Noticias

• Ski Patrol Rejects Contract Proposal
• Twelve Vie for Seat on Telluride Town Council
• The Bedrock Store Revival

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Ski Patrol Rejects Contract Proposal

The Telluride Ski Patrol Union has rejected a contract proposal from the Telluride Ski Resort.

“That vote happened Monday night and that contract was emphatically and resoundingly voted down to the tune of 99%,” said Graham Hoffman, president of the Telluride Ski Patrol Union and a ski patroller at Telski for 10 years.

Hoffman said the vote puts the next move in the resort’s hands.

“This offer wasn’t addressing any of the concerns that we’ve brought to them,” he said. “By voting this down, and by voting this down so emphatically, the ball does go back to them, and we’d hope they’d come to us at some point in the near future with a new offer with some serious conversation.”

Telluride Ski Patrol began contract negotiations with Telluride Ski Resort in early June; the previous contract expired in August.

The resort’s proposed contract included an average 9% to 11% pay increase for this year, with a cost-of-living increase after that — with a minimum raise of 5% each year. The offer would put wages at roughly $24 an hour for trainees and nearly $40 an hour for station leads, or ski patrol supervisors.

Hoffman said that if Telski doesn’t return with a new offer in the coming days, a holiday strike is likely.

“We’re going to see what happens, see what shakes out of the company’s tree over the next few days,” he said. “If they continue to push back and not reach out to us, it’s going to look highly likely that we’re going to walk out sometime before the holidays.”

During a merchant meeting with local businesses on Tuesday, Telski representative Steve Swenson said the resort’s offer to ski patrol is competitive compared with other similar resorts. He said Telski is in the process of contacting those who bought season lift tickets to alert them of the potential strike. He added that a strike would have severe impacts on the community.

“If there’s a walkout, we’re expecting that all of us, all businesses, will be negatively affected,” Swenson said. “We know that this situation could affect us for this winter, over the holidays, for the whole winter, and for ongoing winters.”

He said that if ski patrol strikes, the resort would be able to open, at best, only Lift 1 and Lift 4.

Swenson added that if other resort employees — lifties or restaurant workers, for example — leave because of the strike, the resort could face challenges throughout the rest of the season.

“If that group decides to look at the situation over the holidays and they’re not working, they’re working as much as they want, they will leave,” he said. “If they leave, we could have a problem the rest of the season opening all the lifts, or all the restaurants that we operate.”

At the meeting, local business owner Caci Grinspan urged Swenson and Telski to reach a resolution with the Ski Patrol Union.

“Your business affects us deeply. We are really asking you please come to an agreement,” Grinspan said. “If this were to come to a head over the holidays it would be absolutely abominable to all of our businesses, not just yours. Please please do not let it come to this. As small businesses we just can’t take that, and we can’t take the ripple that will last for years to come. It’s a really bad look for town. Please consider that. Please consider taking care of your employees and come to some middle ground.”

Hoffman said the union understands the gravity of a strike and the impact it would have on the community.

“We know what this will do to the community. We are this community,” he said. “We know how this will affect the other businesses, because most of us work at those other businesses.”

He said union members want to keep working.

“It seems like they’re gearing up for a fight when we would really just love to have that conversation, and have them come to the table with a real offer that could get us closer to a living wage,” Hoffman said.

The Telluride Ski Resort opened for the winter season on Dec. 6. Ski patrol is continuing to work on the mountain without a contract until they decide whether to strike.

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Twelve Vie for Seat on Telluride Town Council

Twelve people are vying for appointment to a vacant seat on the Telluride Town Council.

The vacancy arose after only three candidates ran for four seats in the November election, leaving an open position when the new council was sworn in.

The applicants are Lee Shea Betten, Grayson Fertig, Joshua Kane, Allan Kanner, Sean Kearns, Kristin Kuhlman, Stephen Pollard, Jenny Russell, Marya Stark, Chris Uihlein, Wendy Wilbert and Bryce Young.

The person appointed will serve a two-year term until the November 2027 election.

Applicants have lived in Telluride anywhere from two to 30 years. Betten, Kuhlman and Stark have run for council before, and Russell has previously served on the council. The remaining candidates are first-time applicants.

Most applicants said they would consider running for council in the future. Kanner and Kearns said they would “maybe” consider running, while Young said he would not.

Work experience among the candidates includes management at local businesses, retired military service, law, coaching, bookkeeping, real estate and wealth management.

In statements explaining their interest in serving, candidates cited a desire to represent the community, help shape its future and increase engagement and transparency.

Town Council will hold interviews with the applicants at 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11, at Rebekah Hall and on Zoom. The community is encouraged to attend.

Council plans to appoint a new councilmember as its first order of business at its meeting Tuesday, Dec. 16.

Community members may provide feedback on the candidates by email until 8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 15, or in person at the Dec. 16 council meeting beginning at 9:30 a.m.

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The Bedrock Store Revival

Nestled where the Dolores River meets Paradox Valley, the town of Bedrock is home to just a few full-time residents — and some herds of cattle. A ranching and mining community since the 1800s, Bedrock’s centerpiece is its historic general store. The nearly 150-year-old building has served many roles, and now four new owners are bringing it into its next chapter.

“This is one of the first things we brought to this store. We picked up this piano on our drive down from an old Christian camp up near Salt Lake City. And yeah, we wanted to bring it out here as a symbol of the music we want to play at this place. Here’s our co-owner, Chris Blondeau, the old Henry Miller. You could tell it’s really in tune,” said co-owner Ethan Rainwater.

Along with piano player Chris Blondeau, Phil Allen and Anthony Nead, the store is seeing new life. Rainwater and his partners are from Oregon and have deep roots in New Orleans as touring jazz and dance musicians.

“Colorado is such a vibrant place for live music. It’s kind of like the Holy Grail for a touring band. You know, you can play Denver and all these mountain towns, you know, all over the place, and everybody really appreciates live music out here. So that’s, yeah, we wanted to have kind of a home base out here, on top of that, you know, just giving history a new life, you know, really preserving what’s here before it gets gentrified or taken away. We want to show people that that part of life that is really forgotten, you know,” Rainwater and Blondeau said.

Rainwater bought the store from longtime owner Anthony “Pi” Pisano, and says they purchased it exactly as it was.

“I mean, everything, you know, his notebooks and his reading glasses were still next to the cash register and various, yeah, very Yeah, this place was full of stuff, whatever they were selling. Plus, as you can see, there’s a ton of, like, historical inventory and artifacts from all the years this has been a store,” Rainwater said.

The building is a unique one — once a post office — with a small gas pump outside and room upstairs for an apartment.

“This is, like, almost a museum, or, you know, like, that’s the kind of attraction, historical scene. Back in here is a workshop he had set up. I guess somebody used to fix tires back in here. But this space is a pretty cool little scenario, you know? I think, yeah, serving outlaws since 1881 this was, this was like the speakeasy saloon space, yeah, kind of feel. This might be more of the vibe,” Rainwater and Blondeau said.

Upstairs, they’re in the process of finishing the apartment. Rainwater says they’ll reopen the general store and hope to establish an artist-in-residence program.

“we’ve got plenty of friends that are eager to get out of the city and, you know, step away from, you know, as musicians, we’ve realized the value of stepping outside of our normal reality, to just focus on our creativity, and so providing a space where, you know, people can come out and get some get some fresh air and open space and and, you know, focus on their art. You know, possibly run the store while they’re working on their crafts. You know, writing a book or, you know, working on a body of paintings. Yeah, that’s pretty exciting. And that makes it kind of an exchange with the cities where, you know, some creative persons coming out here, you know, to work on their thing, and bring something interesting into the community,” Rainwater said.

Rainwater says the neighbors have been welcoming, and he and his partners are mindful that they’re newcomers.

“And you know, coming into a community and coming into a piece of history that’s been here a long time and so we’re not like coming in with real preconceived notions of what we’re going to do, this thing that we think is the good, right idea. Like we’re, we’re coming here and listening to people, you know, we’re trying to let the people and the place and the building tell us what it wants to be. The general story is the heart of a small community, and to see this one just sitting here closed was was so sad. And yeah, we’re excited about, you know, the potential of bringing that, bringing that back to life, and making this a gathering space again,” he said.

Rainwater says they hope to have the store open again by next spring — and live music is definitely not off the table.

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Montrose County Ends Years-Long Solar Moratorium with New Regulations

Montrose County has finalized its solar land-use regulations, ending what officials say was the longest solar development moratorium in Colorado. After three years of public comment and debate, commissioners voted 2–1 to approve Alternative 1.

The vote marked one of the first major decisions for newly elected Commissioner Kristen Copeland, who replaced former Commissioner Scott Mijares following a recall election in November.

Commissioner Sue Hansen said, “I don’t think we’ve ever reworked regulation as much as we’ve done here, I think, I want to thank the public that’s here that has contributed heavily into the comment period. It is super helpful to hear what you have to say.”

Commissioner Sean Pond opposed the rules, arguing he wanted more language from Alternative 2, a version he crafted that would more heavily restrict solar utility development.

With the new regulations in place, commissioners will soon decide on a 20-megawatt solar array in the West End and a 50-megawatt battery-storage facility tied to a cooperative project between Tri-State Energy and San Miguel Power Association.

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Mountain Village Transforms Into the North Pole

Mountain Village is transforming into a North Pole–themed destination for this year’s Holiday Prelude, beginning Saturday, Dec. 13.

The weekend features photos with Santa, ice skating, holiday surprises and festive decorations throughout the village. Free train rides run from noon to 4 p.m., and a tree-lighting ceremony is set for Sunday at 6 p.m.

Free parking will be available in the Heritage Parking Garage both days. More details are available at townofmountainvillage.com.

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Justice Department Opens Investigation into Colorado Prisons and Youth Centers

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that it is investigating Colorado’s prisons and youth detention facilities. Kyle McKinnon reports.

Story begins at 13:45.

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Communities Raise Concerns Over FLOCK Cameras

Across the region, residents are raising concerns about the growing use of FLOCK cameras, automated license-plate readers that allow police to track vehicles.

Telluride is implementing an automated license-plate reading system for parking enforcement. Supporters say the technology can aid investigations, while critics worry about privacy and how data is shared.

KDUR’s Jamie Wanzek reports on how the debate is unfolding in Durango.

Story begins at 14:45.