Photo Credit: people.tribe
Back in July we reported on a federal bill that was introduced to help expand summer uses at ski resorts. Remember? It was the same bill that also technically outlawed snowboarding on public lands. Well, after being on the table for several years the bill has finally cleared the U.S. House of Representatives.
The bill is known as H.R. 765, aka, the Ski Area Recreational Opportunity Enhancement Act of 2011. What the bill does is it amends the the National Forest Ski Area Permit Act of 1986 to legally allow activities beyond skiing to take place on ski resorts, during the off-season, that are also managed as public lands. These other uses are pretty obvious and have been happening for some time at ski reorts during the summer, but to make sure it’s actually a focus and an “allowable” thing, activities like concerts, mountain coasters, zip lines, alpine slides and mountain biking will now be legal.
U.S. Representative Mark Udall, a democrat from Colorado has been leading the charge. He recently shared, “My bill would help the mountain communities create jobs and boost their economies while creating more recreational opportunities for Coloradans to visit the mountains.” “It’s time for the Senate to follow the House’s lead and pass my bill on the floor.”
The whole issues stems back to ski resorts actually being allowed to permit such off-season activities like those discussed above. These uses are not clearly defined by what’s included in the 1986 law….either is snowboarding!
Now it goes to the U.S. Senate for consideration, but really one of the bigger questions has yet to be fully answered: is snowboarding legal yet on public lands or what? According to the old law it is not, and since this bill still must pass the Senate, that technically means snowboarding on public lands “remains” illegal!!! If you can think of a more appropriate word than ridiculous, please fire away!!!!
Photo Credit: llstudents.org
what the fuck? so does this go for skiing to? i dont get it at all, so people who snowboard at a resort are commiting a crime? only during off season? what..?
No. What this means is what’s “allowed” has to be written into law because of the designation of federally managed public land. So, nordic and alpine skiing were written in, but snowboarding, like these off season activities (concerts, mtn biking, etc.) were not, so technically, they are not legal. F’ing nuts if you ask me!
wow. thats weird. ive never seen that enforced.
Land of the free?
I live in Big Bear Lake CA… 1 mile doorstep to lift from my front door to Snow Summit… or 1/2 mile to the Bear Mountain Shuttle. Fortunately for me I work for myself setting up grow rooms and selling hydroponic equipment & supplies… in a mountain resort town, there’s no lack of business for me. But most of the people whom live here are broke as a joke. The majority of jobs pay minimum wage and/ or are seasonal. If this bill passes the Senate and gets signed into law there’s no doubt it could boost the economy here. We’re lucky in the fact that we have a big ass lake for the summer season, but allowing the resorts to stay open for snowboarding longer than the current government mandate to shut down… allowing concerts in the summer… allowing everything else that is currently forbidden on our public land would create a ton of jobs here… and I imagine in every mountain resort town across the nation.
Apparently the Justice Dept of Merka has sent letters to all ski resorts notifying them that snowboarding is illegal under federal law, regardless of State law. The crackdown will begin soon. Further, anyone who advertises snowboarding ( again: illegal under federal law) will be charged with a crime as well.
The ironical thing is the head of The Justice Dept was very recently implicated in shipping thousands of snowboards across the border to Cah-nah-dah, were the Lake Louise cartel are overtly using them to totally kill it.