Mountainfilm spotlights energy

TELLURIDE – While Telluride’s Mountainfilm Festival is rooted in adventure films of big-mountain excursions, scary base-jumps and cascading whitewater, this year it also focused on global warming and the prospect of diminished oil supplies.

Reflecting on the festival,Telluride Watch publisher Seth Cagin observed that the challenges of global warming are actually far greater than death-defying adventures like rowing across the Atlantic – because, he said, it “takes political action and community resolve, and these are precisely the realms where humanity is often least inspiring.”

While Telluride this year succeeded in raising $50 million to block development of land at the town’s edge, Cagin suggests a far more important and difficult challenge ahead: “If we don’t dedicate ourselves to solar on every local rooftop, to hydro from our rivers, or to a wind farm on a suitable ridgeline, will it (the open space preservation) in the end make one bit of difference?” he asks.

Jim Kunstler, the acerbic critic of car-dependent suburbia and author ofThe Long Emergency, spoke at Mountainfilm this year, arguing that there is no easy salvation in the form of lifestyle-saving technology.

Writing in his blog after returning from Telluride to his New York home, Kunstler had this to say: “In my travels, I have noticed a disturbing theme among the educated minority of eco-advocates: they are every bit as dedicated to the status quo (in their own way) as the NASCAR morons and shopping mall developers. The eco-advocates want cars, too, and all the prerogatives (like free parking and country living) that go with them, just like the Wal-Mart shoppers. If this were not so, then why do the eco-advocates cream in their jeans whenever somebody presents a snazzy new vehicle that runs on a fuel other than gasoline? Indeed, why are some of the eco-friendly pouring all their efforts into the invention of such things instead of into walkable communities and the reform of our stupid land-use laws?”

After a jab at Telluride’s real-estate anchored economy, Kunstler concluded: “Let’s stop talking about making better cars and start talking about occupying the landscape differently – which we’re going to have to do anyway.”

Neck-tied editor visits Cheney

WASHINGTON D.C. – An old saw of mountain towns is that suits and ties are worn only at weddings or funerals. Anybody otherwise caught in such uncomfortable clothing is a traveling salesman or lawyer, or at the very least an eccentric character.

But Thomas Dewell, co-editor of theJackson Hole News&Guide, got his suit out for business recently when he visited the office of Jackson Hole’s most famous resident non-resident, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.

Dewell had 15 minutes to chat with Cheney about war in the Middle East, energy extraction in Wyoming, and global warming. While born and reared in Wyoming, Cheney has spent most of the last 40 years in Washington. He maintains his primary residence in Jackson Hole.

The newspaper also snagged an interview with Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives. As a Democrat, she is a leading critic of the Republican administration.

Still, author and musician John Byrne Cook said he felt like disinfecting his hands after reading the interview with Cheney. “It’s about time theNews&Guide showed some editorial guts and stated its position on this carpetbagging disgrace to Wyoming and the United States,” he said in a letter published the following week.

County reverses body piercing ban

JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. – Teton County has lifted its ban on tongue and genital piercings. Teton County Public Board of Health members were persuaded that the ban might have an unintended consequence of sending customers to back-door practitioners who are less likely to do the job right, leading to infections.

“Piercing is here to stay,” said Susan Woodward, owner of a shop called Sub-Urban Tattoo. “We want regulations that will protect our community.”

The state, however, has no licensing or training program for piercers, and neither does the county.

Meanwhile, advocates of completely smoke-free communities have vowed to continue to press local officials to mandate a ban on public smoking. Jackson town officials recently refused to enact a ban, and a similar effort failed in broader Teton County. Julia Heemstra, program manager for the Teton

County Anti-Tobacco Coalition, said she believes getting a total ban will “be much more a marathon than a sprint.”

Why the ban matters isn’t clear. Only two businesses in both the town and county will still allow smoking after mid-June.

Recreation real estate proliferates

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – A new development near Kamloops Lake, located in the interior of British Columbia, has no ski area, but in many ways it’s similar to what is happening across the North American West.

The project called Tobiano has a golf course opening in June, plus a marina, equestrian center and a pedestrian-friendly village. Of course, it also has real estate, with single-family lots starting in the mid-$200,000s.

Pique editor Bob Barnett cites the resort as an example of what is happening across British Columbia. Inspired by the success of Whistler, the provincial government three years ago outlined the goal of boosting amenity-based tourism and real-estate development.

“Hundreds and hundreds of people are investing several hundred thousand dollars each in part-time properties at master-planned resorts – some with little more than a master plan,” he reports.

Seeing this rapid outlay of recreational real estate, Barnett says he can’t help but think back to the fast-and-furious high-tech expansion in 1999 – followed by the dot.com bust. He also wonders if the ubiquitous formulaic pedestrian villages will ultimately be the wisest way to build a tourism infrastructure.

Swift buys up mountain papers

GRANBY – Swift Communications has extended its penetration in the mountains of Colorado, buying the newspapers published in Grand County. The newspapers include theWinter Park ManifestandSky-Hi News.

Based in Reno, Swift arrived in the Colorado mountains in 1993, buying first theVail Daily, then theSummit Daily News, andAspen Times. It also owns weekly and daily newspapers in Eagle, Carbondale, Glenwood Springs, Rifle and Grand Junction. The chain faces only two newspaper competitors in those two areas, theAspen Daily NewsandGrand Junction Sentinel.

Selling the Grand County newspapers is Bill Johnson, who enjoyed a monopoly there beginning in 1984.

Aspen limits hours of construction

ASPEN – Responding to calls for more peace and quiet, the Aspen City Council is more sharply limiting construction activities and is allocating $150,000 to hire two new code-enforcement officers to back up the law. Previously there was just one such officer.

The new law, reportsThe Aspen Times, limits construction to 10 hours a day, compared to 12 previously. However, the council refused to ban construction on Saturdays, although work sites remain shut down on federal holidays and during the so-called Aspen holidays of large special events.

Also new is a cap on sound, at 80 decibels – about the sound of a vacuum sweeper, or halfway between a normal conversation and a Walkman at full volume.

Forest Service ends Mt. Evans fee

IDAHO SPRINGS – The highest paved highway in the United States goes to within about 150 feet of 14,264-foot summit of Mt. Evans, located in the Front Range west of Denver. And under the recreational fee program, dubbed “pay to play,” the Forest Service since 1998 has been charging $10 per car for those driving the road.

Trouble is, the road was built and maintained by the state of Colorado. State transportation officials complained that the fee could only be assessed those who parked and then used Forest Service facilities in some ways.The Denver Post reports that the Forest Service has agreed to place notices that the $10 charge only applies if vehicles are parked.

Rutting camel shows nasty side

RIFLE – A Rifle man who operates camel tours was bitten and kicked by a 2,000-pound camel that also laid on him. He was hospitalized but was expected to fully recover, reports theGlenwoodSprings Post Independent. He had purchased the one-humped camel recently from a tour operator at Moab.

– compiled Allen Best

The newspaper spoke with another camel owner, Maggie Repp, who has raised and trained camels at her ranch in the Western Colorado town of Fruita for nine years. “Camels by nature are not mean at all,” she said. However, male camels, like elk and deer, will go into rut. “When they’re in rut, you don’t want to bother them,” she added.

LEED accepts Vail ‘neighborhood’

VAIL – A $1 billion slopeside real estate project called Ever Vail has been accepted into a pilot neighborhoods’ program under the aegis of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Rob Katz, chief executive officer of Vail Resorts, the developer, said the company will seek a silver designation, which is the second highest of four potential designations. The project is scheduled to start in 2009, although it must first get town approval.

– compiled by Allen Best

Ski-free reborn in Crested Butte

CRESTED BUTTE – The ski-free program at Crested Butte Mountain Resort will resume again for 20 days in early winter later this year. The resort had conducted a similar program from 1991 to 2000. Company representatives say they want the public to “test drive” the ski area, to check out the “many improvements” since the ski area was purchased by Tim and Diane Mueller several years ago.

– compiled by Allen Best