Wolf confirmed to have migrated to Oregon
Portland, Ore. (AP) ~ Oregon wildlife officials say a female gray wolf from Idaho is roaming the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest in Eastern Oregon, confirming evidence that the animals are expanding their range into Oregon.
The Department of Fish and Wildlife says the wolf has been tracked by radio and seen.
She's called B-300, and her age is estimated at 2 to 3 years old. There's no evidence she's part of a breeding pair.
Biologists say she is wearing a radio collar that Idaho biologists gave her in August 2006.
The department says this is the fifth wolf confirmed in Oregon in recent years, dating to 1999. One was returned to Idaho, and three are dead-two of gunshot wounds.
Wolves were introduced in 1995 to Idaho and Yellowstone National Park.
Resorts turning to mountain hosts to give customers a good time
Snowbird, Utah (AP) ~ Dick Hill is spending his retirement shoveling snow in Little Cottonwood Canyon and greeting skiers as they exit UTA buses. Hill has worked as a “mountain host” at Snowbird for 14 years, but it's not for the money.
“I love the sense of purpose,” said Hill, a retired vice president and general manager of Unisource in Salt Lake City. “I love people.”
Hill is among an army of 62 mountain hosts, 10 paid and 52 volunteer, who work a job that's part Wal-Mart greeter, part school crossing guard and part tour guide.
Call them mountain hosts, ambassadors or fun patrol, “most of the resorts do have some sort of host program,” said Jessica Kunzer, spokeswoman for Ski Utah. “It's just another way to have people accommodate them on the slopes and to help facilitate giving them directions. It's another amenity that assures the guest's experience.”
Snowbird is using more mountain hosts each year, and this year's group of 62 is the largest so far. The same trend is occurring at other resorts throughout the United States.
“Resorts (are) utilizing them more and more within the last 10 years,” said Troy Hawks, communications manager for the National Ski Areas Association in Lakewood, Colo. “Some of them are handing out cookies as they arrive. They also take a safety education role at some resorts, (distributing) sunblock and telling people to slow down.”
Idaho resort agrees to pay EPA fine for stormwater violations
McCall, Idaho (AP) ~ Tamarack Resort has agreed to pay $185,000 in fines to the Environmental Protection Agency to resolve violations in the federal Clean Water Act.
The settlement announced today also calls for ski and golf resort to restrict its winter construction schedule and update its management practices for construction during the winter season.
In a complaint, the EPA accused the resort of numerous violations of its stormwater permit. The violations were discovered during inspections in 2005 and 2006.
Elin D. Miller, the EPA's regional administrator, says this was a case when the developer made serious mistakes that harmed the environment.
Tamarack Resort is located near Cascade Lake about 100 miles north of Boise.
Teton County commissioners irritated by careless skiers
Jackson, Wyo. (AP) ~ Teton County, Wyo. officials say they're growing increasingly frustrated with careless skiers and snowboarders who prompt costly and hazardous rescue efforts by heading into remote areas despite dangerous avalanche conditions.
Earlier this month, a skier in the backcountry outside Jackson Hole Mountain Resort triggered a massive avalanche. Some 30 other backcountry skiers in the area abandoned their excursions to look for the skier they assumed was trapped in the slide.
The Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Ski Patrol and Teton County Search and Rescue responded. The search and rescue team dropped off an avalanche dog and searched by helicopter for the missing skier.
The fruitless search continued for two and one-half hours before the skier who triggered the slide called rescuers to report no one was hurt or lost. Search and Rescue never got a name.
Rescue costs have increased tenfold in eight years, from $15,000 to $160,000. The rescue missions, meanwhile, are growing more dangerous as skiers and snowboarders push the limits.
Some county leaders are pondering how to force rescued skiers and snowboarders to pay the costs of helicopters flights necessary to get them out of the woods. Others are debating whether the area needs a European-style insurance program to cover rescue costs, or whether skiing or snowboarding on federal lands in the backcountry should require a permit.
Three skiers killed by avalanches in mountains outside LA
Los Angeles (AP) ~ As a fierce storm barreled toward Southern California on Saturday, searchers found the body of a third avalanche victim and rescued a missing snowboarder who survived a frigid night in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Taking advantage of a lull in a week of storms, searchers found the body of Christopher Allport, one of two people reported missing Friday near the Mountain High ski resort in Wrightwood. The other person, Oscar Gonzales Jr., 24, was found Saturday after spending the night on the mountain.
Officials were “confident that there's no one else that's been missing” and called off search efforts, Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy Luis Castro said.
Allport, 60, was confirmed dead by someone at his family home who declined to give her name. A character actor who has appeared on such TV shows as “ER,” “Felicity,” and “Matlock,” Allport wrote a story that appeared in the Los Angeles Times in 2004 about the pleasures and dangers of backcountry skiing.
The avalanches a day earlier killed Michael McKay, 23, an off-duty member of the resort's ski patrol, and Darin Bodie Coffey, 31, both of Wrightwood. Both were skiing out of the resort boundaries.
City, ski area to collide over expansion plans
Ashland, Ore. (AP) ~ The city of Ashland and the Mount Ashland ski area are due in court this summer in their struggle over who will control the proposed expansion of the ski area.
The ski area filed a breach-of-contract suit against the city in July, alleging it had illegally meddled in the ski area's expansion plan and blocked construction of 16 new ski trails and two chairlifts on the 7,500-foot mountain.
City officials claim the special use permit they hold with the U.S. Forest Service to operate the ski area requires them to work directly with the Forest Service on any expansion proposal. The ski area contends its lease from the city gives it responsibility for planning and building any improvements.
The issue has grown increasingly contentious because the ski area lies at the head of the city's 14,000-acre municipal watershed.
A tentative court date is set for July 29. In the meantime, the two sides are in a dispute over records for the case.
Snowboarder suffocates after falling into tree well
Steamboat Springs, Colo. (AP) ~ An autopsy has determined that a 22-year-old snowboarder suffocated after falling headfirst into a tree well at this ski resort.
Routt County Coroner Rob Ryg identified the victim of the Friday accident as Jared Daniel of Auburn, Mass.
A friend tried but was unable to pull Daniel out of the tree well. Such areas develop around trees after a heavy snowfall.
The area where Daniel died was off an intermediate trail called Snooze Bar. Others joined Daniel's friend and got him out after about 15 minutes. But CPR failed to revive him.
It is the second such death in a week at Steamboat.
Lawmaker considers fee for skiers taking Interstate 70
Denver (AP) ~ Skiers who use Interstate 70 on weekends could be charged up to $12 for using the highway or sent $25 checks for staying off under legislation being considered by a state senator.
Sen. Chris Romer, D-Denver, said his plan could reduce traffic by 10 percent or more.
“You're just reallocating money from those who are time-sensitive to those who are price-sensitive, and that's a perfect market-based solution,” Romer said.
Romer said skiers could be charged $5 to $12 per trip for driving up the mountain between 6:30 and 8:30 a.m He said the price would adjust with traffic levels.
Romer said skiers who choose to go early or wait until after the rush could get a $25 check in the mail or a coupon to spend that much at a restaurant while they wait out the afternoon rush.
He said skiers could sign up to miss the rush and then would get the rebate if they comply.
Extreme skier, considered a rising star, dies after cliff jump being filmed for documentary
Salt Lake City(AP) ~ An extreme skier died Tuesday, Jan. 22 from injuries he sustained after jumping off a cliff for a scene in a documentary film.
Poole cartwheeled through some rocks after jumping off a cliff in an area known as Wolverine Cirque, said Penn Newhard, a Black Diamond marketing consultant.
He was being filmed by crews for ski documentarian Warren Miller, said Jay Burke, a spokesman for Solitude ski area. Ski patrollers at Solitude were the first to reach Poole after the fall.
Billy Poole was flown by helicopter from the backcountry of Big Cottonwood Canyon to University of Utah Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:30 p.m., hospital spokeswoman Vickie King said.
The 28-year-old Poole was sponsored by Salt Lake City-based Black Diamond Equipment Ltd., maker of ski and climbing gear. Chief executive Peter Metcalf described him as a rising star among big-mountain skiers.