Skiing » Facing expansion opposition, the resort asks to use half the canyon.

Hoping to stay competitive in a tough industry while minimizing opposition from backcountry skiers, Solitude Mountain Resort has cut back its request to expand into Silver Fork Canyon.

Instead of asking the U.S. Forest Service to amend its operating permit to include all of Silver Fork, a tributary of Big Cottonwood Canyon, the resort is seeking to add operations only on the east side of the creek that runs along the canyon bottom.

That leaves some popular terrain for backcountry skiers -- Meadows Chutes and the upper west bowl of Silver Fork -- out of the resort's boundaries. It also creates a buffer zone along the creek that Solitude owner David DeSeelhorst believes should assuage water-quality concerns of the Salt Lake City department of public utilities.

"We're giving up some fantastic skiing," DeSeelhorst said of the decision to pare the expansion request from 695 acres, as requested last year, to 182 in the proposal submitted Monday to Cathy Kahlow, the Forest Service's Salt Lake District ranger.

"We recognize the need for divergent recreation opportunities," he said, referring to backcountry enthusiasts' interest in keeping the Meadow Chutes area away from lift-served skiing. "This plan is well thought-out and will accommodate everyone's needs."

But that doesn't mean people who disliked the idea of expansion before will like it any more now, just because less acreage is involved.

"I still think expansion would be a crippling blow to what's left of the core of the Wasatch Mountains," said Will McCarvill of the Wasatch Mountain Club.

"Ski resorts already have the premium high-altitude skiing and bowls," he added. "This just attempts to grab more territory. Half of an unacceptable proposal is still unacceptable."

Forest Service officials are likely to spend about two months internally reviewing the proposal before deciding whether to deny, accept or require changes, Kahlow said.

If accepted, Solitude would be required to pay for a detailed environmental analysis or an even larger environmental impact statement (EIS).

DeSeelhorst said he was "eager to get that process moving forward," contending that although the resort is Big Cottonwood Canyon's largest property owner and part of an important state industry, its ability to stay competitive is hampered by the fact that "our ability for future terrain addition is severely limited. We're boxed in."

Silver Fork would increase the resort's "rugged side-country, not resort-style skiing," something many Solitude skiers and boarders already experience after leaving the resort, he added.

But Kahlow said there is no certainty the request will be accepted, noting "ski-area expansions are not consistent with our forest plan and we would really have to look at the public interest or benefits of that proposal."

Save Our Canyons Executive Director Carl Fisher said several public lands use-processes have concluded resort expansion is undesirable.

"Continual pressure to expand the resorts and stay competitive with each other will be detrimental to the beauty of the Wasatch in the long run," he said.

Fisher and McCarvill both said that even if Solitude is allowed to expand into only part of Silver Fork, any lifts there will increase the number of resort skiers venturing into the part of the canyon removed from last year's proposal -- the domain of the backcountry crowd.

As always in canyon matters, water quality holds trump over all other issues.

Jeff Niermeyer, who is charged with protecting Big Cottonwood's water supply as Salt Lake City's public utilities director, favors the new proposal over Solitude's earlier plan.

But he insists a full environmental review is necessary "to understand what the potential impacts are."

mikeg@sltrib.com
http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_14876942

For more info and to read Solitude's proposal go to:  http://saveourcanyons.org/campaigns/current_issues/projects/solitude_exp...