Intrawest invests heavily in Steamboat ski product
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. -- Ten months after the Steamboat ski area was purchased by Intrawest and its corporate parent, Starwood, things are going swimmingly, says the Steamboat Pilot & Today.
"We think Intrawest's first 10 months of ownership paint a rather rosy picture for the future of the ski area," said the paper. "For years, the biggest complaint about (former owner) American Skiing Co. was that it didn't have the capital to invest in the ski area. While other ski resorts made significant on-mountain improvements, Steamboat got by with Band-Aids."
Intrawest has invested $16 million in upgrades, including many such to-dos as a new gondola haul rope. That investment, in turn, has triggered new base-area development.
Plans are moving ahead for 1 million square-feet of redevelopment at Ski Time Square and Thunderhead Lodge, a 1970s-style component of the base area. The plans "represent the kind of investment developers are making in Steamboat's base area—long considered the resort's Achilles heel," says the newspaper.
Minimum wage rises, but to no consequence
CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. -- Minimum wage has increased in Colorado, and is now at $7.02. That compares with the federal minimum of $5.85.
But the new law has no real effect in Crested Butte -- or, for that matter, probably any other mountain town. At Crested Butte Mountain Resort, for example, the basic entry-level wage for non-tipped jobs is $8.16 per hour.
"I don't know that it will really affect us," says Christi Matthews, director of the local chamber of commerce. "Minimum wage is not really a livable wage in Crested Butte," she further tells the Crested Butte News.
Airline chiefs saying new jets will fly in springtime
DENVER, Colo. -- The new chief executive officer of Frontier Airlines is now saying that it will be March or April before it can begin flying its new Bombardier Q400 turboprop planes to Aspen, Jackson Hole, and Hailey.
The Denver-based company last year created a new subsidiary, called Lynx Aviation, with the goal of expanding service to the smaller markets, many of them resort areas, from Denver. Among the other markets expected to be serviced by the new planes are Eagle County/Vail, Montrose/Telluride, and Yampa Valley/Steamboat.
The Q-400 is one-third more energy efficient, allowing costs to be discounted. Even in Aspen, that discount is considered a major plus for tourism. As well, Hailey is eagerly awaiting the link to Denver, with the expectation it will make Sun Valley a more attractive destination for people in the East.
Mountain bikers dislike recommended wilderness
DURANGO, Colo. -- Mountain bikers are disturbed by a recommendation from the U.S. Forest Service to create a new wilderness area between Durango and Silverton that would close 20 miles of the Colorado Trail to wheels.
The recommendation, if adopted by Congress, would also make at least six other trails off-limits to biking, reports the Durango Telegraph.
"It's definitely a conundrum for mountain bikers," said Mark Richey, a mountain biking advocate. "We all love wilderness areas, but we feel like we're excluded by their (recommendation) designation."
While the Forest Service cites comparatively little use by mountain bikers in the area in question, mountain bikers disagree. Bill Manning, director of the Colorado Trail Foundation, also noted that the wilderness designated would eliminate the ride from Molas Divide to Durango, a 75-mile grunt considered one of the nation's epic rides.
Helmets cut injuries, but not fatal ski accidents
WOLF CREEK PASS, Colo. -- Helmets were supposed to make skiing and snowboarding safer. In fact there has been no significant reduction in ski area fatalities in the last nine seasons, even though the use of helmets has increased to more than 33 percent. However, helmets have reduced the number of head injuries, according to a study cited by the National Ski Areas Association.
Those statistics were cited by the Durango Herald after a 14-year-old boy died after hitting a tree along an intermediate ski trail at Wolf Creek Ski area.
Nationally, about 37 skiers and snowboarders have died per year during the last decade. Jasper Shealy, a professor emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology, found that fatalities are more likely to occur along wide, smooth and well-groomed intermediate-level trails.
Talk of new airport percolating in Idaho
McCALL, Idaho -- Now that the Tamarack ski area is up and running, drawing a well-heeled crowd that includes the like of tennis stars Stefani Graf and Andre Agassi, can an improved regional airport be far behind?
Currently, it's at least 90 minutes via the twisty and icy road to Boise. The existing airport in Long Valley is at McCall, about a half-hour north. But one McCall resident, Roy Wagner, argues that instead of spending money to expand the McCall airport, where conflicts with existing residences are likely, it would better to create a new, larger, and better airport between the two resort areas.
