Alex Kaufman thought it would be an amusing website. Something to poke fun at the largest resort operator in North America. So he bought epicliftlines.com for $12 last March, just as Vail Resorts announced a plan to slash the price of its popular Epic Pass by 20%. “I thought ‘Oh, this could become a thing. […]
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Posted inHealth, News
Officials say mental health clinic is failing Colorado mountain towns, where suicide rates are above average
By Susan Greene, Colorado News Collaborative Summit County is hurting. The suicide rate in this mountain community of 31,000 is higher than Colorado’s, which is one of the highest in the nation. And locals say almost everyone here has known someone — or several someones — who ended their life: A beer brewer. A prominent businesswoman. […]
Posted inHealth, News
Colorado has half a billion dollars to fix its mental health system. But it won’t work without workers.
In the spring of 2020, the community mental health center that serves Jefferson, Gilpin and Clear Creek counties had a completely manageable number of job openings — 11 therapists, counselors and other clinicians. But as the coronavirus pandemic gripped Colorado, the vacancies started to climb, first into the teens and then the 30s and then […]
Posted inBusiness, Growth, Housing, News, Newsletters, Outsider
Record-breaking real estate frenzy is changing the culture of Colorado’s mountain towns as locals are priced out
Brianna Anthony and her boyfriend, Keenan Montague, have lived in three homes over the past six months in Telluride. The five-bedroom house that the local bartenders rented with friends sold last fall, and the new owner, an East Coast doctor with a home in nearby Mountain Village, launched a major renovation. They moved into another […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, News
Lake County coroner facing criminal charges of tampering with a dead body submits resignation
VAIL — An elected coroner in Colorado is stepping down after being charged with tampering with a body and losing his licenses to run a chain of funeral homes. Shannon Kent submitted his resignation Friday, and it was accepted by Lake County commissioners at a meeting Monday, the Vail Daily reported. It will take effect either […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, Economy, News, Outdoors
Colorado mountain, resort communities are rebounding — and then some — from coronavirus-scarred 2020
John Norton, Gunnison County’s tourism czar, was talking to his board last April. The ski resort had closed abruptly. Lodging and restaurants were closed. Visitors were being told to leave. The pandemic was triggering a panic in tourist-based economies across the country. A board member asked how much the Gunnison River Valley tourism community could […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Newsletters, Outdoors, Outsider
Cops on skis keep the peace at Vail and Beaver Creek. But they’re more likely to lend a friendly mitten.
VAIL — Det. Greg Schwartz spies a couple in need and skis up to them in front of the bright yellow “Slow Skiing” sign on Vail’s Northwoods run. “Can I take it for you?” he asks, reaching for the phone balancing in Lowell Zarzuela’s hand as he snaps selfies of himself and his wife, Angie. […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Vail Resorts thrills investors with lower-than-expected coronavirus losses
Not as bad as expected. That was the theme Thursday as Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz told investors about declines in revenue, income and visits so far in the 2020-21 ski season. Vail Resorts reported $147.8 million in income through January for the second quarter of its fiscal 2021, a drop of 28% compared to […]
Posted inOutdoors
As Colorado backcountry use soars, Vail Pass’ fee model could be a way to manage the crush
VAIL PASS — Four women on backcountry skis, packs strapped to their backs, glided single file down a powdery path out of the woods after a night at Walter’s Cabin, a hut on Shrine Mountain. Their peaceful trek into the backcountry of Vail Pass this week included pausing to scope out tracks left by a […]
Posted inNews, Transportation
Colorado was an early adopter of roundabouts. Now, motorists across the U.S. are driving in circles.
In the late 1990s, the city of Golden considered what then was a foreign concept: The idea of placing roundabouts, the circular traffic control configuration popular in Europe and Australia, along one of its arterials through a commercial center. Although it had been in use in the U.S. for more than a century, Americans still […]