Spring Powder Graces in the Rockies

This epic winter just keeps rolling along, with resorts extending their seasons

Skiers and snowboarders will remember the winter of 2007-08 as slow to start but then just would not quit -- and as a skier myself, it's news that I'm thrilled to share after several consecutive posts about airline/airport misery. Spring powder is a rare treat.

In Colorado, weekend storms bestowed 19 inches on Aspen Highlands and Beaver Creek, 18 inches on Snowmass and Steamboat, 16 on Aspen Mountain, 15 inches on Vail and Crested Butte, a foot or so on Loveland, Winter Park and Buttermilk, but "only" about six inches on Copper Mountain, Eldora, Arapahoe Basin, Keystone, Telluride and Echo Mountain.
Silverton reports 120 inches of settled snow at mid-mountain and Wolf Creek boasts 129 inches. Such significant snow totals this season have prompted some resorts to extend winter operations. Aspen Highlands is the latest resort to extend their closing date, joining Monarch, Purgatory (Durango) and Wolf Creek, which have already pushed back their closing dates. Arapahoe Basin will operate as late as it likes while there's still cover. (The two pictures on this post were taken on March 31, the top one at Vail and the bottom one at Aspen -- or perhaps Snowmass. Hard to tell with all that pow'.)

Utah has been similarly snow-blessed. Alta and Brighton have both surpassed the 600-inch season snowfall totals. Resorts that have tallied 12 or more inches in the last 48 hours include Alta, Brighton, The Canyons, Snowbird and Park City.

Up north, Sun Valley is keeping the lifts running on Bald Mountain until April 20 and is also offering a great Last Tracks package, with one night lodging and one day of skiing from $86 per person, plus kids 15 and under can ski free with each paid adult. Also in Idaho, Brundage Mountain near McCall surpassed the 400-inch mark on March 29 and is extended its season as well, operating seven days a week through mid-April and for the two weekends after that.

Aloha Airlines Grounded for Good

Long-time Hawaiian carrier to cease operations tomorrow

"Aloha" is Hawaiian both for "hello" and for "good-bye," and now, as the island state says "aloha" to its namesake airline, it seems to be "good-bye" for good. Just eight days ago, I posted news that 61-year-old Aloha Airlines had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy but was continuing to operate. That was then, and this is now.

The Hawaii Convention & Visitors Bureau sent out the following sad news: "Aloha Airlines announced today it will be shutting down its interisland and transpacific passenger flight operations on Monday, March 31, 2008. Only momentary disruption is expected as other interisland and transpacific airlines have the capacity to accommodate Aloha ticket holders."

"We simply ran out of time to find a qualified buyer or secure continued financing for our passenger business," said Aloha president David Banmiller in a statement. "We had no choice but to take this action."

The Hawaii Tourism Authority issued a press release about the situation.

• The Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB) is also keeping Hawaii travelers updated on the situation with information on its website.


• Aloha Airlines' announcement: Aloha Airlines to Shut Down Passenger Operations After March 31, 2008, Ending a 61-Year Tradition of Service to Hawaii


• Aloha Airlines Customer FAQ website


• Hawaiian Airlines' Information for Aloha Airlines Ticket Holders. Hawaiian said that it will add capacity and take Aloha passengers on a standby basis free through April 3.


• United Airlines' Help for Aloha Airlines Customers

In addition to interisland service, Aloha flew to four destinations in California and two in Nevada with a fleet of 27 Boeing 737 aircraft. Some of these planes carry only cargo and will reportedly continue to operate, at least for now, because Seattle-based Saltchuk Resources is interested in buying the freight service, a business it is already in.

Heathrow's Terminal 5 is a Terrible Mess

Mountains of lost bags, canceled flights, frustrated travelers and a public relations fiasco

The dedicated website for Heathrow Airport's new Terminal 5 cooed into cyberspace, "At London Heathrow Terminal 5 we’ve created a natural, logical journey that’s so calm, you’ll flow through. It shouldn’t take long to get from Check-in to Departures. Transferring and arriving are just as simple and calm. Spend the time you save enjoying the excellent range of shops, cafes and restaurants. Or simply relax and be wowed by the world class architecture."

Instead, travelers using the new £4.3 billion ($8.7 billion) T5 were wowed by utter chaos that began almost as soon as the new facilitiy. In its first four days of operations, at least 250 British Airways flights were canceled, stranding thousands of passengers. At least 15,000 and perhaps 20,000 pieces of luggage that reportedly were not loaded onto the planes need to be "repratriated" to their owners who had, in fact, taken off while their bags were still on the ground. Computer problems were blamed.

In a story called "Flight Club at Heathrow T5," the Sun newspaper reported of a brawl among 30 baggage handlers. BA could be libel for compensation up to a stunning £5,000 per passenger, it was further reported. At the very least, the airline had to arrange for and pay for emergency accommodations for armies of stranded passengers. Image-conscious Brits are have a cow, and the tabloids are having a field day.

Long-haul flights were said to be operating close to schedule today (Sunday). Domestic (i.e., within the UK) flights and flights to the European continent have been most affected. "We are endeavoring to do everything we can to get the operation back to normal," said an unnamed but clearly beleaguered spokeswoman for British Airways. Of course. The airline claimed that 400 employees volunteered to work on Sunday to help with what the BBC described as "mountains of suitcases stacked up in the terminal after passengers were unable to reclaim them or were forced to fly on to their destinations without their luggage, and which the BBC continued "could take weeks to sort out."

The flying public will have to take their word for it, because BBC also said that "it had been banned from filming at the terminal, where hundreds of passengers were facing long delays. Sky News television also said it had been locked out." Go to the Telegraph's online story, scroll down to "In Pictures" and we wowed by the slide show of the mess.

Even when the chaos has been straightened out and T5 is humming as promised, Heathrow will remain an incredibly congested airport. It is the world's third-busiest airport (after Chicago/O'Hare and Atlanta/Hartsfield) and has just two runways, meaning that delays are endemic, even without a snafu like T5's opening days. In wisdom that matches US automakers' foresight, US-based Delta, Continental Airlines, Northwest and United began flights into London's chronically constripated Heathrow Airport on Mar. 30, even as their BA brethren were still struggling under mountains of luggage. At least the American carriers won't be using T5.

Addendum from the Monday, March 31, report in the Telegraph:

"The debacle, which is estimated to have cost BA £20 million already, will mean the airline has been forced to scrap more than 450 flights since the opening of the £4.3 billion Terminal last week. The chaos would have been even worse had the airline not decided to continue operating the bulk of its long-haul operation from Terminal 4."

Historic Hotels of the Rockies at 25 Years

National association modeled after Western regional group

The Rocky Mountain region is known for its pioneering past, so it is not surprising that the promotional organization called Historic Hotels of the Rockies was a pioneer in its own right and is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Founded in 1983 by 15 properties as Association of Historic Hotels of the Rocky Mountain West, it was created to promote the unique features of historic inns, to provide mutual support and to advance the common interests of historic hotels. The organization proved to be a such a success that the National Trust for Historic Preservation used it as a model for the Historic Hotels of America, established in 1989.

Membership is by invitation. Criteria are that the hotel . . .

. . . must be at least 50 years old.

. . . must be listed in, or qualify for listing in, the National Register of Historic Places.
. . . must be maintained in a manner which enhances and is appropriate to the building's historic character.
. . . must offer guests unique and memorable accommodations which reflect well upon all other members.

I've stayed in a few, visited others and admired them all. Current members are:

Grand Union Hotel, Fort Benton, MT (photo above right)
Izaak Walton Inn, Essex, MT
Historic Plains Hotel, Cheyenne, WY
Nagle Warren Mansion, Cheyenne, WY
Irma Hotel, Cody, WY

Historic Franklin Hotel, Deadwood, SD
Hotel Alex Johnson, Rapid City, SD
Armstrong Hotel, Fort Collins, CO
Beaumont Hotel and Spa, Ouray, CO
Castle Marne, Denver
Delaware Hotel, Leadville, CO
Hotel Colorado, Glenwood Springs , CO
New Sheridan Hotel, Telluride, CO
Peck House, Empire, CO
Strater Hotel, Durango, CO
Bishops Lodge Ranch Resort & Spa, Santa Fe , NM
Don Gaspar, Santa Fe, NM
Plaza Hotel, Las Vegas, NM

The commonality among members appears to be that they are quite small, ranging from deluxe B&B's to boutique hotels. The Hotel Alex Johnson in Rapid City, with 141 rooms appears to be the largest. Double digit room counts prevail for the rest. That puts this group into the classification of intimate properties with personalized guest services and often also fine dining.

Among the missing (but in most cases do belong to Historic Hotels of America) are several larger properties that I assume would qualify are the Brown Palace Hotel, Denver; Oxford Hotel, Denver; The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs; the Hotel Boulderado, Boulder, and the Wort Hotel in Jackson, WY. I understand that Aspen's Hotel Jerome was a member until RockResorts took over management. If La Posada de Albuquerque manages to complete its restoration and reopen as planned this spring (or whenever), it too would seem to qualify. So would the historic lodges in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, though the historic ones are all seasonal.

I don't know the association's invitation policy or hotels' acceptance policies, but on the surface, they would all make sense to me.

Colorado Legislature Considering I-70 Tolls

State Senate weighs lame-brained proposal to levy a $5 toll at the Eisenhower Tunnel

Western Slopers and Front Rangers who love the mountains are opposing it. Colorado resort officials are apoplectic. But a state Senate subcommittee is reportedly keeping the nightmare of a $5 peak period toll alive.

"Senate Bill 213, by Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, passed the Senate Transportation Committee 5-2 after about two hours of heated and lopsided testimony," the Denver Post reported. Colorado Springs residents don't customarily use I-70. Their route into the mountains and western Colorado is via toll-free US 24, so of course, Senator McElhany doesn't find shoving a toll down the throats of presumably more liberal skiers and other mountain recreationists from Denver, Boulder and elsewhere on the northern Front Range who do use I-70.

"McElhany said his bill would generate hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for a solution to congestion woes on I-70. But, he said, his bill would not circumvent the existing studies on I-70 because it would not specify what the solution would be," the Post report continued.

Hundreds io millions of dollars? It would take a long, long time. Last year, 11,775,017 vehicles traveled through the Eisenhower Tunnel. At $5 per vehicle, that would have grossed less than $60 million in 2007 -- if tolls were collected 24/7 every week of the year. Peak periods only would have brought in less. Add to that the cost of building and staffing toll plazas, and it would take years for these unpopular revenues to build up.

Furthermore, fiscal idiocy aside, as anyone who has lived or driven in states with highway tolls can tell you, the backups at each toll gate 1) cause delays; 2a) cause idling/crawling vehicles to burn more fuel and 2b) therefore cause more carbon emissions; 3) and 2b will probably further stress the trees and other vegetation growing along the roadside; and 4) delay snowplow that are stuck behind winter traffic at the tolls.

With representatives like Senator McElhany looking out for the interests of Coloradans and travelers to our state, we might as well throw in the towel on mountain recreation now. What an lame-brained idea.

Federal Air Marshals MIA

Feds made big deal of air marshal program that has atrophied -- and pilot's gun goes off in flight

The US instituted a federal air marshal program in the 1970s after a spate of hijackings and said it was beefing it up after 9/11, when it made a big deal of hiring more agents who would be on board many commercial flights to protect the flying public. Now, CNN reports that only about 1 percent of daily flights have an armed federal marshal on board. The Air Marshal Service claims it is closer to 5 percent, but admits that attrition has impacted the service. The Transportation Security Agency, une which the Air Marshal Service operates, won't give actual numbers or percentages, on the gronds of those being "classified" information. Still, it is worth reading the entire CNN report just to learn how the feds are tap dancing, semantically, around the the issue. According to the CNN report, "the marshal service considers a flight 'covered' even if a marshal is not on board -- as long as a law enforcement officer or pilot in possession of a firearm is on board, even if that person is flying for personal reasons. The 'covered' designation includes pilots armed in the cockpit."

On Saturday, such cockpit coverage literally backfired. An unnamed pilot's firearm on US Airways' flight #1536 between Denver and Charlotte discharged in flight while the plane was on approach to Charlotte. News reports indicated that none of the 124 or five crew members were in danger, and no one was hurt. The circumstances were not detailed. The Transportation Security Administration is reportedly investigating how the gun discharged and where the bullet hit. How reassuring!

Frankly, I don't know whether any air marshal ever deterred any incident, or whether it is just another example of government ineptitude masquerading as protecting the traveling public.

Paying Homage to Ancient Trees

World's oldest tree on record -- or oldest trees, "on record" or not?

Is it hair splitting or wood splintering to discuss relative ages of trees on the greater tourism trail? The Sri Lanka Tourist Board has just sent out an announcement that the country's Ministry of Tourism has purchased a non-polluting, four-passenger electric vehicle to carry old (or otherwise mobility-challenged) visitors to a very old tree. They believe the Sri Mahabodhi tree in sacred Anuradhapura to be the world's oldest recorded tree. The revered Bo tree (top right) is more than 2,500 years old.

That may be, but it's only because no one was around at high elevations to record the time when today's bristlecone pines were seedlings. Even today, they are remote and often difficult to reach. Small colonies of this rugged, thick-trunked pine species that sometimes resembles banzai on steroids grow between about 10,000 and 11,000 feet in six Western states: Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Nevada (a Great Basin bristlecone is shown, lower right).

Donald R. Currey, then a doctoral student of the University of North Carolina, merits a footnote to the history of seriously misguided endeavors. In 1964, he was taking core samples of bristlecones, including a huge, gnarled specimen named Prometheus. It was so solid a tree that he kept breaking his coring tool broke. He asked for and shockingly, received permission from the U.S. Forest Service to cut the tree down to determine its age. In a spectacularly example of bone-headed bureaucracy, the Forest Service granted permission to cut it down, earning Currey the distinction of having killed the oldest known living thing on the planet. Forty-four years ago, 4,844 rings were counted. A website devoted to bristlecones refers to Prometheus as "The Martyred One."

Currently, the oldest acknowledged bristlecone pine, nicknamed Methuselah, is still growing in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in eastern California's White Mountains. Either it's not as tough a tree as Prometheus was or core sampling tools have improved, but it has been dated by dendochronology, the science of counting tree rings, to be 4,789 years old. The Forest Service has learned something in more than 40 decades and will not reveal Methuselah's exact position in the bristlecone grove in order to protect it from a latter-day Currey who wants to break the record.

The road to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest Visitor Center is about an hour from Bishop, CA, and is generally open from May through October. These ancient trees are concentrated in two groves, the Schulman Grove and the Patriarch Grove.

In addition to groves that require something of a hike, I know of three fairly easily reachable bristlecone groves in Colorado:

• The most straightforward is the Mt. Evans Scenic Highway, not far from Idaho Springs, which provides access to a bristlecone grove between Mt. Evans and Mt. Goliath. The road is generally plowed out by Memorial Day and remains open until October.
• Bristlecones also inhabit the picturesque lake-filled cirque at the foot of St. Mary's Glacier, north of Interstate 70's Fall River Road exit (Exit 238). Local residents of surrounding subdivisions are fiercely protective of their private property, and permitted parking is extremely limited.
• The Windy Ridge Bristlecone Scenic Area is about four miles from Alma, which in turn is along Colorado 9 south of Breckenridge. Reaching the parking area for the bristlecone grove requires driving an unpaved road and fording a small steam. It is usually drivable by May, but with this winter's heavy snows, who knows?