Backcountry Magazine article on MRNP Winter Access

Hey everyone,

In light of personal experiences and those of other skiers here on TAY and CC with MRNP winter access policy, I wrote an article that was published today in Backcountry Magazine online: backcountrymagazine.com/stories/the-price-ofparadise.

It covers the incident in February where a skier was given a fine for arriving late at the gate after performing self-rescue on the mountain. It also quotes some long-time TAY regulars like Lowell Skoog, Gary Vogt, and Andrew Carey. Hopefully the story can encourage some dialogue among skiers/climbers and with the park.

Please share and share alike.

Thanks,
Greg

Great article! I recall that TR, rangers def like the power they have in the park.

Thanks for the article, Greg, and welcome to the Great Northwet!  I fear you will discover that the park does not do 'dialogue' very well; edicts are more their style. They do transparency even worse:
www.schundler.net/Monocracy.pdf

I'm not impressed by Deputy Swartout's cost-per-visitor analysis; it seems deceptive and designed to justify both past and future winter access restrictions: 

“We spend more than $1 million per year moving snow,” explains the park’s Deputy Superintendent Tracy Swartout. “We spend eight times more on winter visitors than we do on summer visitors."

1)  Some of that million would be spent clearing snow from roads and campgrounds (ala Sunrise, and including Paradise) for summer use, even if Paradise were closed all winter and visitation was negligible.

2)  They have to spend most of the remainder of that million plowing the road regularly to prevent potential loss of Glacier Bridge and damage to the road and extensive infrastructure at Paradise, whether or not there is a single winter visitor.   

3)  The dissatisfaction among winter recreationists (that she claims not to be aware of) over unreliable Paradise access that halved traditional winter visitation is the main factor in that inflated winter cost-per-visitor.  The way to improve that metric is through much better winter customer service, for example:  flexible hours and staffing, partial openings on weekdays, and a more relaxed law enforcement posture.

With further restricted access, the park might plow narrower and less often, and save a bit on sand & diesel, overtime and hazard-pay.  I suppose they could eliminate the few winter seasonal jobs and hire more summer seasonals.  But the vast majority of the park's winter operating costs are fixed, especially wages, and are independent of visitation. These cost attributions also seem bogus because "moving snow" and plowing Paradise actually helps enable summer visitation by avoiding or at least reducing expensive repairs.

Thanks for the article, Greg, and welcome to the Great Northwet!  I fear you will discover that the park does not do 'dialogue' very well; edicts are more their style.

... Deputy Swartout's ... seems deceptive ... eight times more on winter visitors than we do on summer visitors.[/i]"

1)  Some of that million would be spent clearing snow from roads and campgrounds (ala Sunrise, and including Paradise) for summer use, even if Paradise were closed all winter and visitation was negligible--[my 2 c: also Stevens Canyon Road, repeat plowing of Paradise Vally Road in anticipation of helicopter use, plowing the tops off downhill snow walls, never done before,  plowing of the Westside Rd and roads behind Longmire not to mention the need to keep the road to Longmire open for employees.--so what plowing is actually done just for winter visitation?]

2)  They have to spend most of the remainder of that million plowing the road regularly to prevent potential loss of Glacier Bridge and damage to the road and extensive infrastructure at Paradise, whether or not there is a single winter visitor.   

... But the vast majority of the park's winter operating costs are fixed, especially wages. These cost attributions seem bogus because "moving snow" and plowing Paradise actually helps enable summer visitation by avoiding or at least reducing expensive repairs.

The comment I'm most interested in is the "average opening time of 9:15"-- what value did she use for those days they did not open?  25 or 26 hours and still get a 0-15 minute variance? So is this 9:15 average the average opening time for days they opened before noon?  LOL

the other comment is she has gotten no complaints?  Who among winter visitors every heard of Swarthout?  AFAIK, she, her telephone #, and email are not on the park's website--she's anonymous; I've never met her--I have met and talke to Supt. Randy King on multiple occasions at Paradise.   It seems to me that there is a considerable amount of groupthink at the park; I've heard these same comments from multiple employees; they talk to themselves and reinforce their own narrative with no one there to question their reasoning or "facts"--a criticism I've heard of NPS for years.  I've never seen a visitor survey for the park, but other feds do it and most online companies do too. 

Again, the 8 times more on winter visitors: did she pro-rate the new Visitor Center (markedly reduced access in winter), upgrades to the Inn (closed in winter), and road improvements (used more in summer) in that calculation?  And what is the relevance of the calculation when a major mission of the park is to provide winter wilderness experience? Again, this is inward-looking, groupthink talk.

The park needs a citizen's advisory council like all the National Forests are required to have to review policy and management.

For her part, Swartout doesn’t feel significant pressure for increased access. “I wouldn’t say that I’ve ever received a sustained request for longer hours,” she says. “I might get one or two calls per year about winter access, period.” As for strict law enforcement, she says, “I’ve not had complaints about ranger behavior.”

Seems like we need a letter-writing or phone campaign so the park cannot claim they have not heard from us.

What would be the best timing for this? Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter?

Note that she says, “I wouldn’t say that I’ve ever received a sustained request for longer hours.” In other words, if she gets a few complaints, and it doesn't continue, then they just ignore it and go back to business as usual.

Seems like we need a letter-writing or phone campaign so the park cannot claim they have not heard from us.

What would be the best timing for this? Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter?

Summer sucks. Right now or beginning in mid-Fall would probably be the best time. Late spring is crazy busy for NPS managers as they compete with other parks for experienced seasonals, often without knowing the final details of their own budgets or exactly how many positions they have available. The federal fiscal year ends in October, so they are often busy trying to make their budgets appear to balance then. 

I've heard physical letters to the federales are a waste of time, that they end up at Homeland Security because of the anthrax threat. etc. That's assuming you can even find out which name goes with which title.  My requests for simple organization charts were ignored, let alone meaningful budget information.

The park has a general e-mail comment form link at the bottom of their newly-redesigned homepage, but I've never gotten a single reply to my numerous communications.  The standard format for Park Service email addresses is [first name]underscore[last name]@nps.gov, for example:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Don't be surprised if there's no reply.  The federal government has so many committees, and working groups, and listserves, that many of my NPS friends can't keep up and are email bankrupt.  I'm not excusing Hillary's email screwup, but private email is common for government employees and understandable, I think.

Good luck with phone numbers.  I think you need to know somebody who knows somebody...  Back before Twitter, I used to call park dispatch for gate updates... until my requests were met with an uptight:  'How did you get this number?'  I don't know if this communication isolation is a cause, or result, or feedback loop for Andy's "Groupthink".

I thought those NPS employees were reading that other [relevant] thread.. not many views here, considering..

Seems like we need a letter-writing or phone campaign so the park cannot claim they have not heard from us.

Here is a comment since Ms. Swarthout perused social media but deems it irrelevant.

We went skiing today. Paradise Valley Road closed and plowed half way to 4th Xing; will not open until June 24th! according to the website. That almost 3 months of closure so that they can have 2 or 3 days of helicopter fecal removal from Camp Muir. So we checked out the Dead Horse Creek Trail Head: 12 foot snow/ice wall. So we hit the cattle trail thru the sled runs up frozen boot, snowshoe, snowboard, and ski tracks to a totally slaughtered Pan Face. I wonder if Ms. Swarthout has skied that? So the motto is "Concentrate use in space and time" and to h*ll with the quality of experience and safety of anyone not booting or snowshoeing.

...  Right now or beginning in mid-Fall would probably be the best time.... The standard format for Park Service email addresses is [first name]underscore[last name]@nps.gov, for example:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  ...

Don't be surprised if there's no reply.  ...

I have e-mailed This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Park Superintendant/head guy) on several occasions (not relevant to road opening times) and have always gotten replies; when I've talked to him in person (including about access), he has listened and engaged.  Similarly with other park employees that I regularly encounter. However, I think among the leadership I might be considered a bit of crank-lone-voice-in-the-wilderness who has bugged not only MRNP people about various access issues but also US Senators, US Congresspeople (Gary is correct do not write them letters, your letters will be sent to a clearinghouse to check for anthrax), and various state and county elected and appointed officals LOL

"It takes a village" [maybe a large city] of voices to be heard.

The gate is opening earlier each day now, 7:30 or so this a.m.

I always wonder if Gator is secretly lurking these threads:-)
Miss those times Buddy, when we were just learning the basics.

It's even worse at Olympic where we lost Monday through Thursday access several years ago and Friday, Saturday and Sunday openings became much more unpredictable. Of course visitation rates are low! Plus, rangers come around and tell people to leave early when it starts blowing a bit.