Too Many Tourists In Colorado

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Originally Posted by Summit

Drive to a parking garage so you can take a gondola to another gondola to get to the base area... sweet. How is that different from the current parking on airport road and taking a bus to the gondola to the base area?

#whyidontskibreck

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No wait for the bus, no adding busses to the existing traffic problems, incorporate the gondola into the existing gondola so riders can continue on to peak 8.

I rarely ski Breck, but when I do, I have family in town and it is a holiday weekend.

One time we stayed in Brides-Les-Baines in France and you could ride a 30 minute gondola to get to the Meribel/Courchevel/Val Thorens lifts. It was was way cheaper than staying up in the actual ski resorts.

Perhaps we can resurrect the Aspen/Beaver Creek/Vail/Copper/Breck/Keystone/Abasin/Loveland/Winter Park super gondola! We can pay for it with pot taxes!

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Originally Posted by Danno

yeah, we really do have a strange dynamic here. Not quite local, but not quite tourist either. As one of them, I sorta feel like a local, but I also know that I'm most definitely not a local. But I'm also most definitely not a "tourist".

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I actually feel the same when I go to Denver. Sometimes I feel like I go there more than some people come up here. Headed down three times in the next week.

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Originally Posted by Dromontana

You have to use it to experience the benefits. Some old crusties in Breck extorted a councilwoman over the dispensary from what I understand. Yanked $500k in charitable donations to a charity administered by a lady supporting an initiative to keep the dispensary on the main st.

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Breck Grand Vacations threatened to pull the $ from the Summit Foundation. They ended up still donating once the measure passed. I'm surprised that didn't get any attention even when it was on national television. Breck Grand Vacations runs that town.

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Originally Posted by Summit

Perhaps we can resurrect the Aspen/Beaver Creek/Vail/Copper/Breck/Keystone/Abasin/Loveland/Winter Park super gondola! We can pay for it with pot taxes!

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This is a great idea, at least for Breck to Vail. Aspen is a little far. But yeah, the Euros got it right. A gondy connecting CB to mountCB would be great too.

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Originally Posted by Buster Highmen

Neither did we. I think we were just subject to the fallout from those Midwestern mothers and "locals", the latter of which really seemed like snotty rich kids.

Maybe things have changed in terms of these "explosions" of development with regard to the typical tourist being more upscale?

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There is that, along with the realization that there are no affordable places to rent for the season so if you didn't get lucky you won't be able to call yourself a local.

There is a small local population in Big Sky (maybe 1000) and then there are a lot of snotty rich kids from back east who live there for 3-5 years, call themselves locals. A lot of the Anti-tourist vibe came from the folks who bought into the whole Dirtbag thing. Most have grown up and either started families, put down roots and started a business or moved on.

So it goes I suppose.

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Originally Posted by digitaldeath

a real amenity

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http://animalia-life.com/data_images...e/manatee5.jpg

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Originally Posted by ULLRismyco-pilot

Breck Grand Vacations threatened to pull the $ from the Summit Foundation. They ended up still donating once the measure passed. I'm surprised that didn't get any attention even when it was on national television. Breck Grand Vacations runs that town.

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Attachment 188550

Gerald: The police work for time-share, too? [the police draw their guns and aim at the parents]
Phil: [somewhat menacing, moves forward] The police, the mayor, the president of the United States. Perhaps now you see the severity of your situation. I think we shall all sit down... [backs up] and listen to the presentation.

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Originally Posted by bunion

There is that, along with the realization that there are no affordable places to rent for the season so if you didn't get lucky you won't be able to call yourself a local.

There is a small local population in Big Sky (maybe 1000) and then there are a lot of snotty rich kids from back east who live there for 3-5 years, call themselves locals. A lot of the Anti-tourist vibe came from the folks who bought into the whole Dirtbag thing. Most have grown up and either started families, put down roots and started a business or moved on.

So it goes I suppose.

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Nothing personal. It's just that after enough ski "Resorts" we found that we had a better time at the smaller, less resorty places like Lost Trail, Disco, etc.

There's is that locals versus tourists dynamic in the resorty places I'd rather skip.

But back to the dynamic and how it can be leveraged to keep the experience.

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Originally Posted by Buster Highmen

Nothing personal. It's just that after enough ski "Resorts" we found that we had a better time at the smaller, less resorty places like Lost Trail, Disco, etc.

There's is that locals versus tourists dynamic in the resorty places I'd rather skip.

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We've been vacationing away from our local mega resorts for years. Head to Salida and ski powder at Monarch on MLK weekend. Head down to Taos on Super Bowl weekend. Even went up to Baker around Xmas a few years ago when it was dumping there. We are lucky enough to not be required in our jobs during the busiest days of the year. Of course it isn't always possible, but it is nice to have an escape sometimes. And the "locals" in these places don't even consider themselves "locals" usually.

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Originally Posted by Summit

Attachment 188550

Gerald: The police work for time-share, too? [the police draw their guns and aim at the parents]
Phil: [somewhat menacing, moves forward] The police, the mayor, the president of the United States. Perhaps now you see the severity of your situation. I think we shall all sit down... [backs up] and listen to the presentation.

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Actually experienced something on this level in Mexico last year. Talk about high pressure sales. At least we got a few bottles of tequila though.

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Originally Posted by Buster Highmen

Nothing personal. It's just that after enough ski "Resorts" we found that we had a better time at the smaller, less resorty places like Lost Trail, Disco, etc.

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X2

How about a bus that turns into/drives onto a gondy and givem a time share pitch on the two hour ride?

Or drone lifts that fly you straight to the top of the mtn from I-70 parkur lots. It also picks you up at the base runout and zips you back to the top.

The latter being also popular in the BC.

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Originally Posted by Summit

Here is a good example. Breckenridge has exploded, and parking is a fucking disaster and the town is congested. The town passed a 4.5% tax on lift tickets (basically a sales tax that applies exclusively to Breck Ski Area) with the promise that they'd build new skier parking with the tax dollars so Vail Resorts assented. As soon as the tax was passed, the town decided they'd rather not spend the taxes on parking. Instead they decided it would be better to add a "Free Trolly" to Main St, try to exclude more cars from town and improve pedestrian infrastructure with heated sidewalks, and there were calls to add roundabouts to Park Ave (Colorado State Highway 9) in order to "make traffic travel more slowly and safely."

Needless to say Breck Ski Area/Vail is super pissed right now about the bait and switch and doesn't want to be subject to a $4 million extra yearly donation to the town.

http://www.summitdaily.com/news/loca...parking-plans/

http://www.summitdaily.com/opinion/l...d-over-zoning/

The other major controversy around here are the major closures of primary roads on busy weekends to support road bike races/triathlons. That has a lot of locals and tourists pissed off. I literally try to plan to leave the county when one of these clusterfucks is scheduled.

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That's why Breck sucks. Move to Frisco. Seriously. Breck is the worst place to live. It's a half hour just to Frisco and the highway, and fucking jammed most of the time. Fur get about Saturday night. And then, on top of it all, you have to ski Breck.
Frisco has a free bus to both base lifts at Copper. Easy.

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Originally Posted by ULLRismyco-pilot

Breck Grand Vacations threatened to pull the $ from the Summit Foundation. They ended up still donating once the measure passed. I'm surprised that didn't get any attention even when it was on national television. Breck Grand Vacations runs that town.

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I'll bet, down deep, most locals are happy about it. Considering the shit show that town is at night sometime, one less vice is probably welcomed. The store owners have to make a buck.

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Originally Posted by bunion

Snotty rich kids.

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Heh. And I'll bet they're all sponsored and drink free.

What (if any) restrictions are in place on installing solid fuel burning appliances in Summit County? I assume it differs based on new construction versus renovation, and what the "primary" source of heat is, but I'm curious about what zoning says about woodstoves and fireplaces.

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Originally Posted by Benny Profane

I'll bet, down deep, most locals are happy about it. Considering the shit show that town is at night sometime, one less vice is probably welcomed. The store owners have to make a buck.

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Most locals don't go to Breck main street at night, or ever for that matter.

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Originally Posted by glademaster

What (if any) restrictions are in place on installing solid fuel burning appliances in Summit County? I assume it differs based on new construction versus renovation, and what the "primary" source of heat is, but I'm curious about what zoning says about woodstoves and fireplaces.

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Not allowed for new construction but many are grandfathered in.

Not allowed at all or prohibited as the sole/primary source of heat? I assume LPG/NG stoves and fireplaces are fair game for new construction?

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Originally Posted by ULLRismyco-pilot

Most locals don't go to Breck main street at night, or ever for that matter.

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No, I mean the retail and restaraunt people. And some people still actually live there.

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Originally Posted by glademaster

Not allowed at all or prohibited as the sole/primary source of heat? I assume LPG/NG stoves and fireplaces are fair game for new construction?

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As far as I know, LPG/NG is OK.

No idea on the woodturning stoves. Pretty sure they aren't allowed and that's a state thing. There might be some that are certified, like pellet stoves and such. I've had more than one friend's houses burn down because of a shitty old wood stove. I'll stick with our NG stove that turns on at the flip of a switch.

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Originally Posted by Buster Highmen

There's is that locals versus tourists dynamic in the resorty places I'd rather skip.

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I guess if one's local mountain was a big resorty place like JH or W/B or Breck with hordes of tourist traffic it'd be quite easy for the Benny factor to become overwhelming and just make you treat them all like rabbits.

I'll do some more digging but I appreciate the info. Doesn't seem like Summit would be fertile ground for the sort of business I am considering.

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Originally Posted by Benny Profane

No, I mean the retail and restaraunt people. And some people still actually live there.

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Yeah, those were some of the people who were against it. You can watch a 8 episode CNN documentary on it on Netflix. Those same people are against almost everything that doesn't directly or immediately benefit them and they are a powerful lobby in the town. They are even fighting restaurants on the outskirts of town now, worrying that they'll draw traffic away from main street.