REEFER SADNESS AT SNOWMASS

ASPEN - On Snowmass, ski-town culture is undergoing a quiet battle
that no one wants to fight - one fueled mostly by liability concerns.

The controversy regards the fate of a dozen or so shacks that
represent some of the coolest hangout spots on Snowmass Mountain.

The smoke shacks - or "unapproved structures" as the Forest Service
calls them - are basically little hideaways to take a break and spark
a joint. Most are well-hidden, with found wood and some twine, though
a few have taken it to the next level with seats, multiple levels, and
even iPod speakers.

"It's becoming an issue all over the place," said Jim Stark, winter
sports administrator for the White River National Forest. "I was just
down at Sunlight, and they're having the same issue popping up. I told
[Snowmass] they need to start getting rid of them."

Skico brass says there's no problem with the shacks and that it hasn't
been asked to take down the structures, but Rich Burkley, Skico's vice
president of mountain operations, said the Skico would comply with any
Forest Service directive.

The Forest Service said it has ordered the shacks down.

No one wants to be the bad guy in this battle.

Unlike the shrines on Aspen Mountain, most of which are on private
land, nearly all of Snowmass is public land, part of the White River
National Forest. Shrines on Ajax came up for review last winter when
Skico execs complained that some of the shacks were just trash and
should be taken down.

This year, as last, executives said these citizen creations were just
"popping up" all over the place, highlighting the fact neither Skico
Nor the Forest Service has a reasonable solution for getting rid of
either shacks or shrines.

"As these new ones pop up, they should be taken down," Stark said.
"The ones no one knows about are not a priority. They are probably
going to keep popping up. They pop up quick. Kids have a lot of time
and effort to put these up. To turn a blind eye to it is not the right
thing to do."

It doesn't take more than an hour to go in, nail a bunch of
memorabilia, photographs, silk flowers and a pair of panties to a
tree. Consummate that with a toke, and a shrine is born. Similarly,
smoking shacks can be made in a matter of hours during the summer and
can be easily disguised, he said.

"We're seeing stuff popping up all over the mountain," former Aspen
Mountain manager Steve Sewell said in an interview last year. He since
has become Snowmass mountain manager.

"We don't really appreciate it at this point," he said "One man's
shrine gets to be another man's trash."

The shacks show how many people find the mountains, and ski hills in
particular, an important place. Many of the shacks on various
mountains are for lost relatives or heroes.

Burkley noted that if shacks are not kept up, they quickly turn into
trash. At the point when everything is faded and rarely visited, he
said it's no big deal to bag up the trash and throw it away.

"It would be unfair to compare those with ski area infrastructure,"
Stark said. "It depends on how you determine impact. It might be more
about image. It's not strictly about cutting down a tree or limbing
branches. The difference is that one is authorized and the other goes
through an approval process."

Stark said the issue of safety has come up in discussions with the
Skico. He said that while it is not the Skico's job to baby-sit
everyone on the mountain, liability concerns have made the issue much
larger. Burkley, on the other hand, said there is not a safety concern
at the moment regarding the shacks, and the Skico doesn't even know
where most of them are.

About five years ago, Stark said, a kid passed out in one of the huts
on Sunlight after drinking too much and nearly froze to death. That's
the worst-case scenario that Stark said must be avoided.

However, Stark and Skico execs noted the value of the shacks. Neither
party said drug use in the shacks was a problem; Stark said it was
clear that people have been and would continue toking in the forest,
shacks or no shacks.

"Those funky things are kind of the old Aspen and add to messy
vitality of the things a lot of us would like to cling on to, some
funky stuff," Stark said. "That's probably why some of that is still
up, both from our standpoint, the ski area's standpoint and the
public's standpoint."