Wholistic Fitness

{Coach, who once competed in the World Extreme Ski Championships, has been a propopent of a hotly contested legal battle to get snowmaking approved at Flagstaff’s local ski area; Arizona Snowbowl. Photo by Ananda of Coach carving a tele turn at the Snowbowl last year.}

This was a big one…i bow to the Tribal Elders and let it be known that at least one mountain yogi all-Ways honors the Sanctity of ANY mountain peak, and particularly these beautiful Kachina Peaks. I spend an WHOLE LOT OF TIME up in these Sacred Peaks, sweating my ceremonial prayers…yet i have only seen 3 Native Americans in all the hours i have logged. Perhaps if MORE of my Native American Brothers and Sisters would share outdoor sweat with me and other outdoor athletes, they would See the Tribal Wisdom of being able to ski on a tiny fragment of the huge peaks by way of 100% reclaimed water in snowmaking. One of my Lifetime Goals is to train a Native American, preferrably a Navajo, Southern Ute, or Taos Puebloan to represent their Nation in the Winter Olympics as a Nordic Ski Racer.

By next year, it sounds like we will be able to ski/snowshoe from October through April, baby. 100% reclaimed water will be used for the Arizona Snowbowl beginning as early as next ski season…so, check out the local ski area of the Temple Grounds at: www.arizonasnowl.com

In fact, as many of you know, i am the Event Director of a USSA (United States Snowshoe Association) Regional Qualifying Event that was supposed to take place January 22nd. I, and Nordic Center owner Wendell Johnson, have stood our optimism and will have an event called, “SNOW OR NO”…it will be a trail run, a mountain bike, or whatever you want, but SnowGod Darn It?!?! We WILL have an EVENT! check it out at: http://www.flagstaffnordiccenter.com/

if you wish me to send you a PDF flyer of my event, just let me know! would LOVE to see you there!

“Remember oh Mighty Brothers and Sisters; the truest SweatLodge is called, our Skin…regardless of its color or heritage.” WF Tribal Chief, Coach Ilg.

Flag is supposed to finally get our second snow of the virtually snowless season this weekend…so, maybe just maybe, Ananda and i will be honoring the Mountain Gods by way of ski, snowshoe, and Sacred Sweat.

If you wish to read more about this pivotal decision for Flag’s economy and us outdoor athletes who cherish our land…here is the local newspaper report.

namaste from the land of the snows…

coach ilg

***
Judge OKs snowmaking on Peaks
By CYNDY COLE
Sun Staff Reporter
01/12/2006

Arizona Snowbowl can use reclaimed wastewater to make snow, District Judge Paul Rosenblatt ruled late Wednesday.

Snowbowl would be allowed to begin construction on snowmaking infrastructure immediately barring an injunction and further legal appeals by tribes and environmental groups.

The Flagstaff Activist Network and Save the Peaks Coalition vowed to appeal the case to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and ask for such an injunction.

Snowbowl has said it would like to have snowmaking for the winter of 2006-2007.

The Coconino National Forest supervisor applauded the judge’s decision.

“We have worked very hard on this important project that serves as a valid use of national forest land,” Nora Rasure said in a statement.

“The San Francisco Peaks are valuable to many people and certainly to Native American Tribes who consider them sacred,” she said. “We will continue to work with the tribes to address their concerns and ensure, to the best of our ability, that the Peaks retain as much value to the tribes as possible.”

Native American religious freedoms and the Forest Service’s policy of managing land for many uses, including skiing, were the critical issues in the case.

Rosenblatt ruled that the tribes didn’t practice their religion directly within the Snowbowl area by, for example, gathering plants there and that they could practice their religion elsewhere on the Peaks.

Since the Hopis, for example, couldn’t prove they hadn’t already been harmed by the ski area’s existence and didn’t use the ski area specifically for religious purposes, they could not prove that further development would harm them, Rosenblatt said.

Lawyers for the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, Sierra Club, Flagstaff Activist Network and other plaintiffs said making snow on a park of the Peaks would be tantamount to violating their clients’ religions by harming them all.

But plaintiffs can’t win a case regarding how land is used by claiming spiritual harm, Rosenblatt said of prior higher court rulings.

To rule otherwise, he said, would give the tribes limitless rights to find and add sacred sites ranging from the entire Grand Canyon to whole mountain ranges.

The case was essentially a repeat of a 1979 legal battle that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, with the same outcome for the tribes.

The judge noted in his ruling several seeming hypocrisies by several tribes into his decision, saying the White Mountain Apaches violated at least some of their members’ religious rights by putting mid-grade reclaimed wastewater on the mountain at Sunrise Ski Resort, the Havasupai released reclaimed water into their drainages, the Hopi allow mining on the sacred land of Black Mesa and the Navajo used reclaimed water for various purposes.

These tribes, he said, have had to weigh their own members’ religious rights and beliefs against development in sacred sites, and the sacred sites haven’t always come out as most important.

On other matters, the judge ruled the Forest Service used the best available science in deciding reclaimed water turned into snow would be safe for skiers and that Snowbowl wouldn’t remain a viable business without snowmaking.

Arizona Snowbowl didn’t return calls Wednesday.

Flagstaff Activist Network treasurer Rudy Preston said his group was disappointed and looking at an injunction.

“This is going to go on in court for quite awhile,” he said.

Cyndy Cole can be reached at ccole@azdailysun.com