SummitPost.org

I hope you guys fighting this prevail. If you think my words will help, I will write. If you think a non-resident will only hurt the cause, I will refrain.

To me, a ski resort is third only to mountaintop removal and subdivisions when it comes to raping the mountains.

If you want to see the evidence, go to Colorado and weep.

The Wasatch have been chewed up enough already. So many mountaintops there afford a view of the affront of ski development.

You westerners tend not to like hearing us easterners pipe up, but take it from me-- I have been visiting your world every year for almost 15 years now, and every year, your landscape looks more like ours-- houses and office parks marching on and on into where nature once reigned.

Take a stand and dig in before you become like the East. Laugh if you want, but it's coming; take it from the outsider who sees not the little cuts but the gaping gashes.

Amen, some truely poetic words sir

Bob, a non-resident's words will help. You should write. While it might make sense that a local's opinion would matter more, the reality is that they don't care who the opinion comes from. If a guy from NY says he wants to ski more powder from the lifts, score one for Solitude. So definitely write in....if you have some connection to the issue, that is even better. If not, I would not mention that you have no connection--just be ambiguous about that point.

And as for protecting our secret stashes.....I have literally never skied in Silver Fork. It's not my playground. I'll also be moving away from the Wasatch in August. However, I still vehemently oppose a Solitude expansion into the area because the 7 major ski resorts providing access to the Tri-Canyon area are plenty. They are plenty big already. From Snowbird you can ski major runs in different counties in the same day. We are talking about the two best canyons in the entire range and they already have two behemoth resorts each, which occupy the entire upper ends of each canyon. 7 major ski resorts in a tiny area like that is a bad idea to begin with. This is not a big area. We're talking a 20x10 mile area, at most.

That there are at least 3 other major resorts in the Wasatch outside of this area just adds to this fact. The Wasatch are not a massive range. They are the recreation backyard for over 1.5 million residents along the Wasatch Front and Back. Some consideration should be given to those who enjoy hiking or otherwise recreating with ski lifts, access roads and condos nearby. Some consideration should be given to the already stressed watershed.

Ed,

Please bump this topic when the public comment period is open. I'll be traveling and probably won't be monitoring the USFS blotter but will definitely write a letter once the comment period is open. I (and others like me) just need to be advised. Thanks.

They always advertise how they always stay uncrowded, how there are so few skiers on their mountain.

Either the Solitude has no reason to expand (and should in fact contract), or the govt. should be after them for truth-in-advertising violations.

How much more tax revenue are they talking about anyway? To kill so much vegetation in the culinary watershed for a pittance is a stupid public policy. The talk should end right there, no need even to mention Meadow Chutes.

Snowbird just requested an expansion, a tram to the summit of AF Twins (nah, really!) and a lift system in Mary Ellen Gulch.

I'm afraid they throw in something as outrageous as a funicular to the highest summit of Salt Lake County simply as bargaining chip, to agree to forgo this item in order to be given a green light with the rest of the @$%#^%$ plans.

Sinners Pass / Mary Ellen is mostly the mining claims the 'Bird controls, but isn't it, in essence, still a public federal land under a long-term lease, with an expiration on the horizon?

Most of the terrain involved for the Snowbird expansion is already their property. Years ago I heard from the head of construction that Snowbird did have plans for Marry Ellen Gulch. Back then they wanted to build a total of 2-3 chairlifts through 2 different plans. The 1st, build one chairlift to get you up to Miller Hill, one to get you back up the Marry Ellen side of Miller Hill and yet another to get you the 1 mile back up to Mineral Basin Express. The other idea was 2 chairlifts and another tunnel (we affectionately call the current one the BASS-HOLE after the owner Dick Bass). Originally when I heard about this new Tram I thought "what the hell are people going to ski..... the pipeline couloir?" Then like a slap in the face it hit me.....Marry Ellen Gulch. This way they would only have to build one Tram and one lift.....the Tram being on terrain they already own.

Personally I HATE (with a passion) to see any resort expand.....they are big enough as they already are. However I believe this Snowbird expansion makes far more sense than the Solitude and Alta expansion plans. Both Solitude and especially Alta are trying to take some of the most heavily used and most precious backcountry skiing that Utah has to offer. Even worse Alta has no uphill policy (thus making it illegal and a crime to hike Mount Flagstaff in the winter). Snowbird has an open uphill policy and Marry Ellen Gulch is a lot harder to access by the average backcountry skier.

Still the backcountry skier/climber/hiker, and mountain soul inside of me all completely DISAGREE with any resort expansion. If the resorts of the Wasatch had their way, there would already be a ski resort in Millcreek Canyon, a tunnel in Mill F Fork (USA Bowl), a chairlift on Peak 10,420, and a Tram at the top of Utah's famous Pfeifferhorn. That is enough to bring a tear to any indians eye.

Here is a picture of Troy backcountry skiing the terrain Snowbird wants to expand into.

TyeDyeTwins wrote:Even worse Alta has no uphill policy (thus making it illegal and a crime to hike Mount Flagstaff in the winter). Snowbird has an open uphill policy and Marry Ellen Gulch is a lot harder to access by the average backcountry skier.

I thought it was the other way around? Are you saying that I could not skin up Alta during the day but I could at Snowbird? Or are you referring to the avi danger across the road? I spent all my days at Brighton which did, at least back in the 90's, allow uphill traffic.

46and2 wrote:

TyeDyeTwins wrote:Even worse Alta has no uphill policy (thus making it illegal and a crime to hike Mount Flagstaff in the winter). Snowbird has an open uphill policy and Marry Ellen Gulch is a lot harder to access by the average backcountry skier.

I thought it was the other way around? Are you saying that I could not skin up Alta during the day but I could at Snowbird? Or are you referring to the avi danger across the road? I spent all my days at Brighton which did, at least back in the 90's, allow uphill traffic.

No, he's right. Alta (on public land) prevents touring; Snowbird (on private land) allows touring. Alta's no uphill policy is fairly new.

FortMental wrote:You have to wonder who's really going to profit from these new or expanded "ski areas".... The skiing population is getting old fast, and the next generation is unlikely to afford a lift pass, never mind the cost of getting to a resort, from, say, the east coast. Not to mention the fact that few of the next generation want to do anything as energetic as ride a chair to the top of a mountain (in winter, no less) and ski down....

What's the real motive? Where's the real money to be made?

The real money to be made is in "developing" it and then selling it to some sucker(s) at an inflated price. How do you think we got into that real estate crash?

Hell yeah.

From Save our Canyons:

After submitting a request last fall, and resubmitting a request earlier this year, the Forest Service has decided it will not accept a proposal from Solitude Mountain Resort to expand its resort operations into the highly prized Silver Fork Canyon. We have not yet received the official decision notice, however, we have heard watershed was one of the primary factors in the rationale of this decision. A FOIA request has been submitted for the document and will be posted here as soon as our request is fulfilled.