A group of snowboarders are taking legal action against a Utah ski area that bans them from boarding on its slopes.
Wasatch Equality, a Utah nonprofit corporation, and four individual snowboarders filed a lawsuit in the District Court for the District of Utah against Alta Ski Area and the United States Forest Service, seeking to permanently enjoin Alta from enforcing its anti-snowboarder policy and snowboarding ban. The plaintiffs also seek a declaration from the Court that Alta’s snowboarding prohibition, as enforced by the Forest Service, violates the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and is therefore unlawful.
When snowboarding first became popular in the 1980s a sizable number of ski areas prohibited boarding or limited boarders to certain slopes. By the mid 1990s nearly all ski areas did permit snowboarding on all slopes (one of the notable exceptions was Park City Mountain resort in Utah which quickly changed its mind in time to host boarding events at the 2002 Utah Olympics) and now only three areas are known to still ban boarding, all in the USA.
“Alta is one of only three ski resorts in the United States that does not allow snowboarding, and Alta is the only one of these resorts that is operated on public land controlled by the Forest Service. Because of Alta’s relationship with the government, Alta’s actions must comply with the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause,” said Jonathan Schofield, attorney with Parr Brown Gee & Loveless, who represents Wasatch Equality
According to SchofieldAlta’s prohibition against snowboarders excludes a particular class of individuals from use and enjoyment of public land based on irrational discrimination against snowboarders, which denies them equal protection under the law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.”
“Alta operates under a Forest Service Permit, which specifically states that the public lands “shall remain open to the public for all lawful purposes,” yet Alta refuses to allow certain members of the public from using its land. The Complaint alleges that when Alta set forth its snowboarder ban in the mid-1980s, its policy was initiated as a result of animus held by Alta’s ownership, management, and customers towards snowboarders, and that Alta continues to enforce its ban based on this animus,” he added.
The Complaint further alleges that the reasons offered by Alta in support of its policy are a pretext and that there is no legitimate reason for Alta and the Forest Service’s continued denial of access to one group of people (snowboarders) while granting access to a similar group of people (skiers). Thus, according to the Complaint, Alta’s anti-snowboarder policy and snowboarding ban cannot be enforced.
“Snowboarding and skiing are wholesome, family-friendly activities, and there is no reason why they cannot coexist,” said Drew Hicken of Wasatch Equality. “We feel that it is time for Alta to let go of outdated prejudices that perpetuate a skier-versus-snowboarder mentality and allow everyone, regardless of whether they are skiers or snowboarders, to share the mountain together.”
The two other ski areas that still ban boarders in the US are Deer Valley in Utah and Mad River Glen in Vermont.
