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Show A-22 M The Park Record IC PR U ED ER D CE 2419 LUCKY JOHN DRIVE Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, March 31-April 3, 2018 OUNTAIN TOWN NEWS A Roundup of News from Other Western Ski Resort Communities ALLEN BEST Mountain Town News 5 Bedrooms | 5 Bathrooms | 5,384 Square Feet | $3,795,000 Single level living with stunning views on 1.5 acres with irrigation rights. An open floorplan with multiple living areas gives you room to spread out. Backyard with putting/chipping green, zoned for two horses with a barn, and plenty of parking for recreational vehicles. For a private showing of this or any other Park City property, please call Scott. Scott Maizlish REALTOR® 435.901.4309 scott.maizlish@sothebysrealty.com scottmaizlish.com ©MMXVIII Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. All Rights Reserved. Sotheby’s International Realty® is a licensed trademark to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. Equal Housing Opportunity. Each Office Independently Owned & Operated. 1 Heartburn in Crested Butte about terms of the Epic Pass CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. – Crested Butte Mountain Resort has thrown its lot in with Vail Resorts and its powerful Epic Pass. But there’s heartburn in Crested Butte, in the town at least, where many seem to think that the local ski area operator sold out. The terms of the deal allow Epic Pass holders to ski at Crested Butte for seven days for free. As for season pass holders at Crested Butte, they only get half-price passes at the Vail properties. Telluride is also a partner with Vail Resorts on the Epic Pass, and on the same terms. Fifteen years or so ago Crested Butte famously ran a marketing campaign that took potshots at Vail, if not in so many words, but at least the I-70 resorts, four of which are owned by Vail. The gist of the ads was that Crested Butte was a real ski town, the places to the north more like retirement villages. That would characterize Aspen as much as Vail, maybe more. But there seems to be a warmer spot in the heart of Crested Butte for Aspen. “This is about losing ski culture, not just a cheap pass. My heart breaks,” wrote one person on Facebook, according to the Crested Butte News. Erica Mueller, vice president of Crested Butte Mountain Resort, told the News that the ski area managers were a little surprised at the hard edge of the backlash. But she also thinks locals were misguided with their criticism. “What many may not know is that the majority of Epic Passes are sold outside Colorado, so while I think this will draw some people from the Front Range, like the Rocky Mountain Superpass did, it will expose us to a broader audience and not be as drastic of a change as some may be thinking.” She also pointed out that Crested Butte is not an easy drive from metropolitan Denver. In good weather, it’s 4.5 to 5 hours. Visitors using the Epic Pass are almost certain to stay overnight, and Crested Butte has only so many places to stay. “The Epic Pass won’t draw day-trippers or people who read the snow report in the morning and decide to come ski for the day in Crested Butte. That is not our reality here, and that is in part what makes and will always make this place special.” The main point of the pass, she added, was to “fill the hole that we would lose when the Rocky Mountain Superpass went away. We want people to come here in the winter.” Crested Butte Mayor Jim Schmidt was provoked by another matter that had locals riled up, but he might as well have been speaking about the kerfuffle about the Epic Pass when he said, “We have this love-hate relationship in town with tourism and tourists…” Sky’s not falling but there will be less snow in spring BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. – Even the lowest of the four ski areas in Summit County, Colorado has an elevation of more than 9,000 feet, which provides a bit of cold comfort in the discussion of climate change impacts that can be expected in coming decades. That said, it’s getting warmer. It was 45 degrees in Frisco, one of the county’s six towns, on a recent evening as a storm was about to arrive. That’s too warm for snow, of course. How does this compare with what might be called average? There’s no real way of knowing. There just aren’t good records. Breckenridge has had weather observations for well more than a century, but with giant gaps in the temperature record. Dillon has a more complete record, but again, it’s inadequate. When a dam was com- pleted in 1963 to create Dillon Reservoir, the old town was moved from the valley floor to the new town site on a hillside 100 feet higher. Such shifts can matter greatly in temperatures. “Climate Change in Colorado,” a 2014 report to the Colorado Water Conservation Board, said that statewide annual average temperatures have increased 2 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 30 years and 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 50 years. The nightly minimums have increased even more. In other words, nights aren’t as cold as they used to be. The same document reported that snowpack, as measured by April 1 snow-water equivalent, has been mainly below average since 2000 in all of Colorado’s river basins. As well, the timing of snowmelt and peak runoff has shifted earlier in the spring by one to four weeks. Klaus Wolter, a research scientist at the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, was in Breckenridge recently to talk about what he thinks Summit County can see in coming decades. The warming in the western United States is clear and very, very strong, he said. And 2017 was the warmest year on record in Colorado in the last 120 years. For high-elevation ski areas, including those in Summit County, the sky is not completely falling. High-elevation inland ski areas will still get snow in 2050, just not as much as Easter Sunday rolls around. In a talk covered by the Summit Daily News, Wolter said models suggest 10 percent less snow on the ground by early spring by around 2050 as compared to now. The changes are baked into the system, so to speak, because of the greenhouse gas emissions already accumulated. Winter will shrink at both ends, but it will remain. Later, in an interview with Mountain Town News, he said Please see Mountain Town, A-23 WE ARE # IN THE COUNTRY* #1 CLOSED LISTINGS #1 CLOSED VOLUME #1 AGENT COUNT *Based on 2017 sales statistics compiled by Keller Williams Realty, Inc. Each office independently owned. JULIE SNYDER 339.222.0935 DAVID STEVENS 435.602.9475 DAYLENE STICH 435.503.4048 BECKY SUTTON 435.709.2905 TRACY TAYLOR 435.503.1121 RANDI THOMPSON 405.397.0842 JERRY URWIN 435.200.4830 DOMINIC VALDIVIA 714.380.8496 FRED VALLEJO 435.901.2015 BARRY VAN 435.640.1410 LINDSEY VAN 435.513.0733 DREW VIA 435.649.6659 |