91-year-old says moderation is key
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS – Sven Wiik has been skiing now for 89 years, and he attributes his vigor to at least two precepts.
First, he skis nearly every day on the Nordic tracks around the Scandinavian Lodge that he founded in the 1960s in the hills above Steamboat Springs.

“There are two reasons I ski,” he told the Steamboat Pilot and Today. “It’s enjoyable, and I do it to stay in shape. I need the exercise. I eat a lot.”
His 91st birthday was celebrated Sunday, and the Pilot & Today says Wiik’s advice was conspicuously demonstrated. “Moderation,” he stated simply. “I’ve been eating all my life, and that’s the word I use more than any. Moderation in everything.”

Surrounded by a field of decorated cupcakes, he carefully selected one – but only one, says the Pilot & Today.

“The thing that doesn’t appeal to me is when people start to talk about when you shouldn’t eat this or shouldn’t eat that. Eat dessert. But eat it in moderation.”

A native of Sweden, he competed on behalf of that country in the 1948 Olympics as a gymnast, then a demonstration sport. Later, for 19 years, he was ski coach and an assistant professor of health and physical education at Western State College in Gunnison. He also helped guide the U.S. cross-country and Nordic combined ski team at the 1960 Olympics at Squaw Valley.

High winds both blessing and curse
VAIL – Winds were ferocious across Colorado last week. Ski-town newspapers were full of stories about closed highways, avalanches on wind-loaded slopes, and power outages.

The most interesting story came out of Vail, where the ski area initially posted reports of 12 inches of new snow one morning. By mid-morning, however, the ski company had posted a message on its Facebook page saying that the earlier report was inaccurate.

Actually, Vail Mountain got more than 12 inches on some runs, but almost nothing on other runs.

Chris Jarnot, the chief operating officer at Vail Mountain, tweeted an apology at noon. “We blew the snow report this a.m. – apologies to those who were disappointed. Our goal is to be accurate and over deliver,” he said, according to a report in the Vail Daily.

Vehicles 10, moose 0 in Jackson
JACKSON, Wyo. – An estimated 10 moose have died on the segment of two-lane highway between Jackson and the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort during the last year, half of them during this winter alone.

Appalled by the carnage, a long-time resident of cushy Teton Village, Uta Olson, donated $30,000 to buy portable message boards to remind drivers of the hazard.

Some wildlife advocates have called for a reduction in speed limit, now 45 mph, to 34 mph during evening hours.

Barn-burner month at Whistler
WHISTLER, B.C. –It’d an occasion for hurrahs in Whistler, that is if anybody can catch a breath. Lodging occupancy numbers for January were up 23 percent compared to the same month last year – and 6 percent over the previous record, set in 2001.

Part of Whistler’s success owes to its promotional programs. Among other things, the resort offered a free vacation – including salary – to one lucky winner. That winner was from the U.K., which also happens to be one of the places from where destination visitors are now starting to book earlier and more often. A surge in visitors from the U.S. is also reported according to Pique Newsmagazine.

Only one thing keeps the enthusiasm at bay. Visitors are still getting cheaper rooms than before the recession.

Gay ski weeks growing in popularity
PARK CITY, Utah – After a decade of promoting gay ski week at California’s Mammoth Mountain, Tom Whitman now returns to Park City for what has become the second annual gay ski week there.

The event in Mammoth has grown enormously. He hopes for the same success at Park City. “Last year we had 200 to 300 people, and this year we’re expecting 400 to 500. I want this to be the second biggest event in Park City next to the Sundance Film Festival.

Whitman said he first visited Park City when he was on the ski team at the University of California-Los Angeles.

“The gay community has expanded in how it’s becoming more prevalent in different places around the country in the last 10 years,” he told the Park Record. “There is still a need for events catering to the gay community, guys and girls can come out here and feel comfortable.”

One of the event organizers, John Manelski, told the newspaper that the concept of a gay ski week saved snowboarding for him.

“When I came out of the closet, I couldn’t find anyone to golf or snowboard with,” he said. “Those happen to be two things I love doing.”

At Ketchum and Sun Valley, gay skiers are also in the news. An organization called Ski Bums, identified as the largest club in the world for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ski and snowboarders, visited during Presidents’ Day for a four-day treat.

Chris French, club president and founder, said he always tries to call ahead and make sure that the resort in question is welcoming of his community.

“I’m always super clear (about the nature of our group),” he told the Idaho Mountain Express. “We want to go somewhere we’ll feel safe.”
French told the Express that he founded the club because he wanted to meet people who love the outdoors as much as he did. “I wanted to find a boyfriend to travel the world with.”

Alas, although his club now has 800 members, 30 of whom are ski instructors, and a few more who are ski patrollers, he doesn’t have a partner. He’s been too busy to date, he says.

Rising temps revamp hardiness zones
FRASER – The U.S. government recently issued revised maps for plant hardiness zones, the first revision since 1990.

The zones have shifted somewhat. The new maps draw upon more temperature gauges. Particularly in mountainous areas of the West, this has had the perhaps unexpected result of putting valleys into colder zones than they were previously, according to the website for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But the broader sweep of the last few decades has been increasing temperatures, especially on winter nights. The zones are based on the minimum winter temperatures between 1976 - 2005.

In Aspen, the new zones were taken as a restating of the obvious impact of human-caused climate change. The town had previously been in zone 3, with low temperatures between minus 30 and 40. Now, it’s in zone 5, with temperatures not regularly any lower than minus 10 to 15 degrees.
Gyles Thronley, a landscape architect, told the Aspen Daily News that the new hardiness zone will give planters license to use trees, shrubs and perennials, among them honey locusts, that previously were thought not to be hardy.

“It actually makes the life of landscape architects and gardeners much easier, because it gives us more options,” he said.

Avie death sparks discussion anew
TELLURIDE – Telluride is among the most liberal of the ski towns. Yet the current issue confronting the skiing populace is fundamentally libertarian in nature.

The issue is one posed by the sport – no, make that religion – of skiing. An avalanche death occurred recently in Bear Creek, an area adjacent to the Telluride ski area where deaths have occurred with some regularity since the 1980s.

For a time, the U.S. Forest Service closed the backcountry gates from the ski area into Bear Creek, but without total effect. The gates are now open, but in light of the recent avie death of a well-equipped 38-year-old resident in Bear Creek, some might argue that they should be closed again.

“In the aftermath of this tragedy, there will likely be talk of better controlling the ski area boundary,” wrote Seth Cagin in the Telluride Watch. Ideas include gates, guided-access, rescue insurance, or even expanding the ski area into Bear Creek so it can be managed.

“But in the end, skiing powder will remain a koan: one of the most beautiful things a person can do, and one of the most dangerous,” wrote Cagin.

 

– Allen Best