VAIL — When executives from Vail Resorts and the nascent Alterra Mountain Company get together to discuss skiing, there are never fireworks. Or even a hint that the fiercely competitive rivals are locked in a raging season-pass battle. This is not surprising. Ski industry execs from competing companies do not gather in public meetings and […]
Outdoors
Posted inEnergy, Environment, Health, News, Outdoors
The Front Range fails to meet federal standards for healthy air quality. Again.
Air quality in Denver and the northern Front Range worsened over the summer and the region missed an extended deadline to meet federal health standards, according to monitoring results by the state’s Air Pollution Control Division. That’s bad news for Coloradans suffering from asthma and lung diseases, or young children whose lungs are still developing. […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, Health, News, Outdoors, Transportation
Here’s why more electric vehicles, including a future Subaru, may become available in Colorado — or not
The sales of electric and hybrid vehicles continue to rise in Colorado. And to no surprise, the top-selling model this year is a crossover-SUV, the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. But that’s a hybrid, so gas power kicks in when needed. Pure electric vehicles, especially SUVs and pickups, are a much rarer breed at area auto dealerships […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors, Water
El Nino weather pattern could bring drought relief to Colorado, broader southwestern U.S.
By Tim Talley, The Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY — Climatologists said Wednesday that conditions are right for an El Nino weather pattern to develop that could bring wetter-than-normal conditions this winter in drought-stricken areas of the southwestern U.S. But they also note there is no guarantee that an El Nino event would bring more rain […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, Growth, News, Outdoors
Grand Junction used to be a place young people fled. Now, millennial entrepreneurs are flocking there for opportunity.
GRAND JUNCTION — Andrew Duran has lived in Taos, New Mexico, and Boulder. This well-tattooed 35-year-old has pedaled his bike around the world, spending loads of time in exotic places. Now, he has landed in a spot that has long been high on his geographic bucket list: Grand Junction. Yes, stodgy Grand Junction. Longtime nickname: […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
How the deaths of two U.S. ski team members in an Austrian avalanche are spurring change
By Pat Graham, The Associated Press On the ski lift buildings at the resort in Soelden, Austria, there are now signs that read: Attention! High Alpine terrain. Leave marked runs at your own risk. Written in English, the warning notices also feature the pictures of Bryce Astle and Ronnie Berlack, two U.S. ski team development members who […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Colorado’s explosive outdoor industry growth is emerging as global model
Luis Benitez is the outdoor industry’s apostle. Carrying the message that the outdoors is a key to economic prosperity and a hale population, he’s helped spark outdoor recreation offices in a dozen states. Now he’s taking his outdoor gospel global. The inaugural boss of Colorado’s Outdoor Recreation Industry Office recently rolled his one-man revival through […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, Health, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Colorado Supreme Court hears high-stakes “Martinez case” lawsuit around oil and gas
By Dan Elliot, The Associated Press An attorney for six young people who want the state to impose tougher safeguards on the energy industry told the Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday that the law requires regulators to protect public health from the hazards of drilling. A lawyer for the state countered that regulators acted properly […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News, Outdoors, Water
How Colorado’s ski resorts can continue making snow in drought years like this one
Reservoirs have turned to dust. Farmers have fallow fields. But don’t expect the skiing to languish. Ski resorts have spent many decades amassing water rights and water storage and continuously upgrading snowmaking systems to make the state’s vibrant, multibillion-dollar resort industry virtually immune to drought — so long as this winter, farmers and ranchers have […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
After hay lures fail, federal officials to use helicopter to herd wild mustangs near Grand Junction
A low-key effort to lure wild horses with hay near Grand Junction will transition to a more forceful attempt to round them up by helicopter this weekend. The federal Bureau of Land Management, already at odds with mustang advocacy groups, plans to begin herding the horses by helicopter on Sunday, an agency spokeswoman said. The […]