SAVE THE HAGEN STAIRCASE!
The Forest Service is taking public comment about their desire to reroute and close the beloved Hagen Staircase.
Public Comments Due tomorrow April 30th!
Send yours to lmerigliano@fs.fed.us
Here’s Mine:
I want to thank the Jackson Ranger District for all the hard work put into our local trail network since I moved to the area in 1998. We are truly lucky to have such a proactive group of individuals representing the Forest Service here. I am in favor of all the projects proposed for the Summer of 2010 with one exception. I would not like to see the Hagen staircase closed and rehabilitated. I agree this section of trail in its current form is unsustainable and that there is no easy solution to bring this section of trail to an acceptable level of service. However, I think it is well worth the effort.
As we all know, the number of technical trail features on Teton Pass is growing. I can speak from experience at the bike shop that there are also a growing number of riders looking to learn how to ride more technical trails. Unfortunately, there are very few areas that are condusive to learning how to ride in this way. But there is the Hagen staircase. Over time, the Hagen staircase has been the local Mt Bikers’ test piece. A place that is easily accessible, challenging, relatively safe and repeatable. A place where a rider can gauge their abilities and decide if they are ready for the next step. Now with the proposed reconstruction of Philips Canyon, the Hagen staircase would be an extremely unique and necessary part of our entire trial system. Without the staircase, I’m afraid there will be no safe place for someone to decide if they are ready to attempt a trail like Lithium. Instead, riders will be forced to ride Lithium and potentially hurt themselves in a very remote area before learning where their abilities lie. Currently when a rider asks me, “Do you think I can handle Lithium?” I respond, “Can you ride the Hagen stairs?”
I want to finish with a personal anecdote. When I first met my wife, she was terrified of riding downhill what so ever. When I brought up the idea of riding down the Hagen stairs, her response was a very loud, “Never in a million years, don’t even ask me that again.” Well, I did keep asking, and after a lot of convincing she was able to ride very slowly down the staircase with flat pedals and her saddle lowered all the way. After a summer of practice like this, she decided that clipping into pedals and riding the staircase would be ok as long as she kept lowering her saddle and I was right there with her. Every time she made it to the bottom without stepping off the bike, she would hoot and holler all the way back to the trail head! Another summer of this practice and one day she was out riding by herself and decided to just go for it. She didn’t stop at the top to lower her saddle, she didn’t get off and walk, but instead she rolled right into the staircase and greased it! I’ve never seen her smile more than when she came back and bragged to me about her accomplishment. Fast forward 6 years. Jannine has now ridden, raced, and mentored other women on some of North America’s most challenging downhill trail networks including Whistler, BC, Boulder City, NV, Keystone, CO, the North Shore of Vancouver, and of course Teton Pass, WY. I am now absolutely convinced of two things. 1. The Hagen Staircase was instrumental in her development as a Mt Biker. & 2. This is not a unique story.
Maintaining the Hagen staircase in a sustainable way will not be easy. It will take a lot of resources to make this a successful project. But I think it is worth it and I think the Mt Bike community would rally behind the effort so the burden does not fall solely on the Forest Service. I for one would be glad to help save the Hagen Stairs in any way I can.
3 Responses to “SAVE THE HAGEN STAIRCASE!”
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Great letter Fitzy! I will write mine shortly. And despite the fact that worse mtn bike crash I have ever suffered was on the Hagen Staircase, I would hate to see them “sanitize” it. It still scares me and I dig that.
I was just talking about how cool the stair case was today! Email on its way
You got it Dave. We will tackle it again this summer and you will ace it. Great letter Fitzy…that section of trail certainly does have a special place in my heart…I would be very sad to see it go.