Expand snowmaking
on Baldy
Barring any major environmental impacts, the U.S. Forest
Service should approve Sun Valley Co.’s request to make snow on Baldy’s
Frenchman’s runs.
The objections to snowmaking in the area are spurious.
They are coming from a few West Ketchum residents who fear change and that
they might actually hear the soothing white noise of the snow guns from
their homes several hundred feet below and across the river from the
nearest gun.
This winter the white stuff from the skies has been
scarce. It’s a prime example of why snowmaking is necessary and why it
should be expanded into Frenchman’s.
Baldy skiing has been great even with a low snow pack, but
it’s great because of technology. Sun Valley’s snowmaking and grooming
puts golf greens to shame. It’s a magic carpet ride up there.
Without the magic carpet, the valley’s winter economy
would look a lot like its south-facing slopes—sparse and dry.
The valley’s economy is an isosceles triangle. It’s
upside-down. It balances precariously on the tip--skiing on Baldy.
It doesn’t look that way to the outside world. From
there, the Wood River Valley looks like a self-perpetuating engine of
prosperity.
It’s an illusion.
Everything depends on Baldy. Baldy gives the valley a
two-season economy. It is the magnet that draws attention and visitors to
the place. Without it, Sun Valley would have what lots of places in Idaho
have: proximity to wilderness, a couple of cross-country ski trails, some
nice golf courses and swimming pools. In short, it would have nothing with
which to sustain a healthy economy.
What’s a ski mountain worth? Just ask Salmon, Mackay,
Stanley or Challis where economic survival is a day-to-day thing.
In mill and factory towns around the country, people live
with the most obnoxious kinds of air and noise pollution in exchange for
jobs and a stable community. Even here in Hailey and Bellevue, residents
live with the whine of window-rattling private jets day in and day out for
the sake of their livelihoods.
In West Ketchum, people may have to live with a little
white noise for part of the winter.
Allowing expansion of snowmaking in Frenchman’s is a
small thing to grant and a small thing to tolerate in exchange for the
year-round benefits for everyone.
