WMC Update 2012

WMC, I really think you're preaching to the choir, on both sides of the aisle in fact, in regards to snowmobile intrusion in Wilderness. Thankfully, this year I did not see any sled tracks leading into the 8 Mile drainage, and I was up there a lot.

As for my TR's being an example of the utility of the significant area of Forest in dispute here, that is not entirely correct since I almost exclusively tour in Wilderness.

And finally, I agree with you in that I would not expect the mileage I put in to get to my Wilderness stashes to be a reasonable baseline for the majority of ski tourers.

Indeed he is preaching to the choir...break the law, pay the fine! got to find a way to enforce the violators.

What would be a reasonable baseline for ski touring? For an average, and I know that conditions would be a big variable in that equation.

You know, if this situation was like my sister and I use to act, the government would just say f u and lock it all up.

It is kind of depressing that things get this far between different users of the forest.

Interesting thought after a couple of ciders... lol.

What would be a reasonable baseline for ski touring? For an average, and I know that conditions would be a big variable in that equation.

There really is a huge range of fitness and determination levels ..... For me, I can ski 4 miles and 2000' elevation gain one way (easy travel, e.g. snow-covered logging roads) to access slopes for turns in a day trip. Any further means I will not have anything left to climb/ski the business, and the trip is not as fun. There are others who post here that do much larger days. You should give it a try sometime. You may be surprised at the level of fatigue you experience.

I will sacrifice a lot for convenience. I love to go to Stevens pass b/c there is skiing right from the car. Sure, you will be up there with half the Seattle metro area, but its easy....

Thanks for your answer to my q's a few pages back. I've been meaning to reply but busy with work.

This Washington State Parks website of Sno Park locations has maps of areas across the state. It is very instructive to view the maps and note the few designated non-motorized areas. this illustrates the need for USFS management to allow uses other than snowmobile riding in the winter by the designation of new and significant winter non-motorized areas.

www.parks.wa.gov/winter/trails/?TrailType=motorized

About the Wenatchee Mountains Coalition

Purpose: Advocacy for non-motorized winter recreation on Forest Lands.
Goal: Designation of USFS Non-Motorized areas for winter recreation. Specifically, we seek non-motorized status for the pristine unroaded crest of the Wenatchee Mountains.
Initial action -- the Thousand Skiers Project: One thousand skiers/snowshoers/Forest users will write (email) the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest Supervisor and request designation of new non-motorized areas on the Wenatchee Mountains. The ‘significant’ area we are targeting is the unroaded Wenatchee Mountains ridge crest from Van Epps Pass to Three Brothers (mountain). This encompasses Ingalls Peak, Fortune Peak, Iron Peak, peaks surrounding Bean Creek, Earl Peak, Navaho Peak, Three Brothers and the Wenatchee Mountains Crest from Rd 9716 to the west of Diamond Head across Tronsen Head, Mt. Lillian including down to the Old Ellensburg trail to Mission Peak and on to the Mission Ridge Road including Lake Clara, Mission Peak, and surrounding areas. This area would offer many short day-tours, long day tours, overnight self-powered ski tours, and snowmobile road-assist tours. We hope to generate a thousand comments by August 15, 2010.

Contact information: Mail, email, or call
Rebecca Heath, Forest Supervisor
Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest Headquarters
215 Melody Lane
Wenatchee, WA 98801
(509) 664-9200
Email: Rebecca Heath, OWNF Supervisor, and the Forest Plan Revision Team: r6_ewzplanrevision@fs.fed.us
Carbon Copy Us: wenatcheemountainscoalition@hotmail.com. We need to track our support and to capture additional thoughts and ideas of non-motorized recreationalists. Your privacy is paramount, we will not share your contact information or reveal your identity.
Help us Succeed. Please forward this message to your skiing/snowshoeing friends. Ask for their involvement.


Thank you.

WMC....the maps don't show all the wilderness areas that are non-motorized, nor the areas that don't have designated sno-parks. Taking pieces of the puzzle doesn't show the entire picture. Nice attempt to mislead....again.

How about some suggestion on non-motorized corridors to wilderness areas, if it is truly about non-motorized recreation and not about shutting down public land to citizens, or at least to a large user group.

I've asked the question of a typical ski touring day and would like some additional feedback. I think creating better access to the EXISTING areas and enforcement of the wilderness would be easier, less costly and less conflicting than your unwavering exclusionary suggestion.

So, how about some opinion of what you would consider a "typical" day of ski touring, distance/time....do you want a discussion or just a one way suggestion?

How about some suggestion on non-motorized corridors to wilderness areas, if it is truly about non-motorized recreation and not about shutting down public land to citizens, or at least to a large user group.

As WMC has stated previously, it is not his peragotive to try and "work this out".  He is going to or is petitioning the Forest Service for increased lands for non-motorized use.  As to use for motorized purposes, he has stated that motorized users should do the same.

It seems that this puts the onus and responsibility on the FS to come up with a plan. He is trying to get his, we are supposed to try and get (keep) ours, and the FS will say what is what.

Interesting times, these are.