Big Sky Cairn

The proposal to close the ‘M’ Hiking trail between August and October has touched a bit of a raw nerve with me. In the summer, I probably hike to the M twice a week, and all the way to the wind sock at least once or twice a month. The official reason - concerns about fires - didn’t make much sense to me since there have been other dry years and that mountain has always seemed susceptible to burning (look no further than the North face to see that this isn’t a new threat).

The fire concern also made more sense from a county perspective than a city or university approach. The article clearly explains that the proposal was being floated by both the City of Missoula and the University of Montana. That didn’t make too much sense until I remembered something that I read with regard to the 2000 seat expansion of Washington-Grizzly Stadium. I can’t find it online, and I’ve since thrown away my dead-tree copy, but in essence a University Official was explaining that the expense of the renovations was going to be recouped by a combination of increased ticket sales and higher royalties for television coverage. What caught my attention was that he also said that fans watching the games for free from Mount Sentinel reduced the television ratings, which actually cost the University hundreds of thousands of dollars every season.

Click. Suddenly “August through October” has a whole new significance. Is the University supporting the closure of the ‘M’ to help finance a larger stadium? Maybe.

My biggest concern though is that there is a more insidiously diabolical goal behind this seasonal closure plan. Michael Moore over at Western Montana 360 set my brain working with his post about the concerns that “local plant protectors” (environmentalists, not union bosses) had with the environmental impact of the famous “M” (and to a lesser degree, the “L” too). For the extreme environmental fringe in Missoula, the wide trail cutting its way up to the concrete monstrosity of the “M” has always been contentious. I know that Loyola Sacred Heart High School - which maintains the “L” - has run afoul of environmentalists with it’s annual whitewashing of the stones that make up that letter.

So my question is this. Does anyone actually think that “fire concerns” are the real motivation behind this plan? Or are we seeing a money grab by the University of Montana athletic department? Or is this the first step in reclaiming Mount Sentinel permanently in the name of Mother Gaia?

By the way… April Fools!