Update on Jan. 14, 2019: A Rocky Mountain National Park spokesman said Monday the park began using recreation fees to temporarily pay about 10 percent of furloughed workers to clean up the park. They’ve been plowing roads, cleaning restrooms and collecting trash since Saturday. Other staff, such as law enforcement rangers, continue to work without […]
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Posted inBusiness, Growth, News, Outdoors
Lawsuits, lenders and irked homeowners creating chaos around the sale of Granby Ranch ski resort
As an unnamed buyer circles Grand County’s privately owned Granby Ranch ski area, a roiling circus of family, lenders and homeowners is assailing resort owner Marise Cipriani. It’s not a pretty scene at the picturesque 5,000-acre ski and golf resort along the Fraser River, which Brazilian developer Cipriani has owned since 1995 and put on […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Outdoors
Colorado’s first avalanche death of 2019 came during an advanced avalanche-safety course on Red Mountain Pass
Saturday’s avalanche in the San Juan Mountains’ Senator Beck Basin, northwest of Red Mountain Pass near Silverton, swept six students of an advanced avalanche-safety class down the bowl, killing a Longmont man who was buried under 8 feet of snow. The team found Peter Marshall, a 40-year-old skier who was participating in Silverton Avalanche […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Outdoors
Crested Butte polar explorer Eric Larsen falls short on record-setting push to South Pole
Soft snow, high winds and blinding whiteouts forced Crested Butte’s famed polar adventurer Eric Larsen to abandon his quest for a speed record to the South Pole. America’s most accomplished polar explorer was planning a meticulously scheduled push across 700 miles of ice to the bottom of the world in less than 24 days. Pulling […]
Posted inColoradans, Environment, News, Outdoors
A declining number of avalanche deaths in Colorado, the West in the past four seasons buoys hope
They tried to kick blocks of snow from the cornice, hoping a tumbling chunk might trigger an avalanche. “All we were getting were crumbles. We just couldn’t get a big enough block to go,” said Bryan Wickenhauser, a champion ski mountaineering racer from Gunnison. “So yeah, there was some hesitancy. But we were all committed. […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Outdoors
Hidden in the Colorado avalanche deaths downturn is a growing trend of avoidable accidents
Ethan Greene and Dale Atkins are the type of guys who are always scanning the horizon for risks. The two veteran avalanche researchers may be enjoying a beautiful stretch of weather — with avalanche fatalities at a record low over the last four seasons — but they see a storm brewing. As they study […]
Posted inBusiness, Growth, News, Outdoors
Cabin, RV and glamping resort promises to transform Granby as development wave rolls through Grand County
GRANBY — From atop a snowy knoll along the icy headwaters of the Colorado River, Derek Wilson beckons across a field of beeping, growling earthmovers. “Really, our plan is about what people want,” says Wilson, an executive with Sun Communities, the nation’s largest builder of manufactured home communities that is betting big on the expanding […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Slower growth in Epic Pass revenue, wider than expected first-quarter losses trigger steep drop in Vail Resorts stock
The rise of a competitor to Vail Resorts’ industry-transforming Epic Pass this year has slowed the growth in season-pass revenue for the continent’s largest resort operator, which on Friday announced a big boost in capital spending as yet another volley of a blossoming pass war. The market apparently did not like the decline in pass […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Water
Colorado’s snow season is starting off strong. These satellite photos tell the story.
Colorado’s snow season is starting off strong, giving the state’s drought-parched agricultural industry high hopes for a quenching runoff come spring. “Definitely been a good start here,” said Russell Danielson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder. “Overall, the state has seen pretty healthy precipitation, snowpack so far this fall.” Compared with last […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
More Colorado ski areas — including Vail, Beaver Creek and Aspen — to open early for 2018-19 season
Vail and Beaver Creek mountains will join other Colorado resorts in opening early for the 2018-19 season. The Vail Daily reports Vail, originally slated to open Friday, will open for the season at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Beaver Creek will open Saturday, four days ahead of its scheduled Nov. 21 opening date. The early openings come as […]