Chihuahua to be real doggone has-been
MONTEZUMA, Colo. – Transformation of Summit County from a mining economy to one based on recreation and leisure began in 1946, the year Arapahoe Basin opened.

Later, it was followed by Breckenridge in 1961 and then Keystone and Copper Mountain, plus golf courses and you name it.

But the transformation continues in small ways. The latest moving part involves Chihuahua, a 43-acre town created during the silver boom in the 19th century. The land is located at about 10,000 feet just west of the Continental Divide, between Keystone and A-Basin.

The town was part of the same excitement in silver mining that produced Aspen, Leadville and others. As many as 200 people lived there after incorporation in 1880. Historical lore includes brothels and outlaw hangings before a forest fire destroyed everything in 1889. So much for Chihuahua.

In that brief spell, 500 long and skinny lots were created. In theory, they could still be developed. But the valley of the former town has valuable wetlands, and it also serves as a trailhead for a couple of 14,000-foot peaks, Grays and Torreys.

Recently, the landowner, Forest Service and Summit County completed a land exchange, with the Forest Service getting the Chihuahua site and the landowner getting 21 acres of National Forest land near the Keystone ski area. The zoning permits 24 houses.

Summit County favored the exchange, because it’s all for clustering instead of a hodge-podge of development scattered around the county. It already has plenty of that. Plus, a development at Chihuahua would have scarred a delicate high mountain meadow.

Adam Poe, of Western Land Group, said the exchange was difficult in part because the townsite is so unusual. Appraisals require comparables, and there just wasn’t much to work with, he says.

As for the town, it still legally exists. For some reason, nobody ever bothered to disincorporate it. That legal footnote is scheduled for later in August.

It’s zipped-do time on Vail Mountain
VAIL – Vail Mountain is getting into the zipline business in a major way, with plans for 1,200-foot- zipline plus two ropes courses.

Vail Resorts says this is just a glimpse of what can be expected should the U.S. Forest Service approve plans for expanded use of the ski mountain during summer.

President Obama two years ago signed legislation, the Ski Area Recreational Opportunity Enhancement Act, which gives the Forest Service expanded authority to permit nonskiing activities at ski areas. These new ziplines are consistent with the spirit of that law.

Vail hopes to have its expanded array of summer amusements in place by June 2015 – assuming, once again, that the Forest Service approves. Vail is seen by those both within the ski industry and the Forest Service as a test case for what will be permitted under the new law.

Friends-with-benefits passes expanding
PARK CITY, Utah – Ski areas across the West continue to become the industrial equivalent of Facebook buddies as they try to compete with that 800-pound ape of marketing called the Epic Pass.

The latest announcement comes from Utah, where Deer Valley and Park City have banded with Alta and Snowbird in a new friends-with-benefits package. Season-pass privileges now include three single-day lift tickets at each of the other ski areas.

Elsewhere, Crested Butte and 11 other resorts have become buddies with a similar deal: buy our pass and you can get three days at any of the other resorts, inlcuding: Utah’s Snowbasin; California’s China Peak Sierra-at-Tahoe and Mountain High; Oregon’s Mt. Hood; Washington’s Steven’s Pass; Montana’s Bridger Bowl; Arizona’s Snowbowl; and New Mexico’s Angel Fire.

Mansions sell for less than asking prices
ASPEN – Even mansions have their price points. That’s the news in Aspen, where a 16,000-square-foot house built just before the dark curtain of the recession descended was sold recently at auction.

For several years, a price tag of $43.8 million had been assigned the house, according to The Aspen Times, but with no takers. The owner rejected offers in the $20 to $30 million range recently. Put up at auction, it fetched only $14 million.

Another house had been listed for $20 million but sold for $9.75 million at auction.

Norwegians taken by lodging scammer
JACKSON, Wyo. – Five families from Norway had thought they were booked into a swank 10,000-square-foot lodge during high summer in Jackson Hole. Turns out they had paid $13,900 to a scammer.

The lodge had received no money. But the check had been cashed by someone in Florida. Those purporting to represent the lodge had e-mail addresses in Norway.

The 19 Norwegians had to scramble to find a place once they got to Jackson. They now are trying to recover their money. But the Jackson Hole News&Guide suggests it won’t be easy.

“You get a posting online, on Craigslist or somewhere, for a rental, and often the owner doesn’t even know it’s up there,” said Sgt. Cole Nethercott, of the Jackson Police Department. “The house may not even be for rent. So you have victims on both ends.”

This particular listing was placed on VRBO, and its parent company, HomeAway, will refund up to $1,000 of users reservations costs after they fill out a fraud claim form. As for the wrong-doing, it’s one for the FBI.

“If we could offer your readers one piece of advice to avoid situations like these, it would be that if you are planning to stay somewhere, always call the front desk, owner or manager of the property,” wrote a representative of the lodge in question in an e-mail to the newspaper’s reporter. “Talk with someone on the phone, not just email, even if it’s an international call.”

Jasper happy to lose ground to caribou
JASPER, Alberta – Parks Canada has announced closures of backcountry areas in Jasper National Park this winter in an effort to help protect woodland caribou from wolves.

The Jasper Fitzhugh explains that it has been shown that wolves walk on snow compacted by skis to get a better shot at killing caribou, a species in declining numbers. The park has not quite 200.

One backcountry skier in Jasper says he’s just fine with the closures in two areas. Loni Klettl told the newspaper that after adjustments, Parks Canada left skiers areas that the caribou don’t use during winter but give the “caribou the space they need.”

June flood created a sushi bar for bears
BANFF, Alberta – Bears seem to be drawn to a river segment where spring floods resulted in larger numbers of dead fish, as well as places where fish are easily caught. As a result, a portion of the Banff National Park has been closed in what the Rocky Mountain Outlook describes as a sushi bar for bears.

“With such attractive smelly food there for bears, there’s a considerable risk that people might startle a bear and a bear may act defensively while in the presence of food attractants,” explains David Gummer, a wildlife biologist for Banff National Park.

Osprey and bald eagles also have been drawn to the fish kill.

Sheriffs sued for late arrival to rescue
DRIGGS, Idaho – Last January, a 46-year-old man from New York named Eddie Fitzgerald was skiing at Grand Targhee Resort when he got out of bounds and out of the ski area, in an area called South Leigh Canyon.He had a cell phone and summoned help. But help did not arrive until it was too late. He was found the following morning wet, hypothermic and unconscious, and he later died.

That this occurred in Wyoming, but along the Idaho border matters entirely, because two different sheriff’s departments and two search and rescue groups were involved. The Teton Valley Citizen notes authorities admitted big mistakes were made in communication leading up to Fitzgerald’s death.

Now comes the question of who will pay. Members of the dead man’s family have filed a lawsuit against Teton County, Idaho, and plan to do the same against the corresponding office in Teton County, Wyo.

Location everything in real estate and panels
DILLON – Location, location, location, the real-estate guys say. And that’s the refrain as we search for locations appropriate for renewable energy, whether in deserts or mountain valleys.

A case in point is a solar array built near an elementary school near the town of Dillon. Some residents of a nearby subdivision called Summit Cove are up in arms, or at least giving full throttle to their throats, over what they contend is destruction of an area needed for wildlife.

“Most of us agree solar energy is a positive thing, but it needs to done in the right place and in the right way,” local resident Carol Northcut told the Summit Daily News. “This qualifies as neither."

 

She said she wants the solar panels gone and the ground revegetated.

Local governments slowly shrink energy
JACKSON, Wyo. – Little by little, the governments of Jackson and Teton County have been reducing the carbon footprints of their buildings and other infrastructure.

The Jackson Hole News&Guide reports a raft of proposals for upgrades, including more than $1 million for solar panels, high-efficiency boilers and other improvements to buildings.

One project has already been completed. With $42,400 in various funds, a local water and sewer district installed more efficient motors for the aeration, which pumps air through sewage to break it down. That saves the district $8,400 per year in electricity costs.

– Allen Best www.mountaintownnews.net