Town Talk

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Resorts Race to Open

There are rumors buzzing around that Arapahoe Basin is on the verge of opening some form of a ski slope. The Loveland Pass resort started making snow this week, and with low nighttime temperatures and actual snow in the forecast, who knows?

But Loveland Ski Area next door could always sneak in and open first — that resort fired up the snow guns way back in September.

And, of course, a few die-hards will sleep in their vans to get first chair at whichever hill opens first regardless of the quality of the strip of hybrid snow that’s been caulked onto the mountain.

But, come on, the leaves are still changing. No one’s even started carving pumpkins, and some folks are ready to carve turns. Can’t we in ski country be a bit more patient about the fresh pow?

On the other hand, what if the federal government was as eager to work on the nation’s problems as these two ski resorts are to open the slopes? The financial crisis would already be solved, and we could get ready for ski season confident our retirement funds were still worth something.

If Congress had half the ambition of A-Basin, A-Basin’s chairlifts — and everything else in ski country — would be powered by wind or the sun, or pine needles, ensuring that slushy October conditions don’t become the midwinter norm.

Oh yeah, and if politicians were as fast as A-Basin or Loveland, we’d all have cheaper health care to help us out when we break our legs skiing on the October snow.