Mountainfilm focuses on climate
TELLURIDE – It was a busy weekend in Telluride as filmmakers, writers and some of their subjects gathered for Mountainfilm, now in its 35th year.
TELLURIDE – It was a busy weekend in Telluride as filmmakers, writers and some of their subjects gathered for Mountainfilm, now in its 35th year.
It’s always a weekend of extraordinary beauty, big ideas, and fire – as in bellies – keyed on action.
On Sunday, Jim Whittaker – the first American to summit Everest 50 years ago this month – was seen leaning up against the New Sheridan Opera House, engaged in a conversation. Don Colcord, a pharmacist in nearby Nucla and the subject of a profile in the New Yorker two years ago, answered questions at the high school auditorium following one film. At the breakfast talk, the chemist from Harvard who believes he can achieve a breakthrough in solar energy technology and was the subject of another profile in the New Yorker, argued why nuclear energy is not the answer
In the Steaming Bean was James Balog, who made the film “Extreme Ice,” about melting glaciers in Greenland and Alaska.
In the Steaming Bean was James Balog, who made the film “Extreme Ice,” about melting glaciers in Greenland and Alaska.
Mountains, energy and climate change. Those were the themes, and at various places they intersected. Auden Schendler, from the Aspen Skiing Co., found the conversation comforting.
“I arrived at the venue, a whole day on climate solutions, to a room completely packed, standing room only, probably 700 people, maybe 1,000. I thought: ‘Surely they will be gone by my talk later today.’ Nope. Still packed. And that was true all weekend.”
He said the response suggets “a new energy on climate.”
Also talking about climate change was Whittaker, the original Everest climber. “He described the mountain having totally changed (melted out) since 1963,” reported Schendler later, in an e-mail message. One famous route – pioneered in 1963 by Tom Hornbein, who also spoke at Mountainfilm, and the late Willi Unsoeld – has become bulletproof blue ice.
Chilly and lovely – spring in the Rockies
ASPEN – The wet, chilly spring had many mountain towns in Colorado grousing right up to Memorial Day. “Depressing,” said one resident of Crested Butte after two days of snow early in the week.
In other words, it was kind of like spring in the old days.
But just as exuberantly, spring was in full profusion for the weekend. At Arapahoe Basin, tents and lawn chairs sprung up in the parking lot next. People barbecued, smoked ganga, listened to rap, and on the slopes a few exposed more skin than any doctor would advise.
Because of all the spring snow, the Aspen Ski Area reopened for the weekend.
Still, fire chiefs haven’t forgotten last year’s major fires that claimed seven lives along the Front Range and destroyed hundreds of homes. The Aspen area – and indeed, most ski towns – were spared all but small fires. But DiSalvo reminded local residents to “cut, prune and do all those things” to create defensible space in case wild fires do occur.
In Winter Park, local water managers announced they would abide by the same rules as Denver: lawn watering just two days a week and only during early or late-day hours. That may be a bitter pill for some local residents in that Denver gets a substantial chunk of its water from creeks around Winter Park.
In Telluride, snow remained on the slopes of Wilson, Dallas and other peaks, but the aspen and willows along the San Miguel River were flush with the lovely bright green of first leaves. From such scenes have come dozens of calendar pictures.
Arch dogged by rising antler prices
JACKSON, Wyo. – Every year, the elk antlers and skulls, mostly from elk but some from bison, are gathered from the National Wildlife Refuge located immediately north of Jackson by local Boy Scouts, then sold at auction. Boy Scouts this year got a quarter of the $131,400 in sales.
Arch dogged by rising antler prices
JACKSON, Wyo. – Every year, the elk antlers and skulls, mostly from elk but some from bison, are gathered from the National Wildlife Refuge located immediately north of Jackson by local Boy Scouts, then sold at auction. Boy Scouts this year got a quarter of the $131,400 in sales.
The Jackson Hole News&Guide explains that some of the antlers will end up as lighting fixtures for someone’s dining room, but most will go overseas to be ground up and sold as elixir.
But a growing demand for antlers as dog chews has also boosted prices this year to $15.43 a pound, from $9.72 in the past decade.
The famed antler arches erected in the Jackson Town Square are being impacted by these rising prices. The 15-foot-high arches were first erected in the early 1950s, but it takes many antlers to create one arch: about 12,000 pounds per arch. Furthermore, the antlers eventually do degrade.
With that in mind, the Rotary Club of Jackson Hole in 2007 began replacing the arches. By the original schedule, the final arch would be replaced this year. Not going to happen, say Rotarians, who report being two-thirds short. To buy that many they need $74,000. And because of the recession, donations slowed.
Sow grizzly produces 3rd set of triplets
JACKSON, Wyo. – Bear No. 399, a sow grizzly named, has done it again. For the third time, she has produced triplets. She has produced at least 10 cubs altogether.
With that in mind, the Rotary Club of Jackson Hole in 2007 began replacing the arches. By the original schedule, the final arch would be replaced this year. Not going to happen, say Rotarians, who report being two-thirds short. To buy that many they need $74,000. And because of the recession, donations slowed.
Sow grizzly produces 3rd set of triplets
JACKSON, Wyo. – Bear No. 399, a sow grizzly named, has done it again. For the third time, she has produced triplets. She has produced at least 10 cubs altogether.
The cubs were likely born in late January and probably weighed about a pound, notes the Jackson Hole News&Guide.
The mother and her cubs can be seen along a road in Grand Teton National Park, but park officials warn visitors to keep their distance, probably 100 yards or more.
The bears this year have already produced what is called a “wildlife jam” of auto traffic. Last year, park officials noted about 500 such wildlife jams, more than a third involving grizzlies.
Summer biz a blow against wildlife
BANFF, Alberta – Grizzly bear advocates are outraged, but tourism boosters excited after Banff National Park announced that Norquay ski area will be allowed to conduct summer operations.
“Running a ski area solely on winter business is difficult, so it’s nice having a hedge against a bad winter by being able to have summer business,” said Peter Sudermann, a co-owner of Norquay, the ski area located a short distance from the town of Banff. “Summer in Banff is when the park is busiest, and hopefully we will be able to get our share of that traffic.”
Norquay will be allowed to use a chair lift to whisk visitors to the upper mountain teahouse and observation deck. The new authority also gives Norquay permission to install cable-assisted climbing and hiking routes known as via ferrata.
Parks Canada also requires Norquay to build one or two wildlife trails on the lower slopes, with the intent that grizzly bears and other wildlife will use them to move through the area.
The Rocky Mountain Outlook says conservationists are quite unhappy. “It’s really disappointing, because it shows there’s really no long-term plans that are set in parks that benefit wildlife,” said Carolyn Campbell, of the Alberta Wilderness Association. Grizzly bears must have space and security away from people, she said.
Norquay will be required to relinquish 41 percent of its winter permit area in exchange for its summer use.
Using bike tires to put bodies in beds
GUNNISON – Some 1,000 mountain bikers were expected in Gunnison last weekend for a race series called the Original Growler.
David Wiens, executive director of Gunnison Trails, said the races have produced a lot of activity in the Gunnison area on a weekend when before, not much was happening. About 87 percent of racers come from elsewhere in Colorado, accrodign to the Gunnison County Times.
Other mountain towns have also been hoping to draw bicycle riders, both on fat tires and their skinny-tired cousins. A boom for the sport – and business – has been USA Pro Challenge, which this year is staying in northern Colorado after a launch from Aspen.
Steamboat Springs was on the debut tour two years ago, and although crowds along Lincoln Avenue were strong, the general take-away was that local hoteliers had given away as many rooms to race organizers as they had sold to visitors in town for the occasion.
This year, tourism officials hope to stimulate room sales with a full week of cycling events before and after the race start Aug. 21.
Steamboat for years has been talking about leveraging its asphalt roads and dirt trails into an economic proposition called Bike Town USA. The Steamboat Today recently devoted 7,000 words to whether the hype has any future . There were, however, no clear conclusions.
Said one local economist, it’s not clear that Steamboat has any amenities to differentiate itself from a dozen other places that are also bidding for the favors – and dollars – of bicycle enthusiasts.
Steamboat for years has been talking about leveraging its asphalt roads and dirt trails into an economic proposition called Bike Town USA. The Steamboat Today recently devoted 7,000 words to whether the hype has any future . There were, however, no clear conclusions.
Said one local economist, it’s not clear that Steamboat has any amenities to differentiate itself from a dozen other places that are also bidding for the favors – and dollars – of bicycle enthusiasts.
– Allen Best www.mountaintownnews.net