Ear to the ground

“You know, a lot of my clothes were made by the Cherokees.”

– A local boy, the latest victim of deceptive marketing
 

The summit of Denver
Colorado could be headed for the ultimate “Rocky Mountain High.” The push is under way to grant folk singer John Denver even more immortality and name a peak in his honor.

Mount Sopris cuts one of Colorado’s most dramatic mountainous figures. The peak, located in the West Elk range, rises 7,000 to an elevation of 12,965 feet and can be seen from all over the Crystal River valley. J.P. McDaniel, a college professor who lives in Littleton, is hoping to endow Mount Sopris with some new meaning. She has launched an initiative to name one of Sopris’ twin summits after the late John Denver, who died in 1997.

“I didn’t want just any mountain,” McDaniel told the Aspen Times. She said Sopris is a good match because it overlooks a 1,000-acre tract of land that Denver helped preserve. In addition, Denver in 1972 composed his signature song, “Rocky Mountain High,” from a lake located on a shoulder of the mountain.

Sopris has two summits at identical elevations a half-mile apart. McDaniel proposes to name just the eastern summit after Denver and has already collected 1,000 names to submit to the U.S. Board of Geographic Names, the ultimate arbiter.

It’s worth noting that McDaniel has been on a bit of a John Denver bender lately. The professor helped lobby Colorado lawmakers to adopt a new state anthem in 2007 – John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High.”

Ultra confusion
Lance Armstrong and Michelob Ultra may need to brush up on their western geography. The “superior light beer” recently kicked off a campaign and sweepstakes entitled “Live Summer to the Ultra,” and the winner gets to “Bike Moab with Lance.” However, there’s a problem. All of the contest’s promotional materials show the seven-time Tour de France winner astride a mountain bike in front of red rock cliffs. However, the promoters are off by several hundred miles – the backdrop is not Moab’s but Sedona’s signature landscape.

Nonetheless, Lance will meet the winner and a guest in Moab for a half-day ride and an “additional three-day ride for winner and winner’s guest (without Lance Armstrong).” The lucky Ultra drinker will also score four nights of camping or hotel accommodations (“sponsor selects camping location or hotel, in sponsor’s sole discretion”); two Michelob Ultra Trek bikes (“shipped to winner’s home and not intended to be used on trip; assembly may be required”); and $500 pocket cash just in case the Michelob bikes need a few after-market improvements.