Around Your Region

Sarah L. Stewart
April 30, 2008

Parking problems
Vail – This year’s glut of snow also brought a glut of cars to Vail. Skier parking overflowed onto Vail’s frontage roads 48 days this winter, more than ever before.

“We’ve got a problem, and it’s the weakest part of our guest experience,” said Chris Jarnot, chief operating officer of Vail Mountain.

The town’s goal is for the overflow, which happens when the parking garages fill, to only occur 15 days each year. Officials are scrambling to find more parking by next season, especially because Vail Resorts’ new Epic Pass will allow unlimited skiing at Vail and Beaver Creek at a much lower price than in previous years.

Aside from being an annoyance for visitors, parking on the frontage roads presents a safety hazard as well, some said.

“We’ve just been lucky,” said Vail Councilman Farrow Hitt. “It’s absolute luck that no one’s been hurt.”

Power on the slopes
Vail – First, Vail Resorts purchased alternative energy; now, it hopes to start making its own.

Vail Resorts has requested permission from the Forest Service to install two wind turbines and dozens of solar panels this summer at Eagle’s Nest at the top of the gondola on Vail Mountain.

Proposed solar panels on the Adventure Ridge building, ski school offices and cafe could produce as much as 8.4 kilowatts per hour, powering several buildings at Eagle’s Nest, said Luke Cartin, environmental coordinator for Vail Mountain. Two small wind turbines, about 30 feet tall, would create about 1 kilowatt of energy per hour.

“They’re really doing some impressive things,” said Matt Scherr, director of the Eagle Valley Alliance for Sustainability.

Road delays
Eagle County – The economic slowdown has reached our roads.

Cuts in federal and state funding have decreased the total state transportation budget by $200 million. For Eagle County, that could mean waiting a few years on any additional big road projects that aren’t already funded.

Projects planned for this year, such as resurfacing I-70 in West Vail and adding shoulders and resurfacing Highway 6 in Eagle, will continue as planned. But projects beyond fiscal year 2009, such as resurfacing Vail frontage roads and the west side of Vail Pass, are on “shaky ground,” said Regional Transportation Planner Mark Rogers.

“You may not see the smoothest of rides,” said Regional Transportation Director Weldon Allen of the pass. “There’ll be a lot of hand patches and short-term fixes.”

Carbon-neutral skiing?
Aspen – In more green ski news, Aspen Skiing Co. is considering opening later and dropping some high-profile events such as World Cup racing to become more energy efficient.

The company’s new energy plan calls on the company to offset all the carbon dioxide it produces through its operations by 2020 by eliminating waste and tapping heavily into renewable resources.

“We can’t necessarily stop what we’re doing,” said Auden Schendler, the Skiing Co.’s top environmental executive. “We have to fix what we’re doing.”

Despite many energy efficiency programs Aspen has implemented since 2000, its energy use and cost has increased dramatically, he said.

Changes such as opening Dec. 1 instead of late November are merely discussions now, but could become part of the company’s goal to shave 10 percent off the 2000 consumption level by 2012, and knock usage 25 percent below the 2000 level by 2020.

Spring bear trouble
Aspen – Some bears have lumbered out of hibernation and into trouble, thanks to thick snow covering much of their natural spring forage.

One bear believed to be raiding the Pitkin County landfill was struck and killed by a car in Snowmass Canyon last week, while another broke into a home near Aspen in the middle of the night.

“They’re starting to come out of hibernation, and there’s not much forage for them out there,” said John Groves, district wildlife manager.

The increased activity has led wildlife officials to ramp up efforts to keep trash and human food out of bears’ reach.

“Aspen needs to wake up really fast right now because bears are out and about,” said Kevin Wright, wildlife manager for the Aspen district. “People really need to start buckling things down immediately.”

I-70 breakthrough?
Keystone – At long last, an agreement has been reached in an attempt to reduce gridlock on Interstate 70 in the mountains, the Rocky Mountain News reported.

The agreement includes widening selected portions of I-70 to six lanes but not through the sensitive areas of Idaho Springs and Georgetown. It locks in Colorado Department of Transportation support for pursuing a mass transit system between Denver and Vail, allowing any future widening through Idaho Springs or Georgetown to only be considered if mass transit doesn’t alleviate the need.

A group consisting of representatives from the Department of Transportation, communities along I-70 from Golden to Glenwood Springs, the trucking and ski industries, and transit and highway advocates hammered out the agreement.

Any specific projects in the 100-mile corridor from C-470 to Vail, including transit, still must go through a more detailed environmental study. There is no guarantee that any of it will be built, and the agreement didn’t specify the type of mass transit the plan would include.

“This has been a long time coming,” said Department of Transportation Director Russ George. “And it’s honest, forward progress.”