Like many here, I am not a fan of Fast Tracks.
I do want to respond to Senator Wyden's letter to POWDR asking them to suspend Fast Tracks at Mt Bachelor. Again, while I don't like the idea of Fast Tracks, framing the issue around "equitable access" to U.S. Forest Service lands feels a little bit absurd. Aren't Mt Bachelor's $159 weekend lift tickets or $999 season pass (if bought before June) prices way more of an equity issue than a line that gives people preferential line treatment but still lets everyone who has a ticket ski? What about the disposable income it takes to get all of the equipment to go skiing, or the money and time required to become a good skier, or realistically speaking having a car and gas to get to the slopes? It feels like the equity issues around a Fast Tracks line pale in comparison to the myriad forms of inequity that would prevent a person from even being in a position to be upset at there being a Fast Tracks line.
It seems like a lot of people here, myself included if I am being honest, would rather the ski areas potentially make up for the revenue that Fast Tracks would generate by instead raising day ticket/season pass prices accordingly and treating all customers equally with an exception for ski school. Great, but aren't those slightly higher ticket or pass prices now causing an equity issue by pricing some people out of the sport?
I would argue that a far more important metric for measuring equitable access to U.S. Forest Service lands would be to look at uphill policies for ski areas and whether they allow for free or cheap (having a nominal fee to help cover plowing, grooming, avy control, patrol, is fine with me) uphill access. That way, people can still ski and enjoy their public lands without having to shell over $159/day or $999/season. There is no Fast Tracks equivalent for the skin track, although I don't want to give POWDR any ideas!
I know this is my third time saying it, but I don't like the idea of Fast Tracks. I do feel like it degrades the wonderful feeling on the slopes of it not mattering if the person next to you in the chair is a CEO or ski bum, and I will 100% be less likely to ski at a place where Fast Tracks seriously affects lift lines on crowded days. But at the same time, let's acknowledge the truth that every one of us who stands in that lift line is privileged in some form or another to be standing there. Without bringing politics into this, I hope we can also acknowledge that there are serious equity issues in our society that deserve more attention, which is why I am surprised that my senator is wading into an issue like Fast Tracks at a ski area when there are much bigger fish to fry (realistically speaking, an intern on his staff wrote the letter and he just gave it the stamp of approval, but still).