Snowboarders sue for access to Utah ski resort
By Dennis Romboy, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY — Snowboarders have wanted to “free” Alta for years.
On Wednesday, four of them and a group called Wasatch Equality dropped a federal lawsuit on the Little Cottonwood Canyon resort, challenging its longstanding skiers-only policy.
A lawyer for the snowboarders said that because of Alta Ski Area’s arrangement with the U.S. Forest Service, it must comply with the equal protection clause in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Forest Service is also named as defendant.
“Alta is one of only three ski resorts in the United States that does not allow snowboarding, and Alta is the only one of these resorts that is operated on public land controlled by the Forest Service,” said Jonathan Schofield, an attorney with Parr Brown Gee and Loveless.
So there arent enough snowboarding places to go in utah? Not all skiers want to play with snowboarders, not a big deal. There are many forest uses that need to be separated. I personally didnt like skiing with snowboarders, they tend to be out of controll, im just saying…
Alta will lose this suit.
Someone else on private property needs to emerge with a similar policy…..Homewood!? Is that private?
Public land is public land, for law abiding public use. When the civil system refuses to act civilly, civilians might not act civil.
Seems Mormons pride themselves on family values, ect… Can’t do a family outing on public land because snowboarders are not allowed.
I ski and snowboard. Love them both but unless you have a nice split board alta is going to really suck. You think you travers at k-wood on a pow day? Hate to say it that way but you better be skilled on a board or you’re going to have a bad time.
Boarders do far more snow damage resulting in increased grooming costs than skiers…it is not purposeful, just the physics of the thing, pushing snow ahead of the board.
Therefore there could be a logical reason to charge more for boarding tickets. Or, my favorite solution, limit boarding to certain runs.
This is aside from the “Boarder mentality” and unnecessary aggressiveness most skiers know and detest. Before I get slammed for the last remark, clearly it ain’t all boarders who are this way, but a far higher percentage of boarders than skiers act out in ugly and sometimes dangerous ways.
Loading and unloading a mix of Boarders and Skiers on the lifts is also often a problem, especially if as usual the skill levels of the people are not on par with each other.
It would also be interesting to know if the insurance costs to the resorts are less for skiers only. If so, charge the boarders a risk premium. Likely this alone would change the minds of those who want to sue for everything.
Observer, I don’t think it’s the snowboards fault for aggressiveness, it’s the fact that it is the most popular with young males, who are by nature pushing their limits at that age, with their raging testosterone, still doesn’t make me want to ski next to them. Set aside a few runs at every resort for them to go all out in, the rest of us can stay off of these runs ;)
Most skiers who hold animosity towards snowboarders…
are crappy skiers.
That’s why they call Alta a SKI resort!
Not a Ski and Snowboard resort!
Cosa, it has nothing to do with animosity. Skis make different moguls than snowboards and allowing snowboards RUINS the moguls. Alta is for good skiers who know the difference.
I’m not a great skier, should I not be allowed to ski? Should ski areas be for experts only? Am I not welcome?
Ah yes, the old Skier vs Snowboarder argument. Before that it was when “Freestyle” skiing became popular in the early 70’s. Do you remember all those yahoos skiing(?)on 180’s or shorter doing ballet moves, crazy aerials that belonged in a gym event or the circus and making the face at Heavenly un-skiable for anyone on 210’S.? All because the freestylers didn’t know how to carve a turn on the suddenly popular short skiis. They’d just hop around a bit, flailing there arms around with no control over the short skiis and plastic boots coming half way to their knees…and they called it skiing. On top of that a bunch of people in plastic ski suits and plastic attitudes, shouting out “Yee haw” as they hopped about down the face or Gunbarell. Gawd those were dreadful times. Now wonder I switched to backcountry skiing on a pair of 3 pins.
So yes, Old Long Skiis is old school and proud of it.
When snowboarding first became popular, Heavenly Valley and many other resorts either banned it outright or limited the boarders to a few runs. As boarding became even more popular the ski ares gradually opened the whole mountain to them. Chaos ensued with lots of uncontolled boarders that were new to the sport were colliding with skiers, trees and just about everything else.
Things did get better over time. The skiers learned to give the boarders a wide berth and keep their eyes open for a out of controll boarder and with time, the boarders got better controll over their board.
Personally I’d like to see boarders be given their own runs and let the skiers remain on theirs.
At least that’s the way I see it. Old Long Skiis (pray for snow)
OLS, There was a sign on the crossover from Nv to Ca at HV that said “Snowboarding not allowed in Ca”
Care, heres the deal with Alta. Its a small resort with about 2000 vert. But it gets the most know in Utah. People have been skiing there since 1939 and they really have done a great job of retaining the history of the resort. On a given morning a large percentage of skiers will be in leather boots and 210cm skis. The skill level of skiers there is very very high and it is a pretty intimidating place sometimes. Do not stop at the top of a run or you will hear about it. People also don’t side slip. Snow conservation is practiced on the steep pitches so that they ski well after a storm. And you really don’t want to be person scraping the snow down it.
So Care, are you welcome at Alta? sure, should you want to go? Heck no. Snowbird is right next door with none of the hangups of Alta. I would recommend Solitude and Brighton over both of the Little Cottonwood resorts for novice skiers and riders.
Sorry for some spelling mistakes in my previous comment. The 49’ers got me distracted ,refs bad calls!, as well as thinkin’ about the old days of gliding on the long boards. OLS, (please mother nature, can we have some snow?)