Ear to the ground

“One more trip around the golf course on skate skis and I’ll definitely be going postal.”

– A Durangoan after spending too much time in the gerbil ball at Hillcrest this winter

Walk like a Durangoan

Break out your Canopic drinking jars. Snowdown in Da Nile, Durango’s 31st annual celebration of winter, kicks off next week.

As in past years, more than 60 contests, events and gatherings will be on tap for the five-day festival so “Don your cheetah skins, your drapey chiffon, your goldiest head gear – and grab your asp!”

Snowdown gets under way at noon on Wed., Jan. 28, with the unofficial kick-off event, the Fashion Do’s and Don’ts Luncheon. During the annual “fashion” show, Durango will once again make the fashion statement that earned it “Worst Dressed” honors in USA Today, and standing-room-only tickets for the event are still available at Magpies.

Timeless favorites like Spam Carving, the Polar Beer Plunge and the Light Parade are again on tap for Snowdown. A handful of new classics are also joining the line-up this year. Among the highlights are:

nThe 1st annual Snowdown Burp-Off Contest, where men, women and couples will vie for honors before a “panel of discriminating judges” at Ska Brewing.

-Jeopardy!, Snowdown-Style, in which an Alex Trebek knock off will reward knowledge with rolls of toilet paper.

-Talent in Da Nile, where tap shoes, accordions and magic hats will square off in the Smiley Auditorium

-The Osiris Home Brew Competition, in which the winner will have their recipe brewed by Ska in a Local Series Batch.

Countless other events, both new and ancient, will make an appearance for Snowdown in Da Nile. For complete details, visit www.snowdown.org, check out next week’s Telegraph or pick up one of the thousands of Snowdown schedules strategically placed all over downtown Durango.

The price of parking

The race for the world’s most expensive real estate is heating up in Vail. Despite a massive cool-down in the trophy home market, parking spaces near the base of the ski resort are still fetching ungodly sums.

One owner of a parking space, Buzz Schleper, whose daughter Sarah Schleper is a World Cup ski racer, is trying to sell his parking space (that’s one parking space) for $500,000. Buzz claims the funds will help pay for Sarah’s expenses and that of another skiing prodigy, Hunter.

East West Partners, a major real estate developer throughout the West, is also getting in on the action, though not quite as ambitiously as Mr. Schleper. For a mere $225,000 each, the group is selling parking spaces created in the redevelopment of a base-area lodge called Manor Vail.