The town of Minturn will hold a forum for the candidates running for town council. The forum takes place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., March 25 in the council chambers at Minturn Town, 302 Pine St. After March 26, the forum will be shown on Public Access TV 5 and on the station's Web site, www.publicaccess5.org. The candidates for mayor are incumbent Hawkeye Flaherty and Town Councilman Jerry Bumgarner. The candidates for three council seats are incumbents Shelley Bellm and Aggie Martinez and challengers Earle Bidez (a former mayor), Frank Lorenti and Johnnie Rosenfeld. Questions for the forum can be submitted to info@minturn.org. The town election is April 6.
VAIL - Vail Resorts Chief Executive Officer Rob Katz dodged specific questions about his company's interest in buying the Whistler ski resort in British Columbia, but did say his company is in a strong position to make acquisitions. "Our company has always had an interest in acquisitions and strategic growth and we still do," Katz said during the company's second quarter earnings call Wednesday. Katz said Vail Resorts has discipline when looking at acquisitions and would only go after buying an asset if it made complete sense. "We're absolutely interested in doing something but won't unless it's justified by the asset and the economic environment," Katz said. The analyst asked about Whistler specifically after Katz's comment and Katz declined to comment. Katz said that every economic downturn presents similarities to "what we're seeing today," referring to those who own assets and don't necessarily look to sell those assets if they're u
VAIL, Colorado - Vail Mountain's early season snow, or lack thereof, affected its fiscal 2010 second quarter skier visits with a 7.7 percent decline over the same period in 2009. That being said, skier visits through March 7 of this year at the company's five ski resorts are up .4 percent over last season. Vail Resorts announced its second quarter earnings Wednesday for the period covering the early ski season - November, December and January. The results show Vail Resorts is still facing many challenges amid the struggling national economy and a not-so-snowy start to the season, Overall, the company's net revenue for the second quarter was 22.7 percent lower than the same period last year, mostly because of the timing of real estate closings, Vail Resorts Chief Executive Officer Rob Katz said. There were no closings for the second quarter this year, and closings for the second quarter of 2009 included revenue from 10 closings at Vail Resorts' p
VAIL VALLEY, Colorado - The U.S. Postal Service's routes to the Vail Valley begin in Glenwood Springs, but a post office spokesman said the Interstate 70 road closure through Glenwood Canyon shouldn't affect local mail too much. "The only change is that it will get there later in the day," said Al DeSarro. "We're doing everything we can to maintain a high level of service and delivery." DeSarro said the Postal Service always tries to keep up with any changes in transportation routes because mail delivery is so important to so many people. There are no plans to change the Vail Valley's mail sorting location from Glenwood Springs to somewhere east, he said. The trucks in Glenwood are now having to wait longer to collect as much mail coming in as possible before they leave on the long, roundabout detour route to get to the valley. "We're leaving later, so overall it's a minimal delay," DeSarro said.
Highway workers are using a helicopter today to drop equipment on a mountainside in efforts to dislodge a boulder that's threatening Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon.
The helicopter dropped off drilling equipment and a generator late this morning so a crew can drill, and then blast, a 20-foot wide slab of rock that threatens the highway below.
Mindy Crane, a spokeswoman with the Colorado Department of Transportation, said the crew hopes to have the rock cleared sometime early this afternoon. If the rock blast goes well, workers should be able to start clearing eastbound lanes of the highway in preparation of a limited re-opening. A time estimate on such a partial re-opening has not been released.
Vail Mountain's early season snow, or lack thereof, affected its fiscal 2010 second quarter skier visits with a 7.7 percent decline over the same period in 2009. Mountain and resort reported EBITDA, or earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, for the second quarter improved from the same period last year by 3.6 percent and 2 percent respectively, according to the company's earnings report released Wednesday. Overall, the company's net revenue for the second quarter was 22.7 percent lower than the same period last year, mostly because of the timing of real estate closings, Vail Resorts Chief Executive Officer Rob Katz said. Katz said he's pleased with his company's performance in the second quarter, which includes the three months leading up to Jan. 31, 2010, "particularly given the low early season snowfall levels at our Colorado resorts and a still challenging economy." Skier visits at the company's five ski re
GLENWOOD SPRINGS - A helicopter is on scene in Glenwood Canyon, where crews plan to break apart a large boulder that threatens to fall down on Interstate 70, according to a Wednesday morning update from the Colorado Department of Transportation.
The roadway has been closed since Sunday night, when a large rock slide littered the interstate with boulders, punched holes in the pavement and caused structural damage.
The helicopter will be used to drop off drilling equipment and a generator for Wednesday's planned operations. A crew hopes to bring down the unstable boulder, estimated at roughly 20 feet in diameter, sometime in the early afternoon, according to CDOT. Then, the hillside will be stabilized and any additional damage to the highway that results from bringing down the boulder will be assessed, allowing CDOT to estimate when it might be able to reopen some part of the interstate.
On Tuesday, a team of six hiked up the mountainside some 900 feet to remove loose rock
GLENWOOD SPRINGS - Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon remains closed to traffic Wednesday morning, and Colorado Department of Transportation officials are not sure how soon traffic will be able to resume. Reopening the road to traffic hangs on the stability of a large 20-foot diameter rock, which geologists were concerned with on Tuesday. The large rock hangs above the damaged section of I-70. CDOT spokeswoman Nancy Shanks said crews were formulating a plan of attack Tuesday night on how to bring down the boulder without causing more damage to the road surface. She said that bringing the boulder down would likely be the focus on Wednesday, and that CDOT would not guess as to how soon a traffic lane could be opened. "Not until this rock comes down," Shanks said. "Now that it's all been scaled above, I would guess that their efforts would be on this boulder [Wednesday]." The interstate has been closed in both directions at Glenwood Canyon since abou
VAIL, Colorado - From clearing up some of the mysterious acronyms used within the town of Vail to showing the community what the various town departments do, the Vail community meeting Tuesday night was all about transparency. The town couldn't show the community everything at the two-hour event, but it tried to give the packed house at Donovan Pavilion a quick overview of the town's most pressing issues. Mayor Dick Cleveland outlined those issues as the town's budget, capital projects, economic vitality, guest services, attracting more destination guests, taking over the Frontage Roads from the Colorado Department of Transportation and, of course, parking. Cleveland filled guests in on what the town is planning. There's a Ford Park master plan in the works, a Lionshead parking structure study, a study on how feasible it would be for the town to take over the Frontage Roads - something the town isn't quite sure about yet - among various other reports and studies in
