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, […]
Grand County
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 […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Culture, Environment, News, Outdoors, Water
PHOTOS: Short on powder, Colorado’s ski resorts let snowmakers rip
Ski resorts across the country are leaning more heavily on snowmaking guns as warmer, shorter winters threaten a business model based on snow. In Colorado, the reliance on man-made snow has been essential to the start of the 2021-22 ski season, with all of the state’s 13 major river basins reporting precipitation through November well […]
Posted inHealth, News
In Colorado, one of the fastest aging states, one county had no home health or hospice provider for eight months
KREMMLING — Alta Sue Hawkins’ room is filled with what she calls her most important things. The sewing machine she likes to make aprons on. Dozens of books. A wall of family photos. It’s been her home for the last three years, tucked inside Grand County’s only assisted living facility. And it’s the place where […]
Posted inBusiness, Growth, Housing, News, Outsider
As record-setting real estate sales continue in Colorado resort towns, buyers are now looking way down valley
The blistering pace of real estate sales is continuing in Colorado’s high country, with every resort community setting new records in each month this year. “It’s been crazy,” Crested Butte broker Frank Konsella said, “way past everything in 2019 and 2020.” Last year saw record numbers of home buyers paying highest-ever prices for properties in […]
Posted inBusiness, Housing, News, Newsletters, Outsider
An end of unfettered growth for short-term rentals in Colorado’s resort communities
Visitors to the 13-bedroom Little Mountain Lodge above Breckenridge’s historic downtown have supported the tourist town’s economy for many years. They book snowmobile rides. They rent bicycles and ski. They reserve tables and rooms in local restaurants. “All the business owners in Breckenridge who rely on visitor spending, they are getting it from my group,” […]
Posted inBusiness, Economy, Growth, Housing, News
Grand Lake, still reeling from East Troublesome fire, is being shaken again by mayoral recall over housing
Like a dozen Grand Lake mayors before him, Steve Kudron smiled and waved at his constituents during the annual Buffalo Days parade last month. But Kudron added a twist no one had ever seen in 74 years of Buffalo Days. The vintage Hummer he paraded in sported a sign reading: “Vote No! Stop the Recall […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: We’ve destroyed Western watersheds. It’s time for “ecological reparations.”
American culture is reckoning with some of the negative impacts of our history. We are having significant and necessary conversations — and political outcomes — around the history of race in America. Some of those conversations have started to focus on the important concept of reparations. In the past few weeks alone, St. Paul, Nashville, […]