Time Machine: 30 years ago, talk of night skiing on Vail Mountain

30 years ago

June 14, 1996

Talk of night skiing in Vail had residents expressing concern about impacts to their homes, the Vail Trail reported.

The concern came amid a plan to open part of Vail Mountain to nighttime activities, which had been recently announced by Vail Associates, the Vail Trail reported.

“The activities would include skiing, tubing and skating, and were to take place between Chair 15 and the Eagle’s Nest area at the top of the mountain,” the Vail Trail reported. “VA officials say the move isn’t focused on skiing as much as providing additional activities.”

The company had received the necessary approvals for the activities at Eagle’s Nest, “but it still hasn’t gotten the nod for top-to-bottom night skiing, which would require the approval of the Town of Vail, among other agencies,” the Trail reported. “The Eagle’s Nest area already has lights, which VA officials say shouldn’t be visible from the homes at the bottom of the mountain. Several residents expressed concern this spring over the possibility of night skiing, the lighting required and possible impacts on their homes.”

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40 years ago

June 20, 1986

Vail police had a new reason to take seriously the theory that Julie Cunningham, a Vail woman who had been missing for more than 10 years, was killed by notorious murderer Ted Bundy.

A person who had never been questioned in the case, who had seen Cunningham at a local bar on the night of her disappearance, was located and provided new information, the Vail Trail reported.

“The man told police that she introduced him to her companion who could have been Bundy,” the Vail Trail reported. “Cunningham, 26 in 1975, left her Apollo Park apartment early in the evening to meet a friend for a drink. She never arrived and Vail police, then and today, have no clues as to what happened to the young, dark-haired woman.”

Bundy had been in the area around that time, but the man never thought his meeting with Cunningham was important until Bundy’s impending execution, set for early July of 1986, started to make headlines, the Trail reported.

“He has seen photos of Bundy but he said he can’t be sure it was the same person,” the Trail reported.

50 years ago

June 18, 1976

The Vail Town Council and Dale Sprankle of the architectural firm of Ernest Kump Associates spent 5 hours debating the future of Vail’s proposed multi-use ice arena-auditorium, planned for Site 24, a 5-acre tract of land between Vail Village and LionsHead.

“The $4,100,000 project has been a frustration for several weeks ever since an anonymous donor gave $355,000 for an outdoor ice rink operable by November, 1976,” the Vail Trail reported. “The donation spurred the council to reassess a former proposal for a multiuse ice arena-auditorium which had been suspended when plans for a 2-acre recreational-cultural center on the Antholz property were dropped.”

Of the $4.1 million for the multi-use center, $2,850,000 was expected to go to the enclosed ice arena, the Trail reported.

“Sprankle felt the multi-use center would provide a ‘major new attraction for Vail visitors,’ would fulfill the local need for hockey and ice sports, could become a home for the Vail Institute, could become a ‘center of activity for both Vail Village and LionsHead,’ and would invoke a ‘quality Vail’ image,” the Trail reported.

60 years ago

June 17, 1966

Gore Creek was to be stocked with 3,000 pounds of 10- to 16-inch rainbow and brown trout, the Vail Trail reported.

Quoting Norvell Prosser, a Colorado State University graduate student working with Joe Ward in the Vail Metropolitan Recreation District program, the Trail reported that the part of Gore Creek running through Vail proper “will become one of the prime quality fishing streams in Colorado,” Prosser said, “but fishermen are going to have to pay for the privilege.”

Only fly fishing was allowed, and fishermen were required to buy, in addition to their regular Colorado State Fishing License, a $2 permit for one day of fishing on Gore Creek, or an $8 five-day permit.

“Fishing hours are between 5 am. and 10 p.m. mountain daylight time,” the Trail reported. “The daily bag limit is 5 fish and there is no minimum size limit on any species of fish. And remember — fish may be taken with the use of artificial flies only.”

70 years ago

June 21, 1956

Less than a year after finally receiving a television signal, homes in Eagle County were once again left without television after a visit to the area from an FCC representative who shut down service to the area, the Vail Trail reported.

“The order to shut down was given orally, with the statement that a written order will follow,” the Eagle Valley Enterprise reported. “The section of the FCC regulation which apparently is being used as the basis to shut down all community television facilities was passed by Congress in 1934, before the advent of television, and was primarily for the protection of persons owning radios, against interference by electrical apparatus. It gives the FCC authority to step in, after it has received a complaint, and order the offending apparatus closed down until repaired.”