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Into the Wilds: Backcountry Skiers Push for State Help in Carving New Glades b y ChA R LES Ei Ch AC kER
SEVENDAYSVt.com 01.22.14-01.29.14 SEVEN DAYS 16 LOCAL MATTERS
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Tourism and forest officials are willing to work with skiers and riders to explore the idea of creating backcountry areas on state and national forestland, so long as the group assembles under one umbrella organization, according to Megan Smith, Vermont’s tourism commissioner. Among the off-piste hobbies popular in Vermont, backcountry skiing is unique in that it doesn’t have such a body — while mountain bikers, equestrians, snowmobilers and ATVers all do.
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ochester is surrounded on both sides by the sloping Green Mountains, but the central Vermont town doesn’t look much like a ski area. It lacks overflow parking lots, overpriced cups of chili and a mountain range of condos. Another thing that’s missing: chairlifts. None of that has stopped a small group of outdoor enthusiasts from envisioning the town as a ski destination. “Most people interpret a ‘ski area’ as having lift access,” says Angus McCusker, a representative for the Rochester Area Sports Trail Alliance, aka RASTA. “We’re thinking more of glades and tree skiing.” Glades are sections of forest — both in and outside resorts — that have been thinned to improve access for backcountry skiers and snowboarders. By hiking to such spots, a growing number of skiers and snowboarders are avoiding lift lines. The number of resort skiiers dropped 30 percent in the 2012-13 season in comparison to the year before, according to a report by the trade association SnowSports Industries America. Bad weather and economics may have had something to do with that. But during the same time period, participation in non-resort backcountry skiing jumped from 430,000 to 577,000 people. There’s no shortage of backcountry zeal in the Green Mountains. When RASTA and the Catamount Trail Association hosted two separate panel discussions on backcountry skiing in November, almost 200 people attended each event.
“We’re extremely interested in treating backcountry skiing the same as we do mountain biking,” says Smith. Encouraging guide services to set up in small towns would lead to low-impact economic development opportunities for enterprises such as inns and restaurants, Smith points out. Just as the popular Kingdom Trails mountain biking system has brought a jolt of tourism to the town of East Burke, the commissioner suggests that skiing could energize a town like Rochester, which was hit hard by Tropical Storm Irene. The second advantage of responsibly expanding backcountry access is that it would lead to more sustainable glade cutting, state officials say. While skiing on public land is legal, cutting glades through that land without permission is not. In 2007, two skiers made headlines after illegally clearing 873 trees for a chute on Big Jay mountain, which occupies state forest and borders Jay Peak resort. “I’ve seen, as a skier in the backcountry, people doing some stuff they’re not supposed to be doing, cutting trails without authority and not always with the best practices,” says Michael Snyder, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation. “Could we open some state forest? Are there key places where we could develop backcountry skiing in a more organized fashion?” The state already manages some glades through a public-private partnership. Two years ago, a private landowner made an offer to buy a 1,161-acre network
of glades and nordic ski trails at Bolton Valley ski resort, closing the backcountry trails to public use. But after a $1.85 million fundraiser, the Vermont Land Trust was able to purchase the land and donate it to the state. Snyder’s department has now incorporated that land into Mt. Mansfield State Forest and is working to maintain its skiable terrain with a group called the Friends of Bolton Valley Nordic and Backcountry. Still, glade creation remains lesscharted territory. “We don’t know all of the ins and outs of … what people are looking for, what exactly is needed. We don’t have experience with that,” says Diana Frederick, a state stewardship forester in Washington and Lamoille counties. But having worked with groups like the Catamount Trail Association, the Green Mountain Club and the Vermont Mountain Bike Association, Frederick cautions that the approval process can be long and dizzying, as it involves a litany of environmental factors: erosion prevention, timber conservation and preservation of threatened species like the Bicknell’s thrush. The CTA has some experience in the bureaucratic — and literal — weeds of trail management, having maintained the 300-mile multiuse Catamount Trail for 30 years. Since hosting one of those ski forums in November, its representatives have been discussing land-use strategies with members of the state and national forest services, reports Amy Kelsey, the group’s executive director. But there
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