Tuesday’s election is not just about healthcare and the economy in Utah. SkiLink and the wildly successful Outdoor Retailer Show are both in the crosshairs. OR representatives caused an uproar this summer by threatening to take their business elsewhere when the convention’s contract expires in 2014. The hubbub surrounded Utah Governor Gary Herbert’s land-use policies (but underneath the politics there were also issues of floorspace) with Utah-based Black Diamond Equipment CEO Peter Metcalf dishing him an ultimatum to change his tune about public lands or face the consequence of losing the single-most profitable event in the state. Perhaps OR heads would prefer things if Dem. Peter Cooke were to unseat Herbert as governor?     The former Parkite made an impromptu stop at Wasatch Bagel last week and spoke out against SkiLink under the banner of protecting public lands. Cooke told the small audience that he’s not down with connecting the Canyons (owned by Talisker Corp.) and Solitude Resort via an aerial tram or gondola until there was more open discussion. He said the environmental impact has not been properly studied nor have there been appropriate public hearings on the matter. Therefore, he can’t support Talisker’s campaign to purchase the 30 acres of forest service land they need to instigate SkiLink. Utah’s Republicans, however, are all over the idea like a napkin on a lap. They say SkiLink would boost Utah’s economy and the ski industry as a whole. Opponents, BTW, champion for clean water and backcountry terrain which they say will suffer if SkiLink happens. It’s unclear how much pull the Governor actually has on these two issues but who Utahns vote for this week speaks volumes for how they feel about our public lands.     A little bit of trivia: Cooke Drive in Park City’s Prospector neighborhood was named after Peter Cooke.

Little Cloud Bowl Photo courtesy Mark Kowalski.

World-Renowned Snowbird Resort in Utah is getting in the game. Starting this summer, The Bird will yank out the Little Cloud chair and replace it with a high-speed quad. The Gad 2 lift will suffer the same fate in 2013. The public has spoken and resort ops finally listened so expect some major uphill changes over the next few seasons. “These improvements focus on improving the guest experience,” said Bob Bonar in a recent press release. “The number one complaint that comes up year after year is the lifts,” explained one resort employee. “They’re slow. People like skiing here but they say they won’t come back because they don’t want to stand in a tram line or ride a slow chair. They want high-speed lifts.”

The Bird has sat on the sidelines for years watching Utah’s other major resorts meet the expectations of today’s riders. The last major on-hill improvement and- boy was it ever- occurred in summer 2005 when they blasted a tunnel from Peruvian Express into Mineral Basin and instantly relieved the pressure on the Tram. But since then every other ski area has added extensive snowmaking, better food services, six-pack and quad lifts, RFID ticket scanning, and enhanced grooming, while Snowbird watched and waited.

Photo by Ryan Freitas

But now, in the wake of a dismissal ski season that not only left season passholders scratching their heads but resort accountants scratching the bottom of the barrel, probably no other resort felt the strain more than Snowbird. They had a base that barely surpassed 100″ and a total snowfall that was about half of the historical average. With scant intermediate terrain, relatively little grooming and snowmaking, and nothing much to do when you weren’t skiing, they suffered. That will all change when the resort adds a snowmaking pump in Peruvian Gulch to blanket Peruvian, Mineral and Gad Valley, and begins to expand its intermediate offerings primarily located on the western side – i.e. Little Cloud and Gad 2.

Park City Mountain Resort’s snowmaking rivals Deer Valley’s

Not Everyone is Psyched

Powderhounds, however, are groaning a tad. Locals jam over to Gad 2 while the congestion at the tram stymies traffic on a white room day. The slow, cold progress was enough to keep most everyone else away. Now with two high speed lifts on that side, the crowds can spread out and become more manageable. Not to mention with quads come “singles lines” and more instant access to the goods. “Snowbird already gets tracked out insanely quickly after a storm, so doubling the capacity up Gad2 and LC makes me think that the Upper Gad Valley area will soon be like Mineral Basin,” said one web commentator. “That place looks like it was attacked by powder locusts like eight minutes after the rope drops.”

Could the Tram line possibly look like this on a powder weekend?

The resort promises not to run the new Gad 2 quad at full speed to “minimize overcrowding on the terrain accessed on the west side of the resort.” They will also modify runs in the area while work is being done in the summer 2013; meaning more friendly terrain for lower-level riders. Doppelmayr, a European company with its North American headquarters in Salt Lake City, will manufacture both quads. It wasn’t a two-for-one deal but definitely a better bargain than buying one lift at a time.

Look to this summer to collect a piece of history (Little Cloud was installed in 1980). Snowbird plans to sell off the original double chairs with proceeds benefiting Wasatch Adaptive Sports (WAS). The non-profit hosts recreational programs for people of all ages with special needs.

Side Note: It will be interesting to see what Alta does with their resort over the next few years. The Little Cottonwood neighbor replaced the Collins double with a high-speed lift in 2004/2005 (one year before the Peruvian Tunnel) and instantly drew skiing fans away from the Tram line. Some argued that Snowbird opened the Peruvian Tunnel to compete with Alta. Looks like it’s Alta’s move next.

We’ve got an official gun, an official dessert, an official grass, an official cooking vessel, an official vegetable, so why not an official winter sport? “I thought we already had one,” said Nathan Rafferty, president of SkiUtah during the annual Ski Utah Local Media Day. Right. It’s hard for the skiers and boarders in this state to imagine that we don’t. After all, what else is there to do in the winter but ride?

Last week, Governor Herbert signed a bill that made it ‘official’. From now on Utah’s state winter sport is ski and snowboarding, according to House Bill 201.

The proclamation was made in front of Utah’s ski writers and broadcasters at Solitude Ski Resort, Friday, April 6.

It’s not like we really need to have a law in place to know what 25 percent of the state knows. There’s not much else you can do from December to April. Plus, the ski industry brings in $1.173 billion dollars to the state, 20 thousand jobs and a healthy lifestyle. What the bill says is that finally our state legislature sees the value in outdoor recreation and tourism. They’ve even coughed up an extra $2 million over last year for the Utah Office of Tourism budget.

The ski season may not have been all that but it was definitely a banner year for it in the legislature. HB201 is the second recreation bill passed. The first was a resolution for interconnecting the seven resorts in the Wasatch. Park City Mountain Resort, Canyons, Deer Valley, Brighton, Solitude, Alta and Snowbird are primed for a European-style experience.

After Gov. Herbert signed the bill, Park City Mountain Resort’s Jenni Smith took the podium for another official announcement – an exploratory committee has been appointed to study the possibility of hosting the 2022 Olympic Games.

The committee will submit a report to the Governor in the next 60 days. After that, he and Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker would decide whether to present a bid to the Olympic Organizing Committee (IOC). If we do, we’ll be competing with Denver, Reno/Tahoe and possibly Bozeman, Mont., for 2022. “The question isn’t “why?” but “why not?” said Smith.

The former 2002 venues are still active, they meet the stated IOC criteria of sustainability, carbon neutral and compact and would require little money for upgrades. Judging from past freestyle comps, Canyons would have no trouble hosting the newly added skier and boarder cross events. We did it before and we can do it again seems to be the local consensus. “Maybe I’m bragging but we really had a successful Games,” said Smith. A decision on 2022 wouldn’t come until 2015 so there’s plenty of time plan. Of course, it just makes sense that the state with the official sport of skiing and riding should be the one to host the Winter Olympics, don’t you think?

To follow the progress and minutes of the committee go to the Exploratory Committee on the Utah Sports Commission website.