New here but why?

That was probably the winter of 2002, I moved here from Jackson the following season. I think the mountain opened for about two weeks. 2006 was a another really bad season but I spent that year in Telluride. It wasn't a good year there either but after a spring-like MF cycle in late February we enjoyed a very deep March with a stable San Juan snowpack. That is rare and I feel lucky to have experienced that. Skiing over the head powder down big lines in Bear Creek Canyon without any stress sure is nice!

The mountain installed snowmaking two summers ago. The improvement proposal was in the courts for something like 15 years. The Tribes and the Sierra Club stalled it out for as long as they could. Last season would have been one of those where we would have opened for only a few weeks since we had such little snowfall but with snowmaking we were opened from Thanksgiving to the first week in April and it was one of the most profitable in Snowbowls history.

The mountain is located on National Forest Land, the ski area boundaries are surrounded by a wilderness area. The San Francisco Peaks are considered sacred to several tribes in the four corners region. The Navaho call the Peaks Dook 'o' shliid and believe it's the place their people were created. The Hopi believe it is where the Kachina Spirits live, the Kachina's are responsible for weather patterns and the relation to crop fertility.

Now I won't generalize a whole population of people as behaving or feeling the same way but there are some interesting aspects to the Tribal Nations claims and then behaviors. All of the tribes banned together against the Snowbowl proposal. Now the Navaho Nation has proposed to build a gondola down to the confluence of the LCR. This is what the Hopi believe to be there spot of creation. It is where the Hopi salt mines are. The White Mountain Apache Tribe uses reclaimed waste water for snowmaking at Sunrise Park Ski Area which is also located on a sacred mountain area. I believe that there are plenty of traditional natives that feel strongly about sacred areas but when their governments that represent them say one thing and then do another it becomes difficult to respect them.