A Thousand Cuts

As backcountry skiing goes mainstream, secret trail making poses a “moral dilemma” for the sport

By Tom Slayton Photographed by Brian Mohr

40 • life winter 2009-2010 • 41 a c k c o u n t r y s k i i n g — s k i - Several other ironies surround the current popu- mont can be seen in the fact that Jay Peak has been mentally protected land. Poulin and Ritter received ing that seeks untracked larity of backcountry skiing. Among them: named several times as one of the leading ski re- a suspended jail sentence of 18 to 36 months and snow away from estab- • It’s generally conceded that this kind of skiing — sorts in the United States offering backcountry ex- served 60 days on a community restitution furlough lished slopes, lifts and trails which involves getting away from ski resorts — is ac- periences. There are also backcountry ski trails at program. — offers some of the most tually a big area of growth for ski resorts. Several are Stowe, Mad River Glen, Bolton Valley, Killington and “It is good to see a felony conviction in this case,” beautiful experiences one promoting it. At Jay Peak, for example, there’s even elsewhere, including lots of territory not adjacent to Agency of Natural Resources Secretary Jonathan can have on skis. In fact, a “kids only” glade. any ski area. Wood told The Burlington Free Press. “This was one you could argue that an exhilarating ride on fresh • The sport seems to attract rugged individualists The restoration and re-clearing of many such of the most serious cases of damage to public lands powder down twisting, narrow trails and through who like to go their own way, but education and co- backcountry trails were legal and authorized. How- that we have seen.” high forested glades is the ultimate skiing experience. operation — both of which involve a tamping down of ever, not all trail establishment on public land is Everyone agrees the cut was an egregious BAlthough it is hard to quantify, because no lift tick- rugged individualism — are almost universally seen as approved, and state officials use blunt language to example of the worst kind of environmental damage. ets are involved, all indications are that this form of the best way to solve the sport’s problems. describe unauthorized cutting: “It’s prohibited,” No one condones it. But state officials and environ- skiing is on the increase. Several ski areas in Vermont • The controversy over unauthorized cutting often says Jason Gibbs, commissioner mental advocates are concerned are promoting it, and new, more sophisticated skis, pits one group of environmentalists against another of the Vermont Department of that a subtler kind of long-term boots and bindings have made group of equally sincere environ- Forests, Parks and Recreation. Backcountry ski- damage is being done uninten- backcountry ski adventures pos- mentalists. “That means it’s illegal.” ing, just coming tionally by skiers who simply snip sible for more and more people. The controversy • Backcountry skiing, just com- The environmental damage is a branch or take out a shrub here However, with that increase in over unauthorized ing to prominence as a “new” usually not caused by skiing it- to prominence as and there to improve a downhill popularity have come problems. sport, is actually as old as skiing self — when snow melts in the a “new” sport, is line. One branch may not matter, Backcountry skiing is pep- cutting often pits itself. In fact, when skiing was spring, the skiers’ tracks go with but over time, a single branch actually as old as pered with ironies, and perhaps one group of born in Vermont, all skiing was it. Most damage comes, instead, here and a bit of undergrowth the deepest of those is that this backcountry skiing. if skiers decide to improve the skiing itself. In fact, there adds up. And what it adds bracing outdoor sport is pur- environmentalists In the 1920s and 1930s, most glade they’re skiing through by up to is ecological damage. when skiing was sued by people who consider against another skiers were outdoorsy young removing some of the trouble- Russ Ford of Berkshire, a Jay themselves deeply in touch with men and women who climbed up some, ubiquitous undergrowth. born in Vermont, Peak ski patroller who is also a nature and the terrain they ski; group of their chosen mountains before Or if they cut a new ski trail graduate student in ecology at all skiing was back- many are environmentalists. But equally sincere skiing down them. Much of that without authorization. the University of Vermont, an there is strong evidence that activity centered around Stowe’s There are indications that both country skiing. avid outdoorsman and a beef backcountry skiers may be caus- environmentalists. Ranch Valley on the “back” side of these things are happening. And at farmer, says he and other ex- ing environmental damage to the and an old log- its extreme, it left the ugly gash on perts are now seeing long-term, very backcountry they love. ging camp known as Ranch Camp Big Jay, carved by two men intent damaging changes in mountain Unauthorized trail cutting in that was owned by lumberman on creating a backcountry trail. glades where skiers have snipped the backcountry — secretive but long practiced — Craig Burt of Stowe. The Ranch Valley is today the Like everyone — everyone — interviewed for this and cut, a little at a time, for several years. emerged from the shadows two years ago with the home of the Mount Mansfield Touring Center, and article, Jay Peak President Bill Stenger decried the “They’re converting the glades to even-age stands,” discovery of a massive scar slashed in a wilderness many of that area’s trails are the historic downhill Big Jay slashing. “That’s a disgraceful thing they did,” Ford said. Since all trees eventually die, Ford and area on the steep slopes of Big Jay. Front-page news trails used by Vermont’s first skiers. he declared. “It gives responsible backcountry skiers others pointed out that when those even-aged at the time, it sparked outrage about the specific in- Though those trails were ignored after ski lifts a bad name.” stands start to die, the forest is breached and gaps cident and raised hard questions about secret cutting revolutionized skiing, more recently they have been The two men, Paul Poulin and Alan Ritter of the in the forest cover appear. “We see places where on any scale. The leader of one backcountry skiing rediscovered, cleared and used again by a new gen- Newport area, were convicted last winter of felony the glades are being converted to openings,” he said. organization in Vermont now calls the environmental eration of rugged outdoorsy types — today’s back- unlawful mischief for cutting down more than 800 Not only does this damage the forest, he added, concerns related to backcountry skiing “a moral di- country skiers. trees and creating a 2,000-foot scar up to 60 feet “the skiing sucks also.” lemma” that must be faced. Evidence of the sport’s growing popularity in Ver- wide down the side of the mountain, on environ- Susan Shea, director of conservation for the Green

42 • vermont life winter 2009-2010 • 43 Mountain Club, said that photographs taken of the side nimbly than ever, and bindings that allow both uphill est to death” in some spots, especially near downhill of Big Jay nearly 20 years ago — before the advent of climbing and fast downhill runs. “The new equipment ski areas. But by creating “islands” of trees that re- modern backcountry skiing — show an unbroken for- allows for an enhanced skiing experience,” Fredericks main untouched, glades can be managed to regener- est. But photos taken of the same places more recently said. “But with that enhanced experience has come ate themselves. He says skiers and the ski resorts show openings in the forest. These are almost certain- an enhanced moral dilemma.” will need to become aware of these forest man- ly caused by unauthorized trimming of tree branches Adam Howard, editorial and creative director of agement techniques if they are to catch on. “What and shrubs by backcountry skiers, she said. Backcountry Magazine in Jeffersonville — a leading we’re doing seems to be working,” Appleton said, And so the question must be asked: Are backcoun- publication about the sport — wrote in an editorial “but frankly, it’s an experiment.” try skiers damaging the very backcountry forests they published soon after the cutting on Big Jay that al- Forest, Parks and Recreation Commissioner Gibbs profess to love? The answer, ironic though it may be, though trimming Eastern ski lines has gone on for a and other state officials express concern about the appears to be “yes.” long time, unauthorized trim- surge in backcountry skiing but ming poses a threat to the do not see it as a crisis. They be- sport’s future: Like everyone — lieve that educating skiers — es- “Clearing trail is tradition,” everyone — sentially establishing a backcoun- he wrote in Backcountry. “But try code of ethics — can make he Catamount Trail, a 300-mile it’s time for a clean slate. Back- interviewed for this all the difference. cross-country ski trail that country skiers need to unify article, Jay Peak Green Mountain Club Execu- threads through Vermont from again, as their forefathers did, tive Director Ben Rose, a strong Massachusetts to , was and work with the states to President Bill Stenger advocate for “skiing without a established 25 years ago. It create legitimate backcountry decried the Big Jay saw,” agrees. He doesn’t want now bills itself as “the gateway to backcountry skiing options …” the club to become the “fun po- slashing. “That’s a Tin Vermont.” Leaders of this trail organization are A strong advocate for the lice” and believes the ultimate concerned about widespread damage to the under- sport, Howard grumbles that disgraceful thing they answer is for the skiers them- story of Vermont’s forests. trails like the Madonna Vasa selves to organize and establish did,” he declared. They say they have found stashes of tools — saws running from Underhill State a backcountry code of ethics. and clippers — in the woods and have noticed that Park to Smugglers Notch, es- “It gives responsible The idea has worked before: artificial glades are gradually being clipped into exis- tablished without permits de- backcountry skiers a When Vermont’s tence on both sides of traditional ski trails like the cades ago, would be impossible came under siege in the ’60s and Teardrop Trail on the western, undeveloped side of to clear today. “What’s different bad name.” ’70s, the club responded with a Mount Mansfield. today?” he asks rhetorically. code of ethics for hikers that to- “When we clear a section of (the Catamount) trail, But he, like others, sees ed- day is taken for granted. we try to have the least impact possible — and we ucation and organization as the way to resolve the For backcountry skiing, such a code would include get landowner permission,” said Catamount Trail As- problems. It’s a point just about everyone agrees on. basic principles such as safety first, camping and sociation (CTA) Executive Director Jim Fredericks. • • • traveling only on snow or durable surfaces, dispos- Fredericks is well aware of the current growth Jay Peak has recently put special emphasis on a ing of waste properly and not cutting vegetation to of backcountry skiing. The CTA organizes winter backcountry environmental education campaign improve a ski trail or line — unless you own the land events that ride the crest of that wave, like the or- against unauthorized cutting of underbrush, using the or have permission. ganization’s annual tours and the Get Out and Back- slogan “If You Can’t Hack It, Don’t Hack It.” “I would hope that we could have a conversation,” country Ski Festival that the CTA co-sponsors with Jay Appleton, a longtime backcountry skier, for- Rose said, “and in 10 years backcountry skiers would Bolton Valley ski area. mer chairman of the board at Mad River Glen and agree — that you leave it as you found it.” Like others, he attributes much of the rising popu- author of that ski area’s Forest Management Plan, “Education is the key,” he said, “education and larity of the sport to stiffer boots, skis that turn more says that backcountry skiers may be “loving the for- dialogue.” A

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