By Ian Wood July 28, 2022 2:00 pm

By Ian Wood | July 28, 2022 2:00 pm ET

“When you drop a bulldozer blade in the [High] Alpine [Environment], that is very fragile and very difficult to restore.”– Scott Fitzwilliams, White River National Forest Supervisor.

If you illegally bulldoze an unauthorized road through a high alpine environment, you’re going to have a bad time.

Vail Daily reports the U.S. Forest Service issued a cease-and-desist order to Keystone Resort due to their construction equipment damaging a high alpine environment.  An unauthorized road was bulldozed through the Bergman Bowl, where the Forest Service wanted minimal impacts.

Keystone is currently working on adding a high-speed lift into the Bergman Bowl, making the 555 acres of terrain lift serviced for the first time ever. Based on how long this delay is, this mistake could stop Keystone from having the lift open for the 2022-23 season.

Vail Resorts realized the bulldozing mistake and contacted the U.S. Forest Service about the significant error. They have also hired a contractor to begin working on a restoration plan for the areas affected by the bulldozer.

After the cease-and-desist letter was sent, Vail Resorts immediately complied and stopped construction. Scott Fitzwilliams said the following about their relationship with Vail Resorts:

“We’re a long-term partner with Vail, and they’ve been a good partner. I’m confident we’ll be able to work through this, but it’s serious. We take this very seriously.”

This follows news of the Park City Planning Commission granting an appeal from residents over the concerns they had due to the overcrowding of Park City Mountain, making the construction of the two planned new lifts before the 2022-23 season impossible.

Chris Sorenson, who is the GM and Vice President of Keystone, released the following statement yesterday:

“We are working closely with the U.S. Forest Service on an issue that arose during construction. Specifically, an area that was supposed to have a minimal construction route was instead approached as a temporary construction route. This was due to a misunderstanding by our construction team, for which we take full responsibility.

Keystone Resort has a long history of successful partnership with the U.S. Forest Service on projects that provide guests the opportunity to enjoy outdoor recreation within our National Forest. We take this mistake seriously, and at their direction have paused some work at the site while the USFS conducts an assessment to determine next steps.

We deeply regret the impact this unauthorized construction activity has had on the environment that our team works carefully to protect every day. We take environmental protection and compliance extremely seriously and are committed to making this right.

At this time, we do not yet know if this will impact the opening of lift-served terrain at Bergman Bowl this season. We will provide more information as we continue to work in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service.“

Keystone, keystone bergman bowl, keystone expansion, keystone lift delayed, keystone resort, keystone vail resorts, ski area news, ski industry news, ski new, ski resort news, Skiing News, Skiing, Snowboarding, Vail

Taos' Pay Raise Proves Why Its One Of The Best Ski Resorts to Work For

POWDER ALERT- Epic Storm Cycle Hitting South American Ski Resorts

Alta Debuts New Trail Pull-Outs For Influencers During Wildflower Season

August 12, 2022 3:31 pm ET · By: Ian Wood

After a challenging past couple of years, the National Ski Patrol continues to be in turmoil. Ski Area Management reports that the CEO (…)

August 12, 2022 12:37 pm ET · By: Matt Lorelli

It might seem like the first freeze of the season is nowhere close, but you might be surprised. Many parts of the country see their first (…)

August 12, 2022 11:26 am ET · By: Ian Wood

“What you don’t want is to have a town like this which has a great heart and soul right now and before you know it, nobody works (…)

August 12, 2022 11:13 am ET · By: Matt Lorelli

Males are an odd group to say the least. Women probably think that we’re hard to figure out, but we’re even (…)

August 12, 2022 10:36 am ET · By: Matt Lorelli

The US Forest Service is reporting that wildland firefighter Collin Hagan died on August 10th while battling the Big Swamp Fire in (…)

August 12, 2022 10:22 am ET · By: Matt Lorelli

Uhhh… can anybody explain what in the hell is going on in this video? All I can tell is that somebody with a monster truck fitted (…)

August 12, 2022 9:04 am ET · By: Matt Lorelli

Call me crazy, but the Disc Golf Pro Tour is more fun to watch than the PGA Tour. Yeah. I said it. On top of that, playing disc golf is a (…)