Off Road Snowmobile Closure near Washinton Psss

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Fun CH
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Re: Off Road Snowmobile Closure near Washinton Psss

Post by Fun CH »

Today and yesterday, Local snowmobilers in the hairpin arriving after skiers were already in use of the area.

So much for any local gentlemen's agreements. The only reason the terrain was untracked is because other locals left it alone.

I remember the day last month when a group of locals, a few I know, completely bypassed the hairpin when I was the only skier there at the time. The powder was deep with a good base. Perfect for off road use.

They even bypassed spire gully which we had agreed was the wild west, open to all.

Class act those guys, much respect.

Hopefully the FS will find a solution to end this conflict issue.

If not, the only solution I see is to advocate for new management of the area by the Park Service with an extension of the NCNP.

That action would close all of the areas west of the hairpin to off road motorized use, while protecting animal habitat and the animals that live there trying to survive the winter.

There was a time when I vocally opposed the Park extension.

Now I see it has merit.
What's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding--Nick Lowe
Can't talk to a man who don't want to understand--Carol King
Fun CH
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Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2021 4:22 pm
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Re: Off Road Snowmobile Closure near Washinton Psss

Post by Fun CH »

Word is out that after a federal judge correctly ruled and identified that mixing motorized snowmobile user groups with human powered skiers is never a good idea, the FS has now reversed the decision to close several areas, historically used by Backcountry skiers along the Highway 20 in corridor, to motorized use.

It is said that National lobbyists that are paid to support motorized recreation in our National Forests were influential in overturning the temporary closure decision.

Perhaps opening up all the ski resorts that exist on public land should now be open to snowmobile use? You know cuz it's a good idea to mix the two groups for recreational purposes.

All we need is an educational program to accomplish this. Skiers to the left snowmobiles to the right.


And all we BC skiers wanted was one little area free from conflict, ie
the headwaters of Early Winters Creek known as The Hairpin.

Perhaps we should now support the expansion of the National Park in order to help protect the North Cascades from Disneyland. While that expansion would exclude the hairpin, many other areas to the west would be protected as Wilderness.

The conflict continues...oh boy!!
What's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding--Nick Lowe
Can't talk to a man who don't want to understand--Carol King
Fun CH
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Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2021 4:22 pm
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Re: Off Road Snowmobile Closure near Washinton Psss

Post by Fun CH »

Start of TAY thread
Start of TAY thread
Capture+_2021-01-21-13-29-55.png (207.75 KiB) Viewed 2487 times
On the TAY thread a local snowmobiker (and snowmobiler) posted contact information if anyone wanted to contact him to discuss the issue so I did.

During that discussion we arrived at a "gentleman's agreement" ( referenced in Marcy's MVN article) whereby motorized vehicles would stay out of the Hwy 20 hairpin ( headwaters of Early Winters Creek).

We also discussed the fact that NCH uses the Blue lake area as a heli-ski bread and butter ski run. Back then with less crowds, BC skiers mostly avoided the terrain that the heli uses once they stated operation in January.

That left all the terrain west of the Blue Lake trail head for motorized use. I also stated that I'd pass the word of our agreement to other BC skiers and we would not try to limit their access to their historical use terrain at Hart's Pass, White Face, Banker pass, Tiffany and a multitude of other areas that motorized snow vehicles use.

Locally word of the agreement speard with local BC skis.

I though that we could be a model example on how different user groups could work together in order to solve conflicting use issues in our National Forests.

However, the flaw with our agreement was that out of town snowmobilers would have no way of knowing of our Gentlemen's Agreement.

So eventually within the last couple years more and more out-of-town snowmobilers and snowmibikers started to use the hairpin and once again that conflicting use became a safety and social issue.

Picture above is a screen capture from the original turns all year thread. That thread is only available now through the Wayback machine. Only the Op is mine.



To be continued..
What's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding--Nick Lowe
Can't talk to a man who don't want to understand--Carol King
Fun CH
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Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2021 4:22 pm
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Off Road Snowmobile Closure near Washinton Psss

Post by Fun CH »

Here is a link to and article in the MVN concerning this issue.

https://methowvalleynews.com/2021/01/06 ... owmobiles/

Marcy did an excellent job at detailing the issue. Here's a quote from that article from our local FS District Ranger Chris Furr.

"This is temporary. A lot of folks have concerns that one year will turn into two, and then it will be permanent. It absolutely is not,” Furr said. “The intent is to get through this season and make time for user groups to revisit informal agreements between users given the increasing use.”

Here is the back story.

Around 8 or so years ago I posted a thread entitled "Snowmobikes, coming to a ski slope near you" on the BC skier based forum Turns All Year.

I posted that thread around the time a group of concerned citizens in Idaho had been dealing with (and interacting with the FS) the issue of this new technology snow machine that now gave less skilled riders the ability to access mountain terrain that had been traditionally accessed by human power. ie Backcounty skiers.

That TAY thread had a lot a of comments (19,000 views) and turned into a contentious thread with many "west side" BC skiers commenting about their bad encounters with snowmibiles.

Many wanted to see all off road access to snowmibiles banned on the National Forest, especially in the Alpine.

Here we are different. Many of us skiers who use snowmobiles to access mountain trail heads to start our ski climbs work with and/or are are friends with many of the off road snowmobilers. In many cases, those folks are the pillers of our community.

To be continued....
What's so funny 'bout peace love and understanding--Nick Lowe
Can't talk to a man who don't want to understand--Carol King
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