911 calls are never ignored, but sorting out which alerts from Apple iPhone 14s and watches are real is “a tremendous drain” on resort town resources.
Grand County
Posted inClimate, Environment, News, Water
It took 10 years to plan a channel around a Colorado River reservoir. Collaboration went well, but urgency was lacking.
GRANBY — Old-timers around here talk about how they used to need to stop after a springtime drive through Byers Canyon to clean all the bugs out of their radiators. So when longtime angler Bud Isaacs noticed the absence of a stonefly hatch on his favorite stretch of the Colorado River below the 445-acre Windy […]
Posted inBusiness, Housing, News
Buying frenzy slows but home prices remain sky-high in Colorado mountain towns
The blistering pace of home sales in Colorado’s mountain communities is slowing. Finally. After sales volume and prices more than doubled in Colorado’s high country valleys between 2019 and 2021, the number of home sales in six Colorado mountain counties declined through May compared with the same period in 2021. And while prices remain sky-high, […]
Posted inBusiness, Housing, News
Colorado high country commissioners blast Airbnb report that disconnects short-term rentals from housing crisis
A group of 15 commissioners from seven mountain counties is blasting a recent study commissioned by short-term rental giant Airbnb that dismissed the idea that short-term rentals are eroding worker housing in Colorado’s high country. “Airbnb narrowly focused on positive impacts, and facts appear selected to craft a story that is not entirely true, especially […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors, Outsider
Record high calls for help are stressing Colorado’s mountain firefighters, emergency responders
There are more people living in their vacation homes in Colorado’s resort communities. There are more people visiting and staying in short-term rental homes. “But it’s a challenge to quantify any of this,” said Jake Andersen, deputy chief of operations for the Aspen Fire Protection District. Fire chiefs like Andersen can gauge one impact of […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors, Outsider
30,000 expected at Rainbow Gathering’s 50th anniversary in Colorado, sparking wildfire concerns
The Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes plans to return to Colorado this summer to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The weeks-long confab that draws tens of thousands of hippie campers to public lands announced this week that the national gathering of possibly 30,000 would be returning to Colorado. The group’s national bacchanal was last in Colorado […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outsider
The source of Colorado’s high country housing crisis: a doubling of home prices and sales
The rules are changing in the high country. As the labor crisis lingers, community leaders are beginning to address the root cause of the challenges that are strangling mountain valleys. They are cracking down on short-term rentals. Redirecting the flow of tax dollars toward affordable housing. Adjusting economies anchored in tourism to focus on residents, […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Authorities responding to avalanche on Berthoud Pass, no victims reported
No one was caught in an avalanche on Berthoud Pass, Grand County authorities said Wednesday afternoon after search and rescue teams were called to investigate a report that two people may have been buried. First responders searched the area by air and on the ground using beacons and avalanche-trained rescue dogs and confirmed that there […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Plan to reconnect the Colorado River for the first time since 1985 gets major donation
A brand new stretch of the Colorado River is closer to reality in Grand County. A $2 million donation by PepsiCo has pushed a consortium led by Trout Unlimited closer to its $27.1 million plan to build a 1-mile channel around the Windy Gap Reservoir, which has blocked fish passage and separated the river since […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Ski racing legend Bode Miller plans first ski academy at Granby Ranch
Ski racing icon Bode Miller and the operators of Granby Ranch are teaming up to build a ski academy at the Grand County ski area. The first-ever Bode Miller Ski Academy, announced Friday, will occupy a planned campus at the base village of the resort, which was acquired earlier this year by St. Louis investors […]