Ski resort environmentalism

White is seasonal in Colorado; green is perpetual. But how to balance green in ecology and economy?

As Snowmass cuts summertime Sky Cab service by two days per week to lower expenses, Copper Mountain offers free rides to woo sightseers. Copper’s after the tourism greenbacks while Snowmass’ short gondola linking the same base’s bottom and center is increasingly unnecessary due to low ridership.

All Aspen mountains are ditching paper lift tickets for radio frequency cards like those used at Vail resorts. Paper tickets necessitate litterable wickets and sticker-backers, and increase lift-line wait time when attached under clothing and searched for at the scanner. Lifties can scan reusable RF cards through parkas, and they’re rumored to be monitored higher on the mountain to track riders’ alpine habits.

When A-Basin turned its back 400 into Montezuma Bowl, the Forest Service helped to minimize environmental impact like grading or forest clearing. A helicopter delivered and installed lift poles and chairs to reduce ecosystem disturbance.

Mary Jane’s Parsenn Bowl sports new lifts, Panoramic up front and Eagle Wind behind. A new Village foots Winter Park, replacing the old lowercase village sans Starbucks, accessible from the new multilevel garage by two-person Cabriolet lift, from the French for “bourgeois coach.”

Similarly ungreen was ELFs 1998 arson at Vail’s Two Elk restaurant of old growth logs and taxidermy, America’s costliest ecoterrorist act yet. Vail is now clearing aspen on National Forest land to upgrade snowmaking near race courses and half-pipes on Golden Peak, named for the foliage of its aspen.

Consider all this as Justin Timberlake opens his ecologically-sustainable links named Mirimichi, the first Audobon sanctuary golf course in America. It promotes land stewardship by rehabilitating habitat, recycling irrigation water, and conserving wildlife. From the mind of a pop star. Go figure.

(AP) photo