JASPER, Alberta — Autumnal equinox occurred on Saturday, marking the end of summer and the start of fall. But there's another divide between the seasons of melting and freezing: the breakup of ice in the Arctic Ocean and the renewed freezing.
On Sept. 19, the U.S. government's National Snow and Ice Data Center reported that sea ice had started freezing again, but that the summer melt-off was greater than the previous record set in 2007.
In 1980, the amount of ice-covered ocean was comparable to that of the continental United States. Now consider the change just from 2007 and 2012: an area larger than the entire state of Texas.
"An ice-free summer in the arctic, once projected to be more than a century away, now looks possible decades from now. Some say that it looks likely in just the next few years," points out Scientific American.
It was a hot summer across North America. Colorado and Wyoming both had their warmest summers on record — if, perhaps surprisingly, not the absolute all-time temperature in Colorado (115 degrees Fahrenheit, set in other hot, drought periods of the 1930s and 1950s; this year it got to only 110 degrees).
In Jasper National Park, the falling of a large portion of Ghost Glacier from Mount Edith Cavell during August also fits into this pattern of warming and melting.
But if no individual heatwave or drought can be blamed on global warming, it's clear enough that the rapid accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is a bad, bad gamble.
Jasper's Fitzhugh newspaper does an excellent job of describing the predicament:
"Considering the extreme weather this summer, not only in the Jasper area but all over Alberta and British Columbia, we have to wonder if what scientists have been warning all along has begun to manifest in a very real way," says the Fitzhugh.
"Unfortunately, data has only been collected for a relatively short time and attempting to accurately model climate change is problematic at best. Basically, we don't know if it is normal for glaciers to break up and fall off mountains every hundred years or so. We may never see such an event repeat in our lifetime.
"Still, most people know melting ice caps will result in increased global temperatures and weather changes. Less polar ice means less reflection of the sun's heat and more absorption.
"Is the world oblivious to the greater threat?
"Power, money and religion continue to be more important than the environment, even though it is the environment that will decide all our fates one day. Why do governments and people fail to see the significance of climate change? Is it because they don't understand it or is it because they feel they can do nothing about it? Perhaps as a species, humans are incapable of looking beyond their own field of view or their own personal concerns. Perhaps climate change is simply too big of a subject to contemplate, even for politicians. Maybe it is easier to pretend the problem doesn't exist or simply leave it to others to figure out.
"Of course, if people can't find a way to address this issue, nature has a way of balancing itself out, whether people like the results or not."
Vail hustling harder
VAIL, Colo. — Vail is boosting its budget to market its allures to the outside world for next summer by eight per cent, to $2.57 billion.
The Vail Daily says that the Vail Local Marketing District wants to grow the percentage of out-of-state business from 56 per cent to 60 per cent of the total, and to bring back more international visitors during summer. The share of summer guests from international locales dropped by half from 2010 to 2012.
The community also intends to hustle the groups business for the shoulder seasons, which shrank significantly after banks and other businesses slashed funding for travel after 2018.
Low-cost air link explored
CRESTED BUTTE, Colo. — Telluride wants Crested Butte to pool resources to draw in a new low-cost air carrier to deliver visitors to both resorts from the Phoenix and San Francisco areas.
Planes belonging to the airline, which hasn't been identified, would land at Montrose, which is already the primary portal for visitors to Telluride, about an hour away. Crested Butte is two hours distant.
To make the deal work, the two resort communities would have to scrape together a minimum of $650,000, maybe $1 million, to market the flights, explains the Crested Butte News. Organizer from Telluride seeing Crested Butte getting about 11 per cent of the passengers.
Nobody seems to be frowning in response to the idea, although the devil is always in the details. Whether the flights would have the 90 per cent load factors that are predicted is another matter. Flights to ski markets average 60 per cent, according to flight consultant Kent Meyers, and he points out that the originating airports would be in suburban locations. The airport that would serve the Pheonix area is 45 minutes away.
what's in a name
ASPEN, Colo. – After two years, the U.S. Pro Cycling Challenge appears to have strong wheels. But there are calls for tweaking.
In Aspen, Councilman Steve Skadron wants a name that would reflect and direct attention to the host region. He can imagine a Colorado Pro Cycling Challenge or a U.S. Ski town Cycling Challenge.
Aspen is also somewhat worried about the financial commitment of hosting the event, tabulated at $1 million this year, although offset by increased lodging and spending by visitors.
Bison keep distance, but not so silly people
BANFF, Alberta — Parks Canada continues to move through the steps neededbefore bison can be reintroduced into Banff National Park. The animals, native of the plains, frequented the Bow Valley until being killed off about 1858.
Among the concerns being addressed are whether reintroduction of bison will result in transmittal of brucellosis, a disease, to cattle in the region. The answer seems to be that unlike Yellowstone National Park, the bison to be relocated into Banff will come from a disease-free herd in the Elk Island National Park of Alberta.
How about injuring tourists? The Rocky Mountain Outlook found relatively few injuries and deaths in Yellowstone National Park from bison-human encounters, and nearly all the mishaps or worse were due to people who were candidates for the Darwin Award. Yellowstone officials advise people to stay at least 23 metres away from elk and bison. Some try to pose with the massive animals.
Fire danger ebbs
JACKSON, Wyo. — Although nobody had to leave home, several thousand people in Jackson were advised to pack their bags in case a fire in nearby Horsethief Canyon swept over Snow King Mountain.
The Jackson Hole News & Guide reports last week the fire was largely contained after burning 3,300 acres. No other fire has threatened Jackson with anything approaching the same degree of danger in at least a century, and perhaps before that.
That the fire didn't get closer to town may have been due to the size of the arsenal flung at it. The cost ran more than $7 million, paying for such things as a helicopter capable of drawing up to 11,356 litres (3,000 gallons) of water or retardant in one swoop. A DC-10 tanker, a fixed-wing plane, was also deployed, and it can carry up to 45,425 litres (12,000 gallons) of retardant or water.
How can dying forests be put to beneficial use?
BRECKENRIDGE, Colo. — Entrepreneurs for the last decade have been trying to figure out how to convert Colorado's dying forests into electricity, heat, or both.
Burning wood to heat buildings, in lieu of fossil fuels, has been the easier proposition. Wood heats a recreation centre at Fairplay, south of Breckenridge, a public-works facility near the gambling towns of Central City and Blackhawk, and a school at Oak Creek near Steamboat Springs.
Electrical production is a more difficult nut to crack. A plant approved for biomass electrical production at Gypsum, between Vail and Glenwood Springs, has permits and the promise of a subsidy from an electrical utility and now appears ready to move forward into construction. Plans for electrical production are also moving forward in southwest Colorado, near Pagosa Springs.
But in Summit County, near the epicentre of the Mountain Pine beetle epidemic, people see the dead forests and wonder what-if. Entrepreneurs tell Mountain Town News that they are exploring different financial and technology models, especially those that allow more mobile units. It seems to be a long, slow process that may well see fruition after the current beetle epidemic has passed.
In other words, the current story is what could-be, not what has-been.
Flags and patriotism aplenty
GRAND LAKE, Colo. — If Aspen can have a festival focused on macaroni and cheese, why can't Grand Lake, the town located at the west entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park, have a week-long celebration of the signing of the U.S. Constitution?
The Sky-Hi News says the festivities include a "patriotic parade, plenty of flag-waving, a Constitution trivia contest, and a pie-throwing competition. The latter probably fits in, given how much disagreement there has been over the centuries about just what the framers of the document had in mind in regard to freedom of speech, guns and so forth.
The event was capped by what was called the Forefather's Fireworks Extravaganza. One person who attended said it seemed to be a good excuse to set off fireworks that couldn't be used on July 4, when fire danger gripped Colorado, dampening the Independence Day pyrotechnics.
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