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Sneak Peek of the Week

Injured soldiers find reprieve in powder

You’ve never seen anyone sliding down a ski slope in their bare feet. We need specialized tools to navigate snowy landscapes. Clunky boots. Boards with metal edges. Pointy sticks.

Greg Gadson uses a chair, mounted on a heavy-metaled Wagner ski; the topsheet a fiery photo he took in Iraq showing soldiers firing a mortar round.

“Just another tool for skiing,” says the retired U.S. Army colonel who lost both his legs above the knee in an explosion in Iraq in 2007. That same year, the former West Point football player attended the Vail Veterans Program at Vail ski area and has been shredding in his sit-ski ever since. These trips to Vail, he says on a recent lift ride up to the top of the mountain, fill his cup so can continue to share his inspirational story of recovery.

“It’s so great to show some of the younger kids how skiing can fill their cup,” he says. “Out here, once we start going down the slope, I’m just the same as everyone else. It doesn’t matter whether I have legs. I’m as free as you.”

Gadson, a motivational speaker and author of “,” is one of 20 wounded warriors skiing at Vail this week with the program that has hosted more than 4,700 injured soldiers since 2004.

This year they are hosting Israeli soldiers injured in the war in Gaza.

The camaraderie between the U.S. soldiers and injured fighters from Israel is not about combat or politics. It’s about sacrifice and a “mutual understanding of common experiences,” Gadson says.

“We all have taken oaths to serve our nation … and in some ways, we paid a sacrifice. We don’t even have to look for anything else in common. It’s the commonality of overcoming. It’s the commonality of resiliency. It’s an honor to keep living,” Gadson says. “There are men and women who are not so fortunate as us. We have to live our lives every day to honor their sacrifice so that it’s worth it. So we got to keep living.”

>> Click over to The Sun on Friday to read this story

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The Outsider has a podcast! Veteran reporter Jason Blevins covers the industry from the inside out, plus indulges in the fun side of being outdoors in our beautiful state.

Subscribe on , or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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Breaking Trail

Mount Lindsey opens to hikers who sign waivers after closing in 2021

Last year’s legislative adjustments to the Colorado Recreational Use Statute has opened access to a privately owned Colorado 14er that has been closed since 2021.

Hikers climbing the 14,055-foot Mount Lindsey in the Sangre de Cristo Range will need to sign a liability waiver though.

“The ranch has always appreciated the special role that 14ers play in Colorado with the hiking community,” said Andy Mountain, a spokesperson for the Trinchera Blanca Ranch, which is owned by billionaire conservationist Louis Bacon. “With the changes to the Recreational Use Statute last year, we thought it was a step in the right direction. The decision came down to taking that legislation and layering in the waivers, there was a level of comfort with opening the peak.”

The Trinchera Blanca Ranch put up “No Trespassing” signs on summit trails in 2021 in the wake of a 2019 federal appeals court decision that affirmed a $7.3 million award for a cyclist injured on a washed-out trail at the Air Force Academy. That decision prodded many Colorado landowners to reconsider public access to private land, leading to closures and liability waivers.

Last year’s reform of the Colorado Recreational Use Statute was a third attempt to adjust wording the law that allowed lawsuits if an injured person could prove the landowner displayed a “ against a known dangerous condition.”

Last year’s allowed landowners additional protection from lawsuits if they allowed free access and erected signs warning visitors of dangerous structures, conditions and geographic features.

The , representing nearly 50 outdoor industry groups and communities, lobbied lawmakers to amend the statute to better protect landowners after an owner closed land accessing popular 14ers in the Mosquito Range above Alma.

Access to Mount Lindsey will remain via the standard route accessed by the main trailhead with summit access also along the prominent ridge to the peak. There is an online waiver site — — and hikers can scan QR codes at the trailhead to fill out a waiver.

“Please remember that the restored climbing access to Mount Lindsey is a privilege that can be withdrawn if people do not follow the rules,” reads , which worked with the Fix CRUS Coalition to secure the legislative change.

The Playground

Committee approves legislation that would allow voters to triple county lodging taxes

Legislation that allows counties to seek voter approval to triple lodging tax collections outside towns and cities took a first step Tuesday.

The Transportation, Housing and Local Government committee to the full House after testimony from several owners of short-term rentals who opposed the plan, which could raise lodging taxes to 6% from 2% in areas that do not already have district or municipal lodging taxes.

Many of the speakers who opposed the lodging bipartisan tax legislation own property in Summit County, where bookings are capped at 35 a year. Summit County voters in 2022 approved a 2% lodging tax in unincorporated portions of the county to support affordable housing, child care and tourism outreach. That vote was supported by statewide legislation in 2022 that allowed counties — with voter approval — to redirect lodging taxes away from tourism marketing and toward projects that support local workers. Summit County’s plans for $2.6 million in revenue from that tax.

“When will the bleeding and backstabbing end?” Summit County short-term rental owner Kristine Lee asked the committee Tuesday, mirroring an STR industry concern that increased taxes on tourists may impede economic growth in Colorado mountain communities.

Thomas Davidson, a former Summit County commissioner who manages — which represents 22 Colorado counties — said House Bill 1287 “is a critical step for Colorado counties” to support their communities and mitigate the impacts of tourism.

“There are huge, huge impacts from the STR community on people being able to find a place to live in the communities where they work,” Davidson said. “The efforts you see by the county and the revenue you see them ask for when they go to voters have to do with the very nature of finding a way for people who work in Summit County to be able to live in Summit County.”

Jesse Zamora with the Colorado Association of Realtors asked the panel to consider amendments to the legislation that would narrow the use of the revenue to focus on housing and the impacts of tourism.

Democratic Rep. Katie Stewart of Durango, who is co-sponsoring the legislation with Rep. Karen McCormick of Longmont, said the bill will be “consensus-minded” and that amendments are “most likely” as the legislation winds through the statehouse.

The committee to forward the legislation to the House for debate.

“This bill is not a tax increase. Voters would have to approve this,” Stewart said. “House Bill 1247 is about local control. This is about giving counties more options, not mandates.”

The Guide

First-ever powsurfing avalanche fatality at Berthoud Pass

The last two weeks of February saw 12 Colorado backcountry travelers caught and buried in avalanches, killing two of them.

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center this week posted detailed reports of the two fatal avalanches. Sarah Steinwand, a beloved Crested Butte entrepreneur whose represented the innovative thinkers around her home valley, was buried in a Feb. 20 slide on The Nose, a face near Ophir Pass where three Eagle men were buried and killed in 2021.

The 41-year-old Steinwand was with a friend staying at the Opus Hut — the same backcountry hut where the Eagle men were staying in February 2021 — when they ventured onto the east-facing slope that ends in a deep gully at the confluence of the two branches of Mineral Creek. Both the travelers were experienced backcountry travelers and were carrying rescue gear.

The friend went first and triggered the slide that ran up the slope and swept Steinwand off her feet, . She was last seen atop a ridge above the slope, watching her friend descend.

The slide path was eerily similar to The Nose avalanche that caught four travelers Feb. 1, 2021, killing three of them.

Two days after Steinwand’s death, 50-year-old Nathan Ginn, an elementary school art teacher and pioneering river surfer, was killed in an avalanche in an area known as The Fingers just above the parking lot at the top of Berthoud Pass. Ginn was by himself and powsurfing, which involves riding a board similar to a snowboard without bindings. His death appears to be the first-known avalanche fatality of a powsurfer in the U.S.

Colorado counted one of the first snowboard avalanche deaths on Feb. 25, 1990, when a backcountry traveler on a then-peculiar snowboard was buried and killed near Fremont Pass. (Avalanche records show a backcountry snowboarder was killed in an avalanche , near Utah’s Guardsman Pass. News reports said the snowboarder was “”)

Ginn’s death marks the in Colorado. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center has counted 49 skiers and snowboarders and nine snowmobilers caught in slides this season. There have been in eight Western states since Dec. 15. (That does not include Wednesday’s initial reports of in the Chugach Mountains near Girdwood, Alaska.)

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Unlimited Ikon Pass skiing at Arapahoe Basin

There was quite a bit of angst when Arapahoe Basin sold to Alterra Mountain Co. last year. Arapahoe Basin was viewed as a leader among independent resorts — even though it was owned by a Canadian real estate conglomerate — and many feared the incorporation into the Alterra Mountain Co. corporate structure would tarnish its indy vibe. The decision to revive unlimited access — this time with the Ikon Pass — will likely revive those fears.

Alan Henceroth is ready. He’s worked at Arapahoe Basin for 37 years, 20 of them as the chief operating officer. He says a new parking reservation system — as well as expanded terrain and other adjustments — has curtailed issues that challenged the Summit County ski area when it allowed unlimited Epic Pass access several years ago.

“Looking back,” Henceroth says, “whenever we did something bold like putting in snowmaking or putting in Montezuma Bowl or adding The Beavers, there’s always been blowback. We’ve weathered storms before.”

Henceroth says lifting the restrictions on his hill will make the Ikon Pass “the best pass ever made.”

“You get to ski A-Basin as much as you want and then you can go to Alta, Snowbird, Jackson, Revelstoke, Palisades and Mammoth,” he says. “I don’t think there’s been anything better than that.”

>> Click here to read this story

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