Skiing & Snowboarding
Backcountry Skiers Complain Snowmobiles Ruining Their Experience
Can you call yourself an environmentalist if, instead of "earning your turns," you take a ride to the top?By Allen Best, 3-08-11
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| “I almost threw up from the smell. I turned around and left,” said skier Melanie Rees about snowmobile exhaust in the backcountry near Crested Butte. Photo by Flickr user Timo Newton-Syms. | |
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Ski towns are like family, but as in many families, plenty of bickering goes on.
Take Crested Butte. Everybody loves the b.c. – the backcountry, that is. But as has been occurring now for 15 years or more, some skiers and snowboarders are buying snowmobiles to eliminate the sweat and get dibs on the choice backcountry slopes.
One local skier recently complained about planning to ski the Slate River, north of Crested Butte, and encountering seven snowmobiles while strapping skins onto her skis.
“I almost threw up from the smell. I turned around and left,” said Melanie Rees.
“My opinion – turns should be earned. If you don’t want to earn them, ride lifts. I don’t understand how anyone could consider themselves to be an environmentalist if they use snowmobiles,” she says.
In Crested Butte a decade ago, there was also some public squabbling as skiers complained about snowshoers messing up their trails.
Now, in Park City comes news of grousing among users of an area called Round Valley. The open-space areas have a groomed track, and slow skiers are being annoyed by fast skiers, and some skiers are cranky about people walking, reports The Park Record.
And then there are the dog-walkers, and everybody gets annoyed by those who don’t pick up their dogs’ doo. Much ado about nothing? Not with hundreds of dogs running around on any given day.
Allen Best writes, edits and publishes Mountain Town News, which can be found at allenbest.net.
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Comments
Let's look for solutions and not just "bitch" about snowmobiles cruising around in the snow ... this is a fact of life in the West.
Never mind there's wilderness all for her.
In South East Wyoming - Snowy Range and Pole Mtn./Happy Jack area: we've been battling the ever increasing numbers of snowmobiles for 3+ decades... Every year it gets worse, fresh lines poached by lazy people on machines, vandalism of backcountry cabins, harassment of BC skiers by large groups of motorized users, ignoring parking regulations or off limit trails, lack of enforcement of existing laws and even display of fire arms...
The Pole Mtn area is completely Off limits to motorized vehicles - all year - but someone illegally poaches and rips up trails (snow or bike) simply to show they can Do so... No Enforcement...
Co-operative meetings over the years has resulted in NO co-operation, lies, outright defiance - just to show who can push who around...
i trust the holier-than-thou Ms. Melanie Rees chose to not drive to the trailhead but instead schussed...
Personally, I prefer not to inhale exhaust fumes when I'm trying to earn my turns, but if snowmobile use is legal in that area than it's something I should be prepared to deal with. I think there's a distinction to be made between using snowmobiles on forest roads for approaches, compared to using them to yo-yo ski terrain popular with non-motorized enthusiasts. The latter type of use has a much bigger impact on backcountry skiers.