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For those that don't know, Canyons ski resort is trying to build a tram connecting to solitude ski resort. I could go on and on about the evils of this but it has been covered at these websites:
http://straightchuter.com/2011/09/the-canyons-tram-and-ted-wilson/#more-4918
http://saveourcanyons.org/
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=17425502
http://splitboard.com/talk/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=11759&start=65

moral of the story if one lift goes trans-canyon the whole wasatch is screwed. also the politics are disgusting, the resorts have effectively sucked enough political dick to have two republican politicians in the area create a screwball "wasatch recreation enhancement act" that will sell 30 acres of public federal forest land to the private Talisker corporation who is behind the proposed tram. THIS IS NOT OKAY. besides the environmental issue there is a core ethics issue here. 94% of the wasatch front opposes ski resort expansion however the resorts and politicians involved are taking this out of the public eye and trying to pass the bill behind closed doors. no public hearings, no public input, no public respect. THIS IS NOT HOW OUR REPRESENTATIVES SHOULD BE ACTING. what does that say about Utah as a state? What does it say about America as country. please click the link below and let congress know that this type of behavior is not okay.

http://www.change.org/petitions/us-congress-stop-the-sale-of-forest-service-land-to-ski-area-developers


Thanks!

Well said.
I do what I can.

Utah representatives are total whores.

Is the world coming to an end here ? Sounds like it.

If I answer, may I cross the bridge?

((IOW I can't tell if the head scratch is supposed to be sarcasm))

I can't tell really. I think the point is i over did it on the original post? I don't know I just thought that it might be nice to let people know they have the right to try to change shit before it happens, rather than just let it happen and then bitch about it. but being really passive aggressive is so in right now.

Wasatch Surf,

Thanks for the link to the petition. For obvious reasons, I think the Utah split community (and everyone else who even remotely enjoys the backcountry for as it is) should try and fight this as much as possible. If anything else comes up, definitely post it on sb.com

WS, You are absolutely right on the impact and future impacts to touring in the tri canyons if this land sale makes a successful end run around all the polling, planning and forest service procedures. The only stop left would be the salt lake county commission and the input to them from the watershed management. This chair would make willows, beartrap and probably the monitor bowl into canyons ski area slackcountry. I have not always agreed with Jim Matheson, but I definitely loved his proposal for more wildo and protections against development and he is probably our strongest voice against this one along with the mayor of the county and city. I hope he can survive the redistricting and/or succeed at a senate seat next time around. I can't really wrap my head around Ted Wilson's involvement.

Pulled this off the "Stop the tram" FB Page...
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-the-Tram/217183381677099

Matthew Turley's Photos
It's usually pretty cool to see one of your images used in an ad, but this time I just feel sick to my stomach for implicitly promoting a ski resort which has apparently lost its soul. Unfortunately, the rights to this image were licensed to Solitude long before I knew about the proposed 'Ski-Link', leaving me little recourse for withdrawing my participation. However, they did get a call from me this morning, along with this letter:


Dear [Solitude],

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me on the phone earlier today, and for being willing to hear me out. I have summarized my thoughts and proposal below, which I hope you will consider, share with your superiors at Solitude, and address:

As you know, I strongly oppose the development of the proposed 'Ski-Link’, and view Solitude Mountain Resort's complicity as a travesty of nearly everything it professes to be – to the extent that I now regret having licensed images to the resort for use in their advertisements, which come across as hypocritical, disingenuous, and promote a resort I can no longer endorse. To illustrate:

A recent ad featuring one of my photographs has a headline reading, “IT”S NOT ABOUT CHAIRLIFTS, IT’S WHERE THEY TAKE YOU.” — If, in fact 'it's not about chairlifts', then why is Solitude intent on partnering in the construction of a lift which would not only be unconscionably conspicuous, but which would also only exist to greatly expand Solitude's effective chairlift network? Moreover, by claiming that it's more important 'where [a resort's chairlifts] take you', Solitude has actually managed to degrade its brand by unequivocally validating the importance of a rival brand situated at the other end of its proposed lift.

Another ad touts, “IT’S NOT ABOUT A BIGGER RESORT, IT’S ABOUT USER EXPERIENCE.” — It would appear that Solitude’s marketing department didn’t get the memo about this proposal. Do they somehow underestimate the size, momentum, and steamroller-like inhumanity of their greedy neighbors to the northeast? Are they gullible enough to trust the feigned benign intentions of a massive real-estate corporation which has consumed its own surrounding land to exhaustion, and is now hungrily searching for fresh territory to loot? Or, are they naive enough to believe that the Solitude 'user experience' will survive unspoiled once they’re married to a partner that reeks of unholy machinations? Remember, there are no friends on a powder day. Be assured you will get left behind – and surely you should expect even less from a heartless competitor.

Ironically, Solitude’s very name and tagline contradict the proposal:

“Refined by Nature” — How so? Indeed there is nothing refined about the proposed ’Ski-Link', nor is it remotely natural. The gondola, with its inelegant cables, passenger compartments, and towers would permanently scar the relatively unspoiled mountain views across the canyon, not to mention clutter the sky and interrupt the forest for backcountry skiers and summer hikers. Solitude would do well to consider the aesthetic value of its pristine views to the northeast and the associated incomputable cost of losing it forever.

“Solitude” — Hardly. Solitude Mountain Resort will never again enjoy the seclusion for which it’s famous if it succumbs to a cancerous real-estate scheme posing as a ski resort intent on metastasizing over the PC-ridgeline and running rampant within our priceless, finite, and irreplaceable canyons, just as they've done with their own ‘Canyons’.

Accordingly, and as I mentioned in my call, I propose terminating our license agreement and negotiating terms of reimbursement for the surrendered license. Please let me know what works for Solitude Mountain Resort in this regard.

Passionately,

Matthew Turley
By: Matthew Turley

Thanks Wasatch. I'm turning some angry Greenpeacers onto it.

Interesting note. Just read an interview with Jeremy Jones, who stated that POW has had a really hard time getting ski areas interested in signing on to support climate change legislation. Ski areas are traditionally fiercely opposed to any environmental regulation, even if CC will limit their revenue in the long run (look at Europe now) and enventually kill their whole industry.

These fools are not 'the mountain community,' they are the business interests raping the mountains in the name of short term profit.

And ski areas are basically just big clear cuts...

Thanks for sharing that, good to see him taking action. Here's something I found from Save Our Canyons that is worth posting here.

http://stopskilink.wordpress.com/