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Show M A-22 The Park Record Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, December 30, 2017-January 2, 2018 OUNTAIN TOWN NEWS More dogS on Main A Roundup of News from Other Western Ski Resort Communities ALLEN BEST Park Record contributing writer Ketchum at heart of first dark sky reserve in nation KETCHUM, Idaho – Ketchum and Sun Valley are in the middle of a new 1,406-square-mile designation of the first dark sky reserve in the United States. It’s one of just 12 such designated reserves in the world. Dark sky boosters in Colorado’s Wet Mountain Valley had hoped to be first in the nation, but their efforts await approval of regulations that would limit use of outdoor lighting in new development. The Idaho effort had been pushed along by Steve Botti, the mayor of Stanley, a town of 63 located a little more than an hour north of Sun Valley and Ketchum. He called the Central Idaho Dark Sky Reserve as something not just for locals and other people from Idaho, but for “visitors from across the world who can come here and experience the primeval wonder of the starry night sky.” Reserves can only be formed through partnerships of multiple land managers who have recognized the value of quality nighttime environment through regulation and long-term planning. In Colorado, the towns of both Westcliffe and Silver Cliff have been designated dark sky status after each municipality adopted regulations limiting light pollution and light trespass. Next, retired architect Jim Bradburn, who designed the iconic teepee-terminal at Denver International Airport, had hoped to put Custer County under the dark-sky tent. The valley lies east of the Sangre de Cristos, in south-central Colorado. The Wet Mountain Tribune reports that planning commissioners heard objections at a recent meeting. One county resident called it classic government overreach. Others said that no, their property rights were being protected because they did not want bright lights intruding into their spaces. Gary Coleman said he had returned to the valley with the intent of opening a bed-and-breakfast, complete with telescope for those wanting to enjoy the night sky. Ullr sparing with some, more charitable to others TELLURIDE, Colo. – With the ground mostly brown just a few days before Christmas, some residents of Telluride gathered old skis and burned them in an offering to Ullr, in Norse mythology the god of snowshoes and some other items. The next day it snowed 4 inches at Telluride, reported the Daily Planet. Coincidental or causal? Whatever. The San Juan Mountains have been so barren that just four inches was tantamount to a big dump in some winters. Since then, a Christmas Eve storm left most of Colorado white. There was enough snow along the Continental divide in the Breckenridge to Winter Park area that avalanche forecasters warned backcountry skiers to definitely stay off slopes of more than 30 degrees. “If you trigger an avalanche today, it may be large enough to kill you,” warned the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. But the blanket of snow across Colorado was not uniform. Telluride got just an inch, while Steamboat Today reported the local ski hill got 24 inches in two days. Ski areas in Montana and Wyoming did better. In California, there was even less cause for holiday snowwhite joy. There was no mistaking the Tahoe area for the North Pole at Christmas reported the Reno Gazette-Journal. “The mountains were patchy with snow all the way up, and the only snow falling as that made by the ski resorts.” “It won’t be a disaster,“ said Chris Diamond, the former chief executive of the Steamboat ski area, just before the Christmas storm. He’s now a consultant and has authored a book, “Ski Inc.,” a roundup of his career in the ski industry from Killington in 1972 to his years at Steamboat. Actually, it’s been worse before. Most memorable in the modern ski area in the West was the winter of 1976-77 followed by another warm, dry winter of 1980-81. In that first winter, just 2.8 inches of snow fell at Crested Butte in all of December. In Vail, hotels would normally be full for the two weeks of Christmas and New Years. But this year may be different. The Vail Daily reports guests were getting deferred reservations, postponing their stays until February and March in the belief that snow will come. Jeanne Fritch, general manager of the Sitzmark, one of the Vail’s oldest and most venerable lodges, said that rates were “slashed” for early season guests. The problem for Colorado is the same as the problem for California: a persistent high-pressure ridge that has shunted moisture-laden storms northward. This has produced “almost inconceivably heavy snowfall in the coastal mountains of southern Alaska,” explained Daniel Swain in a Christmas Eve posting on the California Weather Blog. In southern California, this high-pressure ridge has delayed the rainy season, allowing wildfire season to continue well into December. Swain said an the “amazing” anomaly of the air-mass was revealed on the beaches of Southern California where the relative humidity fell as low as 1 percent with surface dew-points at or below 20 degrees F in some spot. “In other words, there was essentially no moisture at all in the air-mass that has lingered over SoCal for many days.” Is this a harbinger of a return of drought such as devastated California for several years? Swain said no, he doesn’t see that yet, “but we’re getting close.” Persistence of a high-pressure ridge doesn’t spell doom for Colorado, Utah and New Mexico resorts, of course, but it does tend to favor the more northerly resorts. Excise Vilar name from performing arts center? BEAVER CREEEK, Colo. – Now that statues to Confederate war generals have started tumbling, is it time to rename the performing arts center at Beaver Creek? The primary patron for the 535-seat theater was Alberto Vilar, the co-founder of an investment firm. Before then, Vilar had promised lavish donations to opera and other arts institutions, from Los Angeles to Washington and New York City, even London and Saint Petersburg. By 2000, Vilar estimated he had granted $150 million in the prior decade. At its peak, the firm had $10 billion in management. But his firm, Amerindo, was over-extended in the technology sector and got caught short in the dotcom bust of the early 20th century. He and his partner, Gary Tanaka, continued investing in risky stocks again the wishes of clients until the house of cards came tumbling down. A 2006 profile in the New Yorker called “The Opera Lover” revealed how, even as Vilar’s financial world collapsed, he continued to pledge money to arts organizations. “Asking Alberto for money was like offering an alcoholic a drink,” one confidant told the New Yorker’s James Stewart. Bottom line: Vilar, now about 76, stole over $20 million from clients. He’s serving a 10-year prison sentence for securities fraud and money laundering. The Vilar Center for the Arts, located at the base of the ski runs at Beaver Creek, opened in 1997, and it’s an exquisite place. But it would be better if the name of Vilar were removed, says a local resident, Ron Sills, in a letter published in the Vail Daily. Since Vilar’s conviction, he says, he’s never attended any events at the performing center. ‘It’s been my small, silent protest.” His recommendation: name the performing arts center after the clients from whom Vilar stole the money. Some institutions have removed Vilar’s name from programs or facilities, especially when he failed to make good on his promised pledges. Some of the clients whose money he stole have died without compensation. In 2014, a federal judge added a year’s imprisonment to Vilar’s sentence after evidence emerged he had still tried to keep money from being returned to those who had testified against him. Why don’t businesses stay open on into the evening? JACKSON, Wyo. – The vice-president of the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce has been pushing businesses to stay open later in the evening. “We looked at customer feedback surveys eight or nine years ago, and the common theme from visitors was they wanted to shop here, but the shops weren’t open,” explained Rick Howe. The result was a program called Great Until Late, in which businesses pledge to remain open past 6 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays during winter. The Jackson Hole News& Guide found one business owner who described later closings as being a matter of common sense. “That’s when people are out, after they’ve gone out to dinner and they’re in a shopping mood.” The program was also guided by a Study on Winter Resort Spending by the Brookings Institution. That study found 84 percent of winter visitors and locals in winter resort towns like Jackson spend 70 percent of their money after 6 p.m. Ski area tribute to writer Hunter S. Thompson remains SNOWMASS VILLAGE, Colo. – Almost 13 years since his suicide, the writer Hunter S. Thompson continues to be the subject of fascination and semi-idolatry. One of those memorials is on the ski slopes at Snowmass, which altogether has quite a few in-the-trees, off-the-slopes assemblages to honor various causes and people. The shrine, explains the Aspen Daily News, is but one of dozens of quirky and unsanctioned on-mountain warrens of memorabilia tucked within the four local ski areas. Most remain, although the Aspen Skiing Co., the operator of the four ski areas, has dismantled at least two of them as it constructed its new on-mountain coaster at Snowmass. Among those dismantled was what the Daily News described as the “iconic golf shrine,” a tribute to golf. Go figure. That tribute included a golf bag, a bucket of balls, a bench, and dozens of laminated photographs of such golfing greats as Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmer. But the Thompson shrine remains. It consists of an American flag, a gloved arm with “gonzo” written on it, a lizard covered with multi-colored jewels, Tibetan prayer flags, and a copy of The Woody Creeker (he lived along Woody Creek, outside Aspen), among other artifacts. The Daily News says that the Aspen Skiing Co. neither promotes the existence of the shrines nor advocates for their removal, as the company recognizes they are popular with some guests. Some ski instructors and mountain ambassadors get requests for directions. Small Taos-area pueblo now has a big solar array TAOS, N.M. – Just days before the longest night of the year, the Picuris Pueblo flipped the switch on the tribe’s one-megawatt solar array. The Picuris Pueblo is the smallest in New Mexico, but has the solar capacity to power roughly 600 homes. “Looked at in the big scheme of things, Picuris is a small tribe, but one of the most sophisticated,” said Luis Reyes, chief executive of Kit Carson Electrical Cooperative. Co-op directors have set their sights on producing electricity for members 100 percent from renewables, with the first benchmark in 2022. Local solar installations are a major part of the strategy. The endeavor was funded by a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, reports the Taos News. By Tom Clyde Buy a snow maker a cookie We all witnessed something of a miracle this week. The ski resorts were open, skiing was good, and people were happy. A little natural storm came through and covered up the brown, but there was nothing natural about what we were skiing on. That was pretty much all man-made snow. Without it, things would be quite different around here this year. We could make left turns. The resorts have made huge investments in snow making over the years to protect themselves from winters like this. It was a snow-less winter like this, back in the mid-70’s, that resulted in a firesale of the Park City resort. You don’t miss Christmas in the ski resort business and live to tell about it. So they spent a fortune on pipes, pumps, compressors, and other hardware. When winter doesn’t show up on schedule, they make winter happen. If you are connected to a business that relies on the resorts, and there aren’t many in town that don’t fit that description, you depend on the snow making, too. Through the years I’ve known a few guys who have worked as snowmakers. They are a different sort. Largely nocturnal, seemingly immune to cold, wet, miserable conditions, they are out there freezing their behinds off night after night. They are caked with ice, floundering around in the dark and spending their time next to very loud machinery with high-pressure hoses that seem designed to knock teeth out. Most of them seem to enjoy it, and dread reassignment to softer jobs where they actually have to talk to guests as the winter progresses. They’ve been at it for long shifts this year, with no end in sight. Skiing has been quite good. There hasn’t been a lot open (they were obviously saving some for the holiday crowd), but what has been open has adequate coverage and completely acceptable conditions. As more terrain has opened, it got better and better. With the holiday crowd in town, I’ve stayed home. But given the amount of bare dirt a couple of weeks ago, it’s nothing short of miraculous that we have things up and running at all. So if you get the chance, buy a snowmaker a cookie to say thanks for pulling this off. It didn’t happen easily this year, and they’re not finished yet. Behind the frostbitten snow- So if you get the chance, buy a snowmaker a cookie to say thanks for pulling this off. making crew stand the water utilities with all their pumps and tanks and miles of pipes all running at maximum capacity. Stuff like that breaks, especially in the cold, and somebody is there in the middle of the night to make repairs and keep it all running smoothly. All that snowmaking draws a lot of power, and the power company seems to be managing the load. (We can talk about the carbon footprint of all this artificial white stuff another time). Speaking of people who deserve thanks, both the UPS and FedEx drivers on my route pulled rabbits out of their hats and made deliveries ahead of schedule. Both of them are new, and they leave packages at the corner rather than getting stuck on my one-lane road, so I haven’t really met them. The previous UPS guy used to hang out and talk tractors for a while on slow days. They were heroes on Christmas. The tracking website said my package was lost in Idaho Falls, but they got it here. The weather hasn’t been snowy enough to need a lot of plowing, but there have been several little storms at temperatures that iced the roads down. The plow guys were on it. The UDOT guys have something new on their trucks this year and a bunch of new lights. They look like a rolling Christmas tree when they come down the pitch dark highway at completely unreasonable hours of the night. Years ago, this was a small enough community that you knew the people behind the scenes that kept it all going. They were us. If a tree blew over and took out the power line, the lineman who came out to fix it was a neighbor, and the plow driver a cousin. We’ve grown so much that we don’t have that personal connection much. Odds are that the lineman now lives in Salt Lake. Yet when the tree falls on the power line, a crew is here and gets things back up and running, no matter what the conditions. As we close the book on 2017, take a minute to appreciate the people who provide the services that make life in this sort of impractical location not only possible, but downright comfortable. Thanks, everybody, for a great year, and here’s to another in 2018. And since we are all going to get that $4,000 raise President Trump promised, next year will surely be even better. Bigly. Tom Clyde practiced law in Park City for many years. He lives on a working ranch in Woodland and has been writing this column since 1986. Sunday in the Park By Teri Orr A few of my favorite things It is the “good night” song I hear now…you know- the one where the little children are heading off to bed in the castle and they bid the guests goodnight in song. So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieuAdieu, adieu to yieu and yieu and yieu... And now to you, Heather... She played Louisa in that movie, “The Sound of Music.” The family she had on screen turned out to be a lifelong family — they had frequent reunions and were present for weddings and birthdays and even a passing. Heather Menzies also was featured in Playboy Magazine in 1973. And was an actress in “Logan’s Run” in 1977. By then she had married the love of her life — actor Robert Urich. She was a woman with many roles. In Park City, she played the role of Patron Saint for the performing arts. She and her husband, actor Robert, had moved to Park City to raise their two adopted children. Robert could easily fly to California from here as needed to act in shows. The couple hosted endless dinners and fundraising evenings in their lovely home in Solamere in the ‘90s. They skied in the Ski Classic events at Deer Valley to see funds raised for a full performing arts center to be built. They raised the bar in imagining who we thought we were and could be. Heather — along with Gary Cole and Ann MacQuoid — hired me to help raise money for the building. Heather thought we were officially on our way when Robert Redford sent us a donation. Robert Urich was the emcee of our Opening Night. He had helped us land a huge celebrity for the event — Bill Cosby (yes, we did book him). And Cosby performed an entire show first for the students and teachers of the Park City School District in the afternoon. At night we included pieces of the Utah Symphony, The Utah Opera Company, Ballet West, and the high school jazz band. We had no idea what we were doing. And no one seemed to mind. We invited the construction workers to join us along with the donors. Ditto the miners’ widows at the senior center. We had fireworks over the cemetery. Heather and Robert moved from Park City to Southern California not long after that to be close to great medical care when his cancer was detected. They had adopted another child to celebrate life and their love. Robert passed away in 1992. Eventually Heather came back to Park City for a few years to have her youngest daughter in school here. And then she moved to New York. And she had her home in Canada that she and Robert built on a lake... Here in Park City, we will remember her generosity of spirit and her vision and her hard work to create a space where all the performing arts would have a home. About 10 years ago she came out to Park City to be part of a summer outdoor screening and costume contest and Sound of Music sing along. She brought with her another cast member from the movie. It stormed that night so much we moved the event into the Eccles Center — one of only two times we ever had to do that. ... The place was packed with good sports. We had the costume contest on the stage with our own made-up applause meter. Heather and Kym Karath judged the contest. I think the two gay guys dressed as the nuns who took the carburetors out of the Nazi’s cars in the film, won the contest. But maybe they were just my personal favorites. We kept in touch. Little notes. Random calls. In the fall when I called her about being the emcee for our 20th anniversary party she was giddy. She made us a video we showed in September at our sponsor party. She retold how we asked the Eccles family for One Million Dollars to complete the building. And she recalled how we did a real Happy Dance in the hallway after the meeting once we figured out they were donat- ing the money. She was so excited to be returning to celebrate the success of the project she and her Bob had first dreamed of 25 years ago. About a month ago she called and she said she had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. But she thought she still would be okay enough by January — so she was going to find a cute hat to cover the hair she expected she would lose from radiation and promised to make a video. Two weeks ago she called to say she wouldn’t be making the video. She wasn’t going to do the radiation. She told me with great certainty she had had a wonderful life — she loved her career and her children and she had the love of her life, Robert — who had left her in death 16 years ago. We said our I love yous. I called her a few days later and it went to voicemail. I learned she had left New York to return to her home in Canada — the home she and Bob had built together. Her son Ryan let me know she had passed there on Christmas Eve. Many will miss the actress. And many will miss their friend. And her children and grandchildren will miss her warmth and support. Here in Park City, we will remember her generosity of spirit and her vision and her hard work to create a space where all the performing arts would have a home. Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes, snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes, silver white winters that melt into springs, these are a few of my favorite things. Thank you Heather for dreaming for us something so much bigger than we could ever imagine for ourselves. I will miss you on stage in two weeks and I will miss your laughter and your wit I know at random times in the days and years to come... some Sundays in the Park... Teri Orr is a former editor of The Park Record. She is the director of the Park City Institute, which provides programming for the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Center for the Performing Arts. |