For some Olympic host cities, repeat not likely

Sochi, if nothing else, represents a blurred image of the Olympics. With people strolling around in shorts and T-shirts, might it be possible to have both the Winter and Summer Olympics at the same site?

A study by a University of Waterloo researcher more strongly questions whether any Winter Olympics will be possible at all later in this century.

The study, by Daniel Scott and others in Canada and Austria, studied Sochi and 18 other hosts since Winter Games began in 1924 at Chamonix, France.

Scott and his colleagues studied first, if temperatures at the main competition elevation were expected to remain below freezing; and second, the probability of a snowpack of at least 30 cm, through both natural snowfall and snowmaking.

Even Sochi and Vancouver have been “climatically reliable,” meaning they satisfied these two metrics 90 percent of the time in the past. As the century progresses, however, it doesn't look so good.

By the time Mikaela Shiffrin, the womens gold medal slalom winner, is in her 50s, just 11 of the 19 Winter Olympic host cities will have the cold and snow needed to host skiing and the other events. Salt Lake City and Calgary stay cold enough. Out of the chase will be Squaw Valley, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Vancouver and Sochi.

This assumes that the world is able to dramatically slow down its emissions of greenhouse gases. If we continue our prodigious transfer of carbon from the ground into the atmosphere, just six of the 19 host cities could do a repeat.

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Mountain folks weigh in on historic regulations

AURORA – The Colorado Air Quality Control Commission met in this city on the east side of Denver last week to consider how Colorado might tighten up the leaks from pipes, tanks and valves in the oil and gas fields. If this seems a bit remote from ski towns, local governments thought otherwise.

Volatile organic compounds are a precursor of ozone, which can stunt the growth of plants, even on mountain tops, and scar the tissue of people who breathe it at high levels. That is most often true in summer.

High ozone levels are a problem in most urban areas, including some of those in Colorado, but increasingly in rural areas, too. Evidence was presented at the hearing last week about the effect of oil and gas drilling on human health.

And finally, there is the issue of methane. Even though methane dissipates in the atmosphere much more rapidly than carbon dioxide, it is far more powerful during that shorter life in containing heat.

Citing the mantra of “one size does not fit all,” many rural counties from the Utah and Kansas borders said regulations were not needed. Among those was Garfield County, down-valley from Aspen and Vail. Among the county commissioners taking that position was Tom Jankowsky, long-time manager and part-owner of the local ski area, Ski Sunlight. The Aspen Skiing Co., however, argued for the regulations.

In Steamboat Springs, Routt County commissioners said they wanted to be treated the same as the urban counties, and they thought the smaller counties similarly needed to adhere to the same rules as the big ones.

“We believe this is a cost of doing business that everyone should be championing, and not just certain companies,” said Doug Monger, chairman of the commissioners.

Monger told the Steamboat Today that to exempt western Colorado from the new rules would be to allow ozone there to become a problem. Already, high ozone levels have been recorded west of Steamboat Springs, in Utah’s Uintah Basin and to the north in Wyoming’s Jonah Field, south of Jackson Hole.

Matt Sura, representing a variety of community groups in western Colorado, said the air emissions associated with drilling are a much greater threat to public health than the fracking. He compared it to the coal dust that ruined the lungs and lives of coal miners and the effects of smoking that tobacco companies long tried to deny.

In the end, by a 5-4 vote, the state-wide commission voted to include methane, the first time in the United States that methane will be regulated as a greenhouse gas.

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Railroad buying safer oil tankers

WHITEFISH, Mont. – Railroad tracks separate downtown Whitefish and the ski area of the same name. A local worry there, as in other ski towns with railroad lines, has been about the increasing number of trains carrying crude oil from the Bakken and other oil patches.

A derailment in Quebec last summer resulted in the death of 47 people, and if that was the most gruesome case, other accidents have also occurred.

An AP report carried in the Whitefish Pilot says that BNSF Railway Co. last week announced plans to buy 5,000 strengthened tank cars to haul oil and ethanol. The U.S. Department of Transportation is completing regulations governing improved tank cars, but the company said it was unwilling to wait.

Among other enhanced safety features, BNSF’s new cars will have the added safety features of half-inch thick steel shields on both ends of the tank cars, to help prevent them from cracking open during accidents.

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One sledder has story to tell, another won’t talk

REVELSTOKE, B.C. – One guy got lucky. Another didn’t.

The first, a 44-year-old-man from Alberta, had been sledding on Boulder Mountain, a popular snowmobiling area close to Revelstoke, and had dismounted to walk out onto a cornice to admire the view.

The cornice broke, authorities tell the Revelstoke Times-Review, and the man fell onto the slope below, bouncing “from powder pillow to powder pillow,” altogether 1,000 vertical feet, a helicopter pilot estimated. All that pillow hopping left him in good shape, despite the tumble.

In another case on the same mountain, luck did not prevail when two snowmobilers were caught in an avalanche. One was quickly uncovered from the snow by his companions. The second, a 35-year-old from Alberta, was unconscious when dug out and later died.

The Times-Review relates that all the snowmobilers had appropriate safety gear, including beacons and shovels, and had been through avalanche safety training.

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Parachuter leaps from Peak 2 Peak gondola

WHISTLER, B.C. – In 2008, when the Peak 2 Peak gondola was opened, connecting the Whistler and Blackcomb ski mountains, BASE jumpers leaped from the gondola, which at one place is 1,000 feet high.

But that was with the blessing of the ski area operator. In early February, a BASE jumper did the same stunt. This time, police were not amused. They were unable to capture him, although they think they know who it was. A 23-year-old female thought to be an accomplice was arrested by police.

Two videos of the stunt were posted to YouTube.

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Few customers for late bars in winter

ASPEN – Bars in Colorado are currently allowed to stay open until 2 a.m., but a bill introduced in the Colorado’s Legislature this winter would have extended closing time 4:30 a.m.

Although the proposal has since been shelved, it may return next year. If so, will it be good for Aspen? Bar owners tell the Aspen Daily News that they welcome the option, but during ski season it won’t make much difference.

“During the ski season most people want to get to bed at a reasonable hour,” said Michael Goldberg, owner of the Belly Up.

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Banff outpaces Alberta in immigrants

BANFF, Alberta –Banff is outpacing Alberta and Canada altogether in the number of immigrants who now call it home.

The 2011 Census found that 27.3 percent of Banff’s population is immigrants, led by those from the Philippines and then Japan. This proportion of immigrants compared to 18 percent for Alberta and 20.6 percent for all of Canada.

The number of immigrants had increased substantially from 2006 -11, Banff municipal officials said. The increase further heightens need for instruction at local public schools of English as a second language.

Census figures also show that Banff residents, and not just immigrants, have lower incomes, with the median income of single people being $28,220 compared to $33,950 for Alberta altogether. A much higher percentage rent homes as compared to others in Alberta.

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OK to park, but not to idle when in Canmore

CANMORE, Alberta – Traffic laws proposed for revision in Canmore, at the eastern gate to Banff National Park, would ban vehicles, except for refrigerated trucks, from idling while parked.

Town officials tell the Rocky Mountain Outlook that they don’t want to issue fines willy-nilly, but instead want to use the authority to educate drivers about the need to shut off their engines when not in use.

– Allen Best

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