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.”

Subscribers can see more. Sign up and you’ll be included in our membership program and get access to exclusive deals, premium content and more. Get the magazine, get the deals, get the best of life in Utah! 

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.

Subscribers can see more. Sign up and you’ll be included in our membership program and get access to exclusive deals, premium content and more. Get the magazine, get the deals, get the best of life in Utah!