February 17, 2022
I’ve been making the weekend trek up Little Cottonwood Canyon for as long as I can remember – my Sunday mornings filled with ice scrapers, cold hands, and a sea of red taillights. Quite literally, the taillights stretched as far as one could see, starting a mile or two from the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon. As a kid, I believed that this was just a right of passage for entrance into a place as special as Little Cottonwood, a small price to be paid. However, I’m not a kid anymore – no longer do I get to sleep in the backseat for the whole drive. Beyond this, the traffic problem now is a whole new beast compared to that of my childhood. Parking lots are being overwhelmed even on weekdays now, and in the eyes of many, the two-lane road that winds up Little Cottonwood isn’t cutting it anymore.
As many of you likely know, several solutions have been proposed in an attempt to solve this problem. At this point in the debate, a couple of choices are gaining an unfortunate amount of popularity: the expansion of State Highway 210 (Little Cottonwood Canyon Drive) into a four-lane road, and the construction of a massive gondola to shuttle crowds up and down the canyon. Each of these projects would cost hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars and would take years to complete. Additionally, each of these solutions would be massively invasive to the environment of Little Cottonwood, impacting both the natural beauty of the canyon and many of the recreational activities that make it so special.
“When I heard about the gondola, I thought it was a joke. I thought it was satire.” That’s Claudia Wiese, one of the founding members of Students for the Wasatch, an on-campus club with the aim of protecting Little Cottonwood Canyon. The club was founded when Claudia and co-founder Mallory began ski touring together and discussing the problem of Little Cottonwood. Their goals are simple: meet with (and write to) state legislatures to express the issues that the gondola and road expansion would pose to those that recreate in Little Cottonwood, and build a student-based grassroots community supporting the canyon. They believe that the state legislature has offered its support to these two main solutions before exploring cheaper, less invasive solutions to the traffic.
“What we would like to see is an expanded bus system. Right now we have just a couple park and rides all the way at the mouth of the canyon … Nobody likes to take the ski bus because it’s such a project.” Ideally, they would like Salt Lake to take a page out of the book of ski towns like Park City or Bozeman, where ski shuttles have far more stops in far more convenient locations. Making the ski bus a viable, easy option for tourists visiting Utah to ski, would surely help to mitigate the traffic in Little Cottonwood, and placing shuttle stops outside of major hotels in the city and around the Cottonwood Canyons is the first step. Additionally, their ideal plan would involve a greater incentive for carpooling – think Solitude, where you pay less if there are more people in your car – as well as a true enforcement of the traction laws that dictate which cars are allowed up the canyon.
Students for the Wasatch (@studentsforthewasatch) has already hosted two successful events, including Action Night, as they’re calling it, which took place on January 19th in the Saltair Room of the University Student Union. The event featured a presentation laying out the economic and environmental impacts of the proposed gondola, along with a letter-writing station to make it easy for students to reach out to their state legislature. There was also a petition against these massive construction projects available for students to sign.
Overall, this may seem like a bit of a niche issue – especially if you are not a skier. However, the debate over the traffic problem in Little Cottonwood Canyon impacts all of us as residents of Salt Lake City and as students of the University of Utah. Regardless of if you recreate in the canyon or not, Little Cottonwood is one of the landmarks of our valley. It’s a truly special place, impacting all who pass through it in one way or another. Groups like Students for the Wasatch are simply trying to keep it that way, trying to preserve the canyon for all of us: skier, snowboarder, hiker, climber, and observer.
Allan Schein
Feb 2, 2023 at 11:47 pm
Think Again!
February 2, 2023
The Gondola is the most unnecessary thing that Cottonwood Heights or Little Cottonwood Canyon needs. This is a commercial venture to be built on land purchased by Mr. Fields and Snowbird, and a few of his associates for strictly commercial purposes. It does not serve the local community and is an attempt to funnel all traffic through their proposed bottleneck as a money making strategy. This strategy, in part, is an expansion of LaCaille by building a hotel and shops in a residential area. In essence a down canyon ski village to co-anchor the grandiose but deceptive PR pitch that the Gondola will solve the traffic issues. This is the only commercial property near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon (LCC). All surrounding properties are zoned for residential purposes. That’s the reason people moved there, bought or built their dream homes. LCC itself will require re-zoning from wilderness designation in order to legally place the 24 tram towers which will straddle the entire length of the canyon. Mr. Fields is on record claiming there will be only 2 acres of land required for the 24 structures, but that’s an outright falsehood. The environmental impact study reports it will require more than 200 acres. There will be access roads for maintenance, and acres of land surrounding each tower to provide access for huge trucks and cranes to deliver, assemble and maintain these towering monstrosities. We’re being gaslighted by statements like “this is necessary to save our beloved canyon”. That’s nonsense! Stringing 8 miles of cable from one end to the other in LCC is the exact opposite of “saving” anything. It will forever change the character of LCC for the sole purpose of providing benefit to Alta, Snowbird, their proposed Ski Village and parking complex beside LaCaille.
Fraud is defined as wrongful (or criminal) deception intended to result in financial or personal gain. Fraud includes false representation of fact, making false statements, or concealment of information. It seems that claiming the Gondola will solve LCC’s traffic and save our canyon, among other statements of record made by Gondolaworks meets this definition of Fraud. For a statement to be an intentional misrepresentation, the person who made it must either have known the statement was false or been reckless as to its truth. Mr. Fields himself is a Public Relations expert whose job it is, in part, to manage how others see and feel about Snowbird and associated endeavors. He and his advertising agency Love Communications are consciously and intentionally misrepresenting the facts with untruths.
Recently, UDOT decided to move the planned 2500 vehicle parking structure to be built beside the gondola base station. Wasatch Blvd is slated for expansion of up to five lanes in width, cutting off the Kings Hill section of the community and everything east of it with a highway. There is no question there is need for a more efficient way to route traffic up to the ski areas, especially in winter. This season in particular, every road connecting to LCC has been overrun with vehicles in waiting, while avalanches and/or chutes along SR-210 are cleared. Residents can’t get out of their own neighborhoods on heavily trafficked mornings. Getting back home on those mornings is even more challenging because doing so means getting in line and competing with the ski traffic itself. The base station will never be able to provide quick enough access or space to allow the flow of vehicles to be much better than it is now. Just the opposite will occur. Wasatch Blvd from the north and east, and 9400 South going east all significantly back up and will have to flow through a common point of entry. That’s exactly what the Gondolaworks and the Ski Village developers want. This way, they control access and profit from it all. Very clever, but totally nefarious. There is a reason this area of the valley is largely undeveloped. Altering the formula after the fact for a handful of beneficiaries who will make a huge negative impact is unjust, unfair and unnecessary.
Nothing yet has been presented discussing the impact to our neighborhoods from any study. Sure, UDOT and Josh Van Jura found the answers to the questions they sought in their EIS. The scope of their study was targeted at and limited to the area within the canyon itself and not beyond. Nobody has presented a study on the impact to the surrounding neighborhoods, for the residents who will most clearly feel the effects. Even though the 13,000 plus letters and opinions submitted describe residents concerns quite clearly, UDOT has not budged or compromised. It is taxpaying residents who live in the surrounding region and neighborhoods in and around the mouth of LCC itself who will be the most intensely impacted. Cottonwood Heights and Sandy residents will suffer the impact of UDOT’s alteration and apparent disregard of their environment.
Mr. Fields correctly relates that Switzerland has many trams serving their mountainous areas. He claims it’s an appropriate solution for us as well. Indeed, there are nearly 350 trams throughout Switzerland. Mostly because their Alps and steep mountainous terrain make numerous locations impossible to build suitable roads. But there are 1300 tunnels, four times the number of tramways. Tunnels are low maintenance, perpetually open with a longer user life and much more practical; for a fact. We could do the same, and why UDOT has not discussed this choice as an alternative I believe is politics, influence and money. Governor Cox and UDOT’s head Carlos Braceras have expressed their approval for the economic aspect of the gondola. However, a tunnel from the gravel pit beside Big Cottonwood Canyon (along with the huge parking structure originally proposed for that location) directly to Snowbird, Alta and curving around to Brighton and Solitude would fully serve the entire Cottonwood Canyons Ski community. Approximately 13 miles of tunnel could be constructed for an estimated 50-60% the current estimated $1.2 Billion cost of the Gondola. That would leave roughly $500 Million to serve the underprivileged of Utah and numerous projects directly benefiting local communities.
The gravel pit beside Big Cottonwood Canyon is operated by Granite Construction, a firm that has built numerous tunnels throughout our nation, and could do so here (as can the firms Bechtel and Dragados USA). Tunnels can be drilled up to 57 feet in diameter and relatively fast, even through solid granite. The benefits of such a tunnel would allow for preservation of both Cottonwood Canyons without stringing either of them with cables and towers from end to end. It would preserve our neighborhoods and solve the traffic problem completely for both canyons at once. It’ conveniently close to I-215 with a 5-lane road already in place. Considering traffic mitigation is the stated objective, everything else proposed is unnecessary and a distraction. Additionally, a suitable tunnel would provide a second means of ingress and egress to and from the 4 primary ski areas. For the first time, this would allow for the possibilities of having Olympic events to be held at world renowned ski venues. Compare the economic benefit a Winter Olympics would have for Utah and these ski areas. Olympics after Olympics, as Utah is being considered for regular periodic rotation.
In 2015, Snowbirds General Manager Bob Bonar responded and said a lot of different ideas were considered when concerns arose about Snowbirds expansion plans into American Fork Canyon. His response was: “What we would like to do is expand our ski resort operations, mostly on our private property in upper Mineral Basin and upper Mary Ellen Gulch,” he said. “No hotels, no condos, no gondolas connecting down to Tibble Fork or down to the bottom of American Fork Canyon.” “Snowbird officials said they want to work with the public to find a solution that would allow them to expand the ski resort without restricting public access for other kinds of recreation.” (Fox 13 News, June 25, 2015)
Ironically, they then dug a tunnel, under the ridge which transports skiers from the top of the Peruvian lift into Mineral Basin. It was an effort to “reduce Snowbird’s visual impact”. Rather than extend the lift to the ridge’s top, where the terminal could be seen for miles, Mr. Bonar bored a 600-foot hole under it. With the tunnel, skiers can reach Mineral Basin when high winds idle the tram. Funny how that principal and concern has been radically altered now and their concerns are no longer the same when it comes to a tram system the length of an entire canyon. How hypocritical to claim a similar principal no longer applies. They make statements for the sake of appearance with no sincerity or honest intentions. This is known as “lip service”.
Pretty much every acre that can be built on and developed at Snowbird and the 4 ski areas have already been utilized. Mr. Fields, who is now Snowbirds General Manager and COO knows exactly what he’s doing and the end goal is continued Snowbird expansion. By having a massive steel tentacle extending down canyon into our community and changing our immediate environment he accomplishes this goal. His interests are not of an overall community focus, but that of a business executive with Snowbirds growth and profitability the goal! Snowbird benefits and Utahans pay the cost…..literally, with a compromised environment and a $1.2 Billion dollar price tag. There is no way these folks would have paid good money for the property their project is proposed to be built upon if the financial benefits didn’t add up for them. They’ve spent a fortune in TV ads trying to convince everyone what a wonderful solution their Gondola will be. But 88.8% of the people that voiced their opinions about it are totally opposed to seeing it happen. Apparently economics has more appeal than a stable environment and harmonious community in his and UDOT’s eyes. It’s time to remove the filters they present and expect for us to see things through, and realistically view their project for what it is. The general public is being lied to, repeatedly and consistently.
Think about this. There is no such thing as perpetual growth without huge sacrifice. A handful of individuals and businesses should not be given preference over the masses and general population. The Aristotelian philosophy states “the greatest good for the greatest number” of people. Not for the benefit of a few at the expense of the masses. Taxpayers will be asked to pay the bill for the benefit of these few.
Snowbird, like any business housed in a confined area should not be able to alter rules and sell it as progress and being beneficial; simply because it’s not. I have to laugh every time I hear that little known and seemingly misguided “environmentalist” in the Gondolaworks ad when he says how much he loves LCC and wants to save it. I surmise he must have gotten a significant payday to sell out his integrity for money and a spot in a TV ad by being so preposterously disingenuous. Mr. Fields and the people who want to change our community have contradicted themselves repeatedly, made factually false statements about their project and they continue to do so. They are attempting to radically change, and fundamentally alter, if not destroy, our existing peace and harmony. To drastically alter the “quiet enjoyment” of how and where we live. The push back against Snowbird from expansion into American Fork Canyon has led them to try it in LCC and they’ve lobbied, advertised, done extensive PR and actually convinced some believers their proposal has benefits. That’s what spending millions of dollars on PR, ads and influence pedaling are designed to do. There are still people that believe the Earth is flat and that the Holocaust never happened. Don’t be so gullible as to actually believe this fraudulent attempt that will result in significant visual and environmental damage for the sake of Snowbirds bottom line. It’s a wonderfully famous world class ski area. But it should not disrupt the lives of Utahans to provide greater opportunities for a select few businesses and thousands of out-of-towners who care little if anything about how locals will be impacted.
LCC is like a beautiful instrument that plays a harmonious natural tune for us to hear, to play in and enjoy. Like a fine violin, a string instrument when in the right hands is melodic and otherworldly in making beautiful music. Take its strings away and it’s just a shapely piece of finely crafted wood, merely something pretty to look at. But building steel towers and stringing cables from one end of LCC to the other does exactly the opposite. It plays a sour note that defaces our canyons visual and natural beauty and diminishingly alters everything in proximity, forever. Snowbirds former manager didn’t want that for themselves, but new management now insists it’s what is needed.
Tunnels, enhanced e-bus services, proximity to an interstate highway and other implementations are all possibilities that would and should be explored and/or initialized before forever cannibalizing LCC. There are other ways to provide service to the ski areas without ruining this treasure we are blessed to have.
Allan Schein
27 year resident
Cottonwood Heights