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Show Wed/Thurs/Fri, March 28-30, 2007 Jhe Park Record A-10 MOUNTAIN TOWN NEWS Yet another high-speed quad on tap for Vail Mountain VAIL, Colo. - Vail Mountain continues to get up to speed. A highspeed quad is being installed to replace Chair 10, which has been in operation since 1973. The old twoseater took 14 minutes but kept out the "riff-raff," one loyal skier told the Vail Daily. The new quad will reduce the time to 6.5 minutes. The lift serves some of Vails premier bump runs. While Vail Resorts would like to replace the old threcseatcr in the Back Bowls, Chair 5, the Forest Service has yet to approve' a new lift, says the newspaper. Meanwhile, efforts will continue this summer to create a moat along the town's periphery. Trees will be cut and removed on 10 acres of town land and 170 acres of national forest. Residents are also being urged to reduce fire risk by removing any dead or dying trees in their own backyards. Groves of aspen, which are less susceptible to fire, will be introduced in some areas. •Federal aid crucial to Summit tree removal •Prius fleet goes online in Eagle County SUMMIT COUNTY, Colo. - If Congress delivers the money, clearing of dead trees on 3,300 acres of EAGLE COUNTY, Colo. - national forest land in the wiidlandEagle County government has pur- urban interface of Summit County chased 20 Toyota Priuses, the popu- will begin this summer. Tree removal lar electric-gasoline hybrid. Reduced in critical areas near subdivisions gas use-an estimated $21,000 a year and other crucial areas is expected - drove the purchase, as did fewer for the next 10 years - if the money emissions. The car produces 85 per- to pay for the work is authorized. cent less pollution than the SUVs "These projects will not pay for that the Prius replace. themselves," Rich Newton, district The old vehicles averaged 18 ranger on the Dillon Ranger miles per gallon on gallon, while the District, told the Summit Daily News. "They depend on an input of Priuses average 50. The Vail Daily reports that offi- federal dollars. That money hasn't cials looked at diesels, other hybrids reached us yet in terms of our ability 1 like the Honda hybrid, and sport to write checks." Some of the wood utility hybrids before settling on the may be used at a pellet factory for Priuses. "None of them gave us as wood stoves that is being planned at much bang for the buck in terms of nearby Kremmling, Other, larger gas savings, safety, price and mainte- trees may be suitable for milling at nance costs," said Gusty Kanakis, sawmills, Newton said. the fleet manager. The Summit Daily explains that the project is the first in Summit •Vail evacuation plan readied County created under the Healthy Forests Restoration Act, which was in case of fire created by Congress in 2003. Passed VAIL, Colo. - Vail town officials in response to increasing forest fires are assembling an evacuation plan in the West, that law streamlined for town residents and visitors -just regulations but provided little in case of a major fire of the dead moneySpecific projects include a buffer trees, both within the town and in for the Wildernest residential area the surrounding national forest. Forests of Iodgepole pine have between Silverthorne and Frisco, been hard hit by an epidemic of pine strips in the vicinity of Keystone, bark beetles that began a decade some areas along 1-70, and also on ago. The evacuation plan calls for a the Frisco Peninsula of Dillon mass 911 telephone alert to all resi- Reservoir. dences, emergency radio broadcasts, e-mail messages and, possibly, emer- •New Costco causes town's tax gency workers using loud speakers revenues to rise 144 percent to warn of the need to evacuate, reports the Vail Daily. GYPSUM. Colo. - A Costco Potential for what Phil Bowden, a opened in October at Gypsum, 35 U.S. Forest Service wildland fuels miles west of Vail, and immediately specialist, calls a "monster fire" will the sales taxes skyrocketed. By increase with passing years. Most of December, the town's tax receipts the dead trees now standing will were 144 percent greater than the have fallen to the ground in 15 years, year before. providing more fuel. But even It's nol all gravy for town officials. greater fire potential will arrive in 50 To land Costco, Gypsum agreed to years, when logs remain on the rebate 38 percent of the sales taxes ground and new trees are standing, to Costco, not to exceed $4.2 million. allowing fire to be spread from tree Beyond that rebate, Gypsum will crown to tree crown. give 40 percent of sales tax revenues to Eagle, which bears a portion of traffic to the store. What that means, is that Eagle gets only $17 for every $100 of sales tax revenue for the next several years. •Jackson Hole has been on the rise JACKSON HOLE. Wyo. - It's doubtful that anybody noticed, but Jackson Hole has been on the rise literally. University of Utah researchers have found that the valley floor of Jackson Hole has moved upward 1.7 inches in the last 17 years, and also one-quarter inch west during the same time. The Jackson * Hole News&Guide explains that the findings were made using Global Positioning System technology. •Avalanche victims had done much by the book ASPEN, Colo. - By the books, the three former college chums who set out for 12340-foot Mt. Shimer, located near Aspen, had done many things right. The day before their trip, they had consulted avalanche warnings for Colorado. They all had transceivers, probe poles and shovels. And they dug a snow pit at the base of the slope to study the snow bonding. But when within 500 feet of the summit, all three were caught in a soft-slab avalanche that swept 800 feet down through the trees. Two came down in body bags. A report filed on the Colorado Avalanche Information Center website says the avalanche started on a north-facing slope of 38 to 40 degrees, the prime zone for avalanches. The report also points out that the local avalanche center that morning had warned of moderate danger above treeline, but pointedly noted elevated danger on north-facing slopes of 30 degrees or more at or near treeline, The two men who died were both on split-boards, while the survivor was on skis. There was no indication in the report that attributed his survival to pure skis. News reports said the three had been classmates at the Colorado School of Mines, but one now lived in New York City area, and the second most recently had been in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The third man, the survivor, lived in metropolitan Denver. Allen Best has edited mountain town newspapers for 20 years. He has served as managing editor at four different papers and is now living in metropolitan Denver. Home Furnishings Warehouse • Antiques *: n • One Of A Kind 4 • Hand Carved Benches S • Rustic Candles *i now-capped peaks. Skies that stretch forever. • And Much More $ Hillsides crowned with aspens. 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