“The answer here is not another lane on 70,” forest chief Scott Fitzwilliams says as he plans robust community discussions on the future of White River
outdoor recreation economy
Posted inOutdoors
Record surge for outdoor recreation economy in 2021 fuels push for legislation, federal office
Colorado’s outdoor recreation industry contributed $11.6 billion in 2021, accounting for 2.7% of the state’s overall economy
Posted inBusiness
Vail Resorts rejects Town of Vail’s $12 million offer for parcel to protect bighorn, pushing council to create donor fund to fuel fight
Vail Resorts wants to build housing on the parcel. Town wants to protect the local bighorn herd. A prolonged legal battle now looms as the only resolution.
Posted inOutdoors
A Crested Butte couple just wanted better backpacking coffee. They made something so good NASA came calling.
Mark and Alison Drucker co-founded First Ascent in 2014 and brewed up instant coffee four years later. Their product is now headed to the International Space Station at the request of an astronaut.
Posted inBusiness, Economy, News, Outdoors
The government says COVID cost the outdoor recreation industry $156 billion in 2020. But did it really?
The collapse of travel and public gatherings during the pandemic last year cost America’s surging outdoor recreation industry $156 billion. But that’s according to federal accounting. In a more traditional accounting of outdoor recreation that measures the economic contributions from people going camping, hiking, skiing, fishing, boating and hunting, the outdoor economy weathered the pandemic […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Economy, Education, Housing, News, Outdoors
Crested Butte lured an outdoor publication to town as a tourism bid. Now overrun by visitors, the partnership must evolve.
CRESTED BUTTE — The headquarters for Blister, an online publication known for longform outdoor gear reviews, occupies a converted conference room in the Elevation Hotel and Spa at the base of Crested Butte Mountain Resort. Built-in racks ringing the room store dozens of skis for reviewers to take out. The slope-side location allows Blister’s editor […]