By Toni Steffens

CREEDE— A snowboarder missing for three days at Wolf Creek Ski Area is believed to have suffered from vertigo, which contributed to his becoming lost, Mineral County Sheriff Fred Hosselkus told the Board of County Commissioners this week.

Hosselkus said that Alex Brown had gotten stuck on a knife edge, got vertigo and started going the wrong way.

He said Brown “was pretty fortunate.”

According to Davey Pitcher, additional rope barriers were added at Wolf Creek after Brown was located last week to help prevent a similar situation in the future.

Hosselkus currently has a proactive plan set up with the ski area; an employee of the ski area calls every night to report any cars left in the parking lot. He will then attempt to locate the driver and be able to quickly start a search if the driver is not found.



Record meetings?

The commissioners were asked why all of the meetings were not recorded and Mineral County resident Ron Hague pointed out that some of the meetings have been recorded, depending on what was being discussed, and he could see no reason that they should not all be recorded. Commissioner Karl Kolisch seemed worried that recording the meetings would affect the way meetings are handled now. In particular it could mean that they would have to recognize each speaker and the meetings would use a more formal format, possibly affecting people’s ability to be heard.



Short term rentals

A public hearing will be set to discuss short term rentals in the county. The county commissioners had sent a proposed text amendment to the planning and zoning commission that would make it necessary for property owners to go through a conditional use process for the properties they would rent short term. The planning and zoning commission has since recommended that the county commissioners make short term rentals permitted in the zoning regulations rather than requiring the conditional use process.



Jeep rally coming

Roland Zimmerman, owner of the Mountain View RV park, came to the board to discuss an upcoming rally to be held at the fairgrounds. He was concerned that the arrangements that have so far been planned for the jeep rally would be potentially damaging to his business and would set a precedent he believes could get out of hand.

He told the board that the rally participants will undoubtedly enjoy their stay in Creede and the next meeting will bring even more people. Currently the fairground site does not have any electric hook-ups or a dumping/water station for recreational vehicles. Zimmerman worries that having so many people dry camping in the area could look very unappealing and could ultimately damage Creede. There are many other places in town for people to park their recreational vehicles, and once the fairground is properly set up for people who wish to camp with their horse trailers or jeeps Zimmerman would see no problem with them camping there during events.

The commissioners will be holding a special meeting at 9 a.m. Thursday to further discuss the situation.