BCS BOWL GAMES

National Championship (January 7, 2008)- Ohio State Buckeyes vs. LSU Tigers, FOX 8PM EST

Orange Bowl (January 3, 2008) – Virginia Tech Hookies vs. Kansas Jayhawks, FOX 8PM EST

Fiesta Bowl (January 2, 2008) – Oklahoma Sooners vs. West Virginia Mountaineers, FOX 8PM EST

Rose Bowl (January 1, 2008) – Southern California Trojans vs. Illinois Fighting Illini, ABC 4:30PM EST

Sugar Bowl (January 1, 2008) – Georgia Bulldogs vs. Hawaii Warriors, FOX 8:30PM EST
Poinsettia Bowl (December 20, 2007) – Utah vs. Navy, ESPN 9PM EST

New Orleans Bowl (December 21, 2007) – Florida Atlantic vs. Memphis, ESPN2 8PM EST

Las Vegas Bowl (December 22, 2007) – UCLA vs. BYU, ESPN 8PM EST

New Mexico Bowl (December 22, 2007) – New Mexico vs. Nevada, ESPN 4:30PM EST

PapaJohns.com Bowl (December 22, 2007) – Cincinnati vs. Southern Miss, ESPN2 1:00PM EST

Hawaii Bowl (December 23, 2007) – Boise State vs. East Carolina, ESPN 8PM EST

Motor City Bowl (December 26, 2007) – Central Michigan vs. Purdue, ESPN 7:30PM EST

Holiday Bowl (December 27, 2007) – Arizona State vs. Texas, ESPN 8PM EST

Emerald Bowl (December 28, 2007) – Maryland vs. Oregon State, ESPN 8:30PM EST

Champs Sports Bowl (December 28, 2007) – Boston College vs. Michigan State, ESPN 5PM EST

Texas Bowl (December 28, 2007) – Texas Christian vs. Houston, NFL NET 8PM EST

Alamo Bowl (December 29, 2007) – Penn State vs. Texas A&M, ESPN 8PM EST

Liberty Bowl (December 29, 2007) – Central Florida vs. Mississippi State, ESPN 4:30PM EST

Meineke Car Bowl (December 29, 2007) – Wake Forest vs. Connecticut, ESPN 1PM EST

Independence Bowl (December 30, 2007) – Colorado vs. Alabama, ESPN 8PM EST

Insight Bowl (December 31, 2007) – Oklahoma State vs. Indiana, NFL NET 5:30PM EST

Chick-Fil-A Bowl (December 31, 2007) – Auburn vs. Clemson, ESPN 7:30PM EST

Music City Bowl (December 31, 2007) – Kentucky vs. Florida State, ESPN 4PM EST

Humanitarian Bowl (December 31, 2007) – Fresno State vs. Georgia Tech, ESPN2 2PM EST

Sun Bowl (December 31, 2007) – Oregon vs. South Florida, CBS 2PM EST

Armed Forces Bowl (December 31, 2007) – California vs. Air Force, ESPN 12:30PM EST

Capital One Bowl (January 1, 2008) – Michigan vs. Florida, ABC 1PM EST

Gator Bowl (January 1, 2008) – Virginia vs. Texas Tech, CBS 12PM EST

Cotton Bowl (January 1, 2008) – Arkansas vs. Missouri, FOX 11:30AM EST

Outback Bowl (January 1, 2008) – Wisconsin vs. Tennessee, ESPN 11AM EST

International Bowl (January 5, 2008) – Rutgers vs. Ball State, ESPN2 12:30PM EST

GMAC Bowl (January 6, 2008) – Bowling Green vs. Tulsa, ESPN 8PM EST

These folks have taken an interesting angle on blogging with regards to the immediate availability of news through the blogging community over status quo news agencies. Basically if you want to find out what is happening you might be better off doing a google or technorati search instead of just hitting the standard news channels. The reasoning is simple, with cell phone cameras (both photo and video) and sites such as youtube or personal blogs regular joes like you and me can be giving the rest of the world news faster than organized news channels. Interesting and fun for this blog to have gotten a little press so I hope you don’t mind my sharing.

Here is their article…

CRISIS MANAGER UNIVERSITY

Editor’s Note: When I received a short description of this situation from the author, a long-time “Crisis Manager” reader, I asked if he could develop it into a case history. He did so, superbly!

The Rockies Were Rookies at Crisis Management
By Robert Austin, APR

With its proximity to the Rocky Mountains, 300 days of sunshine per year, 650 miles of urban bike trails and over 20,000 acres of public parks and open space, Denver is a perfect setting for sports of every kind imaginable. Add in eight professional teams and you have a town where sport can be a religious experience.

When a team in such a place makes it to a championship, it is, for many, more rare and significant than a virgin birth. Tens of thousands will make whatever pilgrimage necessary to touch the holy grail of a ticket. It follows that when the Colorado Rockies made it to the World Series, fans prepared to camp out at Coors Field for the lottery that might lead them to salvation. Five days before the sale, however, the Rockies’ front office committed a blasphemy that put fans up and down the Rocky Mountain Front Range in crisis mode:tickets would be sold only online.

Immediately, fans and analysts began to question the logistics of the decision. Local news stations invited computer experts to give their opinions on how any system could handle the expected onslaught of Internet users looking for tickets from around the world. ESPN easily found non-experts to comment, quoting one hopeful fan, “If 250,000 people are online trying to get tickets, I can’t imagine the Rockies’ Web server can handle that sort of load.”

After thoroughly debating the technical aspects, attention turned to the fairness of the process. Some speculated that scalpers would use automated software that would enable them to process requests much faster than a human could. Others pointed to the number of fans disadvantaged with slow, dial-up connections or no Internet access at all. Still others pointed to the fact that anyone, anywhere in the world was able to stand in line, a situation that a queue at Coors Field might have averted.

Throughout these debates, the Rockies’ front office stayed on message. The fears of technical snafus were met with confidence. Both the club and Major League Baseball gave reassurances that all would be fine. Rockies spokesperson Jay Alves insisted the club’s computers were ready to go and said the staff prepared for any crashes. “We don’t anticipate that, but if something happens, we’re ready for that too,” he said. Matthew Gould, vice president of corporate communications for MLB, allayed fears by pointing to experience. “Obviously, this is not a first-time thing for us,” he said. No one gave any details about contingency plans.

On Monday, October 22 at 10:00 a.m., the sale began. Tens of thousands of fans sat in front of computer screens, aimlessly clicking the “refresh” button only to be repeatedly faced with the ominous message “site not available.” Two hours into it, Mike Miller, author of the blog The Urban Brain performed a “whois” search for evenue.net, the apparent host for the online sale. From that search, he obtained a phone number of the parent company, Paciolan, and called it. Miller then scooped news outlets with a blog post describing the developing crisis:

“The very nice lady who was answering phones caught on to what I was up to right away as she asked ‘are you calling about Rockies tickets’.

‘Yes’ I replied. So she gave me the scoop.

They are having issues, big issues, on the hosting side with their ISP. Whatever is going on, they can’t resolve traffic between their servers and the outside ISP’s.

They have contacted their ISP and are hoping for some resolution soon. They don’t know if it is something really big or something really easy to fix, but either way they are dead in the water and the update they gave me is that fewer than 100 tickets have been sold so far.

She said the IT guys just were not expecting this mass amount of response and they whole system is overwhelmed.

Well duh, what did they think would happen? Someone is going to get a little dose of reality about this whole thing.”

Three hours after Miller’s post, Rockies Spokesperson Alves appeared at a press conference in front of eager reporters. Enough fans had shown up at the ballpark for furious chants of “we want tickets; we want tickets” to be heard over the spokesman. Alves announced that ticket sales had been suspended due to a system crash brought on by 8.5 million hits in 90 minutes. The crash was so bad that all of Paciolan’s North American customers were affected.

At 4:36 p.m., the Rockies posted a press release on the club Web site announcing suspension of the sale. Prior to that, the Web site still featured a banner announcing the sale was in progress. It wasn’t until the 10:00 p.m. newscast that the club announced the system was fixed, that sales would go back online at noon the following day and that a contingency plan was in place should anything go wrong again, although no details of that plan were given.

By this time, the club and Paciolan had also figured out the problem: a malicious attack. “Our Web site, and ultimately, our fans and our organization, were the victim of an external malicious attack on our Web site that shut down the system and kept our fans from being able to purchase their World Series tickets,” Alves said.

Yet, even fans with no IT background doubted that claim. One fan, who had been a victim of such an attack said flat out, “They’re lying.” Drew Curtis, the owner of Fark.com, told The Denver Channel. Com: “If they notified their upstream provider that they were under attack, the upstream provider could have shut that off in no time flat.”

The following day ticket sales went off without a hitch and some 60,000 tickets were sold within a few hours. At this point, news outlets pointed out that no investigation was being launched for the perpetrators of the attack. Analysts and computer experts began a new discussion on this topic.
The Aftermath

In the end, tickets sold out and, inevitably, thousands ended up disappointed and ticketless. So what was the actual damage?

* Confidence in the club’s management faltered. On blogs and news outlet Web sites, fans wrote at length about the poor treatment the club gave its fans.

* Business lost immeasurable productivity. Many fans took the day off to try for tickets online. Others used office computers. In fact, a Denver Post news report blogged live from the offices of Blue Cross/Blue Shield detailed how several employees tied up office computers for several hours trying to access the site. The fact that the entire process was repeated the next day may have doubled the loss.

* Paciolan’s entire North American customer base were thrown into crisis mode as well. They, too, likely suffered loss of sales. For example, the Denver Center for Performing Arts also uses Paciolan for online ticket sales. The DCPA first started to experience a slowdown shortly after the Rockies sale began. Soon after, the system failed entirely. During the outage, the DCPA posted a notice on its web site advising ticket buyers to order their tickets by phone or in person. Those were options Rockies fans didn’t have. Anita Edwards, the Center’s Web services manager said, “harm done.” It would take another few weeks before the Center could assess any financial damages.

The Lessons

This crisis began long before the servers crashed. It began the moment the Rockies made the announcement that tickets would be sold only online. It was at that moment that the club’s public, its fans, went into crisis mode. Many made immediate plans to take the day off, to have multiple computers set up to try to up their odds of scoring a ticket. After the announcement, news outlets and computer experts began to ask questions that were answered too easily and almost flippantly: “Obviously, we’ve done this before.” Questions on the fairness of the decision were left unanswered. In announcing the decision, the club simply stated that it was the most fair way for fans to get tickets – period, no discussion.

As communicators, we’ve all heard the tips on how to manage crises. We learn about the first, golden hour of a developing situation. We list out steps to be taken, messages to be disseminated and follow-up to be carried out. We practice how to talk to the media to convey those messages and how to think on our feet with microphones pressed in our faces. We train our employees not to make unauthorized statements to members of the media (or others, for that matter).

Each of these lessons is reinforced by the Rockies’ ticket woes. Among them:

* The club was slow to respond to the media and to its fans. Blogger Mike Miller exposed the crash at least two hours before the club made any statement. It took five hours to get a statement on the Web site – the very place where thousands of fans had been camped out for information.

* When the club and its partners did give an explanation, a “malicious attack,” no details were given and no investigations were launched. To skeptics, this was further evidence that the club, MLB and Paciolan simply weren’t taking responsibility for messing up.

Ultimately, however, the biggest lesson lies in the failure to think the decision to sell tickets exclusively online all the way through in the first place. Our job, as communicators, is to try to anticipate the perceptions, attitudes and actions of our publics. That means examining every policy decision and asking the “what if” questions.

Sure, it is possible that our colleagues at the Rockies don’t have a seat at the table where these questions can be asked, which merely underscores another lesson of crisis management. Nonetheless, someone at the club should have been asking the questions. What if we sold the tickets using a system tested by other clubs in the past? What if the servers can’t handle the load? What if there was a back-up plan to shift to in-person or phone sales if the server did crash? What if we’re wrong and this system isn’t fair to local fans? What if we did have a lottery system, even if it were for online only sales? What if a rookie performance in ticket sales somehow translates to a rookie performance on the field? We may never know.

Robert Austin, APR, is Director of Professional and Public Relations for the Rocky Mountain Lions Eye Bank in Denver, CO. Contact: raustin@corneas.org.

This topic might get more comments than any others so in advance I’ve set up a forum discussion. The trick in the mix is that the owners have also pointed out that if the Rockies and the city advocate groups feel that strongly about preserving the views they can always buy the land away from them. That’s not such a crazy argument and I would think that if the city OR the rockies started to approach local developers they just might find some interested parties who would love the idea of developing the Coors Field lofts.

It has branding, it has some panache, it has some great possibilities (anyone out there who decides to do it give me a call :) ).

Really, just think about it. There is no need to step on property rights or to ruin the views for the stadium folks. Every challenge is an opportunity. First of all, just build the building to the maximum height that still keeps the Rockies owners and the advocate groups happy. That is still a fairly high range and I expect that several floors of condos could go in there.

Secondly, if the Rockies and their advocates are a partner in this to preserve their asset (The stadium views) they could also come up with some killer marketing idea that makes the units unique and increases the price per square foot they obtain and work to make it not just a winning move for the stadium, but also a profitable one for the group involved. What would that perk be…. who knows. What about those units carrying a 10 year season ticket package and rights to renew beyond that for each unit. What about a Rockies affiliated restaurant in the base. What about a rooftop Rockies sports lounge. Heck, you can even throw in autographed Rockie jerseys and baseballs for each owner as a welcome gift at almost no cost but a huge value.

Forget fighting about it. Someone take this bull by the horns and make it the opportunity it should be. My guess is a lower building with a Rockies tie in would sell better ane more profitably than a generic taller building that is in contention with the city. PR matters. Branding matters, and this just begs for a flip from bad to good. Let’s also get the city to do their part with a pedestrian bridge over to the stadium across the tracks from that building. There are always options to make it a home run (had to have at least one pun).

So lets do a little marketing and development feedback here on my crazy little idea. The land looks to be for sale from this info I found when I googled 2010 Delgany so this fiction can become reality. Any buyers out there?

Link to PDF of proposed change

Rocky Mountain News Article

I was told I can walk away from my computer screen, go grab a shower, and relax for at least the rest of the evening. No more ticket sales this afternoon, or this evening. At the earliest it will be tomorrow. I still recommend you wait until 5 PM to hear the official release but that is the unofficial official scoop.

As you can tell, I am pretty excited about the opportunity to go to see the Rockies play in the World Series.

I was an early believer. Before everyone fully started a feeding frenzy I got online and bought tickets through every game I could. Maybe it was hope, maybe it was rooting for the local underdog team no one thought would make it. Maybe I am just sentimental. Or maybe I just loved going to the rare Rockies games I could catch, sitting in the sun and enjoying the game, and the thought of that same team having a shot at the series got me pumped up.

I was also a late believer. Other fans have been buying season tickets year after year, season after season. They were going to games when Coors Field would almost be empty. These folks are not fair weather. They are true to the team and have been for years.

I mention this because something about this online ticket sales process bothers me. 8.5 million hits is alot. My chances of getting any seats is terrible. And there are folks out there who are only buying them to scalp them. I still have hope of course. But part of me was hoping they would have opened the windows at the stadium and started selling to the fans who mobbed Coors Field. These are probably the same folks that have been going year after year and are the real fans.

And what about the folks who bought in for the Division and National Series or who bought regular season tickets. Maybe they aren’t full season holders, but they were fans before the Series became a reality. Wouldn’t it be nice to reach into that database and somehow give all those folks a first shot before it gets opened up to the world. Granted, I am one of those people, so I am biased.

But I would like to think that the earlier you started believing in the Rockies the better your odds of getting a ticket were. Maybe that is where Karma plays in and it will all work out. Whether I am watching them in the stands or on TV I’ll still be rooting them on.

But my record for good Karma while sitting in the stands is good with me The games I went to… all wins. The game I missed, the one loss. In fact here is a quick summary of my past week. To start off the week I was at the final game in the Sweep by the Rockies. WOW!!!! What an amazing experience. I don’t know what more I can say about how amazing it was to be there.

Out r in pre game bloody mary: $6
Streeside vendor gyro with the works: $7
OSU team jersey: $70
Celebrating a Buckeye homecoming victory in the stadium for my first time in over 10 years: priceless

Then it was off to Columbus, Ohio for my first Homecoming game in over 10 years. Heck, it’s my first Ohio State game in over 10 years but the fact that it was Homecoming made it even more special. I even almost got teary eyed with the traditional script Ohio and songs. There is something special about going to your alumni games years after. I got a chance to laugh with old friends, visit old favorite spots, and travel back in time for a day. Plus we beat Michigan State (24-17) which is always a plus, although the 3rd quarter almost gave me an ulcer.

And then as a final wrap up I flew out of Columbus yesterday morning and headed to Denver to watch the Broncos play the Steelers. I felt a little remorse about picking on the Steelers too bad (great game) because I hod gotten my Ohio State ticket from an old friend of mine who is a die hard Steelers fan.

That makes it a pretty special sports week for me. I’d like to carry that momentum on for the Rockies World Series. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and wherever I am you will hear me cheer.

AI is really making an impact on this game. If you track his points, his assists, and his momentum down the court you witness some great talent. Yet somehow the whole team together is not yet in its stride. Perhaps it will take time, perhaps the Jazz were just on their game. Either way it is great that Denver has such a strong sports core within the city and that the team just keeps getting better.

You might want to stock up on tickets before they become a commodity. By the way, we were on the opposite side from the Jazz bench and we didn’t quite catch the two technicals on the Jazz assistant coach.  Anyone got more scoop on what that was all about?

Living in Riverfront Park means you certainly know one pub by heart. And just like that old Cheers show with norm and cliff, the beauty of this gem is that everyone really does know your name. Of course sometimes that is because you had a little bit too much fun the night before and your antics are well remembered. This, of course, is not a story about me and my friends… It is everybody else.
McLoughlin’s is like a den mother that is always there to make sure you are well fed, warm, and never thirsty. When we are working 80 hour weeks they have been kind enough to bring over our lunch and make sure we don’t forget to eat. When we come home late at night and want to regroup with friends for a nightcap they are open until their 2 am closing, no matter how slow their evening is. When you need a great meal and a friendly face they are always there. The people are great, the food is great, and the beer is cold.

And I haven’t even told you how great the summers are sitting out on the patio. That was the best.

During the blizzard when everything was shut down they kept us fed until the last scrap of food was gone. How’s that for reliability.

So join me in getting to know a little bit more about McLoughlins and Jon Koenig General Manager/Owner.

For those who haven’t visited you yet, can you share a brief
description of McLoughlins (Food, ambiance, vision, people)?

We set out to create a restaurant featuring modern american cuisine in a casual, relaxed environment. Basically we wanted a place that people would feel comfortable coming in after work in a pair of jeans, and have a burger and couple of beers. But also a place where people felt fine dressing up, sharing a bottle of wine, and eating a steak. It’s also become a “neighborhood” place, and on any given night, you will know half of the people in here.

McLoughlins has an Irish heritage. Can you share a little bit
about the owners, how you came to be in Denver, and more about the
history?

Frank and Jim McLoughlin, natives of Dublin, Ireland. Frank came to
the states almost 20 years ago, working for Fado Irish Pub in Atlanta. He
moved to denver 7 years ago to open the Fado here, then
teamed up with Jim to open the Irish Snug, their first pub, almost 3
years ago. Jim moved to Chicago about 7 years ago, and owns some
property there. He has an extensive background in Accounting and CFO
duties for large corporations. He travels constantly between the
two cities, racking up tons of mileage for free trips if he were ever
to get any time off.

Talk about locating in Riverfront Park and the Central Platte
Valley and what attracted you to this location. Are there unique
elements to this location?

Riverfront Park is a beautiful new development right next to the heart of
Denver. We are proud to be part of the development. We feel like we are
playing our part in creating a new neighborhood and we love our new
neighbors.

Where do you get your menu ideas? Do you have any favorites?

The menu creation is a culmination of Frank, Jim and myself. After
deciding on the basic idea of what we wanted on the menu, we each
brought ideas to the table, mostly favorite dishes we had, some
things we had cooked for ourselves or our families. Then the fun
part, I got to prepare everything and we all tasted. Some were
excellent, and we all agreed they should be on. Some where not so
great and didn’t make the cut. We’ve revised the menu a few times
since we opened; bringing Nick on as our Kitchen manager a month or
two after we opened. He has brought considerable expertise to the
mix, and some of his creations have become our most popular menu
items. I think my personal favorite dish is the Arabiatta pasta. It’s
a vodka, cream and tomato pasta, slightly spicy. It’s tasty, and it’s
made with booze. Win – win!

Every member of your team has been a rockstar when I’ve been
there, can you share a bit about who they are?

We’ve two bartenders that have been with us since the beginning,
Tommy and Doug. I met Tommy at Fado years ago, and Doug the day of
his wedding. He came into the Irish Snug before the wedding. I bought
him a guinness and a breakfast and sent him on his way. Nick our
kitchen manager is a bit of a sports freak, and it always amazes me
the stats and knowledge he can come up with. Vinny is our main dinner
cook, and he’s a good guy, with dubious connections to denver mafia.
I try not to yell at him too much. Our other staff members Chloe,
Sarah, Jessica, Loren, Jake, Sarah, our other manager Tina, and our
day guys, brothers Demetrio and Enrique all bring their own personal
flair to the place. Chloe speaks fluent french and makes fun of me
when I say wine names. Sarah was hired as part time, but has yet to
work under 40 hours a week for us. Jessica’s wisconsin accent comes
out when she’s had a couple. Loren lives only two blocks away, but
still never manages to come in on time. Jake is one of the more
enthusiastic people I’ve worked with. Sarah has a green thumb and
helped build up our flower boxes for the winter. Tina’s “No BS”
attitude is enviable. Demetrio and Enrique manage to make everything
spicy.

What’s on tap and how do you decide what is flowing?

We’ve tried to hit all of the bases when it came to the alcohol. Of
course the guinness, along with other irish favorites Smithwick’s
(pronounced Smithick’s, silent ‘w’) and Harp. English beers Bass and
Strongbow cider, local brews from Odell’s in Ft. Collins, Easy Street
Wheat and 90 Shillings, Stella Artois and French lager Kronenbourg,
and a certain regulars’ personal favorite, Coors Light.. Our wine
list is fairly extensive, with 69 bottles total, 24 of which we serve
by the glass. It’s broken down by New World and Old World and has
something for everybody.

What about Special Events? Are there dates we should have in
our calendars not to miss?

Obviously St. Patrick’s day. We are planning on doing something
similar to last year. We will cover the patio, have a few bands, a
few special Irish dishes, and the Guinness will be flowing non-stop.

Located right on the Plaza, you have to have some great
stories. Can you share some of the most memorable moments or
sights you have seen?

Needless to say, during the blizzard of ’06 most of our staff had no
chance to get to work for a couple of days. But being the
neighborhood place that we are, we were determined to open somehow.
Being the only one with a 4 wheel drive, I managed to plow my way
down here. It was my day off, and I had only just rolled out of bed
and headed into work. Frank had walked all of the way from the Snug
with his girlfriend (downing and colfax) and so with the three of us,
we decided to open up with a limited menu. For the next 8 hours we
were completely swamped. Our patio became the place to park your
snowboard, skis or sled. Frank, Suzie (who has never waited tables)
and I ran around trying to take care of everyone. I was wearing my
pajamas, (never had a chance to go back home and change). A couple of
the staff found a way to get to work, so things got a little smoother
after that. I think everybody who came in understood the situation,
and nobody left too angry. In the end it was a great day for us.

You certainly have a loyal following here in Riverfront. What
do you credit this to? Do you have a unique philosophy to taking
care of your customers and neighbors?

I think the main reason we’ve been a success has been our staff. We
encourage them all to let their own personalities flow while they’re
working. I think it creates a very special atmosphere, one that our
customers have really enjoyed.

Anything else the folks out there should know? Anything new
down the road?

We have been tweaking our brunch menu, and we invite people to come
down on the weekends. We open at 9am every saturday and sunday, and
serve brunch until 3pm.

Terrain at A-Basin to increase by 395 acres
By Roger Fillion, Rocky Mountain News
December 9, 2006
Arapahoe Basin got the thumbs up from the U.S. Forest Service Friday to almost double the Summit County ski area’s terrain.
The move allows 60-year-old A-Basin, now at 490 acres, to add a ski lift serving the 395-acre Montezuma Bowl on its backside. The terrain offers intermediate and advanced skiing – an area that has been popular with backcountry skiers.

“It’s great terrain back there, excellent for skiing and snowboarding,” said Alan Henceroth, A-Basin’s chief operating officer.

The Forest Service also OK’d an upgrade of the Exhibition lift, which serves A-Basin’s front side, and the construction of an additional 231 parking spaces. The rustic ski area has parking for 1,450 vehicles, including buses – an amount that has caused shortages, particularly in the spring.

Henceroth estimated the three projects would cost nearly $7 million, with the Montezuma Bowl portion costing about $3 million.

A-Basin plans to have the new lift to Montezuma Bowl operational for the 2007-08 season.

“Our hope is to do Montezuma Bowl this summer,” Henceroth said.

He added that work on the additional parking will begin next summer and take two to three years. Henceroth said the upgrade of the Exhibition lift is expected to happen “in two to three years.”

In a news release, the Forest Service said it granted the expansion and upgrades to better disperse intermediate and advanced skiers around the ski area and to move skiers more quickly up the mountain.

But not everyone is happy. Backcountry enthusiasts have prized Montezuma Bowl for its relatively easy access and challenging skiing. The new lift will mean more skiers will be ferried there.

“Another backcountry experience is lost,” said Ellen Hollinshead, head of the Summit County chapter of the Backcountry Snowsports Alliance.

Hollinshead noted that the new Montezuma Bowl lift has been on A-Basin’s drawing board for a long time.

“But I hope they’re going to look into the impact on parking from this expansion,” she added, saying 231 additional parking spaces doesn’t seem sufficient.

“Expansions do increase skiers,” she said.

The public has 45 days to appeal the decision.

The approval came on the eve of A-Basin’s official celebration of its 60th season.

“It’s a nice little present for us,” Henceroth said.

What the A-Basin expansion will mean

• New lift serving the 395-acre Montezuma Bowl on the area’s backside, which will offer intermediate and advanced skiing.

• An upgrade of the existing Exhibition lift on the front side.

• 231 additional parking spaces

• Approximate cost: Nearly $7 million

fillionr@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2467