PSA Silver Basin is part of Crystal Ski Area

What I don't get is bc tourists choosing a destination that's lift served or side country. Why make the effort when you can get after your 'own' piece of fresh backcountry?

Sort of like the people that ride road bikes (bicycles) up and down I-90 in the Summer?

Seriously. And please remember this for Alpental too. Last year, an early morning skinner shut the place down for the day. He interfered with the active control work we were doing and put himself in a bad spot under the cliffs where 3 main shots go off. The program was thrown off so severely that it made more sense to cease control efforts.

Apparently this was an issue again this year/last week.

The cascades are enormous and there are tons of ski touring options. The fraction of the available ski terrain covered by ski area permits is minuscule, so why not just ski somewhere besides Silver Basin? There are lots of land use access/issues worth fighting for, but I don't see this as one of them.

The resort access issues are of greatest concern at the beginning and end of each season. The resorts are among the highest-elevation parking locations, and they have brush-free routes to reach higher-still elevations. Furthermore, the resorts are familiar terrain to many newer backcountry tourists, who haven't yet developed a library of destinations from which to choose. There are oodles of early-season wilderness turns to be had, but few of them will let you get home in time for dinner.

I've toured into Silver a few times in the past decade, checking in/out with patrol after that became a thing. It'd be a shame to lose the access, but it's hard to disagree with access closures if uphill skiers don't choose to coordinate with Crystal avalanche control operations.

Knowingly touring into terrain without checking whether someone else, who regularly triggers avalanches in that location, plans to trigger avalanches is inconsiderate to family, friends, avalanche control workers, mountain rescue, paramedics, and everyone in the ski community.

Sort of like the people that ride road bikes (bicycles) up and down I-90 in the Summer?

Don't knock until you've tried it. Oddly enough riding I-90 is feels safer than US-2 -- the shoulder is really wide and there aren't "death bridges" where the shoulder disappears altogether and your are riding right up against a steel guard rail. Also Interstate construction standards limit the grade, so the hills can be long, but they are never steep. Going down the section from Exit 52 to Exit 47 is a blast, easy to get over 50mph.

On reading this thread the famous quote by the incarnate llama Rinpoche Tulka Butwan, (1312 to 1383 A.D) comes to mind.

" Never underestimate the power of stupidity to overcome every obstacle placed in it's path"

Don't knock until you've tried it.   Oddly enough riding I-90 is feels safer than US-2 -- the shoulder is really wide and there aren't "death bridges" where the shoulder disappears altogether and your are riding right up against a steel guard rail.   Also Interstate construction standards limit the grade, so the hills can be long, but they are never steep.  Going down the section from Exit 52 to Exit 47 is a blast, easy to get over 50mph.

The 3.5 miles from exit 25 -> 22 are far better than the grind over Lake Alice or going all the way down and around through Fall City when riding back from North Bend to Issaquah