John Atkinson has posted a response to editorials written by Ben Rose (Green Mountain Club) and Adam Howard (Backcountry Magazine) regarding the cut on Big Jay. The article, posted on VTsports.com, is a revamped call to action for backcountry skiers to organize and for outdoors organizations such as the Green Mountain Club to support such organizational efforts. Atkinson articulates the crux of the backcountry cutting issue succinctly in his article:
The difference between breaking branches and cutting trees with chainsaws is only a matter of degree. If we don’t have permission, we shouldn’t do it. But this highlights the issue/problem that there are only a few small, mainly private, places where this type of work is currently planned and permitted.
On one hand, backcountry cutters are aware they are violating laws by taking the matter into their own hand. This is clearly an illegal and ethically unsound activity. However, backcountry skiing has not been fostered, developed, or supported by outdoors clubs, state governments, or regional skiing organizations. The number of officially maintained backcountry trails dwindled following the development of lift serviced skiing and no official backcountry glade program has ever been instituted in any New England state aside from a couple privately and co-operatively owned ski areas. Perhaps backcountry skiers should not be taking to the woods with loppers and hand saws to trim lines (despite many doing so in environmentally sound and sustainable ways, unlike the Big Jay cut). However, high demand and short supply has forced many hands into action. A coming together of backcountry skiers and local clubs, organizations, and governmental agency to redirect illegal efforts into sanctioned backcountry skiing runs would be a welcome solution.