John LaConte from Vail Daily is reporting that Vail Mountain has removed a popular double-black diamond trail from its trail map. The trail, formally known as The Narrows, has been scrubbed from the trail map without any reasoning from the resort.
That’s until Vail locals and the Vail Daily started pushing for answers.
The Narrows was part of a large swath of extreme terrain known previously as “The Chutes”. A significant portion of this area was closed back in ’13-’14 when Vail installed Gondola One.
The Narrows remained on the trail map up until this season. Vail spokesperson John Plack originally denied giving an explanation to the Vail Daily as to why the trail was removed.
He has since followed up saying:
“The Narrows is a challenging run that takes quite a bit of snow coverage. And while it’s still available when conditions permit, the decision was made to remove it from the trail map this season. That does not mean the run is permanently closed.
“Like any area on the mountain, Ski Patrol can close the terrain when conditions are not conducive to skiing or riding.”
So, it doesn’t appear that the trail has been completely eliminated, but the resort is not listing it on the trail map. Maybe it has something to do with skier safety? Who knows.
A local band in Vail, known as Your Robot Overlords are selling a T-shirt to “Save The Narrows”. You can check out more here.
Removing one trail from the map probably isn’t a big deal, but it is kind of weird, right? Especially without communicating as to why they’re removing the trail before the article by Vail Daily was written.
That’s what’s still great about mom and pop ski areas. Somebody like Magic Mountain in Vermont would have written a blog explaining their reasoning to removing an entire trail. They actually care about their local skiers, unlike a mega-resort like Vail.
Disappointing yet again!