Solitude expansion denied

[Admin]

http://www.firsttracksonline.com/News/2 ... lver-Fork/

 

[Tony Crocker]

Not sure what that would have added. Didn't admin (or others in his posse) have an opinion about the proposed terrain?

 

[Bobby Danger]

that's to bad all that terrain is directly across the street from alta .... many many times i've skinned up across the street and skied silver fork if you know your way well enough you can ski right into silver fork lodge for lunch & catch the bus back around to l. c. c. for a few late afternoon runs at alta . nice terrain in there treed chutes reminescent of tiger tail at the bird . one hundred eighty two acres isn't much but it's nice it's just more big cottonwood paradise . i mean the place gets hammered now by back country folks seriously to not put a lift is basically saying it's theirs ... even though forest service says other wise ( water shed purposes ) to bad it all melts come june - we can all stand along the banks of big cotton wood creek and watch our turns go by !!!! the upper ridge line is a somewhat spacious treed bowl true black diamond terrain atypical utah at that elevation much higher and the trees end . like skiing off joint point in upper boundry bowl at the bird only longer . fantastic tree skiing down lower doesn't get a lot of wind in there so you can get un-disturbed snow quite often .

 

[Admin]

the upper ridge line is a somewhat spacious treed bowl true black diamond terrain atypical utah at that elevation much higher and the trees end . like skiing off joint point in upper boundry bowl at the bird only longer . fantastic tree skiing down lower doesn't get a lot of wind in there so you can get un-disturbed snow quite often .

But it would have only been on the east side:

Basically, the back side of Honeycomb Cliffs. Davenport Hill on that map is the hill directly across the street from Alta.

 

[Bobby Danger]

right of course there wouldn't be lift served on west facing unless it's alta. i was talking hiking the west face into silver fork to ski east facing- what you can get from honey comb chair is fantasy ridge line with enough traverse you gain a more west aspect that lead to many many treed chutes that face west off the end of honey comb ridge - prospect hill is to your left at this point & your overlooking silver fork canyon. probably a mineral basin in length before it flattens out you catch a plowed road at this point ( which is on the map ) back to the ski area if you choose or out through the houses - heathers parents have a house in there . (behind silver fork lodge )

 

[Admin]

right of course there wouldn't be lift served on west facing unless it's alta. i was talking hiking the west face into silver fork to ski east facing

So was I -- the west side of Silver Fork creek = east-facing.

 

[EMSC]

Sounds like there were actual criteria and the overall NFS plan for that forest referred to in the denial; unlike the random last second denial of Crested Butte's expansion NEPA process.

 

[Admin]

Sounds like there were actual criteria and the overall NFS plan for that forest referred to in the denial; unlike the random last second denial of Crested Butte's expansion NEPA process.

I asked that Salt Lake District Ranger about that case when I interviewed her regarding the Solitude proposal. While she claimed to be unfamiliar with the CBMR case, she said that all NFS lands have a set of screening criteria that would have been applied, for instance in the Crested Butte case. What she couldn't explain is how the CBMR situation has an avenue of appeal while the Solitude situation supposedly doesn't, although if you'll recall they initially said the same thing in the CBMR case, too.

 

[EMSC]

I asked that Salt Lake District Ranger about that case when I interviewed her regarding the Solitude proposal. While she claimed to be unfamiliar with the CBMR case, she said that all NFS lands have a set of screening criteria that would have been applied, for instance in the Crested Butte case. What she couldn't explain is how the CBMR situation has an avenue of appeal while the Solitude situation supposedly doesn't, although if you'll recall they initially said the same thing in the CBMR case, too.

But the CB case had been through multiple years of back and forth with the NFS to conform to all the criteria the NFS could think of. When that didn't seem to work, they just denied it because they officially could (reading between the lines of the various NFS statements I've seen). Thus why such hard feelings by CB and the willingness to appeal. Though also not sure under which grounds it is now allowed to appeal.