Archive for the 'Commentary' Category

Cardiac Bowl Peace Accord

Published on May 3, 2012 in Commentary and Wasatch Mountains. 3 Comments Tags: , , .

Last Tuesday, May 1, 2012, the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest re-issued a permit to the Cardiff Canyon Owners Association (CCOA) to allow motorized access to their private property. As part of this agreement, the private property owners have agreed to allow the public the same right-of-way through their land for backcountry travel. On the surface, this hopefully means much less conflict in this easily accessible region of high quality backcountry skiing. Continue reading ‘Cardiac Bowl Peace Accord’

SkiLink Update

Published on April 25, 2012 in Commentary. 19 Comments

As much as I enjoyed being in Alaska (details and photos forthcoming) for the past three weeks, I couldn’t help but have a Wasatch flashback while we were flying over the spine of the mighty Chugach Mountains. Cruising at  something like 125mph, it took us about an hour to cross the range and we saw exactly one set of man-made tracks. By contrast, an east/west flight over the Wasatch range would take about a minute at that speed and not only would you see hundreds of man-made tracks, but you’d fly over the Salt Lake Valley, which in itself has a population three times as large as the entire state of Alaska. Both mountain ranges are fantastic in their own regards, but 30 acres in the Chugach is nothing, whereas losing yet another 30 acres in the Wasatch is huge.

In an effort to bolster support for their intended SkiLink land-grab, Mike Goar from the Canyons/Talisker put together a group called the Lift Utah Coalition, which held a press conference yesterday in Salt Lake City. The closed-door conference was accompanied by an equally large, or larger number of protesters, of which I was one. It is a sign of the times when skiers, hikers, snowshoers, hunters  and outdoor enthusiasts are boycotting new recreation infrastructure, while locked inside a closed room, bankers, real estate developers, ski resort managers, resort attorneys and home builders are promoting it.  While it is becoming clear that SkiLink is all about ski resort expansion, at least they have dropped the flimsy pretense that it has anything to do with transportation, which was about as transparent as a Fredrick’s of Hollywood nightgown on Gayle Ruzicka.  I think the only vestige of the transportation concept is to try to get state funding to help pay for it, or at least garner some massive transportation tax break. Continue reading ‘SkiLink Update’

SkiLink’s Footprint

Published on March 13, 2012 in Commentary. 11 Comments Tags: , , .

Last Thursday I had a chance to head up to Big Cottonwood Canyon and tour through the proposed Talisker SkiLink route. The actual details of this Wasatch abomination have been kept quite, or at least from public view, but by locating the beginning and end points, I was able to generate GPS waypoints of where the towers would have to go and what would be private property. The results are detailed in this five minute video which may contain shocking images, especially if you are use to skiing in the Willow Fork area.

Mike Goar, the Canyons CEO, and Ted Wilson, Talisker’s tram lobbyist, have repeatedly said that the backcountry would not be impacted with this tram, which makes me wonder if they are a) completely ignorant about the backcountry, or b) lying. The actual wording of HR 3452 makes no mention of prohibiting roads, off loading ramps, cutting ski runs, plugging in trophy homes or adding alpine coasters for summer recreation – it only says that public land should be sold to a private developer.  Since the developer is in business to cut roads, build trophy houses, install lifts and add summer amusement park rides, it seems naive to think they will do otherwise with this area.  Why would they?  It’s Utah and this would be private property.

Right-click here for SkiLink waypoint file (right click, save file as, import into your gps).

After this tour, the thing that struck me the most is just how much of an area 30 acres is.  In this case it would be a strip roughly 1.5 miles long by 165′ wide that would bifurcate a large chunk of Forest Service land in a divide and conquer manner. I can only imagine that the remaining upcanyon chunk of land will be sold off at some later time under the guise of ending world hunger, educating the children or curing cancer.
________________________________
Help support StraightChuter.com and locate some imaginary tram towers with a Garmin eTrex Vista H from Backcountry.com. Click on the photo below…

 

Haute Hut Cuisine

Published on October 4, 2011 in Commentary. 0 Comments

We recently spent a night in a hut and I was reminded of an excellent food trick I learned last season from “Goldie” up in Whistler. Time and powder are of the essence with a hut trip and it is a shame to waste them by washing dishes and doing endless clean-up, which takes twice as long if you don’t have running water.  Behold – burritos to the rescue. Continue reading ‘Haute Hut Cuisine’

Remembering Bean Bowers

Published on July 13, 2011 in Commentary. 23 Comments Tags: , .

Alas, Bean Bowers of Ridgeway, Colorado (and many other places as well) recently died of cancer.  This was a double tragedy as; 1) Bean was only 38, and 2) he had survived so many outrageous incidents that cancer seemed an unlikely way for him to go.  RIP Bean. Continue reading ‘Remembering Bean Bowers’

Skiing with Dogs

Published on April 19, 2011 in Commentary. 18 Comments Tags: .

I wouldn’t want to do it all the time, but I love skiing with dogs because they have such a good time.  With many of the canyons around Salt Lake City being closed to poochies because of watershed issues, it is getting tougher to find a place to take you dogs for a powder run around here.  Luckily, our house is just over the SLC/Summit County line and has a nice sheltered, north-facing, safe,  treed run in the backyard.  It use to be just a local’s hangout, but over the years it has become known as one of the closest places you can go skiing or snowshoeing with a dog, so it has become Canine Central with people traveling 45 minutes just to ski 700′ shots. Continue reading ‘Skiing with Dogs’

Derail the Coaster Rally

Published on March 15, 2011 in Commentary. 21 Comments Tags: .

Ever since I moved back to Utah 20 years ago, Snowbird has been aggressively pursuing physical expansion of the resort to the point that it is almost nothing new.  On the Park City side of the Wasatch Mountains, most of the land is privately owned so development is a foregone conclusion, which has led to almost no free public access to the mountains on this side. You can exit out of the resort gates, but with no uphill traffic allowed in Utah, you need to buy a ticket first.  In Little and Big Cottonwood however, the ski resorts are mostly on leased Forest Service land, so expansion is much more controversial and involves public input, which resorts must hate.

My first experience with the Snowbird expansion machine was about 15 years ago when they were proposing to put in a 50,000 square foot “warming hut” on top of Hidden Peak. It was billed as being architecturally sensitive to the surroundings, but from the artists sketches it looked like they wanted to construct the Sydney Opera House at 11,000 in the central Wasatch. I attended the public hearing which was standing room only and overwhelmingly against the idea.  After an hour or more of comments against the idea, the Commissioners asked if there was anyone in the audience who wanted to speak for it, which is when I first met the Three Horsemen of Irrational Wasatch Development – a child, a senior citizen of European heritage and a person in a wheelchair. Five minutes later, the decision was made – in the name of doing it for the children, the handicapped, senior citizens and of course, to be World Class, it was approved.  Thank you very much.  Goodnight. Exit out the back to a roar of disapproval. Continue reading ‘Derail the Coaster Rally’

Dave Hanscom, Alexis Kelner & Wasatch Tours 0

Published on March 10, 2011 in Commentary and Random. 8 Comments Tags: .

When I first got into backcountry skiing in the Wasatch, people were always referring to runs that were “in the book,” which unfortunately was out of print. You either had one, went skiing with someone who did, or figured it out on your own. I’d given up hope of ever getting a copy of the book, until one day my Great Uncle gave me his copy with a typewritten note in it: “…the risk of avalanches terrifies me so I’m not sure if you ought to have this or not.  It worries me!  Please don’t take chances!  Bruce”  Ironically, Uncle Bruce lived a full life of hiking and skiing in the mountains only to be run over in a crosswalk soon after moving into a retirement home in Salt Lake City. Continue reading ‘Dave Hanscom, Alexis Kelner & Wasatch Tours 0′

Awesome Day with the Wasatch Powderbird Guides

Published on February 10, 2011 in Commentary. 58 Comments Tags: .

According to the Wasatch Powderbird Guides (WPG), many backcountry skiers appreciate their efforts at keeping the Wasatch backcountry safe by bombing it and enjoy the “sizzle” that a heliskiing operation brings to a mountain range.  I’m not one of them.  On Tuesday, WPG said they were going to be skiing in Mineral, Cardiff, Days, Silver, White Pine, Millcreek, Box, American Fork and Cascade – pretty much all of the central and southern Wasatch except the Alta parking lot.  To nobody’s surprise, WPG decided to concentrate their efforts on Cardiff, which is a 60 second flight from their helipad and about 40 minutes skinning.  We were one of four parties touring in the drainage and were treated to a thundering A-Star Symphony in B Flat Major for a solid three hours.

The WPG 2010/11 Operating Plan states “WPG will practice good backcountry ethics, including: (a) allowing ski mountaineers who arrive at a particular location before WPG an opportunity to ski first, and (b) avoiding, when practical, flying through passes and along ridges occupied by other backcountry users.”  At least that is what they tell the Forest Service.  The photo below shows the reality.  We are standing on a ridgeline, in plain view, especially from above and not only does WPG land on top of the nearby peak, but then WPG guide Ryan Carlson brings his entire group straight over to us and proceeds to ski the slope we had just skinned up. Continue reading ‘Awesome Day with the Wasatch Powderbird Guides’

Iceberg Ski Snoggin’

Published on January 13, 2011 in Commentary. 13 Comments

I was hoping that the three-headed love child I had with Brad Pitt after our night of reckless Hollywood play-pal fun would make the front page of The Sun, but that will have to wait.  For now, it is just your standard issue “Daredevil’s Super Iceberg Ski Stunt.” Continue reading ‘Iceberg Ski Snoggin’’