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Week of November 26, 1993

Allen Knox

10 YEARS AGOIn its first year of majority control of Vail Associates, the Apollo Advisors had purchased Arrowhead, which had been in the works for about seven years; the Peregrine Building had sat dormant and decaying for many years and was now becoming a reality and a focal point now that VA had plans to relocate many of its offices there; and VA’s capitalization program of $14 million was the largest sum to come down the pike in quite some time. All of this had changed the minds of many here in the valley as to the group’s long term intentions.In our annual look at what’s new on the mountain, the $3 million renovation and superior food at Spruce Saddle in Beaver Creek was positioning itself to set a whole new standard for on-mountain dining. Vail’s eighth high-speed quad, the Pride Express, was up and running and would effectively double the lift capacity at the base of Lionshead. Other improvements on Vail Moun-tain included four new snowcats, bar-coded ticketing, computerized welcome centers and a designated practice park for skiers. Beaver Creek also added ticket scanning, 75 acres of skiable terrain with Harrier Trail and a new double black diamond run known as Royal Elk Glade along with 40 percent more grooming capacity.The Colorado Ski School for the Blind was facing a $30,000 deficit and program originator, Hugh Nevins, was soliciting help from the community. We also featured a picture of Judi Anderson-Wright who had been with CSSB for 17 of its 18 years.We sat down with Cordillera owner, Felix Posen, who was a man of few words and zealously guarded his privacy. Calling London his home, he had never been to Vail until his friend, Bill Clinkenbeard, told him about the property in 1986. The extraordinary view sold him and he purchased the top of the mountain in cash. Later he would purchase adjacent property and in January 1990, bought the Feno Ranch that would eventually become a golf course and additional home sitesAlfalfa’s Market, based in Boulder, was about to open its newest natural foods grocery in the Crossroads Shopping Center. The 6,300 sq. ft. store would include many of the popular departments found in their larger stores in the Front Range along with a full-service delicatessen and juice and espresso bars.The only home for sale on Mill Creek Circle had a price tag of $6.5 million. Built in 1983, the four-bedroom, 3,490 sq. ft. home was comfortable in size and had an updated decor.20 YEARS AGOWeek of November 25, 1983It was unprecedented! Vail opened the back bowls before Thanksgiving and skiers enjoyed the best opening week ever! After opening the mountain four days ahead of schedule with a skimpy 30-inch settled base, snow began to fall steadily and it continued to fall on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, more than 30 inches of additional new snow had been deposited. By Friday, 100 percent of Vail Mountain was open and half of Beaver Creek was available to those who pulled on their boots and stepped into their bindings.Incumbents Paul Johnston and Hermann Staufer were returned to the Vail Town Council in a low voter turnout election. Also capturing seats were Kent Rose and Colleen Kline and all four controversial charter amendments were defeated by a 2-1 margin. One of the first items on the docket for the new council would be reviewing a study for the first time that offered possible solutions to the bottleneck at Vail’s four-way stop. Proposals ranged from installing traffic signals to replacing the main I-70 interchange with a bigger one to building a new exit ramp at Lionshead. Regardless of the final solution, it was certain to result in a lot of debate and would cost millions of dollars. Also facing the new council would be the results of a convention center study that would be given to them. The study concentrated on whether Vail could support and benefit from this facility that could accommodate between 2,500 to 5,000 persons and be between 25,000 and 45,000 sq. ft. in size.A proposal to build a larger Vail Village Inn was headed back to the TOV planning commission. The original proposal submitted by Picidilly Square, Inc. was turned down because of objections to the size. The new proposal was for 280 rooms and 153,130 sq. ft. of residential floor area which was down from the original plans of 300 rooms and 157,860 sq. ft. of residential floor space.Work was about to begin on a 11,800 sq. ft. addition to the Eagle Valley Elementary School which would house eight new classrooms.Finally, Mike Hudson handed over the coveted Coal Bucket Tournament trophy to this year’s champion, Roger LaCroix. Ap-proximately 30 die-hard golfers participated in this event which has to be played at the Vail Golf Course after November 1. It had to be canceled the previous year due to snow covering the course.30 YEARS AGOWeek of November 23, 1973For the first time in Vail’s short history, a woman was elected to the Town Council. Kathy Klug was one of the top seven vote getters and would be join-ed on the council with the six incumbents who were re-elected. They included John Dobson, Tom Stein-berg, Josef Staufer, John Donovan, Gerry White and Joe Langmaid.Dean Liotta and Judy Thal opened the doors to their new business in Lionshead called This Wicked West and grand opening ceremonies were held by Cuny Sterkel for his new Alpine Standard station. A memorial fund was set up following the news of the passing of Al Hills who died of cancer. He was survived by his wife Tina and one-year-old son, David.Vail Town Manager Terry Minger appointed Bill Pierce of the building department as the new energy coordinator. Funds from the Holly Vail Golf Tournament earlier in the summer were used to purchase a new Chevrolet ambulance. Accepting the donation from George Apostolakis, George Pappas and Bob Newell of Holly Vail was Matt Vadala of the Vail Valley Medical Center.Art Stephenson, Dennis Jerger and Ben Krueger were busy getting Vail’s outdoor ice skating rink located near Golden Peak open for the winter. They were enlarging the rink this year to measure 85 by 200 feet which was 20 feet longer than before.The featured restaurant of the week was Purcell’s and pictured with owner John Purcell were several of his incredible staff members, Cindy Grieves, Mike Munsey and Terry Brennan. This week also marked the grand opening of Jim Slevin’s Spaghetti Parlour at the Vail Village Inn. which featured family spaghetti dinners from $2.25 to $3.45. Pictured enjoying one of the first dinners was Fran Moretti, Jan Strauch, Ann Staufer and Daphne Slevin.THINK SNOW!


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