’ stock price values the company at about 12 times EBITDA. A similar valuation for Arapahoe Basin would put the sale price around $150 million. Alterra certainly has the cash. The privately held company raised $3 billion in additional funding from new investors earlier this month.
Two other independent ski hills in Colorado have sold in the past six months. Silverton Mountain, the single-chair, expert-only ski hill in San Juan County sold to an adventure travel company based in Aspen. Echo Mountain above Idaho Springs sold to a Front Range entrepreneur.
Henceroth spent a lot of the past week on the phone. He’s got an incredibly loyal fanbase. Some of them were unhappy. He said he’s been chewed out a few times.
“I understand that. People are wary of change. But I’ve received a lot of positive feedback too,” he said. “The buzzwords I’ve been using are culture and vibe. What we really want to do is keep the culture and the vibe the way it is and we are really committed to keeping that experience and hanging on to our capacity.”
Arapahoe Basin is busy on weekends. Henceroth said “we don’t need more traffic” on weekends and holidays between New Year’s and the middle of May. He said he shared that with Alterra’s leadership. “I think they get that.”
The new owners are going to start studying access with the Ikon Pass. Right now Ikon pass holders can ski seven days at Arapahoe Basin. Alterra allows unlimited access at most of the ski resorts it owns outright, with a couple exceptions. After locals revolted over crowding at Alterra-owned Crystal ski area in Washington, Ikon pass holders are limited to seven days the company offers a suite of Crystal-only passes. And Alterra’s Deer Valley requires Ikon pass holders to book reservations. Several of Alterra’s Ikon Pass-partners at destinations like Aspen-Snowmass, Jackson Hole, Sun Valley and Snowbird, limit access to seven days or less and require reservations.
Alterra has proven amenable to adjusting access with reservations and limits. That will probably be how the Ikon Pass at Arapahoe Basin unfolds.
“We are going to have to be really thoughtful about how we do that and I’m confident we will do it right,” Henceroth said. “I’m not sure how an unlimited Ikon Pass will work here but we are going to be looking at all our options. I know people are concerned and it’s up to us to do this right.”
— j
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