As Northern Arizona anticipates the first big snow of the season, officials at Arizona Snowbowl are preparing for a memorable ski season. In addition to celebrating the newly added snowmaking process, the ski resort north of Flagstaff was selected as a top 10 Ski Destination by the Phoenix Business Journal and voted Best Flagstaff Attraction by readers of the Arizona Daily Sun Best of Flagstaff 2012 awards. To celebrate Snowbowl’s 75th season, festivities are planned for February 1-10, 2013.
Snowbowl’s 75th birthday candles will dance down the mountain as the celebration begins with a free Torchlight Parade at 6:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 1. Seasoned Snowbowl employees will carry flares from the top of the Sunset Lift to the Hart Prairie Lodge. “This will be an amazing event for the whole family, outdoor enthusiasts and returning Snowbowl alumni as we’ll watch the light zigzag down the mountain! We’ll have heaters, live music and food available for everyone to Celebrate Winter!” said Snowbowl Marketing and Sales Director Dave Smith.
The 10-day celebration includes sunset skiing and snowboarding, costume parties on the slopes, a fireside chat with Snowbowl’s famous skiers, a snowman building contest, raffles, and downtown special events, with the excitement snowballing to the Arizona Snowbowl 75th Anniversary SnowDown, Friday, Feb. 8 at the High Country Conference Center featuring live entertainment from Flagstaff favorite Mogollon! Tickets are $38 a person commemorating Snowbowl’s first season in 1938.
“This is our opportunity to recognize Snowbowl’s history as one of the longest running established ski areas in the country, as well as celebrate our northland community for years of support and outdoor recreational enjoyment on the Peaks!” said Arizona Snowbowl owner Eric Borowsky. “This season will usher in a new era for Flagstaff’s economy as we are now able to guarantee a ski season!”
In 1934 college students made plans to host the first winter sports carnival on the San Francisco Peaks, unfortunately it turned out to be the driest winter on record since 1901. The Coconino Sun ran a front-page photo of Snow Queen Lucretia Butler along with the concern that she would be a queen without a domain. “We intend for this never to happen again! We can plan on winter!” said Smith.
After a busy summer of construction that created 30 new jobs, culminating with the completion of the most intensive project ever undertaken at the ski resort, Arizona Snowbowl is about to unveil the result of its $12 million investment. Snowmaking will blanket 60 percent of the trails including the Agassiz Lift up to Midway and down Volcano, Wild Turkey and Roundup runs. All beginning and intermediate trails at Hart Prairie and Sunset will have snowmaking.
Arizona Snowbowl plans to open by the Christmas holiday. “We’re vigilantly watching the weather and gearing up for a season like no other!” said General Manager J.R. Murray.
Recent infrastructure improvements and new equipment will contribute to a more rewarding experience for guests. Two conveyor belts are designed to shorten lift lines and make skiing easier for those who may be intimidated by the process of getting on and off chairlifts. Another snowcat has been added to the fleet improving Snowbowl’s efficiency and ability to groom trails. In addition, the ski resort is now the first in the world to offer all new top-of-the-line Never Summer rocker-style snowboard equipment for rent or purchase.
“No one will want to miss out on Snowbowl’s glistening diamond anniversary celebration, so mark your calendar for Feb. 1 -10, think snow and Celebrate Winter!” said Smith.
For more information log onto www.ArizonaSnowbowl.com.
Dr. Bruce Lee, D.C.,MUA-C says
In the march 2013 issue under chamber connection, an article on the expansion of ahcccs proposal contains a very commonly used misleading statement that I feel desperately needs clarification.
Approximately in the middle of the article is a statement referenced by the Arizona Chamber Foundation that states that there is a “hidden health care tax” which in essence is the increased premiums paid by businesses and consumers to cover rising healthcare costs absorbed by their insurance companies. The article goes further to add that the rising cost is due to un-insured patients being unable to pay for services at hospital or healthcare facilities. These facilities then pass these losses on to the consumer or the consumer’s insurance company.
In a “normal” business model this would sound like, and most likely be, a reasonable and logical process. The “healthcare” business model is unfortunately not even close to a “normal” business model. In the healthcare industry we have the government and insurance industries fingers controlling this model. If we want to be in or use the healthcare business, we play by their rules not our own.
Most healthcare providers will tell you that they have seen significant decreases in insurance reimbursements over the last few years. Most insured patients will tell you they are paying more out of pocket for services while noticing increased premiums.
With just two questions, I can show exactly why the uninsured do NOT effect insurance premiums, and therefore are NOT the cause of the insured’s increasing out of pocket costs.
Question 1: If I bill an insurance 20% more to make up for my losses from the non paying patients ( by the way, sometimes the insurance is the non-payer) with the insurance company pay the additional 20 %?
The answer is N0, because it would be more than their allowable fee.
Question 2: If I bill an insurance company for reimbursement for an un-insured patient, will they pay anything?
The answer, No, because the patient does not pay for that benefit. If I billed under another insured, that would be fraud and I would be in serious trouble.
It is the facility or provider that gets financially hurt, not the insurance industry. It is the insurance agency that benefits from the rate increases, not the provider.
While I agree insurance should be more affordable and available to everyone, the high cost of health care is more the creation of our own government requirements ( such as safety and privacy requirements as well as “turf war” laws created to restrict competitiveness in healthcare) and the insurance industry creating illusionary benefit cost increases to justify the rate increases.
One last question to think about:
What did people do when there was no such thing as health insurance and no government controlling agencies such as FDA, OSHA, HIPPA, AHRQ, HHS, and others? Additionally, what did they do prior to 1938 when no prescription laws or patented pharmaceutical drugs were created? What competitive choices did the consumer have before laws were created to restrict the scope of practice for many providers while allowing an unlimited scope only to a couple of provider types?
I am not suggestion that the laws and agencies are unnecessary, however, I am suggesting that they were used in a way to create a large portion of the high costs and low quality of healthcare – not the uninsured!!!
Before we can create better quality and affordable health care, we need to look deeper into what has caused the lesser quality high cost of health care we have now!
The biggest reason I believe the new health care reform will not improve our healthcare system is because we failed to first address these very important questions. I think this is because healthcare affordability and quality was never the primary purpose when creating the reform laws we are calling, Obamacare.
Sincerely,
Dr. Bruce B. Lee, D.C., MUA-C