Local skiers and snowboarders who choose to ride at Solitude for the namesake quality experience it provides might be wise to oppose the proposed SkiLink gondola that would connect Big Cottonwood Canyon and Park City.

This goes for Brighton riders, too, if the SkiLink owners plan to run a shuttle from Solitude to Brighton to facilitate customer access.

We'd lose our solitude because most of the gondola traffic would be from Park City's Canyons resort to Solitude (tourists who enjoy the Park City scene, Park City area residents, and others). That's because the snow is almost always better at the Big Cottonwood resorts than it is at Canyons.

If they don't want overcrowding, Big Cottonwood resort enthusiasts should join backcountry skiers and boarders, snowshoers, hikers and others who oppose SkiLink and treasure the fragile little mountain paradise we are so fortunate to have so near.

Pete Collins

Salt Lake City