Segment 1:
A proposal to build a tram connecting The Canyons Ski Resort in Park City and Solitude Mountain Resort in Big Cottonwood Canyon is raising eyebrows. How would an over-the-mountain connection affect canyon transportation, development and the backcountry?
Guests:
- Ted Wilson, Talisker Mountain Inc.
- Carl Fisher, Save Our Canyons
Segment 2:
How’s Utah’s housing market doing? New numbers show some improvement.
Guest:
- Deanna Devey, Utah Association of Realtors
City Views was a daily public affairs program that ran on KCPW from 2011 to 2013. It was hosted by Jennifer Napier-Pearce, who later went on launch and host "Behind the Headlines," the weekly news roundup from KCPW and The Salt Lake Tribune. The show featured news reports and interviews with policymakers, local newsmakers and
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4 Comments
From cityviews@kcpw.org:
Holly writes: How is this a ski area expansion, as per Carl’s comment just before the fund raising break, if the lift is only for transportation from Canyons to Solitude? No new trails will be cut. Downhill skiers will not be able to get off at midpoint. I’m not even sure why back country skiers are so concerned, as the lift will not impede their activity at all. It seems the mountains must stay open to all, not just back country skiers. Not just downhill skiers. We all have a stake in them and should have access.
From FB:
Robynn writes:
Just what we all need….another natural green space removed for a housing and business area like Kimball Junction/Jeremy Ranch. I would say “NO” to this!!! What was Ted Wilson thinking joining forces with this group? He is loosing crediability! But it was a great show!!!
From FB:
Anthony writes:
Have traffic/environmental studies been done to see if this will materially reduce traffic and air pollution in Big Cottonwood from people driving from PC to Solitude and back? Does market research show that a link will improve profits for Utah ski resorts as a whole, or just The Canyons and Solitude? What is the proposed route and how much will it scar the surrounding environment? What will offset the negative impact, if anything? How will the ridgeline views be protected?
I don’t see how this tram would ameliorate traffic one bit, since it takes multiple tram rides up the Canyons to reach Big Cottonwood. The resorts in the Wasatch have longed after connecting lifts to join all the resorts into one super resort. There is some novelty to this, but in the end, such connectors have to go through public lands. The resorts need to give up that dream and learn to profit better with the ample space they already have. I believe the developers are being disingenuous about the traffic issue and using it as a smokescreen. If they were serious about traffic, they could have proposed buses, trains, more park-n-ride, all with no impact in our public-owned green space, and all things I overwhelmingly endorse that we do!
And, the developers say that they will not put any drop-off points into the now-public Mill-F canyon. But if you’ve been up there, all it takes is a very short hike from the Canyons ridge-line to access the (what would be formerly) public backcountry terrain. So the effect will be the same as opening up Mill-F to resort skiers. If the public wants to allow a private company to operate in public land, we should at least charge them rent, but if we give them this tram deal, they will get it for free!