Arapahoe Basin

Picture a scenario sometime after 2010 where — if Gov. Bill Ritter is reelected and the Dems keep control of the statehouse — we’ll all be driving plug-in hybrids that run on a mix of ethanol and ground-up bark beetles, with tiny snowboarders emblazoned on our license plates.

It’s a nightmare vision for most right-wingers, straight out of the Shangri-La they sneeringly refer to as the “People’s Republic of Boulder,” but it’s a little closer to reality today after Governor Renewable signed House Bill 1331, which provides state tax incentives for high-tech, fuel-efficient vehicles.

Today marks exactly one month since Vail shut down its lifts for the season, and if you can find anyone in town who didn’t flee to the desert of the beach weeks ago, they’ll tell you it’s been snowing hard seemingly every day since closing day.