Powder Burn: Arson, Money, and Mystery on Vail Mountain
by Daniel Glick
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Book Summary Information
Author: Daniel GlickEdition: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2002-12-31
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 272
Summary of Powder Burn: Arson, Money, and Mystery on Vail Mountain
Twin Peaks meets Philistines in the Hedgerows: An arson investigation in the ultra-rich ski town reveals a strange, complicated community where everyone is a logical suspect. . In October, 1998 seven fires simultaneously erupted atop Vail ski area. By the time they had been extinguished, several lifts were massively damaged, the elegant and beloved Two Elk Lodge was totally destroyed, lift shacks were just embers, and the ski patrol headquarters was beyond repair. Before the flames had even died down, rumors about likely culprits were spreading through the exclusive Colorado community. Everyone, it seems, was a likely suspect in the $12 million arson. Vail Associates (VA), the international recreation company that runs the ski basin, had gone public two years earlier, bringing a profit-at-all-costs mentality to a town that still prided itself on being run by grown-up ski bums. VA had a lucrative insurance policy that paid out well in case of fire. Environmentalists were angry about plans to expand the ski valley. Locals had employment grievances with VA, which preferred to import cheaper Central American workers to replace increasingly bummed out ski bums. Vail's ski patrol was furious at being told they would, as a cost-cutting measure, have to clean the patrol shack's toilets. Mom and Pop business owners in town had been scarred by the behemoth company's competitive claws. Other Colorado ski area owners were still apoplectic about a Justice Department anti-trust ruling that allowed Vail to gobble up two neighboring resorts. Backcountry skiiers feared Vail's relentless expansion would shut them out of their favorite terrain. Hunters were angry that the region's elk herd would be decimated to make way for more development. Neighboring towns had been fighting VA over water rights. Packed with odd characters and paranoia, with beautiful mountains and despicable actions, this is a book about crime, the environment, a small town, and a crime that remains unsolved. Powder Burn reads as quick as an expert skiier zooming down a black diamond slope.On the face of it, this is the story of unsolved arson at a high-glamour resort, a mystery packed with suspects that range from crusty ski bums to radical tree huggers to the resort's own corporate honchos. But underlying this entertaining true-life plot is a greater theme that is playing out across America. Here, tensions mount between the progress-minded shareholders of Vail Resorts Inc., environmentalists, and locals who simply pine for the days when they weren't priced out of having a meal--or a life--in Vail, Colorado. Elsewhere, similar hostility brews over conflicting interests in pricey tourist regions like Taos, New Mexico; the Florida Keys; and the Hamptons of New York. So while Powder Burn is an intriguing tale on its own, it also serves as a snapshot of our country as it struggles with its final growing pains. The modern corporatization of Vail Mountain is in direct contrast to its past, when a hard-drinking fellow could ride his horse into a bar and turn himself into local legend. Daniel Glick, a special correspondent for Newsweek, masterfully uses his reporter's eye for detail to deliver the spirit and breathtaking scenery of the Rocky Mountain West. He introduces personalities in rapid-fire succession, but, to his credit, the reader never feels overwhelmed or confused. The descriptions are so vivid--from the environmentalist tracking lynx paw prints through the snow to the vacationing company president staking out a Disney World pay phone as he receives updates on the 1998 fire's damage--that they remain fixed in the reader's mind as the story unfolds. It's a story that makes interesting reading for skiers, environmentalists, or anyone intrigued by the unfolding drama in our last wild places. --Jodi Mailander Farrell
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