Reservoirs have turned to dust. Farmers have fallow fields. But don’t expect the skiing to languish. Ski resorts have spent many decades amassing water rights and water storage and continuously upgrading snowmaking systems to make the state’s vibrant, multibillion-dollar resort industry virtually immune to drought — so long as this winter, farmers and ranchers have […]
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Posted inColoradans, News, Outdoors
“If I can prevent at least one kid from going through what my kid goes through every day, I will do whatever it takes. I have to.”
SURVIVORS: Part of a Colorado Sun series on close calls in the outdoors and life after a crisis Ian Lamphere was sitting in his home office when he was struck with an idea. He yelled down to his fiancée, Elizabeth. “I don’t know, he’d read something about someone dying, and all the sudden, he says, […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Outdoors
“It was like he was an angel”: How a well-prepared ER doctor on skis saved a boy’s life after a mountain crash
SURVIVORS: Part of a Colorado Sun series on close calls in the outdoors and life after a crisis. His buddy was ribbing him about the big backpack he wore skiing every day. “He was saying, ‘Man that’s dumb. When are you ever going to use that thing?’ ” said Dr. Heston LaMar, a North Carolina […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Aspen Skiing Co. takes leap in its political activism by targeting 3 Republican U.S. senators in new ad campaign
Aspen Skiing Company is taking its political and environmental activism public with a new ad campaign that in part asks outdoor enthusiasts to help pressure three Republican U.S. senators, perceived as malleable, to do more to address climate change. While the glitzy, world-famous ski area has worked quietly for years on everything from immigration to […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Crime and Courts, News, Outdoors
Colorado Ski Safety Act tested in two trials involving in-bounds avalanches
EAGLE — Every skier in central Colorado was fired up when the snow finally arrived that fourth Sunday in January six years ago. It had been a cold, dry season with too few powder days. By the end of the day, inbounds avalanches had killed two skiers, marking one of the darkest days in Colorado […]
Posted inBusiness, Outdoors
At the height of the ski pass war, Wolf Creek — with its $70 lift ticket — remains defiantly independent
WOLF CREEK — As the first flakes frost the highest peaks, the Colorado-sparked season pass war is ablaze. It’s a new world for skiers, with resorts across the U.S. aligning into two distinct camps. In one corner, the nascent Alterra Mountain Company this week fired off a list of new partners for the Ikon Pass, which offers unlimited […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, News, Outdoors
From “This is not Vail” to Vail Resorts ownership: Crested Butte owners bid farewell after 20-year rollercoaster ride with Colorado
MOUNT CRESTED BUTTE — They dreamed big in Colorado, the Mueller clan. Hoping to mirror their dizzying success at Vermont’s Okemo ski area, Tim and Diane Mueller pursued plans for a major resort outside Steamboat, bid to operate Denver’s Winter Park, came within an hour of owning Steamboat ski area and labored through the Great Recession […]