City Watch

They’re affordable and readily available. They reduce traffic congestion and provide flexible mobility without contributing to the state’s destructive air-quality crisis, and frankly, they’re fun. Electric-assist bikes and electric-powered scooters—e-bikes and e-scooters—are taking over Utah from the streets of Salt Lake City to the paths of Summit County. What could possibly go wrong?

Do the Side Hustle!

Bird Charging and Lime Juicing

Dockless e-scooters need to be charged from time to time, and therein lies the opportunity to increase your earning potential. Using the Bird or Lime app, switch into charging mode to see a map with scooters that need some juice. The closer a scooter is to empty, the more you can earn. Take a scooter home, plug it in, drop it off in a hot spot and enjoy your extra income.

 

For starters, things may have gotten too big too fast for the supply and demand balance. Two e-scooter companies, Lime and Bird have made scooters under riders zipping around the streets ubiquitous in Salt Lake City. Because the e-scooters don’t require a fixed charging station, they’re also littered across sidewalks, lawns and parking lots. Park City introduced the country’s first entirely e-assist bike share program, Summit Bike Share, in 2017. The program has been wildly successful by most metrics with riders racking up in excess of 100,000 miles, translating to roughly 17,500 trips from Kimball Junction to Main Street. In a municipality where the two primary concerns are traffic and parking, that’s no small feat, yet at peak times during the summer docking stations are frequently low on inventory.

Little public consensus exists on how and where to ride. It’s illegal, for example, to ride e-assist devices on sidewalks , but that hasn’t stopped riders from doing so. State code prohibits e-scooters from being used on roads with speed limits over 25 mph, which includes many of the Salt Lake City streets in which they’re currently popular. Revising the code to meet the standards set for bikes—30 mph speed limit and four or fewer lanes unless a bike lane is present—would help eliminate the contradictions between regulation and practical use.

Bird and Lime require both require users to upload a valid driver’s license to confirm they’re a minimum of 18 years age, though e-bike shares, including Summit Bike Share, do not. It’s hard to say whether users are purposely sidestepping regulations or are simply unaware of laws governing e-scooter and e-bike use, and authorities throughout Utah have prudently supported education over heavy-handed enforcement thus far.

“It’s a classic case of innovation outpacing regulation,” says Jason Hargraves, insurance expert and managing editor for insurancequotes.com. Hargraves notes the dangers of having such a litigious society in which thousands of people are operating in an insurance blind spot within a regulatory gray area. Users agree to “binding arbitration” before using e-bikes and scooters, which leaves them with little to no legal recourse in the event they’re injured. 

“For most two-wheeled vehicles that travel over 30 mph operators are required to carry liability insurance. Most e-scooters and e-bikes top out between 15-20 mph, so there’s no regulatory definition for them Homeowner’s and renter’s insurance won’t cover users, and auto insurance is typically only for four-wheeled vehicles. Currently the best protection comes from having your auto insurance provider write up a special policy,” Hargraves adds.

Beneath the surface a public health issue is growing. Though no national data exists on e-scooter injury numbers, reports from health care providers suggest a surge in associated accidents, and many users aren’t wearing helmets. Helmet-share programs present a logistical nightmare involving hygiene, fit, theft and more, and riders aren’t bringing their own. Both Bird and Lime have distributed tens of thousands of free helmets to protect riders’ gray matter, but they’re also lobbying against helmet laws that would limit ridership. San Francisco is proactively confronting the issue through Vision Zero Injury Prevention Research to study, quantify and ultimately eliminate traffic injuries including those related to e-bikes and e-scooters. Officials in Utah would be wise to emulate the Bay Area’s safety efforts.

Despite the issues, e-scooter and e-bike use isn’t slowing down any time soon. The industry has become so profitable that Ford jumped into the ring, spending a reported $100 million to purchase the relatively small e-scooter company Spin in late 2018. Ford apparently sees the profitability in collecting data on scooter-share users. When was the last time unencumbered corporate data aggregation went wrong?

Both Salt Lake City and Park City have been urging people to ditch their cars, and take public transportation, which when coupled with innovative mobility programs means more people can get where they’re going, with less congestion and environmental burden. Commuters are doing their part, and it’s time our municipal governments catch up to the e-bandwagon to help work out the kinks.

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The Owen Wister Award has a convoluted history, shifting its purpose several times since its 1961 debut as the Saddleman Award. Originally a purely literary award, named for writer Owen Wister, considered the “father” of Western Literature, now it’s considered  one of the most prestigious prizes given by Western Writers of America for “Outstanding Contributions to the American West.” 

Award winners include director John Ford, popular novelists Louis L‘Amour and Elmer Kelton, actors John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.

And now, our own historian Will Bagley, most famous for his deeply researched account of the notorious Mountain Meadows Massacre, Blood of the Prophets, but also author, with David L. Bigler, of The Mormon Rebellion: America’s First Civil War, and dozens of other erudite but readable books about the development of the West and Utah’s peculiar beginnings.

That’s right. Eastwood. Wayne. Bagley.

Want to know more about where you live? Check out Bagley’s books. We love to find them at local booklorist Ken Sanders’ rare book store. 268 S. 200 East, SLC,  801-521-3819, kensandersbooks.com

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Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin (A-Basin) bucked the industry-wide trend of multi-resort season-pass consolidation by announcing an end to their partnership with Vail Resorts following the 2018-2019 ski season. The announcement comes as a bit of a shock as A-Basin chooses to go it alone at a time when most other resorts are being snatched up or entering into partnerships with larger corporate ski ownership groups including Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Company.

The split from Vail sets up rivalry between former allies A-Basin and neighboring Keystone—which will remain a Vail Resort—as they compete for early season opening bragging rights and a share of the front range’s sizable ski community. CEO Alan Henceroth cited a “pinch on parking and facility space” as the primary causes for A-Basin’s separation from Vail’s assorted season passes along while dropping subtle hints about maintaining the resort’s independent identity to better serve skiers and ultimately the resort going forward.

A-Basin’s East Wall. Credit:Arapahoe Basin

Utah ski resorts are likewise feeling the crush of visitors. Resorts throughout the state have succumbed to season pass consolidation, opening up more destinations to skiers looking for an affordable way to experience the Greatest Snow on Earth. Park City’s annexation of the Canyons and its addition to the Epic Pass assuredly gave skier days a boost at the resort while the Ikon Pass introduced the previously placid slopes of Solitude to a whole new group of skiers. Snowbasin, the hidden gem of Ogden, begins a partnership with the Epic Pass next winter, and I’d wager the ski-pass affiliation announcements aren’t done.

Interestingly, A-Basin claims there’s plenty of space for all the skiers on the mountain; the facilities just aren’t up to snuff. The same is seemingly true in Utah, where parking lots and base areas are consistently overwhelmed with crowds while the actual ski terrain does an adequate job of dispersing people throughout varied terrain. It will be interesting to see how Utah resorts respond to the swell and whether increased infrastructure investment is on the docket to mitigate the choke points that lead to unhinged lift line rants.

Regardless of who owns the resorts, this is why we ski. Credit: Arapahoe Basin

Ski resorts are famously tight-lipped about how many skiers visit their slopes and what their demographics are, but it would seem joining forces with titans like the Epic Pass and Ikon pass is good for business. Consolidation also brings consumers affordable access to a wide range of resorts—a tough perk to argue against as lift ticket prices soar—but the true penalties associated with increased visitation may compound as the pressure rises. A-Basin felt the heat and has decided to fly solo. Time will tell if any Utah resorts choose to follow in their footsteps.

See all our outdoors coverage here.

In 2019, women are still fighting for equality, and, according to WalletHub’s 2018 study, Utah is the worst offender, coming in dead-last in the “Best States for Women’s Rights” category. From income and executive position gaps to gender-based discrepancies in work hours and political representation, Utah has a lot of work to do.

Know Your  Presidents

Dr. Noelle E. Cockett (USU)
Ph.D. Breeding and Genetics
Spent five years as a research geneticist at the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.

Deneece Huftalin (SLCC)
Ph.D Education, Leadership, and Policy Dr. Huftalin has taught in the Education, Leadership, and Policy program at the University of Utah and serves on a number of community boards and committees including for the Salt Lake Chamber, EDCUtah, and Envision Utah.

Dr. Astrid S. Tuminez (UVU)
Ph.D. Political Science
Formerly the founding Vice-Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

Dr. Ruth V. Watkins (U of U)
Ph.D. Communication Development and Disabilities in Young Children
Spent 20 years at the University of Illinois serving in roles from faculty to Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Dr. Bethami Ann Dobkin (Westminster)
Ph.D. Rhetoric and Social Order
Previously held faculty positions at University of Hartford and University of San Diego.

Bright spot: There are a handful of women pioneering the charge for gender equity in their roles as presidents at universities across the state. Add Salt Lake Community College, with its student body of more than 34,000, also led by a woman, President Deneece Huftalin, and Utah has a female majority in higher education’s upper levels.

“I am very pleased to see four women university presidents in Utah, overseeing institutions educating roughly 70 percent of the students in the state,” said Dr. Astrid Tuminez, President of Utah Valley University. “In academia, as in most sectors, the top levels of leadership are still occupied by men. Women remain underrepresented in the top ranks of leadership despite the fact that we have made great strides in education and have entered the workforce in large numbers.”

Tuminez isn’t alone in a desire to encourage this trend of female academic leadership. Ruth V. Watkins, University of Utah’s president, knows her role is important to young women. “To be honest, I was a bit unprepared for how much it would mean to other women for me to be named president,” she says. “It is very powerful for me to have people come up and say that what I am doing has shown their own sons and daughters what is possible for women in leadership in Utah.”

“To be honest, I was a bit unprepared for how much it would mean to other women for me to be named president”

–Ruth Watkins, U of U president

Watkins’ leadership was indispensable during the tragic shooting death of University of Utah student Lauren McCluskey late last year. Facing a poignant crossroads, Watkins comforted and led her university community after the act of violence, releasing a statement grieving “the senseless loss of this bright, young woman,” and offering her students access to the school’s counseling and psychological services.

In the #MeToo era, violent acts against women take center stage, but so do stories of strong women helping bolster their communities in leadership roles even in the face of continued institutional bias. Westminster College is one of those leading the charge to achieve female equality in leadership. President Bethami Dobkin has made this issue an important part of her agenda. “Currently, over half of my executive cabinet identifies as female,” she says.

The rest of Westminster has followed suit. “There is no imbalance between women and men in the student population at Westminster. Westminster currently admits more women than men as students and women graduate at higher rates than men,” Dobkin adds. In fact, Westminster goes a step further and ensures pay equity across the campus as “all forms of equity are important to us.”

Much like Dobkin, Utah State University’s Noelle Cockett takes up this mantle as a central part of her agenda. “As President, I have no tolerance for inequity at Utah State,” she says. “We actually have more female students–52 percent to 48 percent at the time of graduation.” Cockett is also very aware of the importance of her position and uses it to help guide future female leaders: “Women need to mentor each other, offer suggestions to each other and help market their strengths as leaders throughout their respective industries.” Though UVU’s Tuminez is only a few months into her position, she, like Cockett, remains dedicated to advancing gender causes university-wide. “In 2015, UVU joined with other organizations across the state in accepting the ElevateHer challenge to elevate the stature of women’s leadership,” she says. “In 2018, UVU adopted a new search advocacy model for recruiting candidates for leadership and faculty positions and established UVU’s Women Council to provide a holistic perspective for UVU’s efforts for students, faculty, staff and outreach into the community.” While Utah continues the gender equality struggle, these incredible women offer a modicum of comfort to those dismayed by the current climate. Ultimately, USU’s President Cockett embodied the hope many have for the state’s future: “It’s important to me that women are empowered to follow their academic and professional passions and look for ways to lead.”

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At midnight on December 30, 2018, Utah became the first state in the country to consider a person with a blood alcohol level of .05 as drunk. The reasoning behind this strict law and how it came to be passed are part of an illogical, convoluted story—typical of the Utah legislature.

Kate Conyers and Jesse Nix.

What will its enforcement mean for local businesses and visitors? Well, in the words of criminal defense attorney Kate Conyers who handles DUI cases, “We just don’t know.”

Conyers and her law partner Jesse Nix each have ten years of experience in defending Utah DUI cases—they have worked with hundreds. I met with them at—where else—The Green Pig Pub to discuss possible consequences of the .05 law going into effect.

A Truly Unscientific Study

It’s usually obvious when a person is dangerously intoxicated—a drunk’s slurring and staggering have been the basis for generations of pratfall comedy. But when you get down to blood alcohol levels like .08 or .05, it can be hard to discern drunkenness. That’s where the Breathalyzer comes in. By the way, both Jarom and Maddy went home with designated drivers.

Drink: A Utah pour, 1.5 oz., of rum mixed with an equal amount with pineapple juice

Test: Walk a 9-foot line, Walk-and-turn / Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) / Stand on one leg

We had one of SLMags own, Jarom, be our first test subject.

• Jarom West
• Height: 6’
• Weight: 160 lbs.
• Pre-drink BAC number: .000
• Post-one drink BAC number: .012, Smooth walker.
• Post-two drink BAC number: .025, Smooth walker.
• Post-three-drink BAC number: .042, Smooth walker.
• Post-four-drink BAC number: .065, Walked the line well. Pivot: gracefully.

Madeline Slack was nice enough to volunteer for our very unscientific experiment.

• Madeline Slack
• Height: 5’8”
• Weight: 118 lbs.
• Pre-drink BAC number: .000
• Post-one drink BAC number: .028, Stepped off line at least twice and stumbled a couple times on the pivot.
• Post-two drink BAC number: .061, HGN: lack of smooth pursuit; not nystagmus.

“We don’t know if the police are planning to increase the number of DUI officers,” says Conyers. “There’s no special funding for it right now.”

It takes a lot of time to process a suspected DUI, according to Nix. In order to pull over a driver, an officer has to have probable cause—that could be anything from not stopping a full three seconds at a stop sign to weaving in and out of lanes. There’s a chart listing suspicious behaviors, driving at varying speeds, failure to signal, driving 10 miles per hour under the speed limit—all things many drivers do stone-cold sober. If he suspects the driver has been drinking, the officer can request a field sobriety test, designed to evaluate an individual’s divided attention—driving demands multiple kinds of attentiveness.

Tests may include walking a nine-foot straight line heel-to-toe, the Rhomberg Modified Test (keeping your balance with your eyes closed), the walk-and-turn test, the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) test (tracking an object horizontally), the one-leg stand test, the finger-to-nose and the finger count test. Each field sobriety test has specific cues that an officer looks for while monitoring a suspect’s performance. But the defining test is the Intoxilyzer, which most of us call a breathalyzer.

Until then it’s all still suspicion, especially if the subject’s blood alcohol content is .08. Will .05 make a difference? Many Utah DUI attorneys agree that it’s best to refuse the personal breathalyzer test, called a PBT test, which is usually the equipment available to regular cops. Designated DUI officers carry a large, more sophisticated Intoxilyzer in the trunks of their cars; they set it on the hood, so the car’s camera can record the testing procedure. These machines must be recalibrated every 40 days and before and after each arrest. Plus, the officers must observe the Baker Period—the 15 minutes of observation required before administering the test.

Like we said, it’s complicated and time-consuming.

It’s possible after .05 goes into effect, the police may be more vigilant about minor traffic violations, finding cause to find pull people over.

“It’s not hard to get that .05 level,” says Tanner Lenart, an attorney who works with establishments that serve liquor. “But,” she adds, “It’s also not-hard to not get to that level. If you’re having wine with a multi-course dinner each course over time, the results can be very different than if you’re out on the town doing shots. And of course, the BAC in a woman who drank the same amount as a large man will differ considerably.” (See pp. 87 for Salt Lake magazine’s unscientific experiment.)

The real question is, will the new .05 law make Utahns any safer on the road? Conyers  and Nix doubt it.

“If they’re looking for low-hanging fruit, will they be giving the really dangerous offenders less attention?” questions Conyers.

“Utah already has one of the lowest drunk driver rates in the country,” Lenart points out. “The difference is actually very slight between .05 and .08. We know the risk isn’t at this level. So what is the point of the legislation? There are many more accidents involving distracted drivers—the cellphone is more a of a problem. Why not address that instead of criminalizing behavior that’s legal in the rest of the country? This is a solution to a problem we don’t have.”

There is no provision for differentiating between degrees of intoxication in the new law. Someone who is arrested for a BAC of .05 could face the same set of consequences as a person with a BAC of .08. We differentiate types of murder, but not alcohol level?

There are, everyone I talked to agreed, a lot of holes in this law and a lot of unanswered questions.

“At the time the .05 law was passed, public attention was focused on the Zion Curtain controversy,” says Michele Corigliano, former director of the Salt Lake Area Restaurant Association. “No one thought the .05 would really go through.” It was passed through committee without a lot of scrutiny. And almost immediately it drew fire—Rep. Karen Kwan (D-Murray) sponsored a bill to delay the start date of the law, arguing that the issue needed more study. “This is a bad policy and we need to fix it,” Kwan said.

Ever-dramatic Sen. Jim Dabakis (D-Salt Lake City), said he had two mimosas before attending the 8 a.m. legislative hearing to vote on Kwan’s proposal, just to prove his lack of impairment. The .05 law prevailed.

BACtrack Mobile Smartphone Breathalyzer: About $100 at Best Buy, it connects to your Smartphone via Bluetooth and the box claims “police-grade accuracy.” But—grain of salt.

Because it’s legislation passed by the Latter-day Saints-majority legislature, Lenart feels these are laws made for drinkers by non-drinkers—people making laws about something they don’t understand without scientific rationale or data. It’s also elitist, she says, to create laws that affect a certain population.

Finally, the economic repercussions should be considered. The annual retail liquor sales in Utah reached $427.6 million in 2016-17. At that time, there were 27 local distilleries, dozens of craft breweries and a booming cocktail business, all giving the lie to the tourist-inhibiting impression that “You can’t get a drink in Utah.”

How the new law will affect this sector of Utah’s important tourism business remains to be seen. Some bars are already installing breathalyzers.

Until then, Happy New Year. Be careful. And don’t hesitate to use the businesses that will certainly boom because of the new law: Uber and Lyft.

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Isha Shire wants to be a cop. “Yeah, you risk your life and everything,” says the 19-year-old Somalian Bantu refugee, “but you help so much.”When Shire told her parents she had joined the Salt Lake City Police Department’s Explorers—a program for teenagers interested in law enforcement as a career—they were upset. Refugees are often afraid of cops, having fled traumatic violence by uniformed men in their home countries. Most in their social circle said she shouldn’t do it. “The community really didn’t like it at first,” says her mother Deynaba Alagaba, for whom Shire translated. “They said she was going to die, that she was too small to be a cop.”

It also didn’t go down well with some of her contemporaries. The first time she posted online pictures of herself in uniform, some, among them relatives, asked her, “‘You would kill your own people?’”

One youth who claimed to be a 20-year-old refugee who had done jail time, shared his disgust with her on Snapchat. “But ur a pig bruh like how do u expect people to feel about u fukin up peoples live n shi. [sic]”

She remains undeterred. “At the end of the day, you do you,” she says. “You go for what you really want.”

Shire is one of only two refugee youth enrolled among the 51 cadets, who meet every Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Salt Lake’s Public Safety building for a mix of exercise, drills and lessons in the various disciplines that make up law enforcement. Why they are so badly needed is apparent in refugees’ stories, including that of Shire’s own parents.

Deynaba Alagaba and Hussein Osman met in a Kenyan refugee camp in the early 1990s. Both walked for days to get there from Somalia to escape a country sinking into violence and conflict. In the process, they buried loved ones who didn’t survive the journey. A decade later, a refugee group brought the then seven-member family to Utah, after a bewildering night in a two-bed New York hotel room when they all slept on the floor.

“They would always hear America is the land of freedom,” Shire translates as her parents speak in the West Valley City house the family of 10 has called home for 12 years. “They wanted their kids to be educated, they wanted us to get better jobs than they had.”

When they saw the police, with their guns and batons, “They were really scared,” Shire says. In Somalia and Kenya the police had often been corrupt. “If someone has power, they have the right to take away your rights,” Alagaba says.

There are 65,000 refugees in Utah, most concentrated in the Salt Lake valley, including South Salt Lake, West Valley, Taylorsville and Midvale. For cops, the challenge of policing refugees is negotiating language and cultural differences. Local police departments put together presentations for newly arrived refugees about the actions that can surge a cop’s adrenaline, or, as SLCPD refugee liaison Det. Rob Ungricht calls it The Basics. “Like if you get pulled over, show us your hands, don’t be putting them in your pockets.”

One refugee who saw a cop’s flashing lights behind him, stepped on the gas, recalls Asha Parek, the head of Utah’s Refugee Services. In his country, flashing light meant speed to get out of the way of a motorcade. In Utah that got him arrested after a high-speed chase.

At the same time, cops need to understand that a refugee’s behavior is rooted in cultural customs.

In Somalia, you look at the ground out of respect when talking to the authorities. Cops in Utah think you’re lying.

Somalians talk with their hands. That tells an agitated officer you might be violent.

Several social workers, speaking anonymously because they didn’t have permission from their supervisors to talk to media, painted a more troubling picture. They estimated that 80 percent of recently arrived refugee youth end up in the justice system, and social isolation is the root cause. Speaking little English, refugees are easy prey for gang recruitment. They are often set up to take the fall for crimes planned by other gang members. They’re told to go to a store to steal, or get sent into a house to burglarize while the gang is on “look-out,” but the others disappear when the refugee child triggers an alarm. With threats of violence if they inform, the resulting criminal record can prove a barrier to employment and a green card.Parek says refugee interactions with the criminal justice system is a tiny part of all the good stories that can be found at the Refugee Service Center. While she notes an anecdotal uptick in recent years in complaints from Utah refugees about abuse and harassment, she laments the lack of statistics.

“Nobody tracks these incidences based on refugee status,” she says.

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Encircle, the LGBTQ+ Family and Youth Resource Center, will open its second location in Salt Lake City, on the two-year anniversary of its first center in Provo. Encircle will hold a grand opening for the new home—the John Williams Encircle, named in memory of John Williams a prominent Salt Lake City restauranteur, historic preservationist and LGBTQ+ community supporter. The new facility is located in a historic home located at 331 S. 600 East in Salt Lake City.

The John Williams Encircle Grand Opening will be held on Friday, Feb. 8, 2019, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. and is open to the public. The event will feature home tours and information on Encircle’s programs and services for LGBTQ+ youth and their families.

Williams (1944-2016), a visionary and a founding partner of Gastronomy Restaurants. He helped revitalize the city’s downtown through his love of community, the arts and historical preservation. Williams, the uncle of Encircle’s founder and CEO Stephenie Larsen, was the first donor to commit funding to Encircle before his passing. His legacy of community involvement and generosity helped shape the vision of Encircle.

Last December Encircle presented IGNITE 2018, at the Adobe Campus in Utah County.

“We hope that the John Williams Encircle will continue his legacy of love of community, family and the art,” Larsen explained. “John wanted Encircle to be a welcoming home for those who may not feel at home anywhere else, a place where people can connect with themselves and others. John wanted the youth to understand they should never feel shame for who they are, they are beautiful as they are and the world needs them”

Our coverage of IGNITE 2019

Notable members of the community supporting Encircle include Utah Governor Gary Herbert, Utah Lt. Governor Spencer Cox, Steve & Barbara Young, Mitchell Gold, Utah Senator Jim Dabakis, Utah Congressman Derek Kitchen, Scott Anderson, Marianne and James Huntsman, Diane Stewart, Amy Redford, Steve Eckert, Jenny Wilson, and other state and local officials. Musicians VINCINT, Parson James and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Choir will perform at the grand opening

Encircle’s new SLC location will have a grand opening event on Feb. 8, 2019 and open for services on Feb. 14, 2019.

John Williams Encircle will begin offering services in on Valentine’s Day—Thursday, February 14, 2019. Encircle’s dedicated team seeks to empower the community’s LGBTQ+ youth and their families, offering support and love, while creating a safe gathering place available to individuals, loved ones, and the community. The center facilitates support groups, provides individual and family counseling, collaborates with school leaders to create safe learning environments for sexual and gender minority youth, hosts guest speakers and workshops, and much more.

John Williams with Encircle’s founder Stephanie Larsen

Encircle strives to model what a loving home should feel like, and the LGBTQ+ youth benefit from the connectedness they experience because of that. Much care has been given to create each Encircle Home. As Larsen has stated, “The youth need to feel as though they are worth the very best.” As one LGBTQ+ youth who frequents Encircle commented, “I love Encircle because it’s a place where I don’t have to be scared of being me.” Another youth expressed similar sentiments, “Encircle is a place where I can find people I connect with, and feel safe and at ease socially.”

Learn more at EncircleTogether.org.

The FIS Freestyle, Freeskiing and Snowboarding World Championships is taking over Utah this week, and a couple of hometown heroes stepped up to put on a show for the local crowd. In front of a raucous packed house under the lights at Park City Canyons Village, Julia Krass and Alex Hall went huge during the inaugural Ski Big Air World Championships, unfurling a series of tricks that have each looking like prime contenders for the event’s inclusion in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Krass on her way to earning a silver medal. Photo: Rocky Maloney

Krass finished the night by taking home the World Championship Silver Medal in the women’s competition during what was her first ever big air event. The Hanover, New Hampshire native who lives and trains part time in Park City is an accomplished slopestyle athlete, but she’d never before taken her skills to the more all-in format of big air. Krass started the night with a right side double cork 1080 safety grab—three spins while going off axis twice and grabbing her ski edge—before upping the ante with a switch 1080 safety grab—three spins while taking off and landing backwards—a trick she’d never done in competition before.

Hall—a local Utah shredder who is fresh off a career-defining X Games Gold Medal victory in January—finished just off the men’s podium in fourth place. Wearing the lucky sweater his mother gave him last year for Christmas, Hall threw down a left side double cork 1620 and a massive left side switch double cork 1440 with a seatbelt grab to challenge for a spot on the box right up to the end of the evening.

Alex Hall with his signature seatbelt grab during qualifiers.
Photo: Rocky Maloney

You can check out the highlights from Krass and Hall by visiting the US Ski and Snowboard website. They’ll both be taking center stage on Wednesday, February 6 at Park City Mountain for the World Championships Slopestyle Competition. Check out the rest of the World Championships schedule including men’s and women’s halfpipe, moguls, aerials and more to see the world’s best in action.

Feb 6, 2019

11:00 a.m.- FREESKI SLOPESTYLE FINAL – PARK CITY VILLAGE AT PARK CITY MOUNTAIN

7:00 p.m. –  FREESTYLE AERIALS FINAL – DEER VALLEY RESORT

FEB 7, 2019

7:00 p.m. – FREESTYLE TEAM AERIALS FINAL – DEER VALLEY RESORT

FEB 8, 2019

11:00 a.m.- SNOWBOARD HALFPIPE FINAL – PARK CITY VILLAGE AT PARK CITY MOUNTAIN

7:00 p.m. – FREESTYLE MOGULS FINAL – DEER VALLEY RESORT

FEB 9, 2019

11:00 a.m. – FREESKI HALFPIPE FINAL – PARK CITY VILLAGE AT PARK CITY MOUNTAIN

7:00 p.m. – FREESTYLE DUAL MOGULS FINAL – DEER VALLEY RESORT

Feb 10, 2019

11:00 a.m.- SLOPESTYLE FINAL – PARK CITY VILLAGE AT PARK CITY MOUNTAIN

4:00 p.m.- CLOSING CEREMONIES AND HEADLINE ACT LUPE FIASCO, HOSTED BY DEER VALLEY RESORT – MAIN STREET, PARK CITY