Aspen athlete and Nordic skier Noah Hoffman competed yesterday in the last day of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The US Ski Team praised Hoffman’s performance in the taxing 50 kilometer race. Afterwards, Hoffman told NBC News he felt good about how the event went.  As the crowd cheered in the background, Hoffman explained he’s focused on the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea: “This is definitely a step in the right direction for me, and looking forward to progress in the World Cup Circuit and coming back in four years and winning a medal here.”

Good afternoon and welcome to Valley Roundup, a review of the week’s top news stories in Aspen and beyond.

Carolyn Sackariason, from the Aspen Daily News and Andy Stone from the Aspen Times, join us today.

This week, the evolving story about relocating residents of the Pan and Fork trailer park in Basalt.  Eight families remain and their communications with the town are deteriorating.

In Aspen, a proposed Habitat For Humanity project moves forward. 

And following a bus crash last year, attorneys start digging into the safety record of the Roaring Fork Transit Authority.

Also today, we talk today with a senior political reporter at Politico about a meeting next week in Colorado of high-end Republican party donors.  Organized by a supporter of gay marriage, these GOP donors want to reshape the direction of the party.

And, on the download with Rob St. Mary – How the web makes it easy to financially support public radio.

It's all on this week’s Valley Roundup.

Ok, it did get sunny again.  Yay. 

We did Snowboard Parallel GS yesterday.  Not much to report on that, so I’m going to go onto today’s coverage of Men’s Ski Cross.  By the way, I’m now on course, which is fun to get into competition camera. 

Variety is the spice of life, and I’m moving all over the place!
 
What a fantastic event.  Absolutely the best spectator sport ever.  And the athleticism is amazing.  Anything can happen in this gladiator-like competition to the finish, and I hope you’ll all get this in time to tune in to watch it tonight.

The Thompson Divide prompted conflicting statements by environmental groups and Garfield County this week. Avalanche danger has been sketchy lately because of certain unusual factors.  And if a snow slide happens inside a ski area, turns out the resort isn’t to blame. A Basalt advisor wins an award for her work with female investors. We say goodbye to a member of the Aspen Public Radio family, lost too soon.  And, we’ll wrap up our coverage of Aspen area athletes going to the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We are very excited to share the travels of Simi Hamilton’s family to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Over the next few weeks we’ll be sharing dispatches from Ruthie Brown and family as they give you a first-hand, “behind-the-scenes” look at the Olympics.