On Friday, defense attorneys for Alta Ski Area defended their ability to keep Alta a skier’s only mountain in a federal appeals court. The case brought on by Wasatch Equality, claims that the Little Cottonwood Canyon ski area, which operates on public land, must allow snowboarders access to the fabled slopes.
Attorneys from the resort argue otherwise.
“Quite simply, the Constitution neither recognizes nor protects a right to snowboard,” wrote the defense. In the past, the resort has claimed that snowboarders are susceptible to an additional blind spot by inherently facing sideways while riding, which makes their skiing clientele vulnerable to snowboarder onslaughts.
Wasatch Equality is saying that these suggestions are mainly based on old-fashioned prejudices that pit skiers against snowboarders and that safety has nothing to do with the ban. In a written statement, plantiffs for the group said, “Defendants have transformed public land into a private country club controlled by those exclusive, elitist, and discriminatory views.”
Oral arguments are upcoming but a court date is yet to be set.
The only two ski areas in the United States to not allow snowboarding are Deer Valley in Utah and Mad River Glen in Vermont.