Andrew McLean on Colbert tonight (Wed.)

This could be cool... or it could totally suck. Expeditionary skier extraordinaire Andrew McLean will be on "The Colbert Report" tonight. I think that's 11 p.m. for Comcast subscribers, 9 p.m. for those of us with satellite.

He'll be talking about the ski doc "Steep," which I wrote about last week (and will have a review of on Friday in Go - I give it a B+, if I recall correctly).

McLean sort of serves as the film's voice of reason, after the death of Doug Coombs and the ever-greater extremes extreme skiers go to. It's a little ironic, given that, that the film's most harrowing scene captures McLean and his party being caught in an avalanche in Iceland. It's seriously intense - you've never seen anything like this on film before.

I talked to McLean for a few minutes after the film's premiere at Telluride. He was pretty positive about the film, having a record of extreme skiing's history and honoring its pioneers. He said his mom was always wondering what exactly it is that he does and, with this, he could just show her the movie.

Can't imagine what he and Stephen Colbert will have to talk about, but I'll be watching.

Drilling for gas near the Sand Dunes

(National Park Service photo by Patrick Myers of an autumn view of the dunes and Sangre de Cristo Mountains from Zapata Falls Recreation Area)

Did you catch this story in The Gazette over the weekend by R. Scott Rappold? It's got our commenters hopping.

In a nutshell:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to let a Canadian energy company drill for natural gas in the Baca National Wildlife Refuge, which is in the San Luis Valley, within 2 miles of Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve.

Environmental groups are worried about the impact on wildlife, air and water quality, and the nearby national park, but federal officials say their hands are tied.

Toronto-based Lexam Energy Exploration owns mineral rights and wants to drill 2 test wells, which would involve bulldozing and clearing 14.5 acres.

Again, you can read Scott's story here.

He'll update the story in this Sunday's Gazette.

You can read the environmental assessment here.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is accepting comments through March 2, which may be submitted to baca_ea@fws.gov or to San Luis Valley National Wildlife Refuge Complex, 9383 El Rancho Lane, Alamosa, CO 81101.

Snow on the sage

Driving through the sage-covered hills around Gunnison yesterday, I was amazed how much snow there is. I would guess 24 inches of dense, heavy stuff covering prairie hills I don't think I've ever seen hold more than a dusting. No wonder the Division of Wildlife is feeding deer and elk in the area. They can't get through to browse.

A real survivorman

Talk about one tough dude. Check out this story from Reuters:

A Canadian man survived 96 hours pinned under his all-terrain vehicle in the Rocky Mountains by eating rotting animal carcasses, drinking melted snow and thinking of his grandchildren, he said today.

Ken Hildebrand was trapped face down for 4 days and 3 nights in the Crowsnest Pass area of southwestern Alberta, where he tried numerous ways to free himself in below-freezing temperatures.

Throughout the ordeal, he kept wolves and coyotes away by blowing on an emergency whistle.

He was rescued from the wreck by hikers, and has spent a week in a hospital.

He said he was checking animal traps Jan. 8 in an area where ranchers had complained of wolves preying on livestock. The vehicle hit a rock, throwing him off and settling on his legs.

He tried for hours to pry the ATV off, but his awkward position made that impossible.

He stayed alive by eating the animals he had collected, although the rotting flesh made him sick, the Calgary Sun newspaper reported.

Snowboarder dies attempting trick

It appears the 33-year-old snowboarder who died at Breckenridge yesterday was attempting a trick at the Park Lake Terrain Park.

Denver news stations and newspapers say James McLean, a podiatrist from Leawood, Kansas, died after landing on his head just before 2 p.m. He was wearing a helmet. The coroner said he died of a fractured neck.

Here's an UPDATE to this post. McLean was starting a career in physical medicine and rehabilitation, not podiatry, as previously noted.

Peace be with James and his family and friends. Man, you just never know when it will happen.

Where's Dave

I'm off to Telluride for the next three days to look at the new Black Iron Bowl, some of that inbounds backcountry-type terrain that has become so popular.

Too cold to run? Not an excuse

A good column from the NYT on getting out in the cold. Read on.

Zebra mussels found in Pueblo Reservoir

Enter the Borg. These guys are the invasive bane of fresh water lakes everywhere. I remember when I lived in Vermont, zebra mussels were slowly taking over the floor of Lake Champlain. It was big news, because apparently Champ won't eat shellfish. Let's hope the creatures in Lake Pueblo aren't as picky.

Katie Compton gallery

Today Out There has a profile of top cyclocross rider Katie Compton who left Colorado Springs this week to compete in the World Champs in Italy. Here's the story.
Here's some more images and vid:



Here's video from a small American race that gives you an idea of the courses.
Here's video from last year's World Cup Championships in Belgium.

Off-piste in Austria

Michael Hagen, who we featured in our spread on randonee racing in last week's Out There section, sent a couple pix from his recent trip to Austria, where the children start ski touring before they're out of diapers. The snow's looking pretty decent, eh?

Stroke of luck leads to Mt. Hood rescue

Talk about lucky.
Achance encounter with a plastic bottle early Tuesday helped two lost climbers find their way off the lower flanks of Mount Hood after a night spent huddled in a hastily built snow cave.

The bottle, apparently left by someone playing an adventure game, held map coordinates giving their precise location. And the two Portland men spotted it just as searchers called their cell phones -- which they mistakenly believed had stopped working for good the night before.

Read more here.

Surf in the City

We bloggarians love posting these stories about futuristic indoor sports parks where people can ski in Texas or kayak in the desert. The latest is London's proposed surf park, where for 30 quid you can hang 10 for an hour. It plans to open in 2011.
My bet: ain't gonna happen. I've written about a snowless terrain park set to open in Castle Rock, or a ski resort in Texas. We note how they have plans, investors, and proposed opening dates. Then nothing happens. To this day there is no artificial snow park in the United States.

Climber on Little Bear presumed dead

20-year-old University of Norther Colorado Student Lygon Stevens is presumed dead after an avalanche on the southwest face of Little Bear Peak on Thursday swept her away as she hiked with her brother, Nick.

Nick Stevens, 23, survived, stumbled down the mountain and called authorities when he got cell-phone reception shortly before 9 a.m. Friday.

Authorities searched with ground crews and helicopters but called off the search Saturday due to the increasingly dangerous weather conditions and the presumption that Lygon Stevens had died.

Lygon Stevens and her brother scaled several mountain peaks including the tallest in North America, Mount McKinley in Alaska.

Mount Hood climbers safe

You may have heard/read earlier that two climbers were missing on Mount Hood (11,239 feet), although they had talked to rescuers via a cell phone.

They're down and safe now, after spending a night in a snow cave.

Justin Votos, 27, and Matthew Pitts, 28, said they'd summited twice before, and thought they had a good climbing window but got caught in whiteout conditions at about 10,000 feet.

They started hiking down toward Timberline Lodge, but missed it and said they built the cave at about 5,000 feet.

Walking down today they found a geocache with GPS gear that allowed them to report their location to rescuers via cell phone. They were near Enid Lake and less than a mile from U.S. 26.

Great news for those two, and a reminder to the rest of us to be prepared for the worst.

Mountaineer promotes peace

Former Out There writer Deb Acord talked to Greg Mortensen of Montana a few times in her career at The Gazette. She helped shine a light on Greg's campaign to improve the lives of people in the remote villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The co-founder of the Central Asia Institute met the people while climbing in the region.

You can hear about Greg's efforts tonight at 7 at Shove Chapel at Colorado College. Doors open at 6:30. I imagine the seats will quickly fill up.

The event is sponsored by Univ. of Colorado at Colorado Springs' Center for Homeland Security (educated kids become adult workers, not terrorists), and comes on the heels of Greg's success as an author. Check out his book, "Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time."

Greg decided to help the villagers after they nursed him back to health after a climbing mishap. His efforts have resulted in construction of at least 64 schools.

Practice dodging blowdown

A new report says pine beetles will likely kill every mature lodgepole pine in Colorado in the next five years. That will likely leave millions of acres of forest standing dead. The dead forest will then eventually fall over, probably during storms and high winds. The blowdown can be a big danger for hikers because, if a tree falls in the woods, and you're under it, you may not ever make a sound again.

Another weekend trail report

Hiked in Red Rock Canyon on Saturday with my mom, who's visiting from the San Diego area. She falls more deeply in love with the park every visit.

Stretches of trail that see a lot of midday sun have some snowmelt and resulting mud, but most of the trails were snow-covered.

Trails that follow roads were the slickest where tires had tread - or hundreds of feet had walked the tread tracks. Walking the ridge between the tracks was easier going.

Remember, even if it's a bit muddy, stay on the trail. Going off trail does not help the trail system.

Areas of the Goddesses/Contemplative trial were slick, too. Yaktraks help. We saw a few people using trekking poles, too, for added balance.

We hiked Red Rock Canyon to Roundup to Goddesses. Gorgeous. With today's sunshine and relative warmth and Wednesday's predicted freeze, however, look out. It could make hikes a bit more treacherous.

A LOT of unleashed dogs running around. All of them friendly to us, but that's not the point. More than one eager pup jumped up, which could have been a problem if we'd been standing on an icy section of trail.

And while I'm on the topic of dogs -- take along waste bags. There was a fair amount of dog poop in the middle of trails. Frozen dog poop is not more aesthetic nor easier to get off your hiking boot than it is in dry conditions.

Avalanche deaths running high

As Dave noted below, 1 more Coloradan was killed in an avalanche over the weekend.

Another 3 people were killed in Wyoming, bringing to 21 the number of people killed in avalances in the West since Nov. 12. The national annual average for avalanche deaths is about 25.

35 people were killed nationwide in avalanches in the 2001-02 season, the most on record, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Before heading into the backcountry, experts advise you recognize the signs of avalanche danger and take a course -- or courses -- in avalanche survival. You can get regular updates on general danger at the Colorado Avalance Information Center. If you go to the Web site now, you'll see a good portion of our mountains are posted as "considerable" danger to avalanches.

You can look up classes at the site, too.

The Wyoming victims were snownmobilers. The Coloradan was a skier. Skiers also are said to have triggered 3 avalanches Saturday on Loveland Pass.

And 2 skiers were caught in but survived a slide Sunday near Cache Peak in the Gros Ventre Wildnerness in Wyoming. One suffered a broken leg.

Powder and No Crowds

Here's a weekend ski report from Out There friend and Biz editor Joanna Bean:

I skiied Winter Park/Mary Jane on Sunday after a years-long hiatus (too long of a day trip for me from Colorado Springs). I'd heard and read about some of the changes there, particularly the condo development around the base.

I was pleasantly surprised that Winter Park still "feels" like it used to, for the most part.

I didn't ski Jane as much as I would have liked (had the kids with me) but we found plenty to keep us busy at Winter Park. (And I snuck in a few trips through the bumps on Retta's Run and Outrigger.)

If you're an intermediate skier, head over to the Pioneer Express lift, on the Vasquez Ridge of Winter Park. We found plenty of powder and no crowds. Views were great, too.

Also new this year off Jane's Parsenn Bowl is what they're calling North America's highest six-person chairlift, along with new glade terrain. That's high on my list for my next no-kids ski day.

"Please do not urinate on the peak"

So says the sign atop Alberta Peak at Wolf Creek, the final stop on our weekend swing through southwest Colorado. My wife and I left Thursday morning and hit, in order, Kendall Mountain, Silverton, Purgatory (DMR), Hesperus and Wolf Creek.

It was an interesting excursion. Wolf Creek Pass didn't reopen until Wednesday afternoon, after being closed since Sunday. We'd originally planned to take the northern route through Gunnison and makea loop out of it, but Red Mountain Pass didn't open until Thursday night.

We arrived at Silverton at about 3:30 p.m., just enough time for my wife to catch a few runs at Kendall Mountain. It's Silverton's local hill - about 200 vertical feet, $15 lift tickets and one, newly installed chairlift. With just a few school kids on the hill, Carrie caught some powder turns and said there were some fun little tree shots.

Friday we were skiing Silverton Mountain, the all-expert, double-diamond-only backcountry legend. The only thing legendary about our day there was how bad the weather was. The area didn't open until 11 a.m. - at one point, they called all the ski patrollers together to hold a vote on whether they'd open at all. We only got three runs in, two of which were nothing special. The last, down the Stooges, was knee-deep powder. So the potential was certainly there.

Probably the worst thing was listening to people who had skied on Thursday say "Yesterday, this was all powder" as we skied across bullet-proof wind-blown crust. Our guide, John, had to stop us a couple times because the wind and cold were causing white spots on our faces - incipient frostbite.

Silverton's a great town, though. I've never been in a place so quiet. At one point we saw a coyote running down main street.

Saturday we hit Purgatory, or, as it's called these days "Durango Mountain Resort." Purgatory is a way cooler name. For a resort that aspires to be a Breckenridge or a Copper, DMR was nothing special. If you've skied the blues at Breck, you won't find anything very interesting at Purgatory. The place was pretty well skied out, too. We found a trace of powder in some of the trees. Pretty scenery, though.

We got bored with Purgatory around lunch time and headed to Hesperus. A lot of people haven't heard of this place. It's Durango's local area - one lift and a couple hundred acres of converted cow pasture 20 minutes outside of town. I kid you not: the boundary rope was barb wire fence. The "slow" sign at the base of the lift was borrowed from a construction site.

Don't let any of this deter you: Hesperus rocked. The only people there were kids and dudes in camo or coveralls. And, god bless them, they stayed on the kiddie hill. With maybe 500 feet of vertical, Hesperus had some steep sections and, a week after the big dump, those steeps were still covered in powder. There were even some miniature cliff shots.

I'm not kidding: We found better powder at Hesperus than at Purgatory (and we both took harder crashes at Hesperus than we did at Silverton). We had a lot of fun spending an afternoon there. I'm not saying it would be worth a 300-mile drive, but if you're in the area, it's sure as heck worth $32.

Finally, we stopped at Wolf Creek on Sunday. We'd debated blowing off Wolf to save some cash and get home a little earlier. We actually stopped at a gas station in Pagosa Springs just to ask somebody with skis on their car what the conditions were. They advised us to stick around and that was sound, sound advice. We got up there at 9 a.m. and were one of the first cars in the lot. All day long, we were skiing runs without seeing another soul.

First run, we hiked up Alberta Peak. It was pretty wind-blown and cold up there, but two turns on the crust and it was powder the rest of the way down. It looked skied out, but it was actually really, really good. The entire rest of the day, we did laps on the Alberta Lift (which, despite the name, doesn't go back up the peak). It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, a week after the last storm, and we were skiing shin-deep powder. It was amazing. Just fantastic, fantastic conditions.

Mostly, we were dropping down off the Coyote Loop cat track -the further back we went, the better the powder got. We stared down our vertigo for one run off the Knife Ridge. That traverse is just plain scary, but the powder provided soft landings off the ridge line.

We skied until 2:30, didn't have a bad run and were back in the Springs four hours later.

Anyway, I hope to do a story about the southwestern ski areas at some point (got the headline already: "Western Slopes"), but I wanted to throw this out there for anyone planning a trip this winter.

Another Avy death in East Vail Chutes

Matthew Gustafson, 33, of Vail, died Saturday when he and a fellow skier triggered a large slide in King Tut and Old Man’s chutes. The avalanche ran about 900 vertical feet and was “4 to 5 feet” deep.
Both men where wearing beacons, but both were buried, so there was no one to search for them. Gustafson was buried for four hours before he was found. His partner was buried with his hand sticking up, and was able to free himself after an hour and call 911.

Another Vail resident, Jesse Brigham, 27, died eight days earlier in an avalanche in the same area.

DOW says don't feed the deer

The Colorado Division of Wildlife urges state residents and visitors not to feed deer that are hanging around their yards or property.
Deer digest very slowly and if they eat the wrong types of food and too much food they will not be able to digest or pass the material and they will die. So, deer should not be fed hay, pet food, fruits, vegetables or any type of table scraps.
If you have sage brush or other shrubs on your property, knock the snow off of those to expose some natural food for the animals.

Trail report

A jog up to Barr Camp Sunday showed the mountain trails in the Pikes Peak region are still overwhelmingly snow-packed. There was very little melt or ice past the second mile, making for good footing. Lower down, freeze and thaw have made for a slick mix.

Looking for deals?

Our friends in The Gazette's marketing department created their second Snow Ride Guide mini mag of the season. It's in today's newspaper. There are some useful coupons inside if you're looking for gear or a place to stay on a multi-day mountain trip.

And check out today's Business section for Bill Radford's story about Jon Easdon, who recently opened the area's newest ski/board shop, Blindside. We mentioned it here on the blog before he opened, and Dave checked out some gear in his annual December gear guide.

Jon as worked at various ski shops around town and for a board maker. His goal is to give everyone who comes in individual attention. We could all use a bit more of that when renting and buying gear, for sure.

Blindside is in the giant Angler's Covey building at Highway 24/Cimarron and 21st Street. Don't be afraid to pop in and say hi. You may recognize an ol' slopeside bud.

Montezuma bowl opens today

Arapahoe Basin opens the largest swath of new lift-served terrain in Colorado opens today at 11 a.m. The 400-acre Montezuma Bowl, made up of black and blue runs on the backside of A-Basin, should have fairly good snow too. The basin has 4 inches of new in the last day on packed powder. Mazzeltoff.

Sir Edmund Hillary dead at 88

The first man to climb Mount Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary died Friday of a heart attack. On May 29, 1953, the successful ascent and return by the former New Zealand bee keeper and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in a Brittish team made them instant celebrities.
Over the years he has become known as the dean of Mountaineering, known for his cheerful, humble graciousness

Gas drilling in Baca Wildlife Refuge

NPR had a story this morning on attempts to drill in the new Baca Wildlife Refuge near Crestone.
Listen to it here.

No sign of snowboarders near Wolf Creek Pass

Michael George and Kyle Kerschen, both 27 and from Albuquerque, drove to Colorado on Friday for a weekend of snowboarding. Their was found in the ski-area parking lot, but there's been no trace of them. High winds and more than four feet of snow have hampered rescue efforts, but today, skiers are clear. Helicopters and searchers on skis plan to survey the area.

As a long-time snowboarder who now spends more days on skis, I must note that in the past week there have been a number of other stranded or injured snowboarders in the backcountry adjacent to ski areas. Any snowboarder can tell you if you fall in deep powder, it can be impossible to get up. If you stop, it can be hard to get going again. Ski's let you at least shuffle in the snow, a board doesn't. These two guys could easily be in a creek drainage a quarter-mile from the boundary rope, but unable to move.

Burton demos at Copper

(Team Burton crewmembers "work" a few feet of fresh snow in this photo from Burton.com. You should check out the site, it's fun, you'll look up an hour later wondering where the time flew.)

It's demo time. Burton Snowboards is bringing the "largest consumer demo in the snowboard world" to Copper for a long weekend - Friday to Sunday. You can check out new boards, boots and bindings and other gear, and there'll be interactives to keep you busy and entertained. Or maybe you'll be entertaining others...

Stay for the after-party at Endo's Adrenaline Café, on the edge of the Burning Stones Plaza, 4-6 p.m. Saturday. God knows there'll be entertainment there.

Copper has received more than 11 feet of snow, so it should be a great weekend to ride.

New look at Snowmass

Think you know all about Snowmass? Check out the area's new Web site, which highlights the parks, backcountry terrain and freeriding available at this huge ski resort.

You can look at photos and post your own, read about different areas of the resort and locate them on a panoramic photo, and check in on the local pros, too.

Zuma set to open

Arapahoe Basin’s Montezuma Bowl will open to the public for the first time this Friday, January 11 at 11 a.m. The 400-acre Montezuma Bowl, made up of black and blue runs on the backside of A-Basin, is the nation’s largest terrain expansion for the 2007-2008 ski season. The bowl has a fixed-grip quad lift with a 9-minute ride. Expect lines, at least on opening day.

For more, visit www.arapahoebasin.com

New bill aims to protect 36,000 acres of Roan

AP - Sen. Ken Salazar and U.S. Rep. John Salazar said Tuesday they will introduce a bill to prevent direct drilling on about 36,000 acres of environmentally sensitive land on the Roan Plateau, backing up a key recommendation from Gov. Bill Ritter on gas development on the western Colorado landmark. Read more here.

Dog dies in Loveland Pass Avalanche

With lots of new snow, and lots of wind yesterday, avalanche conditions were prime in Summit County. According to the Summit Daily News two skiers escaped an avalanche they triggered on Loveland Pass Tuesday, but one of their dogs could not be found.

Summit County Search and Rescue said the two skiers set off slides down Dave’s Wave and Ironingboard, two popular backcountry ski runs between Arapahoe Basin and Loveland Pass.

Rescue teams were told to stand down after learning that both skiers were safely out of harms way, but unfortunately one of the skier’s dog was unable to be found.

Snow keeps piling up in the highcountry

I x-country skied to work today on a light and fluffy 4 inches, just 'cause I wanted to. But in the highcountry, you basically have to. It's been snowing for days, and many spots got almost a foot last night. That's Vail above. Check out Silverton, below, which has so much snow it can't open. Oh snap!

Snowmobilers found alive

AP - Six snowmobilers missing for three days in the snowy southern Colorado mountains were brought to safety Monday after calling 911 from a remote outpost where they sought refuge.

The group got lost and ran out of gas on Friday night near 10,222-foot Cumbres Pass just north of the Colorado-New Mexico border, and took shelter in a cabin. When reached by crews on snowmobiles, they were cold and hungry but otherwise unhurt.

The cabin is near the isolated Osier Station, a small wooden building that serves as summertime stop on the Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, a tourist line. Groen said his cell phone didn't work in the cabin, and bad weather kept him from leaving to find a place where he could get a signal until Monday morning.

Avalanche death in Vail

An avalanche killed a 27-year-old man Friday while he was snowboarding outside the boundaries of Vail on Friday.

Jesse Brigham, a Vail Resorts employee, was riding Vail's East Chutes with two companions when he was caught and killed in a large avalanche. The terrain was steep, 35-39 degrees, with an east to east-north-east aspect just at treeline. The large hard slab was 2 to 7 feet deep, 130 feet wide, and ran 800 vertical feet. The slide initiated on an old bed surface, but quickly ran to ground. The avalanche carried the boarder over at least one cliff band and into a group of small trees.

The other two party members quickly found the boarder, but they needed a rescue group to transport the victim out of the complicated terrain. The victim was the only party member on the slope at the time. All three party members were carrying avalanche beacons, shovels, and probes.

It was the nation's 14th avalanche death this season, but Colorado's first.

Don't count on those beacons.

No kidding.... Silverton 50 freakin' inches!

Which would be sweet, except it means the mountain is closed. Wow, what a storm.
Crested Butte 17"
Beaver Creek 16"
Monarch Pass 14"
Vail 10"
Snowmass 9"
Breck 6"
Winter Park 8.5

More to come!

52 Things - let the games begin!

Dave didn't really expound on this, but if you'll take a look at the introduction to today's Out There story, you'll notice that this is not just another "here's a bunch of crap to do in 2008" story. Oh no.

There's also a checklist involved. And a prize. Or two.

This was basically our way to throw some sweet schwag at loyal readers of the Out There blog. Sweet as in a couple hundred bucks to spend at Mountain Chalet sweet*.

Dave and I figured that, in an average year, we'd each do 10 or 15 things on the Big List just in the natural course of events. He runs the Ascent. I run the Numbers. He skis the Imperial Challenge. I ski the trees at Steamboat. You get the gist.

With that in mind, we figured that some enterprising soul could, with a modicum of additional effort, knock off say 25 or 30 or even 40 items from the List. And take a photo while they're doing it. And send those photos to us to post here.

In return, we'd shower them with glory. And schwag. Don't forget the schwag.

So, you readers of Out There blog you, pick up today's section, pin it up to the wall and start checking stuff off. We'll make it worth your while.

*Note that we haven't actually bought the aforementioned gift certificate, so our willingness to write a medium-big check will be in direct proportion to your willingness to play along.

Can the plastic in some bottles make you sick?

On today's Out There cover we noted the recent move by a Canadian gear co-op - like an REI - to stop selling certain plastic bottles because customers were concerned about the possible toxicity of a chemical, bisphenol A.

Gazette reporter Melissa Cassutt reported on similar concerns around here among some parents who fear their babies will consume the chemical after it leaches into liquids in their bottles.

There doesn't seem to be much research yet. One study that kicked off recent news stories can be found here.
(Once you're there, look on the right side of the page and click on “Reports.” Scroll down and click on “Toxic Baby Bottles.”)

Bisphenol A has been linked to reproductive problems and cancer in lab mice, according to the study.

“I think that some of the things (Environment California) say are based somewhat on their political views,” David Weiss, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, who reviewed the report and other studies on the topic, told The Gazette. He said the concentrations of the chemical are so low that they are below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “levels of concern.”

Wondering whether the bottle you're using could contain bisphenol A? If the plastic is stamped with a “PC,” it is polycarbonate plastic; if the plastic is stamped with a recycling sign and a “7,” it probably is polycarbonate. Bisphenol A is used in polycarbonate.

Yes, my Nalgene bottle is stamped with a recycling sign and a 7. Just call me a lab rat.

Two boys dead in Skier vs. Tree

Two boys died Thursday in separate incidents by running into trees while skiing fast on blue runs.
The first was an 11-year-old from England on Breckenridge's Bonanza run on Peak 9.
The second was a 15-year-old from Oklahoma on Wolf Creek's Silver Streak.

These crashes are both typical and unusual. About 10 people die in skiing accidents in Colorado every year. Most are male, most hit trees, and most do it on blue runs. So everything matches up there. However, these are the first deaths of the ski season, which is an anomaly. You can typically count on someone buying the farm during Christmas week. Good snow and extremely low temperatures can often lessen the likelihood, so that may be a factor this year. It barely got above zero degrees during all of Christmas Week in Summit County.

It's also unusual for someone as young as 11 to ski aggressively enough to be fatal.

But perhaps the most unusual aspect is that one of the kids died at Wolf Creek. Wolf Creek hasn't had a fatality for 13 years, according to owner Davey Pitcher. One reason is the lower skier numbers. It probably takes Wolf Creek a month to handle as many skiers as Breckenridge does in a day. The other reason, I think, must be the snow. Wolf Creek gets about 500 inches of powder a year. It's very rare to get the fast, icy conditions where most ski accidents occur.
Yesterday, however, Wolf Creek was reporting "packed powder" conditions. Looks like we need another big dump to keep us safe.

Great escapes for 2008

We ran out of space in Out There when we tried to list all the cool, seasonal outdoor adventures for 2008 (mainly because we kept coming up with too many mountain biking options) so I thought I'd list a few here:

Launch a (small) cliff in Monarch's Mirkwood Basin

Spot the sandhill cranes in Monte Vista

See the moon rise over the Anasazi observatory at Chimney Rock

Pond Skim on your skis or board at the end of the season

Mountain bike the Monarch Crest in August

Ski Loveland Pass

Hike Pikes Peak from the back side

What else?

Bad idea

Two guys are snowkiting across "the frozen moonscape" ofNorth Dakota to raise awareness of sustainable energy. The 290-mile trip is expected to take three weeks... if there's any wind... and they don't suddenly realize a few hundred miles in that it's a really dumb idea.

State animals getting sick

Colorado Division of Wildlife officials are working to determine what caused at least eight bighorn sheep to die east of Gunnison during the last week of December.
A rancher called the DOW's Gunnison office on Dec. 23 and reported that three bighorns were dead near one of his fields. A small herd of wild sheep winters on a hillside just above the pasture and often move down to feed on hay left for cattle. DOW wildlife officers examined the carcasses and collected tissue samples. Another bighorn in the pasture that appeared to be very sick was euthanized.
Wildlife officers found four more dead sheep during the next three days.
Initial findings suggested that pneumonia was the likely cause of at least some of the deaths. Other carcasses were found frozen and were transported to the DOW's Wildlife Health Laboratory in Fort Collins for complete necropsies and testing. Upon examination in the laboratory all eight dead bighorns showed some evidence of pneumonia. Results from additional lab work will probably be available by mid-January.

10 years of TOPS

It's been 10 years since voters in Colorado Springs approved a .01 % sales tax to fund Trails, Open space and Parks (TOPS). According to a story in today's Gazette, the $59 million raised has - acquired more than 5,000 acres of open space, completed more than 100 miles of multi-use trails, constructed 24 neighborhood parks, and leveraged another $40 million in outside grants for local parks projects. Without it, there'd be no Red Rock Canyon, no Stratton Open Space and likely no Cheyenne Mountain State Park.
I'd argue that no other bit of city legislation will have such a lasting and beneficial effect on the city. It carries on the legacy of founder and avid park builder William Jackson Palmer.

Happy Birthday TOPS!