resort economy

While high-end developments around the West collapse under the weight of huge debt loads the slumping housing market can't support, the planned Bitterroot Resort south of Missoula, having yet to tap investors and with little built infrastructure, appears to be in position to ride out the slow down.

As rancher-turned-resort CEO Tom Maclay said Tuesday, "It's very good to be standing outside of that."

The money spent so far on planning, public relations, carving runs on private land, retaining top-flight resort manager Jim Gill has all been "internal," Maclay says, made possible by "a few land sales" and "good bankers."  [more]

Until Next Season

It’s only the first week of April in Albuquerque, but the temperature is already in the sixties and seventies. The trees have already budded and blossomed; my street is suddenly green again. Last week I planted an herb garden. The sun is bright, the days are warm.

I already miss skiing.
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A sampling of this weekend's ski activities

The season is winding down. (Or up, depending on how you look at it.)

The way I look at it, there are some wicked cool things happening in the Colorado and New Mexico ski mountains this weekend. Don't pack up your gear quite yet.

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Resort Market not holding

The application for a large-scale base area development at Bridger Bowl Ski Area, outside of Bozeman, Montana has been withdrawn.

After hundreds of public comments in April and May of 2007, the Bridger Canyon Partners asked the Gallatin County Planning Department to table their Planned Unit Development in order to continue discussion and come to an agreement with the Bridger Canyon Property Owners’ Association (BCPOA).

The Bridger Canyon Neighborhood Zoning, established in the 1970’s by the BCPOA, shaped strict rules and regulations about development in this pristine canyon, particularly when it came to the proposed 452 overnight units, 75 recreational home lots, a commercial village, a recreational lodge and employee housing.

The Bridger Canyon Partners decided the timeline, including reasonable agreement with the BCPOA, water rights and permitting, coupled with housing downturn, makes the project unfeasible at this time and withdrew their application on March 26th.  [more]

winter in the rockies

Paring 235 Snowtography Contest photos down to the top 5 wasn't as difficult as, say, a crazy ski stunt in Glacier, but it wasn't easy either, because "capturing winter in the Rockies" can mean lots of things and all, as the entrants proved, can be captured artfully.

After much rumination we decided on the following five photos. We hope you like them as much as we do.

Many thanks to our contest sponsors, Edge of the Word and The Dark Room, two awesome Missoula businesses that offered up as prizes a snowboard and camera.  [more]

Exhausting Ourselves for Charity Since 1997

What could possibly motivate two-person teams to hike the ridge at Taos as many times as humanly possible in a five hour period? (Besides, maybe, being chased by a guy with a gun?) The answer may surprise you – the motivating factor is charity.

This is the 12th annual Ben Myers Ridge-A-Thon, folks. Originally established in 1997 as a fundraiser for an extreme skier from Taos to offset the cost of his cancer treatments, the Ridge-A-Thon continues in Ben Myers’ memory. This year, on March 28 and 29, all proceeds will benefit the Taos Community Foundation’s Emergency Medicines Fund. According to the Taos News, the EMF “provides vouchers for the purchase of prescription medications at wholesale cost from local pharmacies, with the intention of providing free prescription medicines to eligible individuals.”  [more]

And Then There Were Three

It finally happened. One of the last remaining skiers-only strongholds has fallen. Now only three mountains, Deer Valley and Alta in Utah, and Mad River Glen in Vermont still ban snowboarders. On Wednesday, March 19, 2008, Taos Ski Valley opened its lifts to our single-planked brethren.

We’ve been talking about it on this blog since the season began and the folks at Taos announced their plan to allow boarders in March. Skiers were stunned. The announcement was the only subject of conversation at Taos on December 14. At the top of every run: “Those boarders are going to completely f*** up this run.” On the lifts: “Enjoy the smooth ride now. Snowboarders don’t know how to ride a chair without either jamming up the bottom or falling off the top.” Hiking the ridge: “Patrol is going to have to watch out for boarders up here. They can’t do this steep stuff. They’re just going to hurt themselves.” In the bar: “When the boarders get here, this place is going to be too crowded and noisy.” And on and on.  [more]

Trip of a Lifetime

What do you do for vacation when you live in one of the best ski destinations in the world during one of the best ski seasons in many years? Go skiing, of course.

I just returned from a fabulous week of backcountry skiing at Sorcerer Lodge in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia. I’ve been planning this trip since last April and have wanted to return to BC since I had two fantastic back-to-back trips to Golden Alpine Holidays and Powder Creek Lodge nearly ten years ago. One thing’s for sure: I’m not waiting that long again.  [more]

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