The Denver-based — formed in 2017 amidst shocking abuse allegations against U.S. women’s gymnastics team doctor — on Tuesday announced it will begin publicizing weekly additions to its , which tracks athletes and coaches subject to sanctions and restrictions.

“Knowledge is power and maintaining safe sport environments improves when information is as accessible as possible,” Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, the center’s CEO, said in a statement.

Athletes and coaches listed in SafeSport’s database are currently restricted or banned from participating in any Olympic or Paralympic sport, which includes elite competition all the way down to local, grassroots organizations and youth teams.

One of the new additions to the database this month: , a celebrated two-time Paralympian skier from Vail.

An investigation found Walsh, 31, engaged in sexual misconduct, physical misconduct and sexual harassment, according to SafeSport records. He has been suspended by SafeSport, placed on probation, issued a no-contact directive and must undergo education.

Walsh, who declined to comment Tuesday, can still appeal the decision.

SafeSport is fielding more complaints than ever in our ongoing fight against abuse (����ap)

SafeSport does not detail specifics of its findings or when the offenses took place. The organization also does not say how long the suspensions or probationary periods will last.

Vail police records show Walsh was convicted last year of driving under the influence and sentenced to community service. He also received a summons for disorderly conduct. Vail police had no records related to sexual misconduct.

Walsh has been a star Colorado skier since he was a kid. His story has also served as an inspiration after he returned to skiing in high school following a battle with Stage 4 cancer, which resulted in the removal of parts of his pelvis and lung.

He met the legendary Mikaela Shiffrin in kindergarten, and the two became teammates on Ski Club Vail.

"He has that kind of zest for life that is very rare, very contagious, and cannot be stifled. Not even by cancer,” Shiffrin told the Associated Press in 2019. “Thomas was always a much better athlete than I was. He was literally good at everything. I mean, everything. Skiing, soccer, a triathlon, dancing, acting, singing, school -- you name it. He did it all and he was always the best.”

Walsh was one of nine Colorado athletes or coaches to be added to SafeSport's database this year.

Others included , of Colorado Springs, who won a bronze medal in bobsledding at the 2022 Olympics.

Investigators found Hoffman, 37, engaged in physical and emotional misconduct and abuse of process. She's been suspended, put on probation, issued a no-contact directive and must undergo education. Hoffman could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Eighty Coloradans are currently on the SafeSport list, which is a point-in-time reflection of current discipline. That means some athletes can come off the list after serving their punishment. Others, though, have been banned for life.

The individuals in the database come from a wide array of Olympic and Paralympic sports, and include youth coaches affiliated with the USA Olympic and Paralympic organizations. Seventeen of the 80 were part of USA Hockey, the largest number of any sport. Wrestling (11), soccer (8), basketball (5) and gymnastics (4) rounded out the top five.

Some have been criminally charged, such as a on suspicion of child sex abuse.

Congress codified SafeSport through the . It came in response to hundreds of sex abuse allegations against Nassar, which prompted , legislation and the formation of the new oversight body.

Since its inception, the organization has been criticized for being opaque and confusing, while taking too long to resolve cases. A produced by a congressionally appointed commission "paints a picture of a center in potential crisis."

"The U.S. Center for SafeSport, while recognized by some, is not overwhelmingly seen as effective,” the analysis read.

Last year, the organization after revelations that the center had hired an .

Fitzgerald Mosley, in a June opinion piece for The Denver Post, touted the work the center had done in its nine years, including the database that now lists more than 2,600 individuals facing discipline. The organization received nearly 9,700 reports last year, a 20% increase over the previous year, she said.

"Athletes lit the torch for this movement," she wrote. "Now it����ap up to all of us to carry it forward. Championing safe and healthy sport environments is our shared responsibility."

On Tuesday, the ski company announced new initiatives intended to enhance its guest experience, from upgrading ingredients in its most popular mountain eats to adding more convenient features to the My Epic app. It����ap all part of a multi-year vision — formally called Epic Experience — that seeks to attract tourists to Vail Resorts properties on the heels of a difficult ski season.

Skiers visits to Vail properties during the 2025-26 fell 12.5% compared to the winter prior, the company previously said, thanks to abysmal snowfall in Colorado and across much of the Mountain West. Additionally, early Epic Pass purchases had declined 10% as of June.

While Vail Resorts has focused many years on building its network of resorts across the globe to give Epic Pass holders the choice of 42 different places to ski, the company is now investing in the onsite experience to build customer loyalty, CEO Rob Katz said in a statement Tuesday.

“The next chapter of growth for Vail Resorts is about delivering a guest experience that undeniably leads the ski industry and is best in class in the travel sector,” Katz said. “Epic Experience is about using the strength of our integrated model and leveraging our scale and technology to make every part of the mountain journey more seamless, personalized and memorable.”

Amenities for lessons and gear

That mission includes giving guests luxury treatment when they book private ski lessons through a new program called Epic Ascent. Vail Mountain and Beaver Creek will serve as test sites for the new program this upcoming winter, which offers tourists “high-touch customer support and a dedicated concierge to coordinate every detail of their overall trip, like dining reservations, transportation coordination and white-glove gear rental,” the announcement states.

Epic Ascent is expected to roll out to more locations by the 2027-28 season.

Vail Resorts is also planning to expand the initiative, which gives skiers a unique opportunity to rent gear ahead of time and have it delivered to wherever they are staying. Visitors who choose to demo newer models of skis and snowboards at certain resorts will be able to do so without paying the usual My Epic Gear membership fee. (Memberships cost $50 in previous seasons.)

Participating resorts include Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Whistler Blackcomb, Park City, Crested Butte, Heavenly, Northstar, Stowe, Okemo, and Mount Snow.

Upgraded food and app features

Beyond lessons and gear rentals, Vail Resorts will invest in the food options at 15 of its properties, including Vail Mountain, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Crested Butte in Colorado. Menus will still feature ski day staples like chili, burgers, pizza, fries, hot dogs, chicken fingers, and mac and cheese, which the company says make up the majority of food sales. However, guests can expect a “significant investment” in higher-quality ingredients and more elevated food presentation.

Burgers, for example, will soon be topped with and pecan-smoked bacon, and served on brioche buns with waffle fries and a signature sauce. Vail Mountain, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Whistler Blackcomb will also offer signature dishes that “reflect the energy, culture and character of each resort,” the company said. Prices are not expected to increase beyond normal inflation, it added.

To make on-mountain activities more convenient, Vail Resorts is adding new features to the My Epic app, such as the ability to purchase lift tickets and transfer buddy passes to friends and family. The app will also integrate Apple Pay and Google Pay.

In the future, Vail Resorts anticipates skiers will also be able to purchase lessons, reserve gear rentals and plan trip itineraries, assisted by AI, directly within its app.

“Exceptional experience is not one moment — it is the standard we want guests to feel across their entire journey,” Katz said in the announcement. “From the food, lessons and gear that shape a day on the mountain to how we communicate with and support our guests, we are focused on removing friction, elevating the experience and creating more moments that inspire guests to return.”

Aspen One, owner/operator of four ski resorts near its namesake town, is preparing to dismantle two of the lifts on Aspen Mountain — the Little Nell and Bell Mountain lifts — and replace them with a single new one. Construction is expected to start this summer and the company is giving the public a chance to purchase chairs that have carried skiers up the terrain for a combined 100-plus years, according to an announcement. The Bell Mountain lift originally started spinning in 1957, while the Little Nell lift opened in 1986.

One hundred chairs from the Bell Mountain lift and 15 chairs from the Little Nell lift . Additionally, Aspen One partnered with local nonprofit Buckhorn Public Arts to have artists decorate 11 chairs in their own unique styles. One is outfitted with disco tiles and a disco ball, for example, while another is decorated with macrame.

Bidding opened on July 4 at $500 and $250 per chair, respectively, for the Bell Mountain and Little Nell chairs; however, due to the level of interest it will likely cost you more now to get your hands on one. As of Thursday, the minimum bid needed to win a Little Nell chair was $501 and the average winning bid was $653. Prices for the artistic chairs started at $2,500 per unit.

Bidding is open now through July 19 at and proceeds will benefit “funding voter registration, get-out-the-vote efforts, and the protection of voting rights,” Aspen One said in a statement.

Looking ahead to ski season, Aspen Mountain’s new chairlift will be called the Nell Bell lift and traverse a vertical rise of 2,656 feet from the gondola plaza in the town of Aspen to near where the Bell Mountain lift currently unloads, according to .

With about 10,000 people in town for the event, local shops and restaurants were bustling, bringing a welcome vibrancy to the Western Slope enclave after a tumultuous winter.

Tourism in ski towns across Colorado suffered in the wake of record-low snow last winter, with some resorts seeing as much as a 24% decline in visitation. Telluride, which is more remote than many ski areas on the Front Range, had the added challenge of a ski patrol strike that shut down the mountain for about two weeks, causing economic problems for residents and businesses.

But the thing about seasons is that they continually change.

“Summer in Telluride is so magical it����ap kind of hard not to be optimistic,” said Mark Rineer, the local sales consultant for Southern Glazer’s alcohol distributor. “As far as my perspective working with all the different restaurants and businesses, everyone is hopeful.”

Lodging data adds to that sentiment. Tourist occupancy is currently trending 3.5% ahead of last summer, according to the Telluride Tourism Board, with before the leaves change color. For example, there’s Telluride Reserve food and wine festival at the end of July and the second annual Camp Alderwild music festival in August.

“The economy seems steady for the summertime, and we’ll see how it goes from here,” Rineer said. “This is just the start.”

Residents like Lynn Moore, owner of the retail store , aren’t dwelling on the doldrums of winter. She attributes the impact on her business during ski season to a lack of snow more than anything else. (Rineer agrees; he said he only went skiing twice last season when he usually clocks 60 or more days on the mountain.)

Though some restaurants saw up to 40% declines in sales at the start of the year, January is always a slow month for retailers in Telluride, as holiday revelry and spending come to a close, Moore said. That����ap why the timing of the strike didn’t seem like a big deal to her — especially and certainly now that summer is in full swing.

“Here in town, it����ap business as usual,” Moore said. “There’s no grievances with the ski patrollers. It����ap water under the bridge.”

In the summer, Telluride has many more activities that draw visitors and help steady the flow of tourism, Moore said. As a local of 38 years, she’s also seen autumn tourism pick up in recent years, attracting leaf-peepers and wedding parties that bolster business for several more weeks.

“We have festivals, weddings, hiking, biking, climbing — you name it,” Moore said. “So many things are going on that don’t really depend on the weather.”

The Telluride Bluegrass Festival is a rain or shine event that brings in die-hard fans who stick it out no matter the forecast. That said, having a full weekend of sunny, bluebird days seemed to please the crowd, even as many hunted for shade under vendor tents, canopies that they brought or personal umbrellas. Seasoned attendees walked around with misters, showering strangers with both water and kindness. Giggling children ran around with their water guns, doing just the same.

Moore said the bluegrass festival is a beloved tradition that helps set a positive vibe for the rest of the summer. “I think we’re all just hoping that there’s no more drama, and just a lot of happy visitors and happy campers,” she said.

Judging by the smiling and sunbaked faces throughout town over the weekend, that mission was accomplished.

“Weather conditions remained extremely unfavorable in the third quarter,” chief executive Rob Katz is quoted as saying in the report, “adding to what had already been one of the most challenging winters in history across the western U.S., driving continued pressure on visitation and revenue in the quarter, particularly at our destination resorts in the Rockies.”

Vail Resorts owns 37 North American ski areas, including Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Breckenridge and Crested Butte in Colorado. Last week, Colorado Ski Country USA announced that the projected statewide decline in skier days for the 2025-26 season is 24%.

Vail Resorts also reported a 10% decrease in pass product sales for the 2026-27 season.

“While any decline in pass sales is disappointing, it is not surprising given the severity of this past season’s conditions, and we are encouraged that third-party data indicates our spring pass results are meaningfully outperforming others in the industry during this period,” Katz said. “We believe the challenging conditions have delayed purchase decisions, creating the opportunity for improved pass performance in the fall selling season and/or ultimately through lift ticket purchases during next season.

“Historical U.S. ski market data indicates that visitation typically fully recovers following a season with poor conditions if the subsequent season has normal conditions,” he added, “and we believe we are well positioned to capture that visitation with the pass and lift ticket product and marketing strategies we have developed.”

The opens the door for a future request for a federal disaster declaration and aid. It also mandates that state agencies reduce outdoor watering.

“Today I am issuing a statewide drought emergency to support Coloradans, our economy, farmers and ranchers, and outdoor enthusiasts in the face of one of the most severe droughts in Colorado’s recorded history,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a news release announcing the declaration.

“With every county in the state experiencing drought conditions,” he continued, “activating Phase 3 of our Drought Response Plan allows us to better coordinate agencies, prepare for worsening conditions, and support Colorado communities, agriculture, water users, and our environment.”

All of Colorado’s 64 counties are ranked as abnormally dry, and 93% of the state is considered to be in moderate or exceptional drought, according to .

The central mountains are experiencing the most severe drought in the state, the data show. The entirety of Eagle and Pitkin counties, as well as large portions of Rio Blanco, Garfield, Lake, Routt and Grand counties, are considered to be in exceptional drought — the most severe category tracked by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The state Drought Task Force will continue to meet to coordinate the state’s response to the lack of water. At the local and regional level, many water utilities — including Denver Water — have enacted outdoor watering restrictions for the spring and summer.

The state’s emergency declaration is the most extreme state action outlined in .

Colorado Ski Country USA projects that skier visits statewide declined nearly 24%, from 13.8 million during the 2024-25 season to 10.5 million this season. The record for Colorado is 14.8 million, which was set in 2022-23. Colorado resorts hit 14 million in 2023-24, the second most in state history.

Colorado Ski Country, the state’s ski industry trade association, represents 21 member resorts, but they do not include the five Vail Resorts mountains (Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Crested Butte). Wolf Creek is also not a member. But Vail Resorts reported in April that skier visits to its resorts in the Rocky Mountain region fell by 25% year over year, while its total visits to all of its North American resorts declined 14.9% compared to the prior year. Lift revenue was down 5.6%, ski school revenue was down 12%, and dining revenue was down 11.7%.

Ski Country announced this year’s figures — using metrics to factor in estimated skier visits at the non-member resorts — to come up with a “projected preliminary statewide” number, which it announced at Thursday’s annual meeting in Denver.

In a news release, Ski Country said every visitor segment declined — in-state, out-of-state and international — and the average number of days resorts were able to operate declined from the 20-year average of 144 days to 129 days. Visits declined more than 20% below the five-year and 10-year averages.

“This year revealed the experience, dedication, and grit of Colorado’s resorts and the teams behind them,” Ski Country chief executive Melanie Mills said in the release. “Their work supports mountain economies, keeps people connected to the mountains, and sustains the experience that generations of Coloradans and visitors come here to share. Skier visits are an important metric, but they are far from the only measure of the health of our industry.”

The 287-acre Knapp Ranch started by Bud and Betsy Knapp is about 30 miles west of Vail and adjacent to the White River National Forest and the Holy Cross Wilderness.

Ken Mirr of the , which listed the property for sale, said in a statement that the ranch is regarded “as one of the Western Region’s most iconic mountain, fishing and conservation ranches.”

The Knapps expanded their vision beyond building an informal country retreat for family and friends to making it a working farm, using sustainable practices, according to the Mirr Ranch Group.

bought the property in 1993, their son, Aaron Knapp, said.

“The first two years were spent working with the (U.S.) Army Corps of Engineers rehabbing West Lake Creek, which runs right down the middle of the property,” Aaron said.

They reintroduced native plants, fish and insects and created pools for fish. The Knapps built cabins and then the main house on a hill.

The Knapps moved to the ranch full-time in 2006, Aaron said. The couple sold their home in Los Angeles to live in the Colorado mountains.

“We’d come up to Vail all the time when I was a kid,” said Aaron, who lives in nearby Eagle. “We took vacations all the time so it was a very natural transition for my dad to go from Los Angeles to Colorado.”

Aaron said his parents worked with the U.S. Forest Service to cut down beetle-infested pine trees and clear other vegetation. They also worked with Colorado State University, which had weather stations in the area. They consulted with the school on high-altitude farming.

The property is at roughly 9,000 feet in elevation. The family had a store for a while in Eagle where they sold home-harvested honey and produce from their farm and other area farms.

The Knapps wrote about their ranch in the book “Living Beneath the Colorado Peaks: The Story of Knapp Ranch.”

The site fronts about three-quarters of a mile of West Lake Creek. The ranch has senior water rights, ponds, creeks and aquatic systems.

The site also has a private trail network and is near world-class skiing, hiking and year-round amenities, the Mirr Ranch Group said. The ranch is within an hour of the Eagle County Regional Airport.

The spring storm system that prompted school closures and caused slushy rush-hour roads on the Front Range delivered nine inches of fresh snow to A-Basin as of Wednesday morning’s snow report. Snow continued for several hours after that.

“It’s truly dumping up here in Summit County today,” said A-Basin spokeswoman Shayna Silverman.

A-Basin is set to close for skiing on Sunday, so the bonus snowfall is some consolation for skiers accustomed to A-Basin staying open until late May or early June. That wasn’t possible this year because of below-normal snowpack and warm spring temperatures.

A-Basin officials announced on April 23 that they would have to close for the season on this past Sunday. But on Saturday, after 14 inches of snow fell there the previous week, they decided to add three days this weekend — Friday, Saturday and Sunday — after being closed Monday through Thursday.

Arapahoe Basin is consistently the last Colorado ski area to close for the season, and that will be true again this year. Last year it closed on June 15, and the year before it closed on June 16. The three previous years it closed in the first week of June.

Two lifts — the Black Mountain Express and the Lenawee Express — will be running. Lift tickets will cost only $39, and those who purchase either a 2026-27 Ikon Pass or A-Basin season pass for next season can begin using it this weekend. There will be live music in the base area on Saturday and Sunday.

Bo Yennie has made significant progress in regaining some of the independence he lost after suffering a spinal injury in a severe ski crash at Steamboat, and is confident he can make more with continued work.

But his insurance company believes he no longer needs to be in the nursing home where he receives physical and occupational therapy, which could force him to stop working on his recovery early.

Yennie’s family home is in rural Routt County, and traveling to a physical therapy center or finding someone willing to make frequent house calls is unfeasible, his son Ben Yennie said.

Yennie has a insurance plan through the . Medicare, including Advantage plans, covers up to 100 days of rehabilitation care following a significant injury or illness, if medically necessary. He started care on March 4.

But United made it increasingly difficult to get that care, requiring the family to get reauthorization every two days for Yennie to stay at Lemay Avenue Health & Rehab in Fort Collins, Ben Yennie said.

On April 10, after paying for about five weeks, United determined Yennie no longer needed residential care, forcing the family to pay out-of-pocket during the appeals process, he said.

About 99% of people in Medicare Advantage must get prior authorization for at least some services, typically high-cost ones such as nursing home care or non-emergency hospital admissions, .

Insurance companies say that prior authorization and reauthorizations as treatment progresses ensure that patients are getting the right level of care, while consumer groups see them as a way for insurers to save money by denying services patients need — or by adding enough hassles that they give up. Most authorizations ultimately go through, particularly if patients appeal.

In his appeal, Ben Yennie said his father’s and he requires treatment to raise it long enough to participate in physical therapy. It wouldn’t be safe for him to get that treatment in a setting without providers monitoring him before his sessions, he said.

They learned Wednesday that they won their appeal, meaning United will reimburse the family for their out-of-pocket spending, but another reauthorization is coming up. Ben Yennie said the company plans to review his father’s care again Thursday, meaning the appeals process could start again if it recommends discharging him.

Paying out-of-pocket for a $20,000-per-month nursing facility isn’t feasible for long, he said.

“He was a public school teacher. There’s only so much there,” he said.

United Healthcare released a statement saying that it conducts reviews to ensure plan members are getting the right care, using “peer-to-peer” conversations with providers and facilities. How often a patient’s care comes up for review depends on how complex their condition is and how it has evolved.

“We understand how difficult recovery and transitions between different levels of care can be for patients and families, especially following a serious injury. Our goal is to support members in accessing coverage for the right care, in the right setting, for the best possible recovery and health outcomes, following evidence‑based care to support that goal,” the statement said.

Kylie Thompson, social services director at Lemay, said insurance companies typically require more frequent reviews as a patient’s stay goes on, to ensure they’re still making progress, but not well enough to move to another setting. Part of her job is to help patients and their families understand their rights and navigate the process, she said.

In most cases, a review is just a phone call, but families want to focus on their loved one’s recovery and may get nervous that someone they don’t know is deciding on the person’s care, Thompson said.

“The process is not difficult… but it can be emotionally taxing,” she said. “Everything is on the line for that phone call.”

Insurers see requiring prior authorization and periodic reviews as a way to produce savings, but given the high percentage of care that they approve initially or following an appeal, no one knows if they’ve succeeded in that regard, said Adam Fox, deputy director of the .

A study found independent review organizations if the patient appealed, at least in New York.

“A lot of this is creating a huge amount of busywork,” he said.

A separate study estimated the average prior authorization request — significant, when added up over tens of thousands of customers, but far less expensive than the care patients are seeking in most cases. Since only a small percentage of people appeal their denials, insurers likely have savings in the short term, though those may not last if people experience complications from discharging too early, Fox said.

“They’re sort of gambling on that someone released early is not going to have additional care needs,” he said.

People can reduce their chances of disruption from insurance authorization by working closely with their medical providers, who are often the ones submitting the paperwork, Fox said. Everyone has a right to appeal a decision that went against them, but not to challenge how often the insurer requires reauthorization, he said.

Yennie said he has improved significantly since January, when he went over an unmarked ledge while skiing at Steamboat, essentially bruising his spinal cord in the crash. In the immediate aftermath of the accident, he could wiggle his toes, but couldn’t get his abdominal muscles to contract, which prevented him from sitting up without help. Other muscles over-contracted, pulling his arms in toward his body.

The doctors don’t know how much function he’ll regain, but they’ve warned him to expect a long process of physical therapy, Yennie said. He’s talked to people with similar injuries who aren’t back at baseline five years out, but continue making incremental progress.

At the moment, he’s working on transferring from his bed to a motorized wheelchair, as well as performing daily activities such as shaving and brushing his teeth. He needs to reach a point where he can get out of bed with only one person’s help before moving to a step-down facility, Yennie said.

“I’m not there yet, but I’m working on it,” he said.

His physical and occupational therapists have canceled sessions at times because of uncertainty about whether insurance would pay, Yennie said. United Healthcare initially reviewed his care after a week, then after four days and then after two days. He thinks the company is trying to wear him down.

“I don’t know what a person would do without advocates,” he said.