Extreme skier gets in hot water

TELLURIDE - A celebrated "extreme" skier's name seems to be mud in Telluride at the moment.

The skier, Scott Kennett, who has been featured in several films as well as in the pages of Powder, used the lifts to ski an out-of-area run called Contention that is known for its considerable avalanche risk. Boosting the avalanche risk was a storm that was in the process of dropping a foot of snow.

After he badly broke his leg, Kennett used a cell phone to summon rescuers. The storm made a rescue so difficult that the rescue supervisor, Eric Berg, wasn't sure he could get Kennett removed from the slope without substantial risk of harming the rescue personnel.

"That's a very difficult thing to say to somebody - that you can't get them out because you can't make sure the rescuers will be safe," Berg told The Telluride Watch.

Then, ski patrollers volunteered to ski down to him, to splint his leg, and as they did, the storm unexpectedly broke long enough to allow helicopter access. But that's when the rescuers discovered that the companion of Kennett was a 16-year-old freeride team skier that Kennett coaches.

Locals were cranky and indignant. "If somebody chooses to be irresponsible, and it's a real dangerous day, at least leave the cell phone behind," said the local sheriff, Bill Masters. "We'll find you in the springtime; that's fine. But if you're going to go in there, don't' call us and say, 'You have to come get me now.'"

In addition to losing his skiing privileges at Telluride for two years, Kennett faces civil charges for violating the ski area boundary and could face criminal charges of child endangerment.

Biodiesel back in Butte buses

CRESTED BUTTE - Buses in Crested Butte were scheduled to start burning biodiesel in April after a winter devoted to using only petroleum-based diesel.

Bacteria in the winter's supply of the fuel was blamed for clogged fuel filters that caused buses to breakdown at Christmas. Representatives of the oil company that supplied the faulty fuel declared the problem fully addressed, with no return of recurrent problems, according to the Crested Butte News.

Biodiesel is also used in a 20 percent to 80 percent petrochemical diesel ratio in the bus fleets at Breckenridge, Telluride and Jackson Hole, and in snow cats at A-Basin and Aspen-Snowmass. However, Breckenridge buses also were reported idled temporarily this winter by a bad batch of fuel.

That trouble has darkened the reception being given biodiesel in other ski towns. The representative of another biodiesel manufacturer, Blue Sun, had to field skeptical questions when he showed up in Steamboat Springs to talk up biodiesel. The representative, John Long, acknowledged the problems at Crested Butte and Breckenridge and traced the problem to the absence of standards dealing with the way in which alternative fuel is blended with petroleum-based diesel, reports The Steamboat Pilot.

Long defended biodiesel as causing less pollution. While it's possible that biodiesel emits more nitric oxides, Long said that it emits 78 percent less carbon dioxide. While some problems have been reported in converting to biodiesel, Long minimized those problems. Finally, he noted that the cost has come down in just the last year to 10 to 15 percent more than conventional diesel.

Both Steamboat and Vail Resorts officials are reported to be considering biodiesel.

Yellowstone eruption overdue

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. - Careful scientists often are unhappy when television producers try to dramatize the ways of nature. That doesn't seem to be the case with the Discovery Channel's docudrama about what a super volcanic eruption at Yellowstone might look like.

"All in all, they did a very thorough and careful job of trying to get the science and the human aspects as true to life as possible," said Jake Lowenstern, the top scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey at Yellowstone. Discovery consulted 40 experts in a wide range of fields in assembling the film.

The Jackson Hole News & Guide explains that a catastrophic-type explosion at Yellowstone has occurred at roughly 600,000-year intervals, most recently 640,000 years ago. That leads some observers to call Yellowstone a time bomb that's overdue. But Lowenstern said it could happen again - or maybe never.

More likely are nonexplosive lava flows such as occurred 70,000 years ago in Yellowstone. Something similar occurred between Vail and Glenwood Springs, only much more recently, 3,500 years ago.

Ski area expansion plan unveiled

CRESTED BUTTE - The Crested Butte Town Council is getting a preview of plans for a new ski area. The ski area, located on Snodgrass, would be new in the sense that it's not directly adjacent to the existing ski area but instead separated by a road and residential areas.

Planning for Snodgrass began in 1978, but the owners of the Crested Butte ski area postponed it because of financing problems. It was proposed again in 1994, but this time the community rose up in opposition. Now, after working with a task force appointed by the Gunnison County commissioners, the owners of the Crested Butte ski area have a new, down-sized plan before Forest Service offices. Just how much the plan has been reduced is at the core of what the Town Council wants to know.

The new ski area is to have 250 to 325 acres of intermediate skier terrain. Ski area officials say that the biggest deficiency of this existing ski area, when trying to get destination skiers to return for a second year, is the absence of much intermediate terrain at the existing ski area. The new ski area will expedite development of base-area real estate. The ski area hopes to break ground on the expansion in 2008.

Tetons ski areas going green

DRIGGS, Idaho - Ski areas on both sides of the Tetons are wearing green.

Targhee Resort has adopted a "strategic energy management plan" that includes buying electricity produced at dams, instead of power created by burning coal. The resort is also changing light bulbs to compact fluorescents, which consume less electricity.

At Jackson Hole, the ski area purchases enough wind power to operate several chairlifts and is switching its snowmobile fleet to four-stroke engines, which emit less air pollution than traditional two-stroke engines. Too, it is changing light bulbs. Finally, to encourage car-pooling, the ski areas offers free parking to skiers with at least three people in their car.

Telluride turns to roundabout

TELLURIDE - Add Telluride to the list of ski towns with roundabouts. Work could start by June on the $1.8 million traffic-flow design at the town's entrance. The roundabout is expected to double the projected traffic potential in 2025, reported The Telluride Watch, without substantial risk of accidents at the intersection.

- compiled by Allen Best