It’s All Happening in Utah…
It’s All Happening in Utah…
Published : 26-Sep-2014 02:23
In the same month that Vail Resorts purchased Park City Mountain resort after (kind of) winning a bitter legal battle and announced it plans to create the largest ski area ion the US for winter 2014-15 by merging it with The Canyons next door which it also owns; and Salt Lake City got the new official trademark 'Ski City USA' and a group of proponents of the inter-connecting of seven of the state's leading resorts (all accessible to skiers, five to boarders) claimed that 65% of Utah residents were in favour, a judge has decided that Alta's ban on snowboarding on their slopes was legal and has thrown out a suit by a group of boarders that it was not. Utah is home to two of the three ski areas in the US that still ban snowboarders (the other Utah resort is Deer Valley, with Mad River Glen in Vermont, a private club, the other).
The judge's 30 page ruling basically said that Alta had the right to ban the use of certain types of equipment from its slopes, so was not covered by equality legislation or the boarders constitutional rights.
"Plaintiffs' case fails because there is no law to support it," the judge wrote.
This was a different point to the main thrust of the snowboarder's main argument which was that Alta's attitude was more about people than equipment.
The boarders also argued that because Alta's slopes are on public land, leased from the US Forest Service, boarders should be allowed to board on the land ultimately owned by the US population.
However the Forest Service backed Alta's case which was that it's position was about equipment, not people, and the resort's lawyers said that using snowboards meant boarders had a 'blind spot' on the slopes because of their stance, and that some of Alta's slopes were too steep for boarders.
The group of snowboarders pointed out Alta had allowed monoskiers who also have both feet fixed to a single board and other sliding devices.
Benson wrote. "The Equal Protection Clause is not a general fairness law that allows everyone who feels discriminated against to bring an action in federal court."
"We continue to believe the case has merit, and regardless of the ultimate outcome, we hope that Alta and the U.S. Forest Service will voluntarily reconsider their policy and provide skiers and snowboarders equal access to public land," the boarder's lawyer said, adding that they were considering an appeal.
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