A Seward Johnson sculpture was on display temporarily in Vail Village, the Vail Trail reported.
"The piece, called 'Anticipation,' is a lifesize sculpture of a man in ski clothing who is carrying skis over his shoulder and looking up toward Vail Mountain," the Trail reported. "The sculpture was completed at Johnston's New Jersey studio in January and until its unveiling in the square had never been seen by the public. It is on loan to the town until the end of ski season."
Johnson's work had recently been shown at the Smithsonian Institute and at Rockerfeller Center in New York City.
"Johnston's goal is to celebrate the simple moments in everyone's lives through his art," said Cynthia Fisher Williams, president of Art Collections Incorporated, which partnered with Sculpture Placement of Washington, D.C., to bring the Johnson sculpture to Vail.
Feb. 28, 1975
Vail Ski Patrol Director Paul Testwuide announced that a Ski Patrol crackdown on closure violators and reckless skiers was being put into effect during the busy month of March, the Vail Trail reported.
Testwuide said during the previous season, a closure violation had resulted in a fatality.
"All trail closures and marking of 'slow skiing zones' are done with the safety of the skiing public in mind." Testwuide said. "It is to the benefit of all of Vail Mountain's skiers to observe them."
Testwuide said ski patrolmen would be using radar speed guns to track how fast skiers were going in slow zones, with the penalties imposed on violators.
"Skiers entering a closed avalanche control area will suffer the minimum penalty of two weeks' loss of skiing privileges," the Trail reported. "Anyone skiing a closed trail will lose his ticket or pass for the remainder will of the day. Reckless skiers lose their tickets or passes for the day (or for longer periods if deemed necessary by the Patrol)."
Feb. 27, 1965
Gilman resident Don Chacon was killed when his car collided with an eastbound freight train just east of Minturn.
"Joe G. Romero, 26, also of Gilman, was in critical condition and transferred from the Leadville hospital to Colorado General in Denver," the Eagle Valley Enterprise reported. "He suffered severe head injuries."
Officers said the impact occurred at a railroad crossing after the car skidded nearly 20 feet into the path of the train.
"The car was hurled 35 feet by the impact and came to rest in a deep snowbank," the Enterprise reported. "Chacon's body was found beneath the car. Romero was also thrown from the vehicle. The officers were unable to determine who was driving."
Feb. 24, 1955
A blast of extreme cold, along with an unrelenting storm, beset Eagle County, the Eagle Valley Enterprise reported.
"A snow storm, which reached blizzard proportions during the weekend, moved in last Thursday not letting up until Sunday, with a fresh blanket of snow covering the valley," the Enterprise reported. "Temperatures ranged from 28 below to 40, in sections of the county Monday morning bringing the coldest temperatures of the season. The official report at the airport was 31 below, while on Sweetwater, temperatures ranged from 25 to 40 below along the creek. At Burns, readings varied from 28 to 32 below and at Red Cliff 37 below."
The cold spell had been "unusually long -- beginning sub-zero weather around Thanksgiving -- with but a very few breaks during the past 3 and a half months," the Enterprise reported.
Feb. 25, 1945
The final counterattacks on Mt. della Torraccia were repulsed, completing the 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army's final objective in taking the WWII battlegrounds of Mt. Belvedere and its sister peak, Mt. Gorgolesco, in the Italian Alps.
A day earlier, the 3rd Battalion, 86th regiment passed through the 2nd Battalion's position and renewed the assault and by 3 p.m. on Feb. 24, 1945, "the last enemy stronghold on Mt. della Torraccia is in our hands," the National Association of the 10th Mountain Division reports in its "Chronology of the 10th Mountain Division in World War II," compiled by John Imbrie.
After the final counterattacks on Mt. della Torraccia were repulsed, the battles for control of the Mt. Belvedere-Mt. della Torraccia ridge cost the division 923 casualties: 192 killed in action, 730 wounded in action and one prisoner of war. The 10th Mountain Division had readied for the assault by training at nearby Camp Hale in 1944.