On April 11, the SL Tribune Editorial Board announced in a lead opinion piece, that they were in favor of Jim Matheson’s introduction of this bill. Many highlights of the bill were discussed, including preserving watershed, and compromises by all stakeholders.

The issue of Alta Town and Alta Ski Lifts (ASL) being opposed to preserving Flagstaff Mountain is raised again. It stated Mayor Pollard of Alta said “the lift to Flagstaff Peak is necessary to carry ski patrol workers to avalanche zones to drop hand charges when the common means of control, discharging military artillery, is unsafe.”

It is fairly common knowledge that avalanche control work in this area is largely overseen and directed by Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT). State Highway 210 runs right through Alta Town and the resort. The slopes of Flagstaff and nearby environs avalanche control work is not under the direction of ASL or Alta Town. However, to be fair, ASL and UDOT do work together on avalanche risk reduction.

UDOT stated quite clearly last year that a lift is not being sought after by their agency. Please refer to the pertinent video clips below. If safety is the issue, then why isn’t the agency charged with delivering that safety seeking this wrongly placed lift? It’s because it is not a necessary or needed method of avalanche risk reduction in this portion of Little Cottonwood Canyon.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 12th, 2010 at 10:35 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.