Syrian refugees just people, a lot like us area and the ... · 12/12/2015 · National Ski Areas Association finds this is starting to happen. The average age of snowsports participants

Syrian refugees just people, a lot like us Canadians extend a helping hand

WHISTLER, B.C. – An editorial in the New York Times on Saturday took note of “Canada’s Warm Embrace of Refugees,” and credited the new prime minister, Justin Trudeau.

Canada’s generosity—and Trudeau’s personal warmth and leadership – can serve as a beacon for others, the Times said, before quoting Trudeau directly:

“This is something that we are able to do in this country because we define a

Canadian not by a skin color or a language or a religion or a background, but by a shared set of values, aspirations, hopes and dreams that not just Canadians but people around the world share.”

Parallel thoughts were abundant in accounts about local resettlement efforts in the mountain resort towns of Jasper and Whistler.

In Jasper, local resident Rod Tower and his wife, Beth, are taking in a Syrian family displaced by war. Both Rod and the father of the Syrian family are engineers who met when Tower was working in an oil field in Syria. That was in 2008, and they stayed in touch even as the Syrian man fled to Egypt and then Iraq.

“The Syrian people are very giving people, very kind, very social,” Tower told the Jasper Fitzhugh.

“You need to understand that these are just normal people like you and I. It doesn’t matter if they’re Muslims or Christians. They want security for their family and a good life. That’s all they want.”

Canada has pledged to take in 10,000 refugees by the end of this year, and 15,000 more by the end of February. Some 12 million people have been either killed or displaced since war broke out in 2011, more than half of the country’s pre-war population.

Some 400 are expected to arrive in British Columbia during December, with about half in the Vancouver metropolitan area and the other half in other, undetermined locations.

A few might be in Whistler. Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden early on was moved by the terrible toll of refugees fleeing the violence. “We are a small but very caring community and have significant resources that I think we can offer,” she told Pique Newsmagazine.

Of course, Whistler is a community that, like all other ski towns, is currently strapped for housing. Plus, it lost 21 units in a fire in early November.

The first wave of refugees to arrive in Canada will likely be those who had both the means and foresight to get out of Syria

News in brief & deep in resort valleys of the West http://mountaintownnews.net

December 15, 2015

December 15, 2015 Mountain Town News

2

during the early days of the war. They are more likely to be middle-class and well-educated.

At Squamish, located along the ocean about 45 minutes down-valley from Whistler, Mayor Patricia Heintzman believes her town can integrate refugees better than Vancouver, because of the intimacy. But it’s close enough to Vancouver that refugees can find mosques.

“We also do have a small Muslim community in Squamish with a few families, so it’s not like there is nobody,” she says.

Squamish resident Adam Greenberg has already been to Germany to deliver three suitcases full of stuffed animals and an envelope with 5,000 euros ($5,500 US, $7,560 Cdn.), the result of a grassroots

funding campaign to help Arab refugees. Greenberg is the vice president of a

software company and he’s also Jewish. His Jewishness is partly why he’s motivated to help.

“The lesson from World War II is that, not long ago, Jews were refugees, and the same sort of things were being said about Jews,” he told Pique. “I’ve heard it all, and now people are saying similar things about Muslims. ‘They are dangerous, they want to take over the world, we can’t have them here.’ I look back at the stuff I heard growing up and think, ‘Sheesh, here we go again.’ When you see people in such a desperate state and you have the means to help, you should.”

Finally, average age of skiers drops a notch

DENVER, Colo. – Growth of skier numbers for several decades now has lagged general population growth in the United States. Still, ski areas have done well, most of them earning tidy profits.

The strategy has been to ride baby boomers for as long as their creaky knees would last while trying to create new generations of skiers and snowboarders to replace them.

A demographic study conducted for the National Ski Areas Association finds this is starting to happen. The average age of

snowsports participants has stopped rising, but in fact has stabilized and dropped just a bit during the past three seasons. Last winter it was 38.5 years old, compared to 38 to 39 years old before.

The survey “suggests that the industry as a whole is attracting younger participants to replace older participants who are dropping out of the sport,” write David Belin and David Becher, researchers at RRC Associates, in the NSAA Journal.

Baby Boomers, now aged 51 to 69, were responsible for 21.5 percent of all skier visits last year, compared to 31.3 percent a decade ago.

Generation X (aged 34 to 50) grew from 29.6 percent of all skier days to 32.8 percent in the same time span. Millennials, aged 18 to 34, have fluctuated but changed little.

Growth, perhaps not surprisingly, has come from the post-Millennials, those 17 and under, who apparently remain nameless as an age co-hort.

Does this mean more people whose skin tones don’t match the color of snow can be found on the slopes? After all, the United States altogether is becoming more brown, more yellow and, to a lesser extent, more black.

No, there’s been little change. Racial minorities remain “significantly underrepresented in skiing/snowboarding,” the RRC researchers said. Minorities represented 13 percent of visitors last

Edited & published by Allen Best Subscriptions: $45/year. Send checks to:

Allen Best 5705 Yukon St. Arvada CO 80002

303.463.8630 [email protected] http://mountaintownnews.net/


3

winter, compared to an almost 40 percent of the overall U.S. population, based on 2014 Census estimates,

“The overall racial/ethnic mix of ski area visitors has remained largely stable over time, at 85 to 89 percent non-Hispanic white and 11 to 14 percent minority,” says RRC.

Minority participation in snowsports is strongest in the 10 to 35 age cohort. That suggests opportunities for longer-term growth if existing minority participants can be retained while new minority participants are attracted to snowsports, RRC says.

As for money – yes, skiers overall are more affluent than the general population. Only 23 percent of households in the United States generate more than $100,000 income per year, whereas among skiers it’s 58 percent.

Affluence of visitors has been trending upward. In the 2006-07 winter, 45 percent of visitors had household income of more than $100,000. Last winter it was 58 percent. This compares with 23 percent of all U.S. households.

Colorado ski industry provides 46,000 jobs

DENVER, Colo. – The ski industry in Colorado has a bulging bicep. Want proof.

A study conducted by RRC Associates of Boulder found that 8 percent of all non-

connecting arrivals at Denver International Airport during the 2013-14 season were skiers and snowboarders.

The report also found that in addition to 500,000 skiers within Colorado during that same season, there were 7 million skier visits from outside Colorado, and each spent

$300 per visit. The ski industry’s total economic

contribution in Colorado, according to the study, is $4.8 billion and provides 46,000 year-round equivalent jobs.

The study was commissioned by Colorado Ski Country USA and Vail Resorts. The study was not made available for evaluation.

Vanilla ads for resort town of Taos that has many hues

TAOS, N.M. – In marketing a resort town, do you use images that suggest what your visitors will look like or like what you, in fact, look like.

That question came up when a marketing firm previewed its proposed advertising campaign on behalf of Taos, a place with large Native American and Hispanic populations in addition to Anglos.

“Trying to distill Taos’ essence into a single magazine ad is a challenge the town’s campaign has struggled with in the past,” notes the Taos News. “Taos’ strength, marketers have found, is in the variety of things it offers: arts, cultural experiences and recreation. But it’s a variety that’s hard to pin down.”

When advertising mockups were presented at a public meeting, reports the News, some people liked what they saw, but others did not.

The different proposed ads showed images of targeted demographics. Among them were “Andrew the Adventurer, a 20-something from Boulder, Colo., who works at a tech company and loves to be outside,” and 30ish “Mandy Mom, a mother from Dallas who has vacationed in Colorado but wants to go someplace else.”

Lindsay Mapes, an avid mountain biker and economic development professional,

www.dhmdesign.com


4

pointed out that all the individuals featured in the ads looked a lot alike. “It’s just some generic white dude,” said Mapes, pointing to one individual in an ad.

The marketing company promised to return with the diversity of Taos more fully reflected in proposed advertising.

Park Record sold to Swift newspaper chain

PARK CITY, Utah – The Park Record is in a new newspaper family, and as much as anything, the sale speaks to the difficulty of being a smaller, stand-alone news enterprise in the era of the Internet.

The newspaper had been owned by Digital First Media, which also owns the Denver Post. Now, it’s owned by Swift Communications, which has a string of mostly smaller newspapers in Colorado, California, and Oregon, including the Aspen Times, Vail Daily, and Summit Daily News.

Taking stock of the transition, The Park Record pointed to the value of being part of the chain founded by Dean Singleton, the founder of MediaNews Group, which later merged with Digital First. “He prodded publishers and editors to explore the Internet as an opportunity rather than an impediment, even though it shook their business model to its core,” The Record noted in its editorial.

“The challenges generated by web and mobile platforms were especially difficult

for smaller community newspapers without the staff or budgets to establish their own IT departments, but MediaNews Group was able to provide the infrastructure and training to ensure all of its properties, including The Park Record, had top-notch websites,” The Record noted.

The Record seems to think that Swift, which is based in Carson City, Nev., brings the same sensibilities to the table, but in a family of newspapers more specifically focused on mountain towns. No immediate changes seem to be in the offing.

Bulls will do what bulls do when a fence breaks

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. – As dandelions flowered brightly across the pastures and creeks roared with runoff from

the Flat Tops in June 2014, rancher Robert “Bobby” George got out a rifle and took a bead on two bovine bulls that had gotten into his pasture.

Then he squeezed off the shots intended to destroy the reproductive capabilities of the two bulls. He partly succeeded, as one of the bulls became a steer. The other bull, however, was killed.

For this creation of oyster stew, George was charged with four felonies. Now, reports the Steamboat Today, he has pleaded guilty to the lesser misdemeanor of criminal mischief.

George told the newspaper he was upset because it was three weeks before his scheduled breeding season, and he was afraid the bulls would impregnate his cows too early. They had gotten into the pasture through a broken fence.

“You can’t really stop a bull if they decide to chase a cow,” he said. “If it hadn’t been breeding season, it wouldn’t have been a big deal.”

Some 32 of the 80 cows in his pastures were impregnated, and he claims that one cow and nine of the calves ended up dying, presumably because of birth too early in inclement winter weather.. He is suing his neighbor to recover damages—but, according to the court settlement, will have to pay damages to the neighbor for the loss of the two bulls.

MTN subscriptions $45 a year by check:

Send to: 5705 Yukon St. Arvada, CO 80002

$48 a year

If you use the PayPal drop-down button at http://mountaintownnews.net.


5

ontrary to what some have said, those who professionally study

the changing climate do not foresee an end to snow. Or winter. Or skiing.

At least not everywhere, nor in a set amount of time—the next 25 to 30 years—that matters to many North American mountain towns.

They do see, however, continued

increases in both day and nighttime temperatures that might threaten the livelihood of some ski areas, especially those at lower elevations, which could have a ripple effect on the industry.

“Nobody is talking about the end of snow—in Colorado, in California, or in any of the ski markets in North America,” says Dr. Daniel Scott, executive director of the Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. “It’s (whether) you have enough on the ski hill to have a reliable business that is the question.”

Scott says that gloom-and-doom headlines about

climate change ending skiing in places like Colorado by mid-century aren’t based on any real science. But he acknowledges that rising temperatures are, in fact, a real problem for ski area operators in low-elevation, high-risk locations that are

C

Rising temps & skiing

Changes will not be uniform, nor will the

impacts. But there will be consequences.

by Allen Best

Arapahoe Basin photo/David Camara


6

already on the margins. U.S. temperatures have increased an

average 1.3° F to 1.9° F since 1895, with most of that increase since 1970, according to the National Climate Assessment. Nighttime minimum temperatures have been rising, too. The increase has not been uniform. But over time, November and December nights have become just a little warmer in most places, a trend evident in data sets such as that maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

This has already narrowed the windows of opportunity available to snowmaking crews. Those windows will narrow even more as global temperatures continue to rise, according to dozens of computer climate models, with a minimum increase of 2 degrees already locked into the atmospheric system during coming decades. As rain increasingly replaces snow, even operators in the highest, coldest locations will face mounting challenges, such as providing enough snow for a Thanksgiving opening.

��Conversely, some ski areas—higher, colder, and with the best snowmaking equipment—may actually thrive in coming decades, picking up business at the expense of resorts in these marginal locations. There will likely be winners and losers.

Still, even the winners won’t escape some of the fallout from rising temperatures. The new-skier/rider pipeline could suffer if

smaller ski areas are lost. Such low-elevation ski areas have long developed new skiers and riders and fed them to larger resorts. If those areas go out of business or, at a minimum, face greater challenges, the whole industry can expect to shrink.

MEASURING THE WARMUP

Just how serious a threat does climate change represent? The pace of warming slowed during the last decade, but old temperature records continued to tumble. In a general way, the more inland you go, the greater the rate of increased heat.

This has muddled consequences. A resort in Washington’s Cascade Mountains, for example, might have a slower rate of temperature increase than one at 13,000 feet in the Colorado Rockies. But the resort in the Cascades may already be closer to the edge, in terms of temperature, snowfall reliability, and financial security. It might not take that much to push it over. At the same time, climate models predict more modest changes for ski areas in the Southeast. Changes will not be uniform, nor will the consequences.

More detailed information is on the way.

Working with researchers from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Loyola Marymount University, and the University of Innsbruck, Scott has been using high-resolution climate change and hydrological modeling, together with a snowmaking operations model, to provide a sharper image of near-term climate change risk at more than 350 ski areas across the United States. He expects the results to be available soon—and of broad interest.

“There is a growing need for the ski industry and ski tourism destinations to

understand and report their climate risk,” he says. “This study will provide the first system-wide perspective on marketplace risks and opportunities, as well as insights into changing competitiveness and climate change adaptation needs at the community scale.”

How much temperatures rise depends upon how much

humanity can throttle down emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases. If the world goes about its business as it has, according to mainstream scientists, we can broadly expect a 4°F increase by mid-century. With substantial and rapidly reduced emissions, we might contain the increase to 2°F.

These projections come from climate modeling. The models represent a vast but

Snowmaking technology

has improved substantially since it debuted in the

1950s, but can it circumvent temperature

requirements?

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/


7

still imperfect knowledge about how atmospheric processes work. They plumb the depths of what is known about past climates, both as recorded by instruments and before that as reflected in so-called climate proxies such as sediments in lake beds or even the trace elements of gases found in the ice cores extracted from the glaciers of Antarctica. (Ice cores from Greenland even reflect the beginning of smelting by the Romans in Great Britain.) When calibrated for what is known about the past, the computerized models then project forward in an effort to reflect the increasing blanket of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. The dozens of models have been consistent in their predictions of rising heat, particularly in places like the American Southwest, but more ambiguous about precipitation. Mountainous terrain makes prediction even trickier.

Based on the models and his studies, Scott says that the winter of 2011-12 can be expected to become the norm by mid century. That is a sobering thought: It was the fourth warmest winter recorded in the United States to that time. Not one state had below-average cold—from Montana to Maine to North Carolina, temperatures were above average. Not surprisingly, snow cover was the third-smallest since recording began 46 years before, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Skier days that winter slid 15 percent, according to the National Ski Areas Association. SHRINKING WINDOWS

Snowfall volatility is another product of a warming atmosphere. Studies have shown that swings in snowfall have increased over the last 60 years. Ski area managers have always dealt with variability, of course, but that variability has increased—and,

according to the climate models, will increase more as weather swings more wildly between droughts and epic snowstorms—and, at some point, buckets of rain.

Unlike some reports, which assume only natural snow, Scott’s evaluation factors in snowmaking. This will help some ski areas adapt to the climatic shift. There are limits, however. Scott assumes that snowmaking technology, despite repeated advances since


8

it was introduced in the 1950s, cannot circumvent temperature requirements. The most critical issue: it takes a wet-bulb temperature of 28.6°F to make snow, given current technology.

This wet-bulb temperature matters entirely. Scott and colleagues examined the 19 Winter Olympic Games sites through the prism of rising temperatures. Of those 19, only 10 or 11 will remain climatically suitable to host the Olympics in the 2050s, even under a low-emissions scenario. If emissions continue at their current, high rate, only 6 of the 19 former Olympic venues will have snow by the 2080s.

That sounds dire—and it is. Yet Scott insists upon attention to nuances of climate change. A host of reasons will determine how much warmer temperatures will affect each ski area.

This winter’s El Niño might be a barometer of that wet, warmer future. El Niño typically produces above-average snow but also above-average heat, and this is predicted to be the strongest El Niño in 15 or 30 years.

New Hampshire offers another glimpse of the changing climate. A report co-authored by Dr. Cameron Wake, a professor of climate and sustainability at the University of New Hampshire, found the climate in northern New Hampshire has both warmed and become wetter during the last century, especially since 1970. The most

dramatic increases in temperatures have occurred in fall and winter. The rate of increase in these seasons has been roughly double the average annual increase —not just in New Hampshire, but across New England.

A CHANGE IN MINDSET

“It’s not the whole ski industry that’s in trouble,” reiterates Scott. He sees climate change driving consolidation, with the geographically dispersed properties of Vail Resorts and Intrawest being the obvious models. One ski area might not be able to withstand three consecutive years of

temperatures too warm for good snow. With diversity, there will be relative strength.

Some areas have less to worry about. Wyoming’s Jackson Hole Mountain Resort can wait well into November, then blast its snowguns around the clock to get the necessary coverage for Thanksgiving. A few other resorts, like Lake Louise, Alberta, need not worry, either.

But for most, taking advantage of the smallest of opportunities to make snow will be the challenge of the future. Waiting for the

temperatures to drop to the teens to make big piles of snow won’t be enough.

“We don’t have that luxury any more,” says Robin Smith, head of TechnoAlpin in the U.S.

At Ontario’s Chicopee, it’s 10 to 15 degrees warmer than Jackson or Lake Louise, and the windows for snowmaking have become smaller. Smith says that nobody expects to open at Thanksgiving, nor does much snow get made in the daytime. “You will only make snow at night,” Smith says.

Smith says he paid no real attention to global warming until about five years ago.

Snowmaking has become far more sophisticated, allowing rapid production in smaller temperature windows.

Photo/TechnoAlpin


9

But now, putting together his own records of rising nighttime temperatures at resorts with whom he works, he’s become a believer.

With the temperature window for snowmaking narrowing in coming decades, he sees automation becoming more important than ever. Instead of a lengthy set-up time, a computer can pull the trigger when the necessary temperature arrives, no

matter how briefly. Elevating guns off the ground also

boosts snowmaking opportunities. A greater distance allows more time in the air at marginal temperatures and greater ability for the water to freeze. Another trick is to cool the water temperature before it is put into the gun via a cooling system.

It’s one thing to make snow, however.

It’s another to keep it from melting during the day. For that, nobody has come up with a technological response.

Weather insurance is another possible response. John Yarchoan, a “data scientist” who formerly worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, recently started a company called Sky Mutual, which offers weather derivatives. He is pitching a climate futures market, which would offer a sort of weather insurance. He has encouraged businesses exposed to climate risks, including ski resorts, farmers, and municipalities, to hedge against different events that might cause them to lose revenue.

With liquidity in this exchange, he believes that businesses can eliminate revenue volatility stemming from poor weather efficiently, and without the traditional costs of insurance policies. He also believes that this type of exchange may aggregate best expectations about our evolving natural world. He already has some municipalities, especially in New England, and other businesses as clients.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Projections beyond the mid-century are grainy, and greatly dependent upon the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. If we don’t slow our emissions, according to most climate projections, more than just low-elevation ski areas will be facing major

High, interior locations like Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin probably will have good snow for decades to come—but undoubtedly with fewer years of summer skiing. Photo/Dave Camara


10

challenges to survive. By the end of this century, even the highest, coldest ski areas of today can expect to see warmer, shorter winters with rain more frequently replacing snow.

Big questions continue to perplex climate scientists. For example, what exactly explains New England’s wonderful winter last year, including Boston’s record snowfall?

And could ski areas use climate change to their benefit? For example, warmer air benefits ski areas, to a point. Warmer air holds more moisture, which brings with it the potential for more snow. It depends upon how warm it gets. “Global warming might lead to some really good skiing in the East for a few years—until it gets so warm that precipitation starts falling as rain,” acknowledges Dr. Wake of UNH.

Climate models of the future aren’t as accurate as history books. But over the past couple of decades they’ve done a generally good job of predicting what is now being observed, including the retreat of the Arctic sea ice. If anything, they’ve been conservative. And, just like skis and lifts, they’ve continued to improve. “Our ability to forecast climate (has transformed rapidly over the last 20 years),” says Wake. “It’s getting better and better all the time.”

This increased sharpness of climate

modeling may resolve lingering questions about whether this ski area or that will get more or less precipitation. But climate scientists have never had much doubt about rising temperatures. They have been rising, and they will continue to rise—perhaps more briskly.

Even if humans ceased burning fossil fuels tomorrow, temperatures would rise for another 50 to 100 years, say scientists such as James W.C. White, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. That’s because of the delayed effect of the heavier blanket of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. About 90 percent of the heat has gone into the world’s water sources, but that heat can at

some point get transferred into the atmosphere.

Global warming presents a hierarchy of questions for ski

area operators. For ski areas barely above sea level, rising temperatures pose obvious questions about investments today. At Whistler, B.C., the warmer temperatures of the future have been entering into current investment decisions, such as the effort to locate infrastructure higher on the slopes, above the rain line of the future.

Skiing as a business proposition is relatively young. Sun Valley, the first deliberately created destination ski resort in

North America, turns 80 years old this winter. Sun Valley long ago lost the trains that were the motivation for creating the resort, but it still has snow. It will have snow for decades to come.

But will Sun Valley have enough snow 80 years from now to justify a business based on 90 to 120 days of skiing? Will other resorts large and small, coast to coast? That’s an open question.

This article was originally published in the November issue of Ski Area Management and undoubtedly benefited from the editing of Rick Kahl and other staff members of that magazine.

Warmer air benefits ski areas, to a point. Warmer air holds more moisture, which brings with it the potential for more snow.

Have a service to sell?

An idea to push?

This space could be your space

Just $30/issue

Details: 303.463.8630


11

Drawing lessons from the cannabis petri dish

DENVER, Colo. – Colorado continues to be the petri dish of marijuana legalization. Does it affect tourism? Can it explain why prices in Denver’s real estate market surged?

First, the tourism. The Colorado Tourism Office commissioned a study to determine what role the legalization of cannabis for recreational use has had on motivating travelers to visit Colorado.

The bottom line: about 8 percent of those surveyed who visited Colorado went to a store where they could buy cannabis products. And those 8 percent said that the availability of legal marijuana was the primary motivation for their visit to Colorado.

The study did not specifically address visitation to mountain resorts. Denver has the largest number of visitors as well as the largest number of cannabis stores.

But nearly half of the 3,325 people surveyed said that cannabis legalization was extremely influential, very influential, or somewhat influential in making Colorado their travel destination.

Some 20 percent said they were more likely to visit Colorado because of cannabis, while 15 percent said less likely.

In reporting the statistics, the Denver Post concluded that “marijuana is no longer

in the margins of Colorado tourism. It’s taking a starring role.”

Starring role or just part of the supporting cast? The comments by Michael Martelon, the president of the Telluride Tourism Board, suggest the latter as the way Telluride approaches its marketing.

“I don’t want to put it under the rug, but I don’t want it to be the most important thing we do,“ he told the Post.

Taxes on cannabis sales represent just 3 percent of Telluride’s total sales tax revenues, he pointed out.

Telluride and San Miguel County offered the strong embrace of legalization among Colorado’s 64 counties, with 80 percent of voters in the 2012 election

supporting legalization.

Reefer and real estate How about Denver’s booming real

estate market? Last year, housing prices in Denver soared by 16.7 percent, although they have been leveling off in recent months.

Can population growth in Denver and rising real estate prices be the result of Colorado’s legalization of marijuana?

In The New Republic, Arielle Milkman took this thesis and ran with it: “Enormous economic development projects rise in all directions, wood and metal scraping against the eternally blue, big West sky. Denver smells green. Like weed—and money. Lots of money. And its residents are in trouble,” she writes, adding: “The rent is too damn high.”

The link between high rent and legal marijuana? Pretty thin. One real estate broker described a marijuana rush to Colorado. The population increased by 10.6 percent in 2014, the first year of cannabis legalization.

Carrie Makarewicz, an urban planning professor at the University of Colorado, Denver, sees a different reason for Denver’s population growth and rising real estate prices: It’s still cheaper than higher-priced but more cramped coastal cities like Boston, New York, San Francisco, and LA.

Have a service to sell?

An idea to push?

This space could be your space

Just $30/issue

Details: 303.463.8630


12

Self-driving cars: how soon on I-70? Road X seeks to lay foundation by Allen Best

I-70 CORRIDOR, Colo.— On a Sunday afternoon, winter and summer, it can be a three-hour crawl from Silverthorne to Denver, just 68 miles away. With cars inching along at 5 mph, that’s plenty of time for complaining to your fellow passengers.

But will cars soon talk with one another?

That’s one end result of a new program launched by the Colorado Department of Transportation called Road X. It will begin incrementally, with C-DOT spending $10 million to equip more than 700 first-responder, ski shuttle, and commercial vehicles on I-70 with devices that use radio waves to transmit information on road conditions, traffic, and other problems.

Along with cellular and satellite communications systems, a communications infrastructure will be created to allow more two-way conversations between cars and infrastructure, as well as between cars. In other words, C-DOT wants to create the framework for operation of autonomous-driving vehicles.

It’s possible that I-70 could be one of the first corridors in the nation to embrace the emerging technology.

“I think in the next 5 to 7 years we’ll see a major effort to get that technology on the road,” says Peter Kozinski, director of the Road X program for C-DOT. “All the big manufacturers have the technology. The question is where is the best place to employ

it, and that’s what Road X is all about. It’s getting our corridor ready.”

Kozinski believes that drivers will demand the technology, because it will free up their time. Instead of “keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel,” as Jim Morrison instructed in the 1970 hit song by the Doors, drivers can take a nap, watch a movie, or whatever else.


13

This doesn’t necessarily mean the end of congestion, says Kozinski. It does mean more productive use of time.

“What it does mean is that you have reliable time and your time in the vehicle is not knuckle-dragging driving. You can take a nap, watch a movie. You are not a slave to the car. The car is driving you on your behalf, and you get to use the time as you see fit,” he says.

Road X won’t engage directly in autonomous driving technology, but will instead soon start with putting into place improved communications to a central data center.

“We will be trying to push and pull information on all these of these communications mechanisms,” Kozinski tells Mountain Town News.

The project will be incremental, but with anticipation of a huge change in transportation technology perhaps unprecedented since cars rapidly replaced horses at the start of the 20th century.

See photos from New York’s 5th Avenue comparing an Easter morning in 1900 vs. that of 1913).

“While the project eventually will lay infrastructure that may assist car-to-car communications, my understanding is that this deployment (at least the first phase) won’t exactly provide for that,” says Clear Creek County Commissioner Tim Mauck. “It’s more like car-to-cloud-to

car/user. Providing information to truck drivers alerting/guiding them to spots in the chain-up station would be an early goal, for example.”

This communication matrix will create the foundation for car-to-car communications as will be needed for autonomous-driving vehicles.

olorado would not be the first. Already, a program began testing

autonomous driving possibilities on highways in Michigan, because of the proximity of car manufacturers. There have been tests in Nevada and California, and

other states, including Virginia, are moving forward briskly.

C-DOT intends to push the envelope as aggressively as anybody. “We will go aggressively at the technology,” says Amy Ford, spokeswoman for the agency.

Road X will also target congestion of I-25 between Fort Collins and Colorado Springs, but with some different strategies leading to automated vehicles. For example, ramps leading to I-25 are metered with what

Ford calls “dumb” metering systems, letting X number of vehicles onto the highway in rush-hour periods. C-DOT begins to install what are called hyper-smart metering systems that can adjust the flow of traffic from the ramp depending upon traffic congestion. In Australia, this cutting-edge technology has reduced congestion by 40 percent without the need to add lanes.

Ford also points out that C-DOT is amassing great volumes of information about road surfaces, such a bridges, retaining walls, even when sunlight falls on any given piece of pavement on any given day of the year. That information can

C

http://mountaintownnews.net/2015/08/20/tony-sebas-startling-view-of-market-disruptions/


14

eventually be plugged into databases that communicate to self-driving cars.

This doesn’t mean that new highway lanes won’t be needed. But it could mean they are built differently, Ford says. With automated cars, only 10-foot lanes might be necessary, instead of 12-foot lanes.

Shailen Bhatt, executive director of C-DOT, told the Denver Post that his agency is examining a menu of options. He describes more express lanes, both over Floyd Hill west of Denver and from the Eisenhower Tunnel to Vail. And another bore through the tunnel is still on the table.

Margaret Bowes, program manager for the I-70 Coalition, reports excitement but also questions.

“I think it’s really exciting that Colorado is trying to be at the forefront of trying to use technology to increase mobility, especially on the I-70 west corridor,” she says.

But will it increase traffic speeds? “I am really curious to see how big an impact it can have on congestion. It can no doubt help, but we have such a high level of congestion on this corridor.”

The new technology could improve speeds by reducing accidents. Accidents cause 60 percent of congestion, and self-driving cars can mostly eliminate accidents.

But self-driving cars could also speed up traffic flows incrementally in this regard:

Consider the S curves just west of Idaho Springs. There’s really no need to slow down, if you’re not driving overly fast. Yet, many people do have an instinct to tap their brakes when they see a curve. Seeing the red lights, drivers behind slow down, and so the caterpillar of traffic slows – or stops.

Autonomous self-driving cars can be programmed to keep speeds reasonable but then avoid the knee-jerk brake-tapping, says Kozinski.

C-DOT personnel get visibly excited when they talk about the changes they expect to see. And they expect to see Colorado at the front edge of change – and I-70 at the front edge of Colorado.

Robust numbers for new ‘Bustang’ on I-70

DENVER, Colo.— Since its debut in July, the “Bustang” service on three Colorado highway segments—especially I-70—has exceeded expectations.

The Colorado Department of Transportation had set a goal of recovering 20something percent of operations in the first year of operations, growing to 40 percent of operations by the sixth year.

Altogether, it’s done much better. For November, the I-70 route was up to

62 percent farebox recovery. The route from

Denver north to Fort Collins has also done well, but not quite as well, and the route between Denver and Colorado Springs has come in third.

The 50-passenger buses have restrooms, free WiFi, power outlets, and bicycle racks.

Ridership has been so high that C-DOT in November added weekend trips for I-70, in addition to the Monday-Friday schedule that had been introduced in July.

The buses leave Glenwood Springs at shortly after 7 a.m., arriving at Denver’s Union Station shortly after 11 a.m. The reverse trip, starting at 5:40 p.m. at Union Station, is quicker.

Buses do not stop in Clear Creek County, because there is no public transit there. Instead, the stops are in Frisco, Vail, and Eagle.

C-DOT intends to expand the program. State transportation commissioners have authorized purchase of three more buses. Amy Ford, spokeswoman for C-DOT, says


15

the routes could be expanded westward to Grand Junction and south to Pueblo.

More rural areas off the interstates could also get service in future years. Steamboat is one such place with potential to be serviced by Bustang routes.

Still in play is how the opening of the commuter rail from Denver’s Union Station to DIA may induce increased use of Bustang. Already, some people have used Bustang to get to Denver. When the train service begins next April, travelers from Frisco, for example, will be able to leave the bus at Union Station, walk a few feet, and grab a train to DIA. Variable speed limits on Whistler highway

WHISTLER, B.C. – New variable speed signs are being installed along the Sea to Sky Highway between Whistler and Vancouver. The electronic signs will adjust

the speed limits to reflect changing weather conditions using an extensive system of traffic, pavement, and visibility sensors.

Whistler’s Pique reports that similar electronic signs will be installed at two other highway segments in British Columbia known for their rapidly changing weather conditions.

More seats, fewer planes into airports for resorts

HAILEY, Idaho – Fewer planes but more passengers. That’s been the change at Friedman Memorial Airport, located down-valley from Ketchum and Sun Valley, since 2008.

“That’s what is happening in the whole industry, eliminating the smaller aircraft and putting larger regional jets in,” explained Ron McNeill, a consultant with Mead & Hunt, at a recent meeting of airport directors.

McNeill compared the air service numbers of Ketchum/Sun Valley against eight other major resort airports in the West. Since 2008, the number of daily flights at those other airports dropped from 64 per day to 44 a day.

Most flights into the Ketchum/Sun Valley area are subsidized if too many seats remain empty. That’s true, to varying

degrees, at most resorts in the West. Called load factor, this percentage of filled seats was 68 percent this year at Friedman, compared to 73 percent in Western resorts generally and 84 percent in the entire United States. Every town seems to be in housing squeeze

DURANGO, Colo. – From hither and thither across the mountainous landscape come reports about the squeeze in affordable housing.

“Obviously, we’ve got a crisis on our hands,” said Taos County Commissioner Tom Blankenhorn at a meeting covered by the Taos (New Mexico) News. A 2012 study estimated the need for as many as 400 additional housing units.

In southwest Colorado, there’s an emergency at hand, too, in Durango. The Regional Housing Alliance of La Plata County projects the need for 560 to 790 new housing units each year for the next two decades.

The shortage of housing has become an emergency, said Councilor Sweetie Marbury at a meeting. “I don’t want to push things down the road,” she said, according to an account in the Durango Herald.

Durango has all sorts of things in mind, among them expanding the areas where


16

accessory dwelling units, often called mother-in-law apartments, can be added to lots with existing houses.

Durango is also tinkering with passing a law to make it tougher to sue condominium developers. The Colorado Legislature had passed a law making it easier to sue condo developers, which has had an effect of slowing condo construction. But one response, adopted by a Denver suburb, is to allow developers to make repairs before facing a lawsuit.

Aikido a key for aging, says Klaus Obermeyer

ASPEN, Colo.— At age 95, Klaus Obermeyer skis most days and swims, too. “Being out in nature keeps you young,” he tells The Wall Street Journal.

Even more than skiing, he tells the Journal, the secret to his vitality is his devotion to aikido, a Japanese martial art, which Obermeyer has practiced for 35 years.

Unlike other martial arts, he explains, the practitioner isn’t trying to defeat or injure the opponent, but rather to redirect the momentum of the opponent’s attack.

“The idea is not to hurt, but to control your opponent,” he says.

He says he has applied this principle in business and everyday life. “Every attack that comes at you can be seen as an opportunity,” he says. “You can make it

work in your favor.” Born in Germany in 1919, he arrived in

Aspen in 1947 and taught skiing there for the next 12 years. He founded Sport Obermeyer in an attic in his home and there assembled a down ski parka, stitched together from his goose down comforter, the first of many innovations.

Obermeyer practices aikido every day and tells the Journal that working out is the only way to keep his body and mind sharp enough to run a business and still have fun on the slopes. “Your body is like a car,” he says. “It needs maintenance and care. If you don’t work out, your body will slowly deteriorate.”

He also swims a bit more than a mile every day, but also does pushups, sit-ups, and other gym exercises. In swimming, he says, he likes that it forces him to breathe

deeply and to stretch fully. “I like to think it prevents me from shrinking as I get older.”

And then this: “Being old is not an excuse to be lazy.”

For eating, he eats more robustly at breakfast, then slows through the day. He tries to be a vegan, but admits to cheating. “My concern is not to eat more calories than I burn.”

The charming life of a young adventurer

KETCHUM, Idaho – Ah, it sounds like quite a life, that of Alexis “Lexi” duPont. She lives in a geodesic dome in the Sun Valley area when she’s not out sailing or skiing.

In 2010, she circumnavigated the globe with Archbishop Desmond Tutu through a study-abroad program while in college. In October, she sailed off the coast of Florida with a group of non-profit leaders, artists, scientists, and 18 self-made billionaires. She tells the Idaho Mountain Express of a comedic interview by the CEO of Google of the CEO of Uber.

And then she skis and is sponsored for her expeditions by Eddie Bauer, K2, and Smith Optics. “I am in search of first descents and epic conditions,” she said. She spoke with the Express while en route to Seattle for the premier of “Chasing Shadows,” a film based on a heli-ski trip to

Good stuff in this

issue of MTN? Then go share it on

your mountain

Subscription form: http://mountaintownnews.net


17

Valdez, Alaska, in an RV by an all-female group. The trip was sponsored by K2.

This winter, duPont will join a camera crew and guides on a journey to Kyrgyzstan, where the group will explore the possibility of establishing snow sports tourism in the remote mountainous country of central Asia.

DuPont lived briefly as a child in Delaware, where her family name is well known. Her father moved the family to Ketchum, where she learned to ski at age 2. “My dad moved out here to raise us as full-on mountain girls, and he wanted us to be self-reliant.”

She offered this bit of wisdom: “If you’re all caught up in your money and who’s driving what kind of car, you can lose empathy for others. This world goes around on meaningful relationships, and to have those you need to have empathy.”

She was skiing on Halloween on Independence Pass, between Aspen and Leadville, before heading to Moab to rock climb. There, she did her first 5.10 lead on a crack – and, she confided on her Facebook page, she did so topless.

“Just put some climbing tape on your nipples so you don’t scrape them,” she advised the Mountain Express.

Finance director

Jackson, Wyoming The Town of Jackson is seeking a Finance Director, Salary: $83,100 - $120,398 (DOQ) Demonstrated abilities in municipal budget preparation, oversight, and reporting, (total budget of $35.7 million), demonstrated abilities in risk management including partially self-funded health insurance programs, and municipal investments. BS in finance, accounting, business, public administration or related field and five years professional experience as a municipal government finance director or similar position. Preferred qualifications include CPA and/or CPFO. Deadline Extended: December 28, 2015. Send to: Town of Jackson, Assistant Town Manager, P.O. Box 1687, Jackson, WY 83001. Phone: (307) 733-3932 x1107; e-mail: [email protected]. EEO Employer.

MTN CLASSIFIEDS ads

Documents

Syrian refugees just people, a lot like us area and the ... · 12/12/2015 · National Ski Areas Association finds this is starting to happen. The average age of snowsports participants