Speakout: Developer ruining Wolf Creek Pass

Gloria Kaasch

Monday, April 24, 2006

Looking out onto a valley of trees and snow the silence of the slopes takes your breath away. Or maybe it's the fact that you are attempting exercise at 11,000 feet. Regardless, it is a thrill to see the land below you as it was thousands of years ago.

Wolf Creek ski area has created a unique opportunity for people who enjoy the outdoors to go back in time and see the peaks and the rock formations of history covered in the snow of the present.

Driving over Wolf Creek Pass, you will notice the expanding road, fancy tunnels and constant construction that aim to make the 3,000-vertical-foot pass from Pagosa Springs more convenient. Mountains used to be ventured by the few, the brave and the stupid (but the stupid usually didn't make it down).

Roads on these passes used to be unpaved, with washboard surfaces to check your speed and maybe a guardrail to bounce off - if you were lucky. The old roads kept the wilderness sacred and wild. Only those who cared dared to venture onto these mountain roads. But the times they are a-changin'.

We are making it too easy for the stupid people to go the mountains. They are destroying the mountain in order to try to survive. Survival is no longer an avalanche beacon and matches. The stupid people are making survival in the mountains about prosperity.

By making the road to Wolf Creek more accessible, we have invited big developers like Texas billionaire Red McCombs to dream up a village in this uncharted land ("Clearing roadblocks/Forest Service OKs resort village access next to Wolf Creek," April 4).

Those who have fought against the Village at Wolf Creek have put forth a valiant effort to stop stupid people from implementing their survival tactics. The Web site www.friendsofwolfcreek.org exposes the covert deals with the U.S. Forest Service. People from all around the state have stuck anti-"Pillage" at Wolf Creek bumper stickers on their cars. Even state Rep. Mark Larson, R-Cortez, found it necessary to put forth a resolution to expose the ugly business that the forest service had with McCombs.

With all of these people against such an action, it is surprising that McCombs was granted permission to build an access road to his property on which he plans to build condos to accommodate 10,000 people, a gulf course and a small power plant. But, as I said, money talks.

How do the common people overpower the tyranny of money? Should we all go and camp on McCombs' land in Texas and build little bike trails around his property to give him a taste of his medicine? Or should we do something more drastic to get attention?

Obviously, providing evidence of corruption in the Forest Service and legislative support didn't work. Money is a solution, but in order for it to have power, it must be fueled by greed. Maybe people should think of Wolf Creek like they think of their bank accounts - the more trees there are, the richer we will be.

Gloria Kaasch is a resident of Durango.