Aaron and Jenny Brill began building the steep and deep, expert-only ski area in the remote San Juans ski area nearly 25 years ago
San Juan County
Posted inBusiness, Climate, News, Wildfire
Durango & Silverton railroad will pay feds $20 million for 416 fire damage, stop using coal to power summer trains
By Aedan Hannon, The Durango Herald The Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad and its parent company, American Heritage Railways, will pay $20 million to settle a federal lawsuit stemming from the 416 fire. Separately, lawyers for 40 La Plata and San Juan county businesses and landowners that sued the tourist railway to recoup losses […]
Posted inNews
“Glorified homelessness”: Even tiny Silverton is experiencing the housing crisis that’s crushing mountain workers
SILVERTON — Julian Roberts is lighting a campfire on the outskirts of Silverton, wind whipping smoke toward the painted school bus where he lives with his fiancée. He’s been camping out for weeks in the picturesque town of 600, nestled in a caldera among southwest Colorado’s highest peaks. It was a choice at first. It […]
Posted inHealth, News
A Colorado town is about as vaccinated as it can get. But it still has COVID.
By Rae Ellen Bichell, Kaiser Health News San Juan County, Colorado, can boast that 99.9% of its eligible population has received at least one dose of covid-19 vaccine, putting it in the top 10 counties in the nation, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If vaccines were the singular armor […]
Posted inCOVID, Health, News
Tourists are flocking to Colorado this summer — and they’re bringing COVID with them
In the fight against the coronavirus, Pitkin County has a lot going for it. The county, home to well-heeled Aspen, has one of the highest vaccination rates in the state. Among all its residents, of any age, 63% are fully immunized. So, when the county’s coronavirus infection rates soared in recent weeks, health officials in […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Economy, Environment, Growth, News, Outdoors
Off-highway vehicles are revving up locals (in a bad way) in Colorado’s remote mountain towns
When Teri Havens bought two acres tucked in a thick stand of aspen on a hill south of Marble in 1995, it was her bit of backcountry nirvana. Yes, it sat along a popular jeeping trail ̶ a county road leading to the historic Lead King Loop. But she could live with four-wheel-drive vehicles jouncing […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, COVID, Economy, Health, News
Rural Americans in pharmacy deserts hurting for COVID vaccines
By Markian Hawryluk, KHN As the Biden administration accelerates a plan to use pharmacies to distribute COVID-19 vaccines, significant areas of the country lack brick-and-mortar pharmacies capable of administering the protective shots. A recent analysis by the Rural Policy Research Institute found that 111 rural counties, mostly between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, have no […]
Posted inCOVID, News
Why are Colorado’s rural counties vaccinating people faster than urban ones?
Across much of the Front Range and Colorado’s other biggest counties, securing a coronavirus vaccine remains an arduous endeavor. Overloaded websites. Lengthy wait lists. Hair-pulling frustration. But, in southwest Colorado, the state’s smallest county has a different problem: It’s run out of people to vaccinate, at least for now. Barely two months after shots started […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Three Eagle County men feared dead in massive avalanche near Silverton
The Eagle County crew was ready for a couple days in the powder around Opus Hut in southwest Colorado, part of an annual gathering of highly skilled skiers. Monday afternoon on South Lookout Peak, three of the seven men were buried in a massive avalanche and are feared dead. The accident near Silverton comes halfway […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Bodies of two backcountry skiers found in avalanche debris near Silverton
The bodies of two backcountry skiers were found in avalanche debris near Silverton on Saturday. The skiers were reported overdue and later found dead in an area known as “the Battleship,” which is southeast of Ophir Pass. “In the dark from a helicopter, rescuers could see a large avalanche and ski tracks,” the Colorado Avalanche […]