Night skiing on Vail Mountain is in the dark – for
now. After four years of research, Vail Associates unveiled plans
last month to light up Vail Mountain for evening skiers and
snowboarders. But local residents – unimpressed by a high-tech
Hungarian lighting system – forced the company to reconsider the
proposal that had already garnered local business
support.
Residents of the Potato Patch
neighborhood, across the valley from Vail Mountain, objected the
loudest. They also worry that animal habitat will be harmed as
night skiing spreads. “If it is effective here, it will be pushed
to (the neighboring resorts of) Beaver Creek and Keystone as well,”
said Potato Patch resident Sally Clair.
As a
result, the company withdrew its plan before the Forest Service
completed an environmental review. The Holy Cross Ranger District
is the decision-maker, and so far the agency has received more than
60 letters of protest. More arrive daily. “The majority are against
it,” said Loren Kroenke, a Forest Service
spokesman.
Resort officials say their
environmental review concluded there would be no additional
displacement of wildlife. But they hope to work with local
environmental groups before introducing a new plan to the Forest
Service sometime next fall, says Paul Witt, communications manager
for Vail Associates.
*Jamie
Murray
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Darkness un-Vailed.
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