I-70 Watch: Corridor catches spring fever with busiest westbound days of ski season
It wasn’t the busiest weekend of ski season, but it was the busiest for people coming into the mountains. In three days, March 13 to 15, nearly 71,500 vehicles traveled I-70 westbound through the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnels. Westbound lanes haven’t been that slammed since mid-summer. By The Numbers: I-70 westbound (average) A grand total of 132,974 vehicles took I-70 through Summit this weekend. That is down […]
Frisco Nordic forced to close 3 weeks earlier than expected
It was a lean, mean season at the Frisco Nordic Center. Closing day will be Tuesday, March 17. That is three weeks earlier than expected “due to diminishing snowpack and forecasted warming temperatures,” according to the town. Frisco Nordic usually has up to 30 kilometers of trail for classic and skate skiers. Today barely 2 kilometers still have snow. A brief cold spell […]
Case of the mistaken Vacasa rental leaves one Summit visitor out in the cold
Confusion on Vacasa left a spring break visitor with no place to stay. Summit County Sheriff’s Office reports a visitor had rented a local unit on Vacasa. When he arrived, he heard voices and movement inside the unit. He left and called 911. Sheriff’s deputies found alleged squatters inside the unit, except the squatters had a lease and a phone […]
Man dies skiing double-black Lake Chutes at Breckenridge
A skier from California died yesterday in the experts-only Lake Chutes at Breckenridge. Summit County Sheriff’s Office reports the man was skiing solo around 1:30 p.m. when witnesses saw him crash above treeline on a run rated double-black. He was wearing a helmet. Breck ski patrol responded to calls for help and gave CPR on scene before transporting the victim to the […]
Don’t click that link! Colorado DMV warns of renewed text scam
It says it’s from the Colorado DMV or some other agency with a vaguely familiar name. It threatens legal or even criminal consequences if you don’t pay up now. It even gives you a convenient link to pay. Colorado Department of Motor Vehicles says, don’t fall for it. A rash of new text scams are making the rounds, in which scammers are […]
Breck Create is singing a younger tune for the Riverwalk Center
The town-funded creative district hopes to attract more and better music to the Riverwalk Center during the fall and winter, when it says attendance is traditionally lower. It hasn’t announced a concert list, except to say a younger audience is top of the list. “The purpose of this campaign is to restore consistent animation and energy to […]
Vail Resorts down $53 million this low-snow holiday
The blows keep coming for the biggest name in the ski biz. Vail Resorts claims it lost about $53 million in the second quarter, which covers Thanksgiving and Christmas. Skier visits were down 13% in North America. The company blames it almost entirely on measly snow in the Rocky Mountains, where snowpack has been setting new record lows weekly since early January. “This […]
I-70 Watch: From snow to sun, weekend traffic more than doubles in 48 hours
This weekend was a tale of polar weather – and polar opposites – on the I-70 mountain corridor. On Friday, March 6, as Summit County was hammered by over a foot of snow, traffic plummeted at the Eisenhower-Johnson tunnels. Traffic fell to its lowest point since December with 30,364 vehicles in both directions. Eastbound traffic alone barely broke 11,000 cars. Writes one Krystal 93 […]
Friends and family remember Dave Pickett-Heaps, victim of Boss Basin avalanche
A backcountry veteran pursuing a degree in avalanche science was the lone skier killed by an avalanche near Janet’s Cabin west of Copper Mountain on Saturday, March 7. David Pickett-Heaps, of Summit County, was killed at Boss Basin, according to Colorado Avalanche Information Center and Eagle County Coroner via 9News. His is the first confirmed avalanche fatality […]
One dead after vehicle explosion above Dillon Valley, ATF investigating
A vehicle explosion this morning left one person dead above Dillon Valley. Summit County Sheriff’s Office received multiple reports of an explosion around 7 a.m, followed by smoke and flame at the Straight Creek Trailhead. Authorities arrived to find one vehicle engulfed in flames. Inside was the body of an unidentified man. The fire was […]