Does it seem like the fee at Vail Pass is going up every year? 6 friggin dollers per person. I can see charging for the sleds in the south side because they groom trails and such...I guess, but the north side is just a x-country ski trail. Its not the parking either, because you need to pay just for being on the land...our public land. What do we get for this? Am I alone in thinking this is a bit rediculous.
I was thinking about that recently as well. There is an article in the most recent high country news about a woman in AZ who has protested user fees for unimproved fed lands and she won at the district level. The courts ruling may upset the FS's fee program. There are some citizen groups that are organized solely around protesting user fees, one in Durango I think. Vail pass fee always irks me, especially as you said for the non-sled side....
the fee thing unfortuntly is a result of a couple of issues that are due to the high number of users of the area. My next door neighbor is the supervisor of Vail Pass. The high number of users has led to a huge number of minor and some major rescues and evacs. The area also takes a beating from the less conciencious people who trash place (trash,poop,etc) The monitoring of these issues costs money, and a user fee is the alternative to closing accsess to the trail system. It is sad that the lowest common denominator group is putting the rest of us in this spot, but the way the governing entities see it, the less dead bodies and candy wrappers littering the Pass, the better.
That is a Fu@#%ing bullshit excuse!!! The rescue teams (SCRG, VMRG) do not see a penny of that money, it goes directly back to the sleds the rangers are riding( 2brand new every year) and to pay their salries and insure them to be out there. The usfs will now justify that they could never do without the fees because it cost them so much to operate that area. but they have generated their own costs. If they had a volunteer program, like they used to, coupled with a community clean up day in the spring, then the usfs would only have to buck up for the cost of some GOOD signage to keep people in line. That way they can monitor the area on random days, and if the signage is adequate they can fine the snowmobilers for riding in improper areas and make the money that way. I am not for the cost to use our land, fortuanatly 70% of the time I am up there is for rescue purpose and they dont charge us ( with hesitation sometimes), when we are up there for rescue purpose we dont use there sleds, they dont help and not a dollar of that money goes to us for cost recovery. Do away with the fees!!
What a bunch of tight asses. Its 6 dollars.....That is CHEAP for the piecce of mind if you need a rescue, or just some help???? FYI, not all rescues are voluntarily, as amatter of fact hardly any of them are. And the gas in the helicopter is not either.....6 Dollars...That is nothing, and no it has not gone up this year. Talk facts and stop hugging tour 6 dollar tree
Lets not forget that us snowmachine enthusiasts pay for damn near all of the grooming done in Colorado (100 % to be exact in the BV area not sure about vail pass). This is the one point that seems to be forgotten by tons of BC users.
Most of the time the skiers get to use these trails for free. They pay zip, nada, nothing! Why should the snowmachine enthusiast have to pay more than his fare share? Oh yea so the more-righteous-than-you-tele-sic-o-hippie-draggin-5-barkin-mutts-up -trail doesnt have to pay.
I think $6 is a great deal for a day out - if you dont may I recommend going to one of the million or so other places that does not charge they are not that hard to find.
I agree the $6 is no big deal, and there are millions of other, better places to go for free. not a penny of that money goes towards, SAR. There is no diffrence between rescue on the pass and anywhere else. the only diffrence is there are a ton of people up there and they all have cell phones to call for help. Unless you are violating the law, you will not be charged for rescue. the only time you will be charged is if you are airlifted by Flight for life and they charge like an abulance or any other medical service providor. I jsut go to somewhere less populated and less crowded for free!
Six bucks, big whoop. BUT..what do we pay taxes for? Don't people justify taxation by pointing out that it provides essential services like building roads, infrastructure, etc. and providing emergency services, police...rescue? Shouldn't the USFS maintain the land under their care? If it's not in their budget to do so then perhaps we should stop finding reasons to drop bombs, quit buying bombs and quit dropping them. Then we can throw some more money at the forest service that we've already given to the federal governent.
Of course, on the grand scale of things that are fucked up with this world, paying six bucks to enjoy vail pass ranks pretty low.
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