Questioning USFS ski hut proposal

The Sisters Ranger District is currently considering a proposal to increase the number of temporary winter huts allowed near Three Creeks Lake. My husband and I are both avid Alpine, telemark and Nordic skiers who use this area often throughout the winter season.

While the proposal is for a Nordic ski route from hut-to-hut, it is not at all clear what the term 'Nordic' is meant to designate.

Nordic skiing requires different specialized boots, bindings and skis that are very lightweight and designed for travel over distance rather then climbing up and skiing down steeper slopes. Nordic ski styles are divided between "classic" or "diagonal" ski gear and "skate" ski gear.

A committed recreationalist will purchase and own their ski equipment and will seek outdoor facilities that allow them to enjoy their chosen sport to the best of their ability. A Nordic ski facility will attract and serve recreationalists only if a groomed track is available of adequate width for skate skiing and with parallel groves for classic skiing. The track will ideally be groomed daily, but will certainly be groomed after each new snowfall or rainfall and when sun has made the surface icy.

The proposal appears to be placing the cart before the horse, so to speak, by installing huts to house Nordic skiiers before the groomed trail system exists to serve as a recreational facility. We have enjoyed a similar Nordic ski/hut experience in north-central Washington state. The huts are served by 40+ miles of daily groomed trail which allows only the service snowmobile that supplies the hut and hut users.

Please visit www.mvsta.com or www.rendezvoushuts.com to learn more about a financially successful Nordic ski system.

If a groomed, set trail does not exist, there is really no attraction for the committed Nordic recreationalist. The lightweight skate and classic gear does not allow safe carrying of a pack of more than 5-10 pounds for the average recreationalist. Also, this lightweight gear is not designed to break trail through newly fallen snow of any depth. Without a groomed trail, Nordic skating is simply impossible, with the exception of late-spring skiing on a consolidated snowpack. Provision of a groomed, set track, maintained at least 3 times weekly by equipment designed for the purpose, would give this proposal merit.

Our concern is that without the existence of a Nordic track connecting the huts, they will be used for other purposes. The huts' proximity to the Road 370 snowmobile trail means that alpine skiing recreationalists can easily rent the huts and use personal snowmobiles for transport. This would increase the use of the Three Sisters Wilderness backcountry terrain and diminish the wilderness experience for all recreationalists. We do not know who or how the use of the huts would be monitored to ensure specific Nordic recreation use.

While the owners of the hut rental business clearly have experience in marketing the hut experience to a target population, presenting the expansion of the hut system as meeting the needs of a new, separate recreational user group is misleading. The proposal is essentially doubling the rentable rooms available in the forest environment under the guise of a "Nordic route" without taking on the responsibility of providing a Nordic facility.

The location of the proposed huts on the edge of a Wilderness Area requires that special consideration be taken to preserve the wilderness aspect for all users. Those of us who have used this area for decades are already impacted by the two existing huts serving Alpine recreationalists. There are more people, more noise, more ski tracks to cross, more abandoned avalanche pits to fall into and more danger in unstable snow from other users with differing risk assessments. We urge the Ranger District to review an actual Nordic trail facility before deciding that this proposal meets Management Area goals.

Renting rooms with a view of the Three Sisters Wilderness may be profitable to the hoteliers, but a good Nordic track facility would actually serve a new portion of the recreating public.