My Page: Bob Berwyn

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SNOWBLOG COMMENTARY

With the ski resort real estate business booming, the business sections of many Rocky Mountain newspapers have devoted countless column inches to hyping the phenomenon of speculative development at the region’s ski areas, often using language that seems to come straight from a resort real estate brochure or an annual report to shareholders. According to the clichés, Intrawest is known for taking "moribund" real estate and creating "dynamic" and “bustling” villages, complete with (what a revelation!) restaurants and shops. Vail Resorts, meanwhile, specializes in offering a top-notch ski experience, delivering customer service that may include slope-side cookies, fresh out of the oven. I am continually amazed at the lack of solid reporting and the non-critical, complacent tone in many of these stories, which often rehash old ground and reflect a cult of corporate worship that is downright scary.

My main bone of contention has to do with language. I’ve become resigned to the general trend of resort development in Colorado, and I think that, as far as pre-planned cookie-cutter resorts go, both Vail and Intrawest have delivered what they promised. But I do take issue with the way the word "village" has been shamelessly misappropriated by these large companies to market their residential and commercial real estate development ventures. What irks me even more is the way the press has unquestioningly regurgitated the phrase, until finally it has become accepted as common usage. [more]

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It’s been a long time coming, but Aspen’s Chris Davenport finally knocked off Longs Peak on January 19, nailing down his quest to ski all 54 of Colorado’s fourteeners during a 12-month period. The news was posted on a few ski-related forums, including Lou Dawson’s Wild Snow blog, an appropriate venue, since Dawson was the first ski mountaineer to ski all those peaks back in the days before fourteener-mania swept the land. Dawson concluded his epic streak on Kit Carson Peak in the Sangre de Cristos in 1991. For a first-hand trip report on the Longs Peak descent, check out Davenport’s own Ski the Fourteeners web site, complete with route descriptions and photos from all the descents.

Also, check out results from the U.S. Freeskiing Open, get the inside scoop on Whistler Blackcomb's "If Ullr Was A Girl"contest, and read about a new movie on the waitressing life. More after the jump. [more]

COMMENTARY

Colorado could be headed for another record season as measured by skier visits, according to early season numbers released by Colorado Ski Country USA this week. The trade association reported 3.29 million skiers between Oct. 13 and Dec. 31, a 6.74 percent increase over the same period in 2005. That puts the state on pace to perhaps surpass the 13-million mark for the first time ever. The existing record was set just last season, with 12.53 million skier visits. The early season tally was high despite the December blizzards that closed down Denver International Airport for several days. Limited air access during the holiday resulted in a short slump at some areas that cater mainly to destination visitors rather than Front Range daytrippers, but industry officials said the positive publicity helped in the long run.

But I suggest a new way to measure success in the Colorado ski industry. I’d like to see it measured not by skier visits, but by how many ski instructors and dishwashers can afford health insurance at the beginning of the season, by how many teachers, firefighters and nurses can afford a place to live that’s close to where they work. [more]

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Before the world’s best free skiers head for this year’s edition of the Winter X Games at Aspen, many of then will make a stop at Copper Mountain for the 10th U.S. Freeskiing Open to compete in slopestyle, big air and halfpipe events, Jan. 17 – 21. The freeskiing comp moved from its long-time Vail home to nearby Summit County this season, where Copper Mountain marketing honchos are ecstatic about the publicity it will bring to the oft-overlooked resort that sits alongside I-70 between better-known ski towns like Breckenridge and Vail.

For a full schedule of U.S. Open Freeskiing events, click here. [more]

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With this season’s Winter X Games coming up Jan. 25 – 28 at Snowmass, it’s time to take a quick look at this phenomenon of modern action sports. After more than a decade of “extreme” skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling, it’s clear that the Winter X Games are more than just a blip on the media screen. In fact, in the world of new media, the event is huge, reaching viewers via television, the web, cell phones, iPods “and more,” according to the Aspen Ski Co. web page that touts the X Games as the “premier winter action sports event in the world.” [more]

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Like in many resort towns in the Rockies, Vail’s workforce is being priced out of the local housing market, moving down-valley to more affordable digs. But the trade-off is a long commute, and a gradual loss of community in the resort itself. Coming to terms with the issue takes a great deal of community will and a developed social conscience that isn’t always easy to come by in the go-go money driven Vail Valley. But the town council recently floated an inclusionary zoning measure aimed at providing some relief for the teachers, firefighters, nurses and other workers who keep the place running. According to the Vail Daily, 30 percent of new homes would have to be deed-restricted employee housing. Developers could satisfy the requirement on site or elsewhere in Vail. Or they could pay a fee of $315 per square foot. New businesses would have to build homes for 20 percent of the jobs they create.

But the plan met with a less than friendly reception from a crowd of about 100 people who attended a recent information session. Some builders said they feel unfairly targeted by the measure, pointing out that some previously approved large developments would get away scot-free. Others felt the added cost would drive builders to other venues, a highly unlikely scenario, given the red-hot Colorado resort market. Yet another criticism was that the affordable housing measure would make free-market rate units more expensive. None of these statements were challenged or investigated in the Vail Daily story, and experience from other towns shows those fears are unlikely to materialize.

Also in today's Snowblog roundup, Vail Resorts proposes a 400-acre terrain expansion onto as-yet undeveloped Peak 6 at Breckenridge, and conservation groups, as well as backcountry skiers are already citing concerns about potential impacts to roadless areas, old-growth forest and loss of another accessible "sidecountry" powder stash. More after the jump. [more]

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Big snows and high winds in Colorado have resulted in an extensive natural avalanche cycle, especially in the northern mountains, but also in the San Juans, where both natural and triggered releases have been reported in many areas. Some of the natural slides have run big and deep, and forecasters with the Colorado Avalanche Information Center are warning backcountry travelers that the slide hazard is rated as “considerable” in most mountain areas above tree line. Natural avalanches are possible, and triggered slides are likely on steeper wind-loaded slopes. The avy center is reporting skier-triggered slides from the South San Juans (around Telluride and Red Mountain Pass), as well from Eagle County, where a snowboarder on Monday set off a slide in the popular East Vail Chutes, a side-country run near the ski area. In the Current Creek drainage near Berthoud Pass, snowpack is so tender that the center reports an avalanche that was triggered remotely, from a few hundred yards away. Most of the slides have run in the recent new snow layers, but those slabs are beefy, due to wind transport. Some of the fractures have been several feet deep, and as much as 1,000 feet across. The winds have even stripped the snow from some lee slopes and created avalanche starting zones much farther down-slope than usual. It’s a good time to practice safe route-finding skills and practice beacon searches with a buddy.

Also in today's Grok, the Mountain Gazette takes a break, and moves from Frisco to Paonia, a Telluride patroller survives a slide in the French Alps and the Ouray Ice Festival kicks of Jan. 10. Click here for all the skinny. [more]

SNOWBLOG GROK

A big, Class 4 snow slide roared down a notorious avalanche path near Berthoud Pass Saturday, burying two cars and blocking U.S. Highway 40 for several hours. Berthoud Pass is located west of Denver and north of Interstate 70. According to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, the slide broke four to five feet deep and ran about 2,200 vertical feet, covering the road with debris up to 18 feet deep. Seven people were buried inside the vehicles, and one was transported to a hospital for treatment, but all survived the avalanche, according to early news reports. The Denver Post reported that several avalanche forecasters were in the vicinity of the accident in preparation for a planned avalanche safety class, and helped with the recovery effort. Colorado Department of Transportation crews had blasted the area in the days preceding the slide. Heavy snows and high winds in Colorado’s Front Range mountains have combined to form thick slabs of snow, in some cases sitting atop unstable layers. The avalanche danger in the area is rated as "considerable," with the potential for both triggered and natural releases. High winds, cold temps and more snow are expected through the weekend, so backcountry travelers should exercise care in avalanche terrain. [more]

SNOWBLOG GROK

Here’s a novel idea. Steamboat Ski Area has decided to fire up its lifts a little earlier in the day, at least during the busy holiday season, to help meet the onslaught of vacationing skiers and snowboarders. The Steamboat Pilot & Today reported on the move, intended to help move people out of the base area and up onto the mountain. Some of Steamboat’s lifts will begin running at 8 a.m., giving early risers a chance to beat the crowds to the top of the mountain.

And the Denver Post reports that the Colorado ski industry is seeking to expand its marketing reach in Russia, China and other Asian markets. Julie Dunn wrote about the initiative in a Dec. 16 story, describing how Vail Resorts and the Aspen Skiing Co. sent sales reps to China and Japan recently. Colorado Ski Country USA, the state’s ski industry trade group, is working with the Colorado Tourism Office to try and establish a nonstop airline connection between Tokyo and Denver, seen as a key step in growing that market.

In Aspen, local papers have been following up on the recent avalanche death that occurred in-bounds at the Snowmass Ski Area. The Aspen Times reported that 25-year-old Nicholas Blake Davidson suffocated in the snow slide last week. The story also includes a photo of the avalanche path and fracture line.

[more]

Christmas and skiing have been inextricably linked for me ever since I was an “army brat” growing up in Frankfurt, Germany. The classroom Christmas party (yes, we called it that back on the pre-politically correct days) wasn’t nearly as exciting as the thought that my parents would soon pick me up outside the school, sometimes even a few hours early, for our annual two-week ski vacation to Austria.

Sometimes there was snow on the ground, slushy, dirty city snow that splattered as the cars passed by. But more often than not, it was just gray and dreary, and my heart always skipped a beat when that finned, white 1960 Chevy Impala rolled up. Everything fit in the trunk of that classic American car, even our two-meter-plus skis, so there was plenty of room for my brother and I to sprawl in the back seat. No fast food stops for us — there was no McDonalds or Burger King along the way, so we ate well; cold schnitzels that my mom had made earlier that day, or open-faced sausage sandwiches with tangy pickles, carrot sticks and wedges of green bell peppers. [more]

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