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A development in Coal Basin would enhance or add more variety to <br /> the "Highway 82 Corridor" and to the Colorado skiing experience in <br /> general. It would cause fewer impacts than an area that has to "start <br /> from scratch" as has been the case at the sites mentioned above and <br /> others around the State; plus the fact that the development would not be <br /> seen from the scenic or "water influence" zone that includes the Crystal <br /> River Valley, adjacent to Highway 133 from Carbondale to McClure Pass. <br /> Furthermore, the U. S. Forest Service, in their recent "Roadless <br /> Area" studies (RARE I and II) , reviewed and eliminated the Coal Basin <br /> area and country to the north and south in favor of the recommended and <br /> approved expansion of the Maroon Bells - Snowmass Wilderness. This <br /> expansion includes the country east of Redstone and Highway 133 from and <br /> including Mt. Sopris on the north, and south to the country immediately <br /> north of Marble. (See the RARE II Final Environmental Statement of <br /> January 1979 prepared by the Forest Service) . <br /> The writer was involved with the ski area feasibility studies in <br /> the Redstone area during 1957-1960 and all of the slopes except for the <br /> one between Hawk and Kline Creeks were determined to be "marginal" or <br /> "unacceptable". The reasons included the below-the-accepted-minimum- <br /> elevation of 8,000 feet for adequate snow cover on a north facing slope, <br /> the generally west exposure, and a base elevation of only 7200 feet at <br /> Redstone. The short T-bar ski lift built in 1960 between the Redstone <br /> Lodge and the Castle was a trial effort that lasted for only two short <br /> seasons. (See "Chronologies" of the ski areas on the White River National <br /> Forest prepared by the writer in 1979 under contract from the Forest <br /> Service) . <br /> -4- <br />