Obama passes bill to allow mt biking at ski resorts on public land!

[genemk]

Politics aside this is amazing news! Never thought the president would touch the subject. Wonder if it'll allow Timberline to move forward any faster.

Bill opens 30 NW ski areas to year-round fun | Ecotrope

[SHIVER ME TIMBERS]

awesome...hope that includes California

[Flystagg]

sweet news thanks for sharing, hope to see more dh options in tahoe than northstar in the coming summers

[Cygnus X-1]

that's huge, I hope hippies don't protest the ski Ashland proposal.

[NObama]

I give you the benefit of the doubt that you are not campaigning for the guy.
I'm happy to hear the news.

[bermluvr]

Wow super awesome news!!! I wouldn't have thought he'd have touched on that subject either...

[meSSican]

sweet news thanks for sharing, hope to see more dh options in tahoe than northstar in the coming summers

On a side note, talked to a guy this summer at N* and he was telling me that Squaw had or was working on a bike park. Also said they weren't advertising it this year but next year was supposed to be open. I never have been there so i don't know and this was just what i was told. Any truth to this?

[genemk]

I think it's any US Forest land so California should be included too assuming the ski resort is on US Forest land.

USDA Forest Service - Caring for the land and serving people.

Yep, I read somewhere that Squaw had a really raw/unfinished trail last summer so they could have more stuff going for next summer. Combine that with Stevens Pass opening in WA, Timberline building (hopefully) in OR and maybe Crystal Mountain starting to file paperwork in WA and we might have some sweet options for bike parks on the West coast pretty soon.

[stumblemumble]

awesome...hope that includes California

Looks like the 30 are accounted for between Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

[fgiraffe]

On a side note, talked to a guy this summer at N* and he was telling me that Squaw had or was working on a bike park. Also said they weren't advertising it this year but next year was supposed to be open. I never have been there so i don't know and this was just what i was told. Any truth to this?

Yes, Squaw was open to mtn biking summer 2010. But they did not open this year because of how late the snow season ran. Reviews of the trails at Squaw in 2010 were not positive, hopefully they'll improve for next year.

[Gemini2k05]

America, where its okay to run a ski resort with 30 lifts and clear cut acres upon acres of forest for ski runs, but run 2 lifts that are there already and building 20 inch wide trails weaving in between trees is forbidden. Never quite figured that one out. Hopefully the Socal resorts can start building trails now!

[man w/ one hand]

I give you the benefit of the doubt that you are not campaigning for the guy.
I'm happy to hear the news.

Pffffttt...whatever.... Give credit where credit iz due.

[PerfectZero]

Remember reading about this bill a while ago, glad it happened Sort of curious, how have other ski resorts gotten around this until now? Special permits?

I give you the benefit of the doubt that you are not campaigning for the guy.
I'm happy to hear the news.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't just create a username to comment on this post.

[genemk]

I think currently resorts have had to jump through tons of hoops with public hearings, environmental studies, lots of paperwork, etc. Not sure how much if anything this will change, but hopefully it helps. If nothing else it'll make it harder for the priks at Friends of Mt. Hood to sue the Forest Service or Timberline for trying to build a bike park. I'm hoping in the next few years that we'll have some new bike parks on the West coast. That'd be sweet!

[sgf2]

Yea, this won't speed up Timberline, they still have to do all the enviromental studies, paperwork and etc,as well as continue to lawyer up to deal with our "Friends of Mt Hood"...

I'm setting the over\under for a Timberline bike park at 4 years, and i'm going to take the over.

[PG256]

Kirkwood is starting to build more trails too. I did a 6 hour Super-D there this summer. They had a cool looking pump track. No big features or anything like that yet though.
I hear they are starting something at China Peak too, should be good for the Central CA people.

[.WestCoastHucker.]

just because it's allowed, doesn't mean it's mandatory....

[ak pura vida]

America, where its okay to run a ski resort with 30 lifts and clear cut acres upon acres of forest for ski runs, but run 2 lifts that are there already and building 20 inch wide trails weaving in between trees is forbidden. Never quite figured that one out. Hopefully the Socal resorts can start building trails now!

money. number of users. and most importantly, skiing is what the hippie, greenie fags like to do. they are only going to complain and protest the activities they are not into. they will always be able to justify the activities that fall into their preference. (actually you can apply the same thing to just about any specific user group. i just happen to dislike the hippie, greenie, tree hugging fags the most )

pv

[PerfectZero]

skiing is what the hippie, greenie fags like to do. they are only going to complain and protest the activities they are not into.

never heard a single skier complain about people biking on the mountain in the summer.

[noparking]

i highly doubt this will help anything

[dhtahoe]

Remember reading about this bill a while ago, glad it happened Sort of curious, how have other ski resorts gotten around this until now? Special permits?



I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't just create a username to comment on this post.

That's why Northstar did so well for so long. Private land! Back in 1999/2000 we were able to just knock out Karpiel, Dogbone, and Sticks pretty easy. No FS to deal with and we could use volunteers/riders to build them. Fast forward 10 years and between Lahontan Water Management, and how Cali liability laws have been changed N* cant's just build or maintain trails anymore. More money gets pulled out of the budget fighting over building/maintaining trails than the labor to build or maintain them.

BUT BUILD THAT RITZ-CARLTON ANYWHERE YOU WANT!

Seriously! One of the worst years on record as far as sediment levels in the water here was the year they built that damn thing, and it was mostly put on the bike park. That year they not only put that in, but also a paved road to mid mountain for the Ritz. That moved more Earth than the park would have in a life time. And again this summer! Another new lodge and two new lifts.

[chick0]

I only discovered lately how tight the riding laws are in the US, and i have to say i was kinda shocked. Over here in bonny Scotland you can ride where and when ever you want, even on private land as their is no trespassing laws.

Hope this bill opens up a lot of riding land for you guys..

[Gemini2k05]

I only discovered lately how tight the riding laws are in the US, and i have to say i was kinda shocked. Over here in bonny Scotland you can ride where and when ever you want, even on private land as their is no trespassing laws.

The attitude here is unreal sometimes. I've more than once heard ignorant anti-mtb language come out of the mouth of people that just left me speechless. The biggest crime in the world has to be the low number of trails in Santa Barbara county. With the awesome road access, huge mountains, amazing terrain there should be unlimited numbers of world class DH, sigh.