Ski-Blog.com

July 14, 2008

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

It is finally here and all I can say is Awesome. High five me, Ted.

Barney Stinson is Dr. Horrible.

Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog.

Like snorting coke off of a stripper's ass...

Doogie Howser...

Come on.

Posted by Justin at 11:39 PM | Categories: Humor

Owner Trees Dies, Village and Quad Among Other Things are in Limbo

Brian Head Resort owner Jim Trees passed away last week:

Brian Head, UT - The primary owner, President and CEO of Utah's Brian Head ski resort, Jim Trees, died suddenly on Monday, June 2 of cardiac arrest while on his daily walk in Tiburton, Calif. He was 69.

Since purchasing Brian Head Resort in 1992, Trees implemented many new improvements at the ski area including the installation of an extensive snowmaking system, a vehicle maintenance facility, and most recently two new chairlifts and a skier bridge to connect the formerly two separate mountains, Giant Steps and Navajo. He was the driving force behind master planning and entitling the resort's future expansion into an adjacent 1,700 acre parcel of land, as well as working to secure entitlements for a future new skier village at the base of the current Giant Steps base area...

Prior to moving to Utah, he was the founder, Chairman and CEO of Fischer, Francis, Trees and Watts, Inc., an SEC-registered large investment management firm in New York City. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. in International Finance. Trees relocated in 1997 with his two children from his Utah ranch to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Condolences to the family. Trees owned the place for 16 years and it leaves a lot of unanswered questions about what is next.

One thing that we know isn't next is the skier village and the giant steps high speed quad that has been running on the cable access channel in a continuous loop everyday.

Posted by Justin at 10:53 PM | Categories: Brian Head

Interesting Developments

I have not done a lot of writing as of late. I have not been busy, just been preoccupied with some work stuff.

Back in October, I posted "Add the title 'Inventor' to my resume" about my first patent issued.

Well, let's add a new title--prolific inventor. Well, not quite since the second one is derived from the first patent, but this is my second approved patent in the last nine months.

I am pretty stoked about it, but have a couple other things going on at work right now that are also interesting. Depending on confidentiality agreements, I might post more information, but as of right now, some big stuff is going on and it has been keeping me very busy lately.

Posted by Justin at 10:44 PM | Categories: Personal

June 26, 2008

Update on Village at Wolf Creek

New info on the Village at Wolf Creek regarding the lawsuit between the developer and the resort:

WOLF CREEK— The owners of Wolf Creek ski resort and developers of the proposed Village at Wolf Creek have reportedly settled their lawsuit over the project.

The Pitcher family, owners of the ski area through Wolf Creek Ski Corp. Inc., sued Leavell-McCombs Joint Venture over the $1 billion Village at Wolf Creek resort project in 2003.

U.S. District Court Judge John Kane dismissed the case last Tuesday without ruling as to the admissibility of any evidence presented, according to The Associated Press.

The Pitchers reportedly cooperated with the Village at Wolf Creek’s developers early on, but pulled out in the 1990s.

Led by Kingsbury Pitcher, they sued the joint venture, claiming they had no legal responsibility to help develop the resort. Leavell-McCombs countersued, alleging that the Pitchers had committed fraud and breached their contract.

The settlement cancels a trial that was scheduled for July 7. The Pitchers had reportedly threatened to introduce evidence of the political intrigue that has surrounded the Village since the 1980s. The two sides were haggling over political allegations when the settlement was announced...

A separate lawsuit filed by environmental groups over the development was settled out of court in February, with steps yet to be taken including evaluation of an access road by the U.S. Forest Service, approval of a highway access permit by the Colorado Department of Transportation and approval of development plans by Mineral County, which can only be considered after access is approved.

According to Honts, the next step will be with the Forest Service, which is under a court-ordered agreement to do another environmental impact study for proposed access roads to the development.

Forest Service spokesman Mike Blakeman said the government will bill McCombs for the costs of the Environmental Impact Study (EIS) for access roads and Forest Service employees will do most of the work on it, not a private contractor. Rio Grande National Forest (RGNF) officials will choose the team that does the environmental analysis.

Back to square one... point five.

Posted by Justin at 12:54 AM | Categories: Wolf Creek

June 08, 2008

Brian Head Skier Visits Update

A little behind the times, but I found this spreadsheet from the Forest Service on skier visits for some various resorts. Net is that in 2006-2007, Brian Head got 134,000 skier days which was down slightly from the year before and down 10,000 from 2004-05. I was told that this year, despite the new interconnect, things were more or less unchanged. I am waiting on the Utah annual report to come out to update my skier visits page.

Also, word is that the new skier village that was proposed is dead. The real estate market is incredibly slow. And there are five major new condo projects in Brian Head right now.

Posted by Justin at 05:26 PM | Comments (3) | Categories: Brian Head

May 24, 2008

Global Warming Alert--Memorial Day Edition

First, it was 11" of snow in Flagstaff on May 13, now it is the Memorial Day Weekend Weather in Phoenix that saw snow in Flagstaff and Eastern Arizona's White Mountains.

The National Weather Service is projecting lower-than-average highs of 77 degrees today, 84 on Sunday and 87 on Monday. Historically, the temperature this time of the year hits an average of 97 degrees.

The mild weekend comes after an unusual week in which the Valley saw its first triple-digit temperature of the year, including a blistering 110 degrees on Monday, followed by showers Thursday and Friday that broke a three-month dry spell.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, where weather officially is gauged, recorded 0.39 inch of rain between Thursday and Friday.

Chandler logged the most rainfall across the Valley, 1.34 inches... May is the second-driest month of the year (June is the driest) in Phoenix. This week's showers surpassed the 0.16 inch of rain the Valley sees on average for the entire month.

Precipitation was minimal in Tucson where only .02 inch of rain fell on Thursday, but Mount Lemmon got dusted with about 3 inches of snow.

In Flagstaff, where more than 3 inches of snow had fallen by Friday afternoon, a winter advisory remains in effect until 6 a.m. today.

In Greenlee County in eastern Arizona, 12.5 inches of snow hit Hannagan Meadow.

We took my wife's Passat up to Payson for the day instead of the Avalanche because at almost $4.00 per gallon, we need to get rid of the SUV. Let's think about that for a second. If indeed, Global Warming was the most dangerous threat to mankind since the Plague or SARS or AIDS or Bird Flu or... If it is the worst thing ever, what IS ACTUALLY PRETTY DAMNED EFFECTIVE is gas in the $4-5 per gallon range. People actually make responsible choices and use less fuel. Sure, some folks don't but lots of others start feeling the pain.

Posted by Justin at 11:16 PM | Comments (1) | Categories: Weather

May 14, 2008

Run Like Hell from Folks with Mullets

From today's Arizona Republic:

SCOTTSDALE - Police are searching for a man who shot and wounded a large dog in the 6800 block of East Almeria Street.

Police were called about 8 p.m. Friday by witnesses who said they heard a bang and the yelping of a dog.

The Rottweiler's owner discovered the dog, blood streaming from its mouth, near his carport door shortly after the gun shot, Scottsdale police said.

A veterinarian confirmed that the Rottweiler was shot once in the head, with the bullet entering the side of the dog's mouth and exiting though its tongue, police said.

The dog was unleashed and unattended when it was shot, police said.

Police said witnesses reported seeing a man in his mid-30s, 5-foot 8-inches tall, and 200 pounds with a dark mullet-style haircut running westbound on Almeria Street, away from the injured dog.

The dog is expected to survive, police said.

He was possibly driving a 1984 Firebird and wearing a Levis Jean Jacket with a AC/DC patch on it.

Posted by Justin at 12:11 PM | Comments (1) | Categories: Humor