Branden Smith / Courtesy Vail Resorts
Editor’s note: Stories in this list received the most page views on SummitDaily.com for the past week.
1. Fiery semitrailer crash closes I-70 Wednesday near Silverthorne
Interstate 70 closed Wednesday from the Eisenhower Tunnel to Silverthorne while crews worked to clean up after a multivehicle crash and semitrailer fire. A semitrailer carrying lentils collided with three vehicles while heading westbound from the tunnel.
The semitrailer caught fire following the crash. The driver suffered injuries that were not thought to be life-threatening and was transported to St. Anthony Summit Medical Center in Frisco. No other injuries were reported from the crash. Three fire crews arrived on scene to deal with the vehicle fire, and the county’s hazmat response unit also was called in to help clean oil and gasoline off the roadway.
2. Arapahoe Basin Ski Area and Keystone Resort continue to pump out snow over the weekend
Last weekend, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area and Keystone Resort were taking advantage of low overnight temperatures to stay in the race to open. A-Basin called Friday, Oct. 4, their “best night yet” in a Twitter post, and snow guns ran until noon that Saturday.
Keystone Resort has invested in new, high efficiency snowmaking equipment this year, all in an effort to open earlier.
3. Summit County’s first snowstorm puts ski areas days away from opening
Snow fell Wednesday night and Thursday across the Colorado Rockies, bringing a few inches of snow to towns in Summit County. But the real excitement is higher up, where the combination of natural snow, low temperatures and around-the-clock snowmaking means Summit County ski areas were close to opening.
On Thursday, Arapahoe Basin’s director of lifts and slopes maintenance Louis Skowyra said he was confident the ski area would open very soon.
The biggest surprise from the storm was Keystone Resort’s summit snow stake, which showed about 7 or 8 inches Thursday morning.
“With sustained cold temperatures, a new automated snowmaking system and a little help from Mother Nature, Keystone is getting ready to kick off the season any day now,” Jessie Vandenhouten, communications manager for Vail and Beaver Creek, wrote in an email on Thursday.
Over at Loveland Ski Area, spokesman John Sellers reported 5 inches of snow at 10 a.m.
The Historic Brown and Fox’s Den, a hotel and music venue located just off of Main Street Breckenridge, may be rezoned. The hotel hosts music events periodically in the basement-level Fox’s Den. Last July, there was some confusion about the noise restrictions on the venue, but owner Michael Cavanaugh walked away believing he was zoned for commercial noise levels.
It turns out that three sides of The Historic Brown are zoned commercially, but the fourth side, which is on North French Street, is zoned for residential noise levels. Cavanaugh is petitioning the town to get the North French Street side of the building zoned for commercial noise levels. According to Cavanaugh, he has received noise violations due to ongoing issues with a residential neighbor. He expects the rezoning issue to be brought up in the Oct. 22 or Nov. 12 Breckenridge Town Council meeting.
5. Two people killed in Highway 6 crash identified
The two people who were killed in a head-on crash on U.S. Highway 6 were identified as 58-year-old Larry Kennedy and 59-year-old Ronnie Suenram of Oklahoma, according the Summit County Coroner’s Office.
At about 6 a.m. Oct. 3, two pickup trucks collided near the eagle sculpture overlooking Dillon Reservoir, between Lake Dillon Drive and Tenderfoot Street. Kennedy was pronounced dead on scene. Suenram, who was taken to the hospital along with five others, later died.
Summit County Coroner Regan Wood said the manner of death in both cases was accidental and caused by multiple blunt force trauma injuries.