Teton Lift

[libtech777]

http://www.powder.com/stories/news/teton-lift/

[libtech777]

I'm trying to start a petition group against the construction of the Teton lift.


https://www.facebook.com/groups/621875387930630/

[Tye 1on]

it's gonna happen. Best time to comment would have been during an EIS/EA kind of public-comment-involved NEPA planning process for it. If that happened in the last few years somehow i missed it also...

[eagleskier]

I'm trying to start a petition group against the construction of the Teton lift.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/621875387930630/

May be too late and somewhat futile. Although it does seem to me that in addition to giving everyone, (i.e. a ton of idiots who probably shouldn't be there) the access to some pretty cool hike-to terrain that is technically inbounds, they are really opening Pandora's box with such easy access to the Granite Canyon stuff. Right now, anyone can indeed get there, but it just takes a whole lot more effort and that usually eliminates a fair amount of potential avy casualties.
The fact that they have already started the project with the lift zone and main run all cleared means that it will be that much more difficult to sway the decision making.

[libtech777]

Yeah I never heard anything about it other than rumors that I thought would never happen. If I would have I would have tried.

[libtech777]

May be too late and somewhat futile. Although it does seem to me that in addition to giving everyone, (i.e. a ton of idiots who probably shouldn't be there) the access to some pretty cool hike-to terrain that is technically inbounds, they are really opening Pandora's box with such easy access to the Granite Canyon stuff. Right now, anyone can indeed get there, but it just takes a whole lot more effort and that usually eliminates a fair amount of potential avy casualties.
The fact that they have already started the project with the lift zone and main run all cleared means that it will be that much more difficult to sway the decision making.

Yeah I have grave doubts that it will do any good, but for a number of reasons I want try. One is for the fact that the whole inbounds part of the ridge will be tracked out in a day after a storm instead of holding stashes for a while. Another is the danger of people who really shouldn't be there. If you don't know where you are going parts of Casper can be dangerous enough, but if you get people with lift access going into Granite it seems like a bad situation. Granted it isn't that hard to get there now, but at least the hike up deters lots of people. There's already enough lift accessed terrain and it just really sucks that one of my favorite places to go is about to be destroyed.

[PointOfRelease]

I was really bummed where I first heard these rumors but have since accepted that it would eventually happen. If that map's accurate, it could have been worse. At least the lift's not going to the top of the Crags. Don't forget that there's already quite a bit of Granite access that doesn't require hiking as is. I just hope they make it through that first January (and that season, for that matter) without any major accidents back there.

[libtech777]

I was really bummed where I first heard these rumors but have since accepted that it would eventually happen. If that map's accurate, it could have been worse. At least the lift's not going to the top of the Crags. Don't forget that there's already quite a bit of Granite access that doesn't require hiking as is. I just hope they make it through that first January (and that season, for that matter) without any major accidents back there.

Yeah it doesn't go to the top of the crags, but it makes it a lot easier to hike from the top of the lift. What once was maybe fifty people skiing parts of it a day will now be hoards of people. Also I have a bad feeling about the much easier Granite Access. People will have access to the top of Granite that used to require a 30 minute + hike and that could be a very dangerous thing.

[skifishbum]

Yeah I have grave doubts that it will do any good, but for a number of reasons I want try. One is for the fact that the whole inbounds part of the ridge will be tracked out in a day after a storm instead of holding stashes for a while. Another is the danger of people who really shouldn't be there. If you don't know where you are going parts of Casper can be dangerous enough, but if you get people with lift access going into Granite it seems like a bad situation. Granted it isn't that hard to get there now, but at least the hike up deters lots of people. There's already enough lift accessed terrain and it just really sucks that one of my favorite places to go is about to be destroyed.

ifin your favorite sidecountry stash is being destroyed couldn't you ski the backcountry
or does it take to long or is to dangerous? my guess is you don't have a splitter and are a bootpacker
I chuckle when the nimby's play the omg we need to keep people w/ skills less than mine out of the bc it's our duty to prevent avvy deaths card
specially jongs

[SuperGaper]

Close OB and load 63!

[Grape_Ape]

ifin your favorite sidecountry stash is being destroyed couldn't you ski the backcountry
or does it take to long or is to dangerous? my guess is you don't have a splitter and are a bootpacker
I chuckle when the nimby's play the omg we need to keep people w/ skills less than mine out of the bc it's our duty to prevent avvy deaths card
specially jongs

I am totally going to rip the shit out of some sweet powder off the backside when that lift opens...

[bigdude2468]

ifin your favorite sidecountry stash is being destroyed couldn't you ski the backcountry
or does it take to long or is to dangerous? my guess is you don't have a splitter and are a bootpacker
I chuckle when the nimby's play the omg we need to keep people w/ skills less than mine out of the bc it's our duty to prevent avvy deaths card
specially jongs

Most of the time I have no idea what SFB is saying but in this case his thoughts are perfectly clear and I agree. All the resorts I ski have lift service to areas that if someone wants to ski OB or has not a clue and wanders off they could be in trouble. This does sound more like no wanting to see gapers track up the good shit first thing in the AM, which is understandable.

[skifishbum]

I'm going to ski it this season
so i can claim how much gnarlier it was before the lift let all the gapers ski it
i don't think your facefuck circlejerk page will do shit
i'd pm parvo to meet in the hr 3rd floor bathroom stalls where the deals git done
or boycott paying a lot of dough for a short season only to have the benny profanes able to ski your super secret stashes

[babybear]

This has been talked about for years in Jackson so it's nothing new to people that live here and all of the issues you bring up have already been beaten to death and brought up already by Search and rescue, the Park service, GTNP rangers, concerned locals, non-locals, resort employees and everyone else who thinks the same thing, but alas it's going to happen.
I agree there really needs to be a better and more effective way of truly warning people of the dangers of venturing OB. Good thing SAR has a fund raiser every other week bc it's gonna be needed once this goes in...I guess it'll technically be the Park Service's rescue in granite but I know they call upon each other for resources frequently.
On the other hand, I've gotta say I'm kind of stoked about the possibility of a WC DH in Jackson.
I mean anyone who thinks JHMR exec mgmt cares about what the locals think is kidding themselves. They never have and I'd be surprised if they ever will- esp when we are getting #1 resort rankings- they are looking to extend that high and adding a new lift in is a good way to do it.

[Name Redacted]

At least they aren't putting a lift in Granite and patrolling/bombing it. Enjoy it while you can.

[adrenalated]

Gapers are going to be dying in droves back there - droves, I tell you!

Dumb question, having only skied JHMR and Granite once - can't you already access some very, very serious terrain in the lower part of Granite with minimal effort from the top of Apres Vous?

At least they aren't putting a lift in Granite and patrolling/bombing it. Enjoy it while you can.

Since Granite is in the national park this seems extremely unlikely to me, as I'd imagine getting permits and approvals would be very difficult. There's only 3 ski areas operating within a national park in the country.

[Lindahl]

Yeah, some of the gnarliest stuff I've skied has been right off Apres. Not many ski that stuff though - too serious, even for most of the locals. Really need to know what your dropping into.

[babybear]

access from the top of AV is either a side-step hike up that ridge to the gate or a poach if you go in lower by av
The lift is not in the national park and there is already approved skiing access to granite so don't belv that will stop anything.
They actually started early this summer clearing the area of trees to install the lift so the wheels are already spinning. sorry kids

[adrenalated]

The lift is not in the national park and there is already approved skiing access to granite so don't belv that will stop anything.

I didn't mean the new lift. I meant the terrain in Granite is in the park, and therefore making Granite a part of the inbounds terrain in the future would seem to be highly unlikely,

[babybear]

oh sorry- Granite won't be part of inbounds terrain, it will remain accessed by a bc gate. What people are saying it that is makes it much easier to get to those gates, whereas it used to be a 20-30 minute hike, which tends to weed out some gapers.
Not only are gapers going to be getting cliffed out, slid, etc in there, if they make it to the bottom alive they are going to hate the slog out back to the base area. I see people getting pummeled in the ski out too- that track out can be rowdier than granite itself haha

[babybear]

People are gonna be pissed too if gapers are messing up the flow of their "granite shuffle" out. I foresee more turtling

[Lamothe]

You're just butt hurt that your stashes will be lapped up by jonny kewl dude side slipping down everything . It's fucking annoying and deserved to be shot for doing such things but presenting that to business as a reason not to move forward with a resort " improvement " is ridiculous. Like sfb said , petition or no petition locals don't pay the bills when it comes to resorts and it won't be changing any suits mind about slapping that lift in there ( which is probably ordered already ) .

Enjoy it while you can

[adrenalated]

oh sorry- Granite won't be part of inbounds terrain, it will remain accessed by a bc gate. What people are saying it that is makes it much easier to get to those gates, whereas it used to be a 20-30 minute hike, which tends to weed out some gapers.
Not only are gapers going to be getting cliffed out, slid, etc in there, if they make it to the bottom alive they are going to hate the slog out back to the base area. I see people getting pummeled in the ski out too- that track out can be rowdier than granite itself haha

Right, I got that. Forget the granite lift thing, I was responding to shredgnar's sarcastic post.

Out of curiosity, how many rescues are there for gapers getting into trouble on the major cliff band right out the gate in Rock Springs (I dunno the names of anything)? No hiking required, stupid easy access, very serious consequences.

I'm not a local and don't have a vested interest, nor a really strong opinion either way on the new lift. I do have an interest with sidecountry/slackcountry access issues and avy education and awareness in general and find this discussion interesting as a result. My point was just that there is already plenty of dangerous sidecountry terrain easily accessible from JHMR and while easier access to Granite would certainly lead to an increase in traffic and therefore incidents, I just can't see it being the gaper massacre implied by some posters above.

FWIW I do think JHMR's signage at the BC gates is some of the best in the country as far as being obvious that you're leaving the resort, the dangers, etc.

It seems the most productive course would be to petition to have the BC access gate relocated (if necessary) so that reaching the gate from the new lift still requires a hike?

[babybear]

There's always a few rescues off the south side of the resort- not as much for people getting lost as for injuries etc. The visibility of where one of going is a lot better in rock springs/ south of the ski area than in granite where it's very steep, tons of roll-overs and tight chutes and a lot of sucker lines.
Here's a view of the canyon ...about half way down the thread
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...in-JH-BC/page3

[tgrweb]

oh sorry- Granite won't be part of inbounds terrain, it will remain accessed by a bc gate. What people are saying it that is makes it much easier to get to those gates, whereas it used to be a 20-30 minute hike, which tends to weed out some gapers.
Not only are gapers going to be getting cliffed out, slid, etc in there, if they make it to the bottom alive they are going to hate the slog out back to the base area. I see people getting pummeled in the ski out too- that track out can be rowdier than granite itself haha

That's where the blood will be spilled... I predict SAR getting called out more for carnage on the iced-out traverse under Marioland or whatever it's called than anything out in Granite proper... lots of right leg IT band explosions.