MOUNTAIN HYBRID

Sled-Skiers are the Newest Player in the West’s Backcountry Fracas

By Headwaters News, 12-28-05

The tired, old battle between snowmobilers and cross-country skiers regarding access on public lands is finally getting interesting. It seems there is a new breed of snow junkie in the backcountry: the snomo-skier, the person who uses his or her sled to access prime backcountry skiing and snowboarding. It’s happening all over the West and the Canadian Rockies and is finally attracting some attention in Colorado, at Vail Pass.

Yesterday, the Denver Post ran a story detailing the updated conflict between users on Vail Pass, which sees 24,000 user days per year. Now, more than 10 percent of the users are snowmobile skiers and snowboarders, using lighter, faster and safer machines to venture farther into the mountains, seeking the best, untouched terrain. The Forest Service has spent years developing a plan to keep the once-separate users from running into each other, for both safety and experiential reasons. But now, the new group has its own user needs.

The conflicts have been mostly between the extremes from both sides, the adrenaline-seeking sledders and the peaceful, wilderness-craving Nordic skier. The new user group, while it may identify with these other groups, really isn’t so much a mixture, but a whole new thing.

Post writer Jason Blevins, says “They are schismatic skiers out there for the big, floaty turns, not the peace of the wilderness and not the powerful thrill of slednecking.�

The group has its roots in the free-skiing movement that emerged from the western United States some years back, when gifted skiers rejected the discipline of competitive skiing in favor of a more free-form sport. New technologies followed, allowing more skiers to access places that once before only saw the most extreme and fit skiers.

The movement has also spread to commercial ski areas, which in recent years have been opening their boundaries, allowing paying customers to venture beyond the ski patrol. Out-of-bounds skiing allows skiers to get up high via the chairlift, but then ski away from the ropes and groomers.

The opening of boundaries has had mixed results. In Idaho, it opened the door to an agreement between Tamarack Resort and the Idaho State Snowmobile Association to creates a new groomed snowmobile trail to access a separate recreation area for Tamarack backcountry skiing operations and high-use snowmobile terrain.

But in Colorado, most ski area boundaries are still closed because the risk for skiers remains high, along with the cost of search-and rescue. Today, reports the Post, the Summit County Sheriff and search and rescue personnel said they will ask Colorado lawmakers to increase the fine for skiers and snowboarders that leave resort boundaries in search of powder from $300 to $500 or even $1,000.

The cowboy skier on his two-stroke horse isn’t new to the West, just the growing number of them. And public land managers are more than likely going to be looking for ways to corral them.

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.