|
Colorado - Mon. 09/14/26 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
|
|
View in Browser
|
|
|
| |
ALTERRA’S IKON PASS ADDS MORE ASIAN SKI AREAS TO ITS DESTINATION BASE
|
| |
|
|
| |
As the ski industry continues to look for ways to expand its base and retain skiers, the two major ski passes, Vail Resort’s Epic Pass and Alterra’s Ikon Pass, have expanded the access for skiers to areas around the world. The latest came with the announcement last week that the Ikon Pass has added three new Asian resorts, one in Japan and two in China, for Ikon Pass users to ski for the upcoming 2026-27 ski season. The additions increase the Ikon Pass’s ski mountain access in Asia to 14 resorts, with its top pass offering up to 98 days of ski lift access at destinations in Japan, China and South Korea.
This season, the Ikon Pass adds Madarao Mountain Resort in Japan. In China, it adds Beidahu Ski Resort and Lake Songhua Resort to the list of international destinations skiers can visit with the Ikon Pass, which is currently selling for $1,449. Users of the top Ikon Pass will have seven days at the three resorts, and those with an Ikon Base Pass, which costs $1,019, will have five days of access.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
THE WINTER DRIVING RULES ARE NOW IN EFFECT, CSP IS ISSUING TICKETS
|
| |
|
|
| |
Colorado’s winter driving laws, including the passenger vehicle traction law and commercial vehicle chain law, went into effect Sept. 1 and remain in effect until the end of May 2027. Colorado’s “must-carry” law requires commercial vehicles over 16,000 pounds to carry chains at all times on mountain roadways such as Interstate 70 between Sept. 1 and May 31. In 2024, the state legislature updated the must-carry chain law to expand which roads it applied to, including parts of Colorado Hwy. 9 from Frisco to Fairplay, U.S. Route 50 near Salida and others. State troopers conduct checks to ensure that commercial vehicles are carrying chains anytime they stop a vehicle on mountain roads. Port of entry officers also conduct proactive chain checks about twice a month at weigh stations where commercial vehicles are required to pull off.
The Colorado State Patrol reported that CSP has issued its first citations of this winter season. The citations went to two commercial vehicles for failing to carry chains during two separate traffic stops on I-70 between Avon and Vail on Sept. 7. Despite last winter being mild with a record-low snowpack, CSP troopers issued 586 citations for chain law citations and port of entry officers issued 2,405 chain law citations.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
INFLATION RATE HOLDS STEADY IN AUGUST
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
The Labor Dept. Friday reported that the inflation rate held steady at 3.4 percent in August, matching the July rate of 3.4 percent and matching the projections of analysts. The Federal Reserve meets this week, and the August report could put more pressure on the Fed to raise rates. Markets have already moved in that direction, expecting a rate increase. Further complicating the Fed decision, oil prices have surged this month, with crude fetching over $100 a barrel in Friday New York trading, versus $85.76 at the end of August. Interest-rate futures now imply there is about an 85 percent chance that the central bank will increase its target range on overnight rates by a quarter point. Before the report, the chances were about 70 percent.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
BLM & CPW WORKING ON NORTH SAND HILLS RECREATION AREA MANAGEMENT PLAN
|
| |
|
|
| |
Recently, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials held a meeting in Walden, with virtual coverage, to review the North Sand Hills Recreation Area Management Plan. This year, the CPW completed an arrangement with the Bureau of Land Management to establish the North Sand Hills Recreation Area, formerly the North Sand Hills OHV Area, with the BLM maintaining ownership while CPW would manage the land similar to a state park. They would look at developing amenities such as bathrooms and campgrounds as well as charge fees. The North Sand Hills is the state’s only open sand dune area for ATVs and dirt bikes. Thus, a key factor in CPW management would be law enforcement.
In the process of creating a management plan for the area, CPW has instituted a survey to collect feedback. CPW summarized the results of the survey so far and law enforcement “has been a pretty major theme we’re hearing,” said Ben Sharp, a planning and engagement specialist for CPW. The survey is open until Sept. 30 at engagecpw.org/north-sand-hills-management-plan.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
FRONTIER AIRLINES WILL OFFER FIRST-EVER FLIGHTS TO SOUTH AMERICA
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
Denver-based Frontier Airlines plans to offer flights to South America for the first time in its 32-year history, unveiling routes there from Florida on Thursday. Frontier will launch new nonstop routes between Orlando International Airport (MCO) and El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá (BOG), Rafael Núñez International Airport in Cartagena (CTG), and José María Córdova International Airport in Medellín (MDE) in December. Fares for the routes are being offered starting at $99 to celebrate the new service, Frontier said.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
MESA VERDE NP TO RETURN ARTIFACTS & INDIGENOUS REMAINS TO TRIBES
|
| |
|
|
| |
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, known as NAGPRA, requires federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funds, including museums, universities, state agencies and local governments, to return Native American human remains and other cultural items to tribal nations. Officials at Mesa Verde National Park have conducted a thorough inventory of human remains and culturally significant objects in Mesa Verde’s collection over the past two years, as required by NAGPRA. In a Notice published in the Federal Register on July 31, the National Park Service stated the NPS found 4,304 objects that were likely associated with death rites or ceremonies as well as the remains of 85 individuals which the agency plans to return to Native American tribes in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.
The objects identified by Mesa Verde National Park include ceramic bowls and jars, sandals, mattings, ropes made of human hair and animal bones. Park officials found feather boxes, crystals, turquoise and buckskin bags. Many of these cultural items, along with human remains, were found during University of Colorado excavations and other archaeological projects in the park during the 1950s and ’60s.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
LUXURY HOME SALES IN RESORT AREAS: A RECORD IN DEER VALLEY, $63M SALE IN ASPEN
|
| |
|
|
| |
A new nine-bedroom home in a gated mountain neighborhood in the Deer Valley resort in Park City, Utah, has sold for $37 million. That constitutes a record sale within the city limits of Park City. The property was purchased in 2021, as a vacant lot, for $6 million. Raymond Uritescu, CEO of Providence Realty Investments, a Rhode Island-based real-estate investment firm, the owner, built a 17,000-square-foot home with 11 fireplaces and 15 bathrooms, which he originally listed at $39 million about 18 months ago.
In Aspen, another 17,000-square-foot house, at the base of Aspen Mountain, with seven bedrooms, two elevators, a 1,500-bottle wine cellar, four bars and a bowling alley, sold for $63.5 million. Todd Lemkin, former chief investment officer at the Dallas-based investment firm Canyon Partners, and his wife, Kasey Lemkin, were the owners and the house was rented by several celebrities, including the singer Rihanna. The Lemkins purchased the home in 2022 for $60 million and had relisted it for sale a couple of times since.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
LAWSUIT BY TELSKI OWNER AGAINST FORMER TOWN OFFICIALS DISMISSED
|
| |
|
|
| |
San Miguel County District Judge Laura E.H. Harvell dismissed a lawsuit by Chuck Horning, owner of Telluride ski area, against former Mountain Village Mayor Marti Prohaska, former Telluride Mayor Pro Tem Meehan Fee and former Mountain Village town manager Paul Wisor. The judge ruled that Horning “fails to state a plausible claim” in his allegation that the local leaders orchestrated a failed plan to buy the ski area. Harvell agreed with the trio, dismissing the lawsuit “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot be refiled, saying that Horning’s “claim is deficient.”
Horning, who has owned the Telluride ski area for more than 20 years, this summer sued the three local leaders, arguing they used their positions to “coerce” Horning to sell the resort with a promise they would end a strike by ski patrollers, who stopped working in late December after months of failed labor negotiations. Investigations by the two towns found the three leaders did not break any laws in designing the offer to buy 51 percent of the ski resort.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
SNOWMASTADON RETURNS IN 2027: THIS TIME WITH PREPARATION
|
| |
|
|
| |
It was autumn 2010 when Gould Construction bulldozer operator Jesse Steele hit a mammoth bone with his blade while digging to expand the Ziegler Reservoir in Snowmass Village. It set off a remarkable effort, headed by the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, to excavate, record and preserve Ice Age fossils never before in the world found at such quantity and quality at such a high elevation. It was a hurried effort shortened by weather in 2010 and by the need to expand the reservoir in 2011. In 2010 and 2011, only about 10 percent of the reservoir’s footprint was excavated for fossils, leaving a potentially massive amount of fossils yet to be unearthed.The Snowmass Water and Sanitation District plans to expand the Ziegler Reservoir again in 2027, with digging to increase capacity by an additional 40 million gallons.
On Tuesday, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science officially announced they will once again be digging alongside Snowmass Water and Sanitation District Manager Kit Hamby’s crews, bringing in a group of about 40-50 people to spend several months next year to find out what else nature has preserved beneath Ziegler’s cold, calm waters. Because the Snowmass Water and Sanitation District was formed by the state, the state of Colorado owns the bones found within the reservoir’s footprint. And the museum has an MOU with the state allowing them to collect and preserve fossils found within that footprint. With people already wanting to sign up to volunteer to dig, Sara Stookey Sanchez of Snowmass Tourism is working on plans to figure out how best to accommodate volunteers, engage the public and curate a guest experience for science-minded visitors.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
A SKILLED MOUNTAINEER DEVELOPS LOCALLY BASED RECYCLING PROGRAM
|
| |
|
|
| |
Phil Henderson moved to Cortez about ten years ago with his family after being a mountaineer and guide for many years. Henderson was the second Black person to summit Denali in Alaska in 2013 and in 2022 managed an expedition of Black climbers to summit Mount Everest. That was after leading an all Black ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro in 2018. In Cortez, he volunteered at a local charter school in McElmo Canyon but also started a business at his home making packs, pouches, dry bags and other gear by recycling backpacks, bags and other items from Osprey, the backpack company based in Cortez. The materials, primarily from Osprey, are repurposed at a shed at Henderson’s home, where there are five sewing machines, along with drawers of zippers and buckles.
Henderson had survived and led by knowing how to fix tents, tarps, kayak spray skirts and other equipment that had broken down during expeditions, and what began as a one-man operation has now expanded into a teaching venture as Henderson is now training students in Montezuma County how to sew and assemble the recycled gear. His nonprofit, Full Circle Expeditions, received a grant last year from the LOR Foundation, which invests in rural communities in the West. The money paid for the shed, sewing machines and a heat press. In addition to the sixth-grade students from Battle Rock Charter School coming to learn, Henderson offers adult sewing lessons for $20 an hour, or an hour of work on his projects. Henderson sees the potential for a mobile gear repair shop, and he hopes to connect with other manufacturers in the Four Corners.
|
| |
|
|
|
| |
PRICE OF DIESEL FUEL IN COLORADO SPIKES TO RECORD HIGHS
|
| |
|
|
| |
Gas prices in Colorado are spiking again, and now they’re breaking records. Growing volatility in the Strait of Hormuz and low refining capacity in the U.S. have pushed crude oil prices past $100 per barrel for the first time since July, bringing prices at the pump back up to what they looked like in early June, according to a news release from the American Automobile Association.
- The average national price for a gallon of regular gasoline climbed 14 cents in one week, hitting $4.29 on Friday, according to AAA data.
- The average in Colorado sits roughly 5 cents higher per gallon, at $4.34.
- Although the gas prices did not reach all-time highs, diesel prices did. The national average price for a gallon of diesel fuel reached $6.05 on Friday, climbing 8 cents in just 24 hours. The record set in Colorado was slightly lower, with a new high of $5.81, which was roughly $2.25 more expensive than the state’s average price for diesel in September 2025.
For mountain towns on the Western Slope, the cost is even steeper:
- In Vail, diesel prices rose 10 cents overnight, hitting a record-high of $6.06 per gallon on Friday.
- One year ago, the average price for diesel in Vail was $3.75.
- Diesel prices in Glenwood Springs sit at $6 as of Friday, $2.21 higher than last September.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
MARKET UPDATE - 09/11/2026 Close
|
| |
|
(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
|
| |
|
Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 09/10/2026)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
|
| |
|
| |
Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
|
| |
|
|
| |
| Make changes to your subscription or unsubscribe here. |
| © 2026 Alpine Bank. |
| |
|
|
