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Colorado - Thu. 10/29/26 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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ON THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT, ARAPAHOE BASIN OPEN FOR 2026-27 SEASON
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On Wednesday morning, officials at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area announced that lifts would begin operating at 11 a.m. The Black Mountain Express will provide access to the intermediate High Noon run, making A-Basin the first Colorado ski area to open for the 2026-27 season. Additionally, the 6th Alley Bar & Grill at the base opened at 9 a.m., the Black Mountain Lodge opened in the afternoon, with live music in the base area all day. The Ikon Base Pass was welcomed as well as walk-up lift tickets were for sale. A-Basin is expected to open each day until 4 p.m. going forward, for as long as the season allows. Crews plan to continue snowmaking and open more terrain as quickly as possible along the Front Side of the mountain. Last year, Keystone opened on Oct. 25, and A-Basin opened on Oct. 26.
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FED VOTES TO HOLD INTEREST RATES STEADY
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The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at its regular October meeting, buying time to decide whether more rate hikes are needed to keep energy costs elevated inflation in check and prevent even further strain on already-tight household budgets. The decision, which maintained the Fed’s benchmark rate in a range between 3.75 percent and 4 percent, was approved on a 10-2 vote. Fed governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack dissented in favor of a quarter-point increase. Higher energy prices stemming from the war with Iran may prove stickier than expected, but the central bank’s decision to hold rates steady gives policymakers more time to assess the economic fallout. The dynamic could also lead Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh and the Federal Open Market Committee to consider raising rates at their December meeting in order to bring inflation down to the Fed’s 2 percent target.
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DENVER FASHION WEEK IS NOV. 7-14; BUT IT IS DIVA TIME AT THE ART MUSEUM
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On Oct. 4, the Denver Art Museum opened its DIVA exhibit, which will continue through January 2027. According to the museum, DIVA celebrates the radical power, creativity, and cultural impact of nearly 100 iconic performers, from 19th and 20th century divas like Josephine Baker, Sarah Bernhardt, and Maria Callas to modern-day powerhouses like Cher, Aretha Franklin, Lady Gaga, Dolly Parton, Prince, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, and more. There are some 250 pieces in the exhibit including pieces from Marilyn Monroe to a stunning look from one of Rihanna’s Met Gala appearances. It’s a dazzling exploration of how these stars use fashion and performance to not just entertain, but to demand visibility and ignite social change. The exhibit’s main focal point beyond the fashion is a redefinition of what makes a diva a ‘diva.’ Complete information is available at denverartmuseum.org.
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DENVER WATER LOOKING AT HIGHER RATES FOR HEAVY USE
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Denver Water imposed a cutoff of all lawn irrigation on Oct. 1, and Wednesday the Board of Water Commissioners voted to impose higher rates aimed at homeowners with large, irrigated lawns. Indoor water use will cost $2.33 per 1,000 gallons, and outdoor water use will cost $5.83 per 1,000 gallons. Under drought conditions that limit lawn watering to two days a week, the outdoor water price will jump to $7.23 per 1,000 gallons. The price changes, which go into effect Jan. 1, are expected to raise monthly water bills for single-family homes by an average of about $3.25 to $4.50. Billpayers for the average single-family home among Denver Water’s 1.5 million customers would see monthly charges rise 5.7 percent to $60.21. Suburban customers served by Denver Water’s resources would see their rates rise 7.9 percent, to an average of $61.57 a month.
Denver Water had targeted a 20 percent cut in use in 2026. By Sept. 30, Denver Water’s demand was down 9 percent from the five-year average. The Oct. 1 lawn shutdown has further boosted that savings to 11 percent from the five-year average and saved another 3,700 acre-feet of water. An acre-foot can serve the indoor and outdoor needs of two to four average households for a year.
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CDOT SEEKING $65 MILLION IN FEDERAL AID TO REPAIR WATER DAMAGED ROADS
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The Colorado Dept. of Transportation on Wednesday requested $65 million in emergency federal funding to repair damage to three federal-aid roadways. State officials also asked the Federal Highway Administration to release 10 percent of that funding through a quick-release process for work to start immediately. Colorado’s Transportation Commission has already approved $5 million in emergency funds to assist with immediate repairs along U.S. 160, U.S. 550 and Colorado 151. Up to 7 inches of rain fell in southwest Colorado between Thursday and Sunday, causing widespread flooding that topped four feet on some federal-aid roadways and closed several highways and local roads.
As of Thursday morning, Colorado 151 remained closed in both directions southwest of Pagosa Springs. Floodwaters decimated two sections of the highway south of the U.S. 160 junction, prompting the long-term closure. U.S. 160 was still alternating one-way traffic between Deer Trail and Hersch Avenue, west of Pagosa Springs, and between Forest Service Road 667 and County Road 20, south of South Fork, on Thursday. U.S. 550 was also alternating traffic on a stretch of highway north of Silverton, where the road’s washed-out embankment and shoulder were being stabilized. There is more rain in the forecast for southwest Colorado this weekend.
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HIGHLINE STATE PARK TO INSTALL A TELESCOPE
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife will partner with Western Colorado Astronomy Club to install a new observatory, called the DownUnder Observatory, on the western side of Highline State Park in Mesa County, five miles north of Loma. CPW said construction is expected to begin this winter and last until early spring 2027. Western Colorado Astronomy Club Board President Terry Hancock said the observatory will feature multiple advanced telescopes for viewing celestial objects and use in astrophotography.
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ASPEN CHAMBER INCREASES 2027 BUDGET TO AID TOURISM DURING AIRPORT CLOSURE
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The Aspen Chamber Resort Association gave an overview of its 2027 projected budget to the Aspen City Council Monday. The projected 2027 budget of $4,931,473 is about $90,000 higher than the 2026 ACRA budget of $4,843,136. The 2027 proposed income is $4,431,473, and the estimated $500,000 deficit will be covered by 2026 savings of $250,000 and $250,000 from Destination Marketing reserves. The 2027 closure of the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport will result in ACRA spending $100,000 more on its marketing budget to retain/attract summer visitors; $65,000 to help subsidize ground transportation from the Eagle County Airport to the Roaring Fork Valley and $20,000 on incentives for businesses looking to book group lodging at Aspen hotels in 2027. The additional $20,000 will go toward booking incentives for businesses who book 200 room nights or more from May 1 to Nov. 30. Those businesses will receive $5,000 in master account credits in 2027 instead of $2,000.
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SNOWMAKING UPGRADES FOR BIRDS OF PREY RACECOURSE AREA AT BEAVER CREEK
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The Vail Valley Foundation is the local agent which organizes World Cup racing at Vail and Beaver Creek each winter, and VVF Tuesday announced the most substantial upgrade to the Birds of Prey racecourse at Beaver Creek in many years. Crews will soon be using the new automated system on the lower third of the Birds of Prey course. The new automated system is designed to produce a more consistent race surface with greater energy and water efficiency. Installed this fall, it will help build the course for the 2026 Stifel Birds of Prey Audi FIS Ski World Cup, Dec. 3-13, which will be the largest festival in the event’s history.
The new system is the latest in a string of recent upgrades the nonprofit has made to the World Cup ski races in Beaver Creek, all of which have been made possible by the John and Karen Arnold Ski Racing Legacy Fund: an extraordinary gift dedicated to securing the long-term future of ski racing in the Vail Valley and ensuring Birds of Prey remains accessible to all as a free event. The upgraded system will serve the lower third of the course with 10 SMI Grizzly stick guns equipped with onboard air compressors and six SMI Super Puma fan guns, supported by six concrete vaults and 10 metal shelters, a new weather station, and roughly 4,500 feet of trenched power and hard-lined communications. Every gun can now be monitored and operated remotely and will start automatically the moment conditions allow. The Men's Birds of Prey World Cup will be Dec. 3-6 and the Women's Dec. 11-13.
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MORE THAN 60 KILLED IN TRAIN CRASH IN SPAIN
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A high-speed passenger train in Spain rear-ended another and caused a derailment on Wednesday morning. The crash took place near the town of Urda, around 140 km (100 miles) south of Madrid, killing at least 64 passengers. The fatal accident on the route from Madrid to Seville on Spain’s national rail company, Renfe, came only months after a deadly collision in southern Spain that involved the same carriers. In that accident, in January, 46 people were killed when two high-speed trains collided near Adamuz, in the country’s worst rail disaster since 2013. Iryo, a private rail company, operated the other train in both accidents, and was carrying 146 passengers plus one baby on Wednesday, while the Renfe-managed high-speed train had 397 passengers on board.
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2027 TRAVEL TRENDS
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Global travel site Omio, released its NowNext Travel report, in partnership with research and analytic site YouGov, which revealed travel trends for 2027 based on data from polling adults in the U.K., the U.S., Brazil, Spain, Italy and Germany who are likely to travel in 2027. What the report calls ‘pick and mix travel’ shows that, over the next 12 months, nearly half of travelers (48 percent) are thinking about a multi-stop journey, maybe to make the holiday more varied or to make better use of time and money. This chimes with the 2026 trend of travelers splitting vacations into two distinct parts, something that Bloomberg describes as an emotional contrast: the shift from stimulation and activity to rest and recovery. 2026 saw a big increase in travelmaxxing (doing as much as possible in the shortest amount of time, maybe in search of heightened emotions or to reduce overnight and transport costs).
The same Omio report highlights the increase in vacations that are about doing very little, about taking the time to be idle, with travelers wanting to slow down, to recharge, to do as little as possible. About a quarter of polled respondents preferred a slow-paced trip and planned fewer activities. It’s a keen paradox that both travelmaxxing and being more idle could be two sides of the same holiday. Booking.com’s 11th annual Travel Predictions report for 2027 states, “81 percent of global travelers would choose a vacation destination primarily based on how they want to feel, rather than where they want to go.” Together, these findings suggest that the defining 2027 travel trends will be less about choosing between action and rest, and more about designing a journey that delivers both.
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THE MOST EXPENSIVE NEIGHBORHOOD IN THE WORLD
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Mareterra, a 15-acre luxury development built directly on the Mediterranean Sea in Monaco, was completed in December 2024. It took 11 years and cost some $2.3 billion to build. It is the most expensive neighborhood in the world. Every one of its 130 apartments and villas sold out before it was completed. The project was the brainchild of Monaco’s ruling head of state, Prince Albert II, and Patrice Pastor, a local real estate billionaire and Mareterra’s largest investor. Some of those original homes are already hitting the market at wildly higher prices less than two years after they were finished.
- Some apartments are being offered at $12,900 per square foot, a 33 percent premium compared to what some original buyers paid. (Monthly rents go up to more than $130,000.)
- A 5,650-square-foot apartment in Le Renzo, a 17-story Mareterra property, is currently on the market for $73 million, a price equating to about $12,990 per square foot.
- The villas, including one listing for a 6-bedroom, 41,700-square-foot villa with a wine tasting room, indoor and outdoor pools, a spa, sauna, massage room and private theater, are expected to break records. “These villas are so big that we're talking about more than 200 million euros [$230 million] as a starting price,” for ones with no water views, says Florian Valeri, the founder of brokerage Barnes Valeri Agency.
- Seven villas on the seafront, the only homes built directly on Monaco’s coastline, could top $290 million. Monaco has long attracted the world’s richest and most famous—including Winston Churchill, Ringo Starr, Lewis Hamilton and, of course, Hollywood-royalty-turned-Monegasque princess Grace Kelly, thanks to its Mediterranean shores and extremely friendly tax code.
Smaller in size and population than Hoboken, New Jersey, Monaco is currently home to at least 29 billionaires worth a collective $167 billion, and another five members of the three-comma-club are investors in Mareterra or own second homes in the principality. Akhmetov’s reported neighbors at Mareterra include British chemicals billionaire James Ratcliffe and Formula 1 rivals Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, who live on opposite sides of Le Renzo. Billionaires make up about 0.07 percent of Monaco’s 38,857 residents, making it the country—and city—with by far the most billionaires per capita in the world: one for every 1,340 people.
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MARKET UPDATE - 10/28/2026 Close
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(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
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Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
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Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
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30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 10/22/2026)
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*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
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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.
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