The Pole

Trails, campgrounds, mountains and rivers weren’t the only outdoor venues teeming with COVID weary recreationists last summer. Golf also saw a huge upswing in participation. According to Hillcrest Golf Course, the local muni saw a resurgence of golf participation last year, with more than 57,000 rounds played in 2020 – a 37 percent increase over 2019. This is more than double the national trend, which saw golf numbers increase 14 percent year-over-year, the largest gain the industry in 17 years. 

Hiking and biking season is almost upon us in Southwest Colorado, which brings with it a host of concerns and considerations, not the least of which is co-existing with wildlife. 

Of course, the apex predator at the top of most of our worried minds when jaunting about the backcountry alone is the mountain lion. Perhaps no other animals are as simultaneously feared and revered as the mysterious, large cats.

Durango School District 9-R is getting on the bus – the electric bus, that is. Last week, 9-R announced it won a $328,803 grant for a fully electric school bus and charging infrastructure. The 81-seat bus is expected to be operational by next fall.

The days of scrawling your name and phone number with a Sharpie on your gear are over. A Boise-based company has come up with a tech-age solution to the age-old problem of lost or yard-saled gear.

For $3.99, Karmik Outdoors will send you a QR code decal for all your most precious toys. The unique code will trace you gear back to you, all with a simple smart phone scan (provided, of course, that whomever finds your flotsam, jetsam and improperly secured roof items is a believer in gear karma in the first place.)

Early in the morning of Feb. 6, local chef Seanan Culloty narrowly escaped an apartment fire with his life and his faithful dog, Bubba. However, Culloty, the head chef at Manna, escaped with little else. To help Culloty get back on his feet, friends and co-workers are hosting a GuFundMe page. The money will be used to help Culloty replace his belonging as well as with a deposit and first month’s rent on a new apartment.

Adding to an already grim year of statistics, last week was the deadliest week of avalanches in the U.S. in more than a century. At least 15 people were killed in avalanches in six states between Jan. 31 – Feb. 6, including three in the San Juans alone.

To help folks better contend with this season’s treacherous and unprecedented conditions, Friends of the San Juans wants to equip them the best tool possible: knowledge.

It’s about to get a whole lot easier to juice electric vehicles. This week, the City of Durango pledged $10,997 to help finance the city’s first-ever electric vehicle DC fast-charging station. The DC station, which will be located in the Durango Transit Center parking, will allow up to two vehicles to fully charge simultaneously, in approximately 20 minutes. The new stations will be located next to the City’s existing Level 2 EV charging stations, which by comparison take roughly four hours to deliver a full charge.