Silver skis 75th aniversary

Sure would be a way for the us and the park to patch up some hard feelings.

I'm not sure. It depends on which hard feelings you're referring to. (I haven't followed the issues very closely.)

If you want to convince the park that backcountry skiers are well behaved, low-impact visitors who deserve more access to the park, I'm not sure holding a big race is a good way to do that.

Do you think you could fly under the radar again and for how long. Better to take a stab at working with the park.

I think it would not be too hard to fly under the radar. But we have to acknowledge that TAY is not under the radar anymore.

The way to organize something like this discretely would be to open a discussion on TAY, but then do the real organizing (including the date, which is the most critical thing) via an e-mail list. Anybody who wanted to be added to the list would have to be vouched for by somebody already on the list. I imagine there aren't more than three degrees of separation between every person in the local backcountry community.

I'm not volunteering to do this (been there, done that). I'm just offering ideas.

If you want to convince the park that backcountry skiers are well behaved, low-impact visitors who deserve more access to the park, I'm not sure holding a big race is a good way to do that.

HAHA. Very true. Lowell has much wisdom and his comments should be considered. We also use TAY to post our comments both good and bad on the management of the park with the knowledge and hope that they do read the contents occasionally. I find it somewhat ironic and frankly hypocritical that while many ( me included) whine about the NPS's lack of communication skills, sometimes disingenuous policies and our conspiracy theories regarding their ultimate aims, should be conspiring in an open forum to hold a big race, "under their radar" in contravention of their established rules.
Fair's fair.

I find it somewhat ironic and frankly hypocritical that while many ( me included) whine about the NPS's lack of communication skills,  sometimes disingenuous policies and our conspiracy theories regarding their ultimate aims, should be conspiring in an open forum to hold a big race, "under their radar" in contravention of their established rules.
Fair's fair.

Scotsman, I'm not sure which position you're taking:
1) It's ironic and frankly hypocritical to discuss an under-the-radar race, or
2) Fair's fair.

Whatever the case, I'm not aware of any established rules against racing in the parks. But racing your buddies in an impromptu get-together is a much different thing than asking the park to approve a formally organized event.

I've actually looked into this. Although my research hasn't been exhaustive, the only relevant information I've found was in the MRNP administrative history ("Wonderland" by Theodore Catton, p. 416). Here are my notes:

www.alpenglow.org/ski-history/notes/book...tml#catton-1996-p416

p. 416: On August 13, 1945, NPS Director Newton B. Drury issued a policy on winter use in the national parks that stated, "Winter carnivals, crowning of 'Queens' and 'Kings', highly competitive, and other spectacles designed to attract large crowds of spectators with the resultant overcrowding of available accomodations, will be avoided." This policy was criticized by skier groups and was revised on March 21, 1946. The revised policy explicitly retracted Drury's earlier opposition to holding competitive events in national parks.

The Catton book doesn't mention any subsequent rulings. The Silver Skis race died because of declining interest and unreliable weather, not park rules, as far as I can tell.

But times have changed tremendously since the 1940s. I'm skeptical that we could get permission these days to hold an organized race on Mt Rainier. But I don't think there's anything wrong with challenging your buddies to a little chase. You just have to be discrete. Don't hit any people or objects and don't make a scene.

I was mainly speaking of A renactment of the race . Kinda of like a civil war renactors cept nobody gets killed. Now if in the course of a renactment people decide to race thier buddies well I can' t stop that. A race but not a race. And a documentry could be filmed.
Definitly a Catch 22 here regarding our behavior.

Lowell, good points and I agree a little race with your buddies is OK but organizing a  big race, that by it's very nature is commemorative and thereby requires publicity to have any significance, and having a promoter to make a documentary about it would require park permission under the rules as I understand it. A while ago some skiers wanted to make a video of skiing down Mt Rainier for commercial purposes. As I understood it they had to get permission from the park, fill in lots of paperwork and arrange insurance and be accompanied by a Ranger to comply with the rules.

Anybody undertaking that without the parks permission is going to run the risk of seriously pissing of the park and further destroying the relationship between skiers and park . 40 plus skiers traveling down the Muir snowfield at  50MPH ( I think the record is like 11 mins or something, so they are going fast) is gonna attract attention and  unless measures where in place to prevent collisions with other members of the public, could result in mayhem. It's a personal injury lawyer's wet dream!

I think the idea of a 75th Silver Ski is a great idea, I also think it's something that would be have to be formally discussed with the park.

As to my comment about irony and hypocrisy which was not directed at you but about the fact that we where all taking about whether it should be under the radar or declared, I apologize as that was too strong, but to me it still seems not fair for us all to criticise the NPS for bad intentions and lack of clarity on this board but at the same time discuss  trying to do something we all probably know in our hearts would require their permission. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck!

Maybe we need a new site called "TAYUTR" for under the radar discussions.