Snowbasin and the Olympic Lie

Commentary from the Ogden Sierra Club; text and photos by Dan Schroeder except where otherwise noted.

(Be sure to follow the links for more photos!)

The 2002 Olympics were recently held in Utah, and one of the pillars of the Olympics is environmental protection. In fact, the Olympic Committee and its partners have put significant efforts into several environmentally worthy projects. But the principal environmental legacy of the 2002 Olympics will undoubtedly be Snowbasin resort, the only Olympic venue that is on federally owned land.

Until a few years ago, Snowbasin was a quiet ski area with excellent skiing but few amenities. Lift ticket prices were within the means of most local families. Although the ski area lies less than three miles east of the Ogden city limits, the drive from Ogden took well over half an hour via the scenic but tortuous old Snow Basin highway.

Below the ski area lies an ecologically important land of maple, aspen, and fir forests, interspersed with meadows and remarkably abundant wetlands. Besides providing critical watershed and wildlife habitat, this area also offers some of the best cross-country skiing in Utah. (The photo at right is from a 1998 Sierra Club trip to this area.) Most of this land was incorporated into the Wasatch-Cache National Forest (WCNF) in the early 1940s, in order to restore damage from over-grazing and protect Ogden City's watershed.

But when Earl Holding (owner of Sun Valley, Little America Hotels, and Sinclair Oil) purchased Snowbasin ski area in 1984, he made it clear that he intended both to expand the ski area itself and to develop a four-season destination resort on the adjacent land. For years he haggled with the Forest Service, which agreed first to trade him 220 acres of land for base facilities, then (caving in to pressure from Senator Orrin Hatch) 700 acres. Not satisfied, Holding bided his time until 1995, when Utah was awarded the 2002 Olympics.

As a member of the Salt Lake Olympic Committee, Holding had arranged for several high-profile Olympic skiing events to be held at Snowbasin. Using these events as the Olympic hook, Senator Hatch and Representative Jim Hansen introduced legislation in Congress requiring the Forest Service to trade 1377 acres at the base of the ski area (see map) to Holding, in exchange for lands of comparable value elsewhere in northern Utah. The legislation also gave Holding carte blanche to add new developments to the ski area itself: new ski runs, lifts, access roads, mountaintop restaurants, and snow making equipment. These developments would be exempt from all the usual public review required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

The Olympic Lie

Naturally, local opinions on this legislation were strongly divided. The Ogden Standard-Examiner and the Ogden City Council endorsed it, while environmental groups like the Sierra Club and Save Our Canyons were strongly opposed. But whatever one's opinion of the merits of the legislation, one fact is indisputable: The claim that the land exchange and NEPA exemption were required for the Olympics was an outright lie.

The Olympic Lie began in the text of the legislation itself. Hansen's original version stated that the land exchange is "necessary" in order to facilitate the Olympic events at Snowbasin, although Hatch's version of the legislation softened "necessary" to "in the public interest." The final version of the legislation that passed in 1996 omits the preamble containing these claims about the land exchange, but still states that all the proposed developments within the ski area itself are "reasonable and necessary to accommodate the 2002 Olympics."

As the legislation was being debated in Congress, the Olympic Lie was repeated by nearly every supporter of the bill, from the Standard-Examiner editorial board to Hansen's staff to SLOC chairman Frank Joklik. Had it not been for the Olympic Lie, President Clinton might not have signed the bill.

Yet everyone who was familiar with Snowbasin recognized the Olympic Lie for what it was. The Olympic base facilities occupy less than ten percent of the land that has now been turned over to Holding, and could have been constructed under a special-use permit, had the exchange not occurred. Mitt Romney, the new SLOC chairman, came clean and admitted this to the media on May 10, 2000. Similarly, the Forest Service has long recognized that most of the NEPA-exempt developments within the ski area "are not required to stage the 2002 Olympic Winter Games." Developments along the Olympic ski runs themselves could have been handled through the usual NEPA process.

Incidentally, the Olympic Lie was used not just to get the Snowbasin Land Exchange Act passed, but also to obtain federal funds for a host of other projects in Utah. As Congressman Hansen later bragged to a Utah audience, "We've played that Olympic card so much, I'm almost embarrassed."

Ongoing Threats

What's done is done: The Hansen/Hatch legislation passed, the land exchange was consummated, and Snowbasin ski area has been expanded and outfitted with the most elaborate gondolas, mountaintop restaurants, and snow making equipment. The expansion into Strawberry Bowl has even encroached on a National Forest roadless area. Ogden city has caused additional damage by expanding its communication facility on the Mt. Ogden summit. A new $15 million highway to Snowbasin has been constructed, courtesy of Senator Bob Bennett and the U.S. taxpayers. An adult day pass at Snowbasin now costs $48. Although no residential accomodations have yet been constructed at Snowbasin, Earl Holding now owns plenty of land on which to build the planned condominiums, vacation homes, and golf course to complete his four-season destination resort. Like so many ski areas, Snowbasin will make its profit not on skiing but on real estate.

Fortunately, the Sierra Club has been able to influence the developments in some positive, though minor, ways. Ogden Group Conservation Chair Jock Glidden, along with Chapter ExCom member Ron Younger (representing Save Our Canyons) spent hundreds of hours monitoring revegetation and erosion control along the new highway construction site. Many Club members and others maintained pressure on public officials to ensure that the Forest Service would at least acquire the popular Taylor Canyon property, on the west side of Mt. Ogden, as part of the land exchange. A Forest Service proposal to construct an extensive system of trails for lift-served mountain biking was scaled back at our request, with the new trails confined to the ski area rather than extending onto the north and west sides of Mt. Ogden.

We have much further work to do to protect the lands that were acquired by the Forest Service in the Snowbasin land exchange. While these lands are in scattered fragments throughout northern Utah, and none of them are as important for ecology or recreation as the land that was given to Holding, they do total more than 11,000 acres. Ecological threats range from livestock grazing to ATV abuse to the recurring proposals to put a tram up Taylor Canyon. Several of the parcels are open to snowmobiling, which was prohibited at Snowbasin; others are virtually inaccessible even to hikers, because they are blocked by private property.

Meanwhile, inspired by Snowbasin's example, Ogden Valley's other two ski resorts are making noises about expanding. One of these, Powder Mountain, is entirely on private land, so opportunities for public comment on the expansion will be minimal. The other, Nordic Valley, is also on private land but would like to expand up the mountain into the Lewis Peak Roadless Area of the WCNF.

South of Snowbasin, across Weber Canyon, looms another potential threat. The eastern slopes of Thurston and Francis Peaks make up the Gailey Ranch, an undeveloped area that is ecologically similar to Snowbasin. In the spring of 2000, Earl Holding purchased a third of the Gailey Ranch, while Snowbird owner Dick Bass purchased the other two thirds. Whether or not a ski area is ever built on this mountain, the latest draft of the proposed WCNF management plan would permit heli-skiing on the publicly owned ridges above the Gailey Ranch.

Given all this investment in ski area expansions, you might guess that downhill skiing is the fastest growing sport in the West. Nothing could be further from the truth. Skier visits to Utah's resorts have increased at an average rate of only 1.3% per year over the last 14 years, while visits to the five ski areas in the WCNF have increased at only 0.2% per year. During this same period, total lift capacity at these five ski areas has increased 59%. Commercialization of our public lands proceeds at a breakneck pace, as ski areas compete to attract the wealthiest tourists and price themselves beyond the reach of most local families.

What can be done? There are no easy answers. But we do live in a democracy where all citizens have the right to participate in decision-making. Every new development in our mountains requires approval from local planning boards and county commissions, which must hold public hearings before issuing permits. When our leaders don't listen to us at the hearings, we can elect new leaders to replace them. Projects on federal land, unless mandated by acts of Congress, must also undergo environmental review with opportunity for public comment. Although this process is far from perfect, it is much better than nothing. The lesson of Snowbasin teaches us that we must speak out whenever we have the chance. Our National Forests are depending on us.

For more details and photos, see: map of ski area and land exchange; panorama photo from the exchanged land; Olympic ski runs; Strawberry Bowl and Ridge; Mt. Ogden communication site.

Related web sites: Snowbasin Ski Area; Snowbasin land exchange (WCNF); Save Our Canyons; Ski Area Citizens Coalition (for recommendations of more environmentally friendly ski areas).

National news articles:

• This New York Times article quotes Ogden Group Conservation Chair Jock Glidden.
• National Public Radio covered the Snowbasin land exchange on its Sunday Weekend Edition program, February 3, 2002. Included in the program is part of an interview with Ogden Group Chair Dan Schroeder. Click here to hear the story (requires RealAudio).
• Minnesota Public Radio's Marketplace covered the Snowbasin land exchange on its February 8th program.
• This article from the Lycos Environmental News Service quotes extensively from our website. They even swiped four of our photos!
• The Environmental News Network also covered the story.
• For a broader look at how Utah politicians and businessmen have used the Olympics as a way to bring federal dollars to Utah, see the article "Snow Job" in the December 10, 2001 issue of Sports Illustrated. Then read this brilliant response by local columnist Charles Trentelman.

Cartoons by Cal Grondahl of the Standard-Examiner: Back seat driver; Picture perfect land swap; End of the trail for the tram; Mt. Ogden transmitting tower; Olympic mascots; Naked Olympics

Back to Ogden Sierra Club

Last modified 8 March 2002