Can that be right?

 1.  Did every 7th grade teacher resign, quit, retire?  No just 80% of the 7th grade teachers and about 15% of the total school district staff.  How ASD will hire and retain teachers in a community were the average home price is close to $10m and decent subsidized housing is close to $1m is an unanswered question.

2.  Our local governments are bankrupt?  No, Snowmass Village, Carbondale, Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley are not broke but after a record year of tourism and real estate sales BUT Snowmass Village is having to walk back plans for the town park due to rising costs, Carbondale is struggling to find funds for a new public pool, Aspen can't find money to rehab the Armory, and the Valley is having to cut bus service because they can't (afford) to hire more drivers at current market pricing.  Weird to watch local governments struggle while the local economy explodes.

3.  

Yea that is my 'local' gas station. Of course no locals use it unless in dire emergency because it is home of the most expensive gas in Colorado.  Currently regular is a bit over $6 a gallon there.  I asked if I could pay for my gas in bitcoin and was told 'NO'.  I asked what I could buy with bitcoin and was told 'nothing'.  Just want to note over the past 6 months the value of bitcoin is down 60% and the cost of gas is up 40%.  That Conoco is a money sucking blackhole.

4.  There are parking spots for sale at Obermeyer place for $250k per spot.  Yup you read that right.  For you out of towners Obermeyer place garage is exactly that-- a garage.  You don't get a storage locker or anything else but a dedicated parking spot.  And its a 0.4m walk to the Gondola from there.  Local secret valet park at the little nell for $10 per hour.  If you ski 3 hours 85 days a year it will cost you $2,500 or 1% of what you pay for a parking spot 0.4 miles away.  Of course if Aspen real estate including parking spots continues to go up 40% a year well I guess you are better off parking at Obermeyer and walking, but not so much if real estate stops going up or perchance even declines.

5.  Reminder, Aspen tourism and real estate are having record years and yet the Aspen Music Festival and school has to cut its enrollment because.......they can't afford to house musicians.  In a similar vein Ski Co offered a 'tenants for turns' program that will provide you a ski pass or other ski co goodies if you rent a room to a lifty (or other ski co employee) for the ski season.  Turns out the program was not that successful cause anyone who can afford to have a spare room in Aspen doesn't really need a ski pass or a voucher for $1,200 for use at Ski Co.

6.  I hate this last one, but I feel like silence isn't an option.  Listening to CNN today I heard Asa Hutchinson (Gov of Arkansas) say that yes in 2019 he did sign a bill that will make abortion illegal in his state if the supreme court overrules Roe.  He did say he wished it included an exemption for rape and incest but he signed it anyhow.  The interviewer asked how it was ok for an 11-12 year old girl who is raped by her father to have to carry the child to term and he said 'well I wish there was an exemption for that' BUT dude you signed the bill.  If you really didn't like the law as written then VETO it.  Asa was clearly uncomfortable---I think the GOP might be wondering what they have done by turning all sex that isn't to procreate into a potential crime scene.  Back to Asa, he did say that he is working hard to improve the overwhelmed foster care system in his state, and trying super duper hard to reduce child poverty which currently stands at 26%.  Maybe he will raise taxes to address the current dismal situation which will clearly not improve with women forced to carry children produced by rape and incest to term.  Oh yea, and the father of said child will have an easy time providing child support from prison (which is where child raping incestuous men go).  

I am gonna go for a run on the rim trail, no gas station bitcoin flogging, anti choice governors, local government challenges to deal with there.  YEA  

locals only (Gravirax)

A recent trip to visit our Park City Ambassador elicited much conversation that we hear over and over and over again.  We heard about how the town ain’t like it used to be.  How there was never anything but farms and open land beyond the white barn.  Now there is everything from Whole Foods and Back Country corporate headquarters to homes and more homes beyond the barn.  We talked about going skiing the next day and he said only if I signed an NDA about where to find good snow.  And a separate NDA for where to park.  This was in late April and he was worried about me spilling the beans on where to find the good stuff (the runs between the runs –he has sussed out all the good lines through the trees) and where to park---seemingly a huge issue on holidays and weekends but he was showing signs of parking PTSD on the last week of April on a Wednesday.  

 

However Mr. H touched a sensitive nerve for any ‘local’.  We all have our little local tricks to make living in a tourist community more pleasurable.  These little tricks were always important, but let’s face it; they were less important decades ago than today.  With the advent of Icon and Epic passes skier days are at an all time high.  I am not making this up, total skier days in the 21-22 season hit 61 million up 3.5% from the previous record set in the 2010-11 season.  I skied both those season and what characterized the 21-22 season was shit snow and high prices.  My man Mr. H and all the other UT skiers had about 90% less snow during the January -mid February period than average.  Tahoe got slammed over Christmas and New Years and then no snow for 6 weeks plus 55 degree temps.  Record skier days paired with crap snow puts a huge premium on all those local tricks.

 

Which brings me to gravirax.  While it’s my business to sell ski racks to any and all, it’s really designed by locals for locals.  If you live in Denver and ski Steamboat two weekends and Breck one week we won’t say no to your order.  It will get your skis safely to the hill, and you can enjoy ease of loading and unloading etc.  And yes, we are designing a cover to help with those long commutes and provide a more finished system to secure your skis from the local ski bum addict who might steal your new DPS skis and trade em for some coke and oxy.  

 

Where Gravirax shines is locals.  When skiing is part of your day, not your whole day.  Those of us who dream of getting in 100 days but somehow between work, a random injury and cruddy snow “only” log 75.  We ski our local mountain, and your mountain and maybe Japan and Europe too.   And we might also uphill here and there and ohhh yea sometimes over there (and we won’t ever tell you where that is).  We got kids who ski, some race, some learn to ski and some ski with lots of friends.  We have multiple sets of skis and boots ---and local secret we love our AT gear when we are watching our kids race or we are working the course.  The canting on those AT boots is soooooo much better than standing around in stiff downhill boots all day.  You are the locals.  And Gravirax is for you.  Super durable---it only has one moving part which can be easily maintained.  Saving 5 minutes loading and unloading doesn’t sound like much but over 75 ski days its 6+ hours.  And those extra minutes in the morning might be the ticket to more fresh POW or a bit more sleep.  Picking up the kids and having them load their skis in seconds is awesome---shit I should talk to Vail and Aspen Ski Co about having dedicate Gravirax pick up lanes because they will move like TSA pre check lines at the airport.  Locals we got your back with our hitch ski rack.  I won’t try to tell you its perfect because nothing is, but it will make getting your turns in wherever and whenever you do it a bit more pleasurable, and you don’t need to sign an NDA to make it happen.  Now I gotta review what Mr. H had me sign, I fear I might have agreed to pay for one of his kids weddings in exchange for a parking spot at Solitude.