Tom Ross writes a column that appears Tuesdays and Saturdays in the Steamboat Pilot & Today. He also covers land use policy issues, housing, real estate and outdoor recreation for the newspaper. He started working for the newspaper in 1979.
Tom has a bachelor of arts degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is from Madison. His interests include Nordic skiing, Fly Fishing, book making and documentary photography.
Recent Stories
Industrial hemp's future as a crop in Colorado awaits federal action
The Rocky Mountain Farmers Union is lobbying actively for decriminalization of industrial hemp at the federal level, and bills were introduced in the House of Representatives and Senate late this winter.
Triple Crown, tubing season to descend on Steamboat this week
The Yampa River is expected to dip to 500 cfs Friday, within commercial tubing range, as 86 youth baseball teams settle in to Northwest Colorado. Before the tournament is over, teams will have played in Hayden and Oak Creek as well as in Steamboat and Craig.
Routt County poised to award design contracts for new bridges
County Manager Tom Sullivan previously said that the county’s funding match on the bridge projects is comparable to what it would spend just to repair one of the old bridges.
City to focus on employee hours, compensation
Steamboat Springs City Manager Deb Hinsvark told a group of about 20 senior citizens Monday that as city officials enter the autumn budget process, staff and the City Council will seek to restore employees in the Planning and Parks, Open Space and Recreation Services departments to 40-hour work weeks. At the same time, city officials hope to bring salaries of all city employees up to current market rates for their job descriptions.
Tom Ross: Thunderhead Trail at Steamboat Ski Area offers good training for hiking bigger mountains
The best wildflower viewing on the Valley View trail is above Christie Peak, where you can spy the trumpet-shaped lavender blossoms of the clematis vine, which wraps around other shrubs.
Get ready for Tour de Steamboat road bicycling event with training tips
Tour de Steamboat organizer Kent Eriksen, of Eriksen Cycles, has training tips for people aspiring to the full 110-mile ride or one of the shorter options.
Steamboat woman undergoes double mastectomy and immediate reconstruction
Peggy Wolfe had already been contemplating creating a blog about her experiences with breast cancer surgery when film actor Angelina Jolie went public with her own double mastectomy. The news coverage galvanized her thoughts and helped her turn intent into action.
Tom Ross: The Yampa River tribe
On last week's trip down Yampa Canyon in Moffat County, we quickly slipped into the routine sharing of chores, honored our leaders and our shaman, and paid heed to our most-skilled rowers.
Elk River Road to see up to eight log trucks daily
A logging operation targeting roadside hazard trees will also cause the closure of the last mile of Forest Road 315 on Rabbit Ears Pass beginning this week and continuing for two weeks.
Yampa River flow double commercial tubing level, but Tuesday could be the day
Local officials urge people who are tempted to purchase their own tubes and float the Yampa while the river remains above 1,000 cfs this weekend should take safety precautions: life vests are a must.
Recent photos
A tribe of semi-nomadic river runners taking part in the Yampa River Awareness Project gathered on a heavily cobbled sand bar along the river in Dinosaur National Monument on June 10 to listen as Prof. Pat Tierney, of San Francisco State University, talk about migration patterns of the endangered Pikeminnow.
Bill Root has taken to bicycle touring and cross-country skiing since coming to the realization that his days as an expert Alpine skier were done because Parkinson’s disease has reduced his sense of balance.
George Lund keeps to a regimen of daily exercises to preserve his mobility and reduce the tendency, brought on by Parkinson’s disease, to shuffle while he walks. His wife, Alice, does the exercises along with him.
Parkinson’s patient Gardner Bemis, of Steamboat Springs, grits out the last rep in a set of swan lifts with Eva Gibbon, of Hayden Pilates, on Friday. The exercise is intended to help straighten and strengthen his back. Regular exercise forestalls the progressive stiffening of limbs and muscles that can come with Parkinson’s.
Since being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012, Susan Findell has taken her doctor’s advice and now plays more golf than ever.
