PSA Silver Basin is part of Crystal Ski Area

I thought I'd take this from the TAY facebook and put it on the main site.

A group skinned up into Silver Basin on Monday under active avalanche control work.

Other than being truly clueless about where you are travelling, why would anyone do this? Now that Crystal is open wall-to-wall that is a terrible place to tour. When the terrain is open to skiers there will be tons of people hurtling down at you, when it's closed AC work can commence at any time. If you don't know where the ski area boundary is, educate yourself. It's your responsibility.

If you hear explosions going off TURN AROUND!!! You could die and that's not cool.

I'm perplexed as to why this is an issue. There are warning lights throughout the base area that alert you to the fact that uphill travel is not allowed and/or AC work is going on. Call ski patrol or stop into their office in the base area.

Limiting uphill travel into Silver is on the table now thanks to these actions.

crystalmountainresort.com/safety/uphill-travel/

crystalmountainresort.com/safety/boundary-policy/

crystalmountainresort.com/safety/avalanche-safety/

The Kirchers don't own the land Crystal Mountain Resort is on, nor does Boyne Resorts. We, the American People, do. Crystal operates a ski area on USFS land, the terms & conditions of which are detailed on their permit with the Forest Service. Since it isn't private land, they cannot completely restrict you from accessing it. They can, however, lay out guidelines and restrictions for the preservation of the public's safety. That's where the uphill travel policy comes from (and compared to that of Crystal's red-headed stepchild's resort a few dozen miles to the north it's quite generous).

"This land is your land, this land is my land" aside... it is foolish to tour in an area where you knowingly are exposing yourself to danger from above. When Crystal's in full operation, you can expect everything on their side of Three-Way Peak to be prone to such danger. Assess your options accordingly based on conditions, professional information and your group's risk-tolerance.

I'm glad you got in an expected and pointless soliloquy on how the ski area does not own USFS land. How does the Kemper's and Rock Face permanent closures fit in with that ethos?

There is more than enough precendence throughout the US for a ski area to restrict access in the name of safety. In fact even UDOT is considering or has implemented nighly closures for the entirety of Little Cottonwood Canyon plus 'overshoot' areas. snowbrains.com/little-cottonwood-canyon-...ng-by-andrew-mclean/

If people keep acting like this access will be restricted.

If I were the ski area, I'd probably significantly restrict access or try to make it a closed area. Why? Because this sort of idiocy on the part of backcountry skiers leads to unpleasant depositions in the offices of very expensive lawyers. It doesn't take a genius to start thinking about the questions:

Attorney for plaintiff: "But you knew, based on years of prior experience, that there might be skiers. You knew that it was common for skiers to travel in the area?"
Ski area employee: "Yes".
Attorney for plaintiff: "Describe the procedure you use to search for people prior to avalanche control."

Sometimes during these discussions I get the feeling that people might think that a ski area would close or reduce access simply out of spite. I don't believe this is the case. Crystal has been super supportive for the last 10 years and the pro patrol has rescued more than a few backcountry skiers ( who never even bought lift tickets! ) over the years.

They've done their part. We haven't done ours.

I agree that skinning Silver Basin during the active ski season and especially during avy work in Southback is not kosher.

I have personally had to wait at the top ( having got there via the ski area traverse) while some of TAY's most prolific and revered posters laboriously skinned their way up Silver Basin oblivious( or know and don't care) to the effect on others. I'll spare their names...they know who they are.

I once came across several know TAY posters skinning up SE trees!!!! It was a very steep skin track that they were trying to put in while resort skiers flashed past them.

However , there lots more terrain up there than Silver Basin. Many people go up to ski the Bad Ass Shoulder, Pickhandle and Black Tusk area and FFF is a favorite for low angle skiing on danger days. I think, looking at the map, that all these areas are outside the ski area boundary . They are however most conveniently accessed by skinning up Quicksilver to the old top lift position then heading East, outside the boundary.

So just to clarify... are you NOT allowed to skin up Quicksilver to access the areas OUTSIDE the boundary( Not Silver Basin) when the light is flashing and uphill traffic prohibited or does it just mean that you can't go into Silver Basin via the plowed Sliver Basin egress track that CM puts in.

Of course checking in with Patrol is always the best policy.

Well, Waterfall, you're right. The ski area does not own the land, and Pipedream's response is expected, but not pointless. Actually, it's pretty much spot on. Maybe you read it expecting an irrational counterpoint to your post, but I think even the ski area would have to agree with him.
A funny thing happened the other morning when I checked out with Crystal patrol (as I always do when accessing public lands within or beyond the ski area lease boundary):
I was asked by the patroller at the watch desk to not ski any lines that could be clearly visible from their customers riding lifts because they were planning to open SB the next day and they didn't want their customers to be disappointed. OMFG!
To his credit, the patroller was super nice about it, and even seemed to acknowledge that this was a bogus request, but you can bet that this topic was included in the morning meeting.
The reply?: "Thanks, we'll take that into consideration."
If you don't think that crystal would prefer people don't access interface terrain you're a fool. They are running a business, not a stewardship. Protect your rights with communication and good relations. Don't expect that others know better.