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Shattered Silence: Stories from the Western Snow Belt
Leslie Lovejoy, graphic artist
Steamboat Springs, Colorado
leslie@lovejoygraphics.com
(970) 846-9710
Places like Rabbit Ears Pass, Buffalo Pass and Hahn’s Peak on the Routt National Forest receive some of the finest, deepest snow in the Colorado Rockies, but increasing crowds of ever-more-powerful snowmobiles monopolize backcountry slopes, ruining winter fun for traditional users, says local skier Leslie Lovejoy.
“We used to be able to go to a local trailhead and enjoy a really nice day’s ski in the forest. Suddenly, the snowmobiles started coming out of the trees, tracking up our favorite ski hills and creating giant, frozen ruts in the trail. It totally ruined the skiing experience — and it began to get worse and worse. Back in the late 90’s we were able to work with the Forest Service and protect some small areas, however the whole northern part of our forest remains unmanaged, uncontrolled and open to unrestricted motorized use.”
“We have a cabin at the base of Hahn’s Peak and a groomed snowmobile trail runs 10 feet from the side of our cabin. The noise on weekends is incessant. Our neighborhood of Columbine has a motorized trailhead located right in the middle of it. This is not a good example of planning.”
Lovejoy says this lack of fundamental regulations fails to protect safety, wildlife and to prevent conflicts with the majority of users seeking peace and quiet in north Routt county. She urges the Forest Service to tackle this problem on a national level.
“Right now, our winter national forests are an unrestricted racetrack for vehicles which can reach speeds of 120 miles per hour in 30 seconds and be driven legally by an 8-year-old where people walk and ski. Let’s sit at the table and decide where these machines are appropriate and where they are not.”
In Colorado national forests, snowmobile riders make up 39 percent of winter visits; yet dominate 67 percent of the acreage and 93 percent of groomed trails.
Dale Neubauer, aircraft mechanic
Bend, Oregon
neubauer@pacifier.com
541-280-4115
Years ago, Dale Neubauer frequently went winter camping on Tumbulo Mountain on the Deschutes National Forest. He used to day-dream about taking his family there someday for a weekend of winter solitude.
“It was a real pleasant place, with great views of the Three Sisters Wilderness and a great diversity of skiing terrain.”
But while his infant sons grew older, Tumbulo Mountain became overrun with snowmobiles. “If you built a snow cave there today, the odds of it being run over by a
snowmobile would be quite high. It would be like setting up a tent in the middle of a parking lot. It’s not what you do with your children.”
Eventually a small section of the mountain was closed to motorized traffic, but the blatant disregard of the law by snowmobilers results in routine trespass here, and in the distant wilderness.
As a mechanic and a longtime motorcycle enthusiast, Neubauer appreciates the joys of motor sports, but he also recognizes the need for piece and quiet in modern life.
“I appreciate places where you can get away from it all. Due to unrestrained motorized recreation, those places are getting harder and harder to find. Our public lands are becoming uninhabitable for the common man seeking silence.”
In Oregon, snowmobile riders make up 28 percent of winter users, but dominate 80 percent of the national forest and 94 percent of groomed trails.
Gail Ferrell, math professor
Reno, Nevada
csaws@pointers.reno.nv.us
(775) 287-4196
In the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Tahoe Meadows is a popular high-country play area on the highway between Reno and Lake Tahoe. Skier Gail Ferrell has long watched families enjoy the snow there, from kids in plastic toboggans to expert backcountry skiers.
Tahoe Meadows receives 40,000 visits a winter, 95 percent of them without snowmobiles. Yet the noisy minority on machines can make skiing and snowshoeing miserable and dangerous for everyone else, Ferrell said.
“I saw a father pulling his child behind him on a toboggan and a snowmobile buzzed right past him, forcing him off the trail. He just picked up his child, turned around and headed right back home. There was no way he was going to subject his child to that. It’s really tragic because it should be a perfect place for families.”
Ferrell said snowmobiles have a place on national forests, but don’t belong everyplace.
“Snowmobiles dominate every other mountain pass around Lake Tahoe, except at Tahoe Meadows. They are driving the skiers and snow-shoers from places we used to go. This is clearly unbalanced and unfair to have no place that is safe and quiet for those of us on foot,” she said. “It’s the responsibility of the Forest Service to protect the interests of everyday people.”
On Nevada’s Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, snowmobile riders make up 48 percent of winter users, but dominate 84 percent of the area and 96 percent of groomed trails.
Kathie Rivers, attorney
Ketchum, Idaho
kerivers@cox.net
(208) 726-3121
For 25 years, Kathie Rivers has enjoyed skiing the high, open country in Idaho’s Wood River Valley. In recent decades, she and her neighbors had to work hard to protect the quiet, untouched powder they cherished.
“In the early 1980s, snowmobiles were not an issue. You just didn’t see them. That changed rapidly in the 1990s,” she said. As snow machines grew more powerful, old “gentlemen’s agreements” that defused conflicts in the past began to fall apart.
“As the machines grew more powerful, they began tracking up more and more of our traditional slopes and trails. Little by little, we were squeezed out of places,” she said.
“You cannot ski on a trail that has been chewed up by snowmobiles, and the noise and exhaust is equally bad. You don’t go cross-country skiing to smell fumes and listen to engines all day.”
Tensions in this resort community grew intense. Finally, the Sawtooth National Forest Supervisor and Blaine County gathered a group of snowmobile riders and skiers to seek a solution. After nine months of weekly meetings, the group made a recommendation setting aside blocks of land for each activity. The Forest Service adopted that recommendation in 2000.
“It was an education for everyone sitting around the table,” Rivers said. “There is so much common ground, it’s unfortunate that things get so polarized.”
In Idaho national forests, snowmobiles dominate 68 percent of the area and 93 percent of groomed trails. Snowmobile riders make up 75 percent of winter users in Idaho, mostly because of riding around Yellowstone National Park on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest.
Kevin Kobe, outdoor educator
Logan, Utah
kevin.kobe@usu.edu
(435) 797-1502
Kevin Kobe, director of the Utah State University Campus Recreation Department, has made a career of sharing the wonders of Utah’s winter mountains with kids, students and young adults.
But he says it’s getting more and more difficult to find the untracked snow, the winter grandeur — even the fresh air — that makes winter in Utah’s Cache Valley special.
“It’s an amazing thing, sharing this country in winter with someone for the first time — to see the light bulb go off in their heads. I’ve seen it change their whole lives, they make friends for life and memories that last a lifetime.”
Kobe moved to Logan, Utah, in the 1980s, chasing “the Greatest Snow on Earth.” But it’s becoming more and more difficult to find welcoming, quiet winter terrain that is not being dominated by increasingly noisy and powerful snowmobiles.
“Our programs have suffered, big time,” Kobe said. “I remember what it was like — a very balanced kind of place. Now, it’s very out of balance.”
Kobe said his concerns are both esthetic and practical.
“We are just pedestrians and these machines are very fast and unpredictable. They can go anywhere. It’s like riding your bicycle in busy city traffic; you have to stay on the defensive. You have it in the back off your mind that you might be blind-sided at any moment.”
“The whole idea of our outings is to get out there and enjoy Nature and be with your friends. We used to sometimes hear a snowmobile in the distance. Now, you hear them all the time and the smell just kind of lingers, particularly in the canyons. It’s the opposite experience of what we’re looking for.”
In Utah national forests, snowmobilers monopolize 93 percent of the groomed trail and 82 percent of the land. |
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