Maine ski resort to charge for backcountry rescues

by Kraig Becker on

Sugarloaf Mountain, a popular ski resort located in Maine, has had enough of skiers and snowboarders going out of bounds and then requiring a rescue. In fact, they’re so fed up, that following two recent incidences, they have decided to charge the snowboarders who were rescued for the expenses incurred during the operation.

The two incidences in question took place on Friday, February 26th and the following Monday, March 1st. In both cases, snowboarders elected to ignore warning signs and fence lines, to leave Sugarloaf property and move onto privately held lands. When they became lost, search parties needed to be organized, with volunteer firefighters and Sugarloaf search and rescue teams going into action.

The first rescue involved five snowboarders, and cost a total of $2300 spread out between the local fire department and the resort. At $460 each, these boarders are getting off on the cheap side however, as the second rescue operation required the extraction of four out-of-bounds offenders, and extended to 15 hours in length. As a result, the tab came to just over $8350 or $2087.50 each. That makes for an expensive day out on the slopes.

All told, about 500 man hours were spent on the search and rescue operations, which convinced both Sugarloaf, and the Carrabassett Valley Fire Department, that they would send the bill to the people that were rescued. They argued that the snowboarders made a conscious choice to go out of bounds, and as a result, they would have to be held responsible for their own actions. Perhaps a big fat bill in the mail will help convince them to stay on the proper slopes next time.

Snooze tips from a NYC sleep concierge

by Amy Chen on

No matter how posh a hotel room is, sometimes it’s hard to sleep well in new places.

Anya Orlanska, the Sleep Concierge at the Benjamin hotel in midtown Manhattan, shares some tips gleaned from 2.5 years of fielding requests from weary business travelers. Though 400-thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets can help, there are other tricks to help you catch some Zs.

What do your guests always ask you?
I spend a lot of time recommending the appropriate pillow. The Benjamin’s sleep menu is placed on the bed prior to the guest’s arrival and any (or all) of the pillow options can be delivered to the room with just one call to me.

Are any pillows more popular than others?
Some of the most popular from our 12-pillow menu include the Swedish memory foam (conforms to the body and keeps you warm in the winter and cool in the summer), the water-filled pillow (for instant relief from headaches and neck pain, fill it with warm or cold water), the five-foot body cushion (helpful if you’re used to sleeping with another person, also great for expectant mothers), and the “lullaby” pillow that you can plug an iPod into, so you can fall asleep to your own music.

What are some common mistakes that travelers make while on the road?
Doing work or eating in bed, eating a heavy meal or consuming a lot of alcohol and caffeine before bed–and making the room too hot (it’s best to sleep in a cool environment).

Is there anything you can recommend for people who are fighting jet lag?
If you’re staying in a hotel with a spa, get a massage before going to bed.

Booking Details: “The Art of Sleep” package at the Benjamin starts at $578 for two nights and includes a consultation with the Sleep Concierge, a nightly snack of PB&J finger sandwiches, 20 percent off a spa treatment at the on-site Wellness Spa, the National Sleep Foundation’s sleep kit (eye mask, lavender bath salts, a CD, and a copy of A Good Night’s Sleep), and late checkout at 2 p.m. Valid until Dec. 31.

Tip: Room service can deliver milk and cookies, but it’ll cost you a whopping $20.14, with taxes and delivery charges. Each of the rooms at the Benjamin hotel have a microwave, so find a nearby bodega, stock up, and warm up your own snack before bedtime.%Gallery-67351%

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Minnesota lawmaker wants to ban state workers from hotels that sell “violent” pay per view porn

by Scott Carmichael on

Minnesota Senator Tarryl Clark is sponsoring a bill that will ban state workers from using public money to stay at any hotels that sell violent pornography on their pay per view TV system.

In the bill, provisions are made for the State Department of Administration to keep a directory of approved facilities.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not entirely sure how the state plans to compile this directory. One option would be to have the hotels email or fax a monthly “menu” of their porn offerings, which would require a state worker to determine whether the porn is violent or not. Who decides whether “monster cock 12” is violent or not? That doesn’t sound like a very nice job.

Whatever happened to trusting their own workers not to order violent porn? Or perhaps the best option would be for the state to mind its own business?

Nobody is forcing anyone to watch pay per view porn when they are on the road. But most importantly, who gets to decide what is violent, and what is not? I’m not up to date on the latest trends in porn, but I’m pretty sure that even the porn industry has some limits on what they’ll sell to hotels and I doubt hotels offer anything that is so violent that it could be considered illegal.

Thankfully, the bill does offer an exception for employee’s who can’t find a porn free hotel on their journey.

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Use Facebook to plan your next park vacation

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Municipalities are always feeling a financial squeeze, and the fallout from the financial crisis has only made an already grim norm even worse. It’s hard enough to get money for maintenance, let alone marketing. So, how can you get the info you need to plan your next park trip?

Try Facebook.

According to Inside Facebook, cities, counties and states are flocking to the social networking site to promote their parks to locals and prospective visitors from across the country and around the world. Most of the pages created, says Inside Facebook, focus on photos and Wall content, with few using notes and none really relying on Facebook’s discussion tools.

Most of the pages belonged to cities, though some states and counties were represented. Interestingly, larger destinations, such as New York City, Los Angeles County and Oregon haven’t experienced the level of success seen among smaller or less prominent locations. The little guy, it seems, already has a tight community feel that translates easily into a social media presence. Monterey, California’s page, for example, boasts 222 fans of a 61,000-person municipality. Meanwhile, Los Angeles County’s Department of Parks and Recreation Facebook page has only 55 fans. The county is home to 10 million people.Cost is among the reasons for the migration to Facebook. Using existing photos and content to populate a page brings no incremental cost to a medium that’s already free. Says Dan Costley, Monterey, California Park Recreation Superintendent: Literally we were told, ‘If you can borrow something from another department, cut back.’ You can look at something like Facebook and say, ‘Nobody is charging us for this.'” He continues, “So if it helps us save money and send the message to the right people, that’s always going to help us.”

Need some ideas? Check out these local park Facebook pages:

Click here to become a fan of Gadling on Facebook.

[Photo: Flickr | Buck Forester]

Escape from New York: Five tips for leaving the city when flights fail you

by Tom Johansmeyer on

New York is no stranger to tourist and business travel. We get lot of guests here, and eventually, their trips must come to an end. When the weather turns harsh, this can be problematic. Spring may be close, but March and April snowstorms happen, and there are always spring showers to make getting off the ground at JFK or LaGuardia a pure living hell. Whether you’re traveling in the northeast corridor or need to get to a different airport to get home, there are options.

I came face to face with this problem around six years ago. I was trying to get back to Boston, where I lived at the time. I was in New York every week on business and by Friday wanted nothing more than to get home. I stepped outside at 2 PM and saw snow accumulating on the street, even despite the city traffic. I checked Delta‘s website and saw that nothing had been canceled. So, I high-tailed out to LaGuardia hoping for the best. After a two-hour cab ride, I hit the Marine Air terminal only to find that the website wasn’t being kept up to date.

I needed some options and the thought of another two hours of taxi rides in a blizzard didn’t thrill me. Back in Manhattan, I figured I could pick up a train on Amtrak from Penn Station (which wound up working out). Along the way, I learned some tricks that can help anyone traveling the northeast or looking for an alternative airport when hope appears to be lost.1. Don’t fear public transportation
There’s no subway to LaGuardia, but there are buses. Catch the Q48 from the main airport or the Q47 from Marine Air (if you’re taking the Delta Shuttle). Get off at Roosevelt Ave in Queens, where the F or 7 train will get you back to Midtown. From there, it’s easy to hit Penn Station (New Jersey, Amtrak) Grand Central Station (Connecticut and New York) or the PATH train (if you want to try your luck at Newark). From JFK, you can catch the Skytrain to the subway, but brace yourself for a very long ride – the fastest I ever made it to Midtown was around an hour and a half.

2. Rental cars are risky
First, when flights aren’t taking off, there will be no shortage of people with the same idea. So, supply will be limited. Also, nasty weather makes for nightmarish driving conditions. You’ll be extremely unhappy behind the wheel, a situation that’s likely to be made worse by traffic. If you want to try driving, take public transportation out to the ‘burbs and use a rental agency out there (call first to make sure they can help you out).

3. . Be mindful of the other side
Getting out isn’t enough: you also have to think about where you’re going. If bad weather’s pounding New York, there’s a pretty good chance the situation in Philadelphia, Newark and Boston is also pretty ugly. If you’re having someone pick you up, call ahead. Arrange for a taxi or town car in advance. Definitely check the situation on the ground if you’re trying one of these airports instead. During my trek to Boston during the blizzard a few years ago, I called a local taxi service and asked to be picked up at South Station – and requested that they ask for my name before letting anyone into the cab. Sound arrogant? Well, it saved my ass. I saw the driver turn at least four people away as I pushed through the crowd, and I have no idea how many people tried before I got there.

4. Giving up may not be an option
Sometimes, it’s tempting to quit and just get a hotel room for a night (or a few, depending on how severe the storm is). Depending on what’s going on in the city, however, this may be a pricey alternative. As with rental cars, you won’t be the only person to think of this. Also, a busy night or weekend can cut available rooms down to nothing fast. If you are able to score some digs, you could wind up paying a fortune. If you do decide to stay in the city, hunt for the boutique hotels that y may never have noticed otherwise: they’re your best bet.

5. Draft your friends and family
During my escape from New York, I called my wife and asked her to book my train ticket for me. Handheld computing has come a long way since then, but it’s still inconvenient to hunt for alternatives on an iPhone or Blackberry. If you have someone who’s sitting in a warm office or home, hit him or her up for a hand. They’ll be able to find hotels or other travel arrangements easier than you will. By the time you get from the airport back into Manhattan, you may have a plan that only needs to be executed.