Telemark Talk / Telemark Tips Forum

Trimming brush on public land to open up ski lines. Yea or nay? Have you done it? would you do it? Is it legal? Is it ethical?

It's probably not legal but hunters do it all the time to open up shooting lanes, so why shouldn't we.

I don't mean clearing a whole run, but sometimes by trimming a few patches will connect open spaces making for a longer run.

I don't mind breaking a law if I feel what I am doing is causing no harm.

If I was very familiar with the area I would do some trimming. I agree hunters do clean out shooting lanes, and that probably is not legal either, but it is a generally accepted practice. The state land that I ski around my home is heavily used, by diverse user groups. The land has a heavy understory, good for rabbits, but not good for skiing without much higher than normal snowfall. I have a few nice downhill lines, but it would not be worth the aggravation that pruning within sight of the trail would involve.
I did stretch the rules by having my dog with me. I made sure I went out early, to get untracked snow, and not see many people. I also had a hunting license, and I did stop at an area that hold a few grouse and let her work birds. So I was legal, as I was free cast dog training, but I am sure the suburbanites that also frequent those trails would complain.

We have a lot of wilderness up here. We have a lot of public access on private property here (CFA), which in Michigan states you can't cut live trees but you can use, move or clear deadfall as long as you don't remove it from the property. It also says that the public can't access it with motorized vehicles unless it's posted that you can. So when I clear slopes not on my property, I won't cut trees down but I will move fallen trees and other dead debris in order to improve the ski-ability of a slope. I also try to make it not so obvious so any casual hiker/skier, etc won't notice it's been altered. There's also the concern of opening up slopes/access to snowmobilers. The worst feeling is when you excitedly arrive at that one slope you cleared last fall only to see it all BRRRRAAAAPPPed up.

clearing deadfall will go a long way, but I think I may need some hawk bill snippers too. I have a place in state game lands in Pa. My house is at the end of a dead end private road. The nearest public road is 2 mi away so not much traffic. Also it's all hard woods and there isn't a whole lot of stuff in the way.

I do similar to connyro if I do anything at all. I'm on our local con-comm and all of us on the comm are trail users with protectionist tendencies. In general if you're clearing deadfall, we're cool with that. If you're maybe pruning off a few eye-pokers very judiciously, we're cool with that too. If you're out there with a McLeod, building bridges and actually removing trees we'll probably be having a chat. We have a lot of hills here and because of that I tend to not clear anything. If I ski a line tomorrow it's likely won't ski that same line again for a couple of years so there is nothing to be gained by clearing it. I find skiing it as it lies is really challenging right down to doing a tele limbo to get under sweepers. You don't get to let them run much, but picking lines where a rabbit couldn't go can be a fun challenge in the right mindset.

StormyMonday wrote: I find skiing it as it lies is really challenging right down to doing a tele limbo to get under sweepers. You don't get to let them run much, but picking lines where a rabbit couldn't go can be a fun challenge in the right mindset.

I've been coming around to this mindset lately. If the snow is right, and you're not planning on charging hard, skiing thick untamed slopes can SOMETIMES be very rewarding. Other times, it gets frustrating to say the least.