February 2001
National Mountain Conference: Field Tour of Vail Pass
Vail Pass set the stage as an example of motorized and non-motorized users working together at the September 16, 2000, meeting of the Mountain Management Field Tour. This tour was part of the first annual National Mountain Conference held in Golden, Colorado. The tour stop encompassed the formation and activities of the Vail Pass Task Force and the current status of winter use management at Vail Pass.
The Mountain Management Field Tour included approximately 45 individuals from throughout the United States. Representatives from the Dillon Ranger District of U.S. Forest Service, including Paul Semmer, Community Planner, Jimmy Gaudry, Wilderness Ranger, and Jaime Collins, District Ranger, along with Bob Moore, BSA Board Member and a member of the Vail Pass Task Force; Jeff Berman, Executive Director of Colorado Wild; and Donny Shefchik, of Paragon Guides discussed perspectives of Vail Pass during the last decade.
Members of the Dillon Ranger District said that one of their interns in the 1980's noticed that problems were surfacing on Vail Pass that ought to be looked into. Due to lack of funding, nothing was done until the early 1990's when the Vail Pass Task Force was put into place. All agreed that an earlier start to the collaborative process would have been better.
Donny Shefchik, a longtime mountain guide, said that Vail Pass used to be a good backcountry skiing experience, but that now it was more like a middle to front country experience due to the excessive number of people and large use of snowmobiles. He no longer guides in the Vail Pass area and worries that much of Colorado's backcountry will become middle to front country due to overuse and easy access by snowmobile.
The majority of discussion focused on how the lessons learned at Vail Pass are applicable to other locations where motorized and non-motorized recreation users work and play together. The group also discussed the effects of winter recreation use on endangered species habitat, the Fee Demonstration Program on federal lands, and the management challenge of increasing winter recreation use.