Canyons Resort has revealed the proposed route of a controversial 11,000-foot gondola linking Canyons and Solitude Mountain Resorts in Utah’s Wasatch range. Construction of the SkiLink gondola would require a 70-foot-wide tree-free corridor and 25 towers. The plan proposes that each hole be dug by hand, with the towers flown in by helicopter, to try to minimalize the gondola’s footprint. While the plan’s backers say the project could , opponents point to the dangers of building within the city’s watershed and the potential environmental impact of the project, including the need for a maintenance road. Currently, the U.S. Forest Service owns a portion of the property the gondola would traverse and does not permit ski-resort expansion in the area. Representative Rob Bishop and other Republican members of Utah’s congressional delegation are sponsoring a bill requiring the Forest Service to sell the land. If the land-sale goes through, county and city governments would still have to approve the project.
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