Trinidad film fest gets down and indie this week

Film festival season in Colorado kicks off every September with the oh-so-glamorous parade of celebs and their pet projects through Telluride, followed by a chain of lesser festivals aspiring to such glory across the state. But if you crave truly independent cinema; if you long for the days when film…

High-speed rail report presented to Eagle County

The Vail Daily reports that Eagle County bigwigs listened to the Rocky Mountain Rail Authority’s pitch for a high-speed rail network that would link Denver and Vail, not to mention Cheyenne and Pueblo, for a price tag of $20 billion to $40 billion, give or take a few billion.The RMRA’s…

What? Yellowstone supervolcano? Me worry?

With the eruptions of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull stymieing European air traffic for the last week, I got to thinking about our local geothermal powerhouse under Yellowstone National Park.It has historically blown in a big way every 600,000 years or so, and the last apocalyptic-sized blast — the equivalent of 10,000 Mount…

The Devil don’t do downhill: Nordic season not over yet

On Monday, I decided to get some cross-country practice before the white stuff goes the way of the Wicked Witch of the West. I picked a beautiful blue-sky day to work some of the rust off at Devil’s Thumb Ranch, northeast of Winter Park. The rust was a little thicker…

A new national monument in the works for Colorado?

Last month, a Department of the Interior memo leaked and broke the story that the Obama administration was considering establishing 14 national monuments in nine western states, including the Vermillion Basin in far northwestern Colorado. Republicans and property-rights hardliners have since been lashing out at the idea, denouncing the Clinton…

Downhill slope: Top 10 ski-town bars in the West

Why is it that booze goes down so much smoother after a day on the hill?And why does all that smooth booze go down even smoother when you’re at the right mountain bar? Sometimes the right atmosphere makes it go down so silky smooth that getting up the next morning…

Hotel bookings down in Aspen. Will prices follow?

Opportunities for mere mortals to drink from the chalice of fancy that is Aspen could be on the rise this winter, if early-season hotel-booking numbers are any indication. A report released last week by Aspen-Snowmass showed a dip in occupancy in October and projected occupancy for November at those resorts…