This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
I recently returned from a ski trip to St. Anton, Austria. While I didn't know it until I arrived, St. Anton recently built a ski link to a nearby resort in the manner aspired to by "One Wasatch" architects.
The lift added nothing to my ski experience. The resorts were too big and varied to explore in one day, as are all our Wasatch resorts. After riding the lift once, in the name of curiosity, I never took it again. The mostly deserted lift did, however, destroy the tranquility of a previously undeveloped alpine valley that was now crossed by a massive gondola.
"One Wasatch" will similarly add nothing to the experience of Utah skiers, nor will it attract more tourist dollars. But it will put lifts in three of the last undeveloped pockets of the central Wasatch "Ski resort GMs line up to back 'One Wasatch'," Tribune, March 19).
It will also reduce competition. Will the One Wasatch pass be the price of a Deer Valley lift ticket ($114/day) or Brighton ($68/day)? With resorts no longer competing over prices, skiing in the Wasatch will soon be unaffordable to even more Utahns. Wilderness developed is lost forever, while the shortsighted developers quickly move on to the next project.
Nathaniel Barusch
Salt Lake City