Spend a few nights at the spherical tree house hotel on Vancouver Island on your way to the Olympics. I heard a rumor that Bode Miller is renting one of these instead of staying with the ski team during competition. It costs $125 a night to feel the wind shake your house, and you’ll have to keep some shoes by the door since the spheres lack bathrooms and showers. You know what that sounds like? A tent.

via Wend

An ad Grist pulled out of a mag that was published in the 60s. Our glacier melting has become much more efficient in the last 50 years; Humble would be proud. Or I guess they are, they consolidated with Standard Oil to become Exxon. If I was alive in the 60s I would have been an ad writer for them: “We Humble-y Submit-There are 7 Million Tons Less Glacier for You to Worry about Each Day! You’re Welcome.”

via Wend

They invited everyone at my old gear shop to a screening of the movie Vertical Limit when it came out. I fell asleep on the couch and missed it even though the theater was only four blocks from my house, so my only knowledge of the film came from the graffiti everyone wrote on the movie posters at the shop. I guess there are a couple scenes that involve rappelling off the end of a rope. I’m glad the movie wasn’t a hit otherwise we would have had people coming in asking for Nitro and bolt guns. Here’s some climbing instruction gleaned from a viewing of Vertical Limit.

A ski resort in Utah that I’ve never heard of is up for sale in an internet auction today. The ultra exclusive Elk Meadows ski area in Beaver Canyon was so highend and remotely located that only 20,000 skiers annually visited. Asking people to drive past some of the best skiing in the world to get to your Central Utah, overpriced resort may not have been as solid a business plan as we all thought. The bad news is that you can’t pop into the auction and throw up a $400 bid to take it away at the last second; the minimum bid for the resort is set at $1 million.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced the launching of an extensive public service radio campaign urging Americans to connect with nature. There are eight 60-second spots that will bring the sounds of nature to Classic Rock WIXX listeners during a break in the Van Halen set on Bloc Party Thursday, where WIXX 101.1 traditionally plays three songs in a row from each artist. The Connect with Nature campaign will start this month and run for a couple more, so we don’t have to worry about Rocktober or Rockbruary being interrupted with nature sounds. You can hear all of the radio ads at the Fish and Wildlife Service Website.

via Out There

"Dude, I can't believe I have to wear a polo to work this morning."

The New York Times takes a look at the measure Breckenridge recently passed that allows town residents to carry small amounts of marijuana. It should be stressed that possession is still illegal on federal and state levels, though it seems like a city ordinance is good enough for most people in the town.

Breckenridge’s part-time mayor, who voted against the measure, said that of the three dozen e-mails he’s received from the public the response has been mixed.

About half of the messages were negative, Dr. Warner said, and included comments from people who said they had canceled reservations and would never come back. Other respondents said they were thrilled about the town’s vote and could hardly wait to visit and spend some money.

Go ahead and add a 10x multiplier to the positive messages. People who regularly smoke are definitely excited about the measure, though it’s unlikely they’ll take the time to e-mail you. On the other hand, people who oppose it have little better to do than write angry e-mails to a part-time mayor of a small town.

A group of Alaskans who worry their quality of life might be affected by a massive strip mine near their homes is asking investors in the mine to consider not ruining their lives. One of those investors is the owner of Snowbird, Dick Bass. They’ve written letters to the ski hill owner and enlisted the help of the local Utah Sierra chapter.

“This is the ultimate irony; a climate-dependent businessman investing in a project that would have the same climate-changing impact as more than a billion cars,” said Clair Jones with the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign in Utah. “We’re here to ask Dick Bass to leave this dirty coal in the ground, due to the impacts that this project would incur on our planet’s climate, and ultimately Utah’s winters and its billion dollars-per-year ski industry.”

Next year Adidas will launch a pilot program in Bangladesh aimed at producing €1 shoes for millions of people around the globe that can’t afford to buy Air Jordans. The program was inspired by Bangladesh’s Nobel prize winner Muhammad Yunus who pioneered micro-loans to help the poor start their own businesses. It’s a genius idea, and a project that will be all the more remarkable if we can do it without using child labor and toxic manufacturing processes. Adidas will run the program on a non-profit basis. I can’t wait; I’m just going to wear a new pair of $1.49 shoes every day.

Durango Mountain Resort does not take criticism well. A local skier complained to the newspaper about the ski area’s new operating schedule. The scorned mountain people yanked her season pass (after she’d held one for the prior three seasons) and sent her this letter, published by The Durango Herald:

“While we have never met, I understand from your calls to The Durango Herald and your conversation with our general manager that you are most unhappy with the approach that Durango Mountain Resort takes in trying to meet the skiing and riding needs of both our local and out-of-town customers,” Derck wrote. “Our general manager tried very hard to explain our early/late additional weekend days, but it is evident that the offering and services we provide are not meeting your expectations.

“Accordingly, we held a meeting with our management team and determined that it would be best if we part ways and refund you the all-season pass you purchased so you can find another place to ski/ride that better meets your expectations,” the letter reads. “We have refunded your credit card $539 and we have discontinued your pass privileges.

“On behalf of our 800-plus employees, we wish you well and want you to know that we will continue to do our very best to meet or exceed the expectations of all our customers, regardless of where they live,” the letter concludes.

So none of Durango Mountain Resort’s 800-plus employees work in public relations? Well, Telluride has a few people on staff who can recognize a good PR opportunity. The lady who lost her season pass for complaining contacted Telluride, and they jumped in to help out with a pass at a reduced rate.  So Telluride looks like the hero, and Durango Mountain Resort looks like a bunch of petty, vindictive whiners who can’t handle a little complaining. At least they have one less customer to worry about this year.