12/13/06 Sun Valley gets a D

For those of you lucky enough to be spending the holidays skiing in, Sun Valley, beware, there are scrooges out there who would like nothing better then to put a damper on your vacation by making you feel even more guilty for that $120 lift ticket. Colorado Wild an environmental group seems intent on alerting consumers to the fact that Sun Valley received a "big D" on their environmental report card. Naturally the Sun Valley brass disputed their grade saying that that the environmental group had flawed methodology and citing the fact that unlike other ski areas, this famous resort has resisted developing most of it's 2,600 acres. It seems Sun Valley was faulted for not ratifying the " Sustainable Slopes" program that even the industry's trade group, The National Ski Areas Association endorses. Meanwhile Northwest resorts like Bogus Basin and Mount Bachelor received strong A 's while Jackson Hole, Aspen and Grand Targee received strong B's. So you skiers flying down Baldy knee deep in powder, I just know you are feeling the pain of that environmental D .