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DRAPER — People who use the Point of the Mountain as a recreational haven for paragliding and hang gliding have reached a stalemate with state and local officials.
It's a fight to use some of the best wind in the world. Geneva Rock owns and mines the land and they have the rights and the permits. What the paragliders and hang gliders want is for the land to remain untouched.
So they're looking for a little help from the state but that's where the wind gets taken out of their sails. More than 10,000 people come here every year from around the world to jump off the side of a perfectly good mountain.
You know, we don't really remember life before flying and we have a hard time thinking about life after flying.
–paraglider Sarah Child
"For us, it is just life," said paraglider Sarah Child.
The Point of the Mountain is home to some of the best wind in the world.
"You know, we don't really remember life before flying and we have a hard time thinking about life after flying," Child said.
Life after flying could happen quickly for everyone. Geneva Rock is sheering away parts of the point in phases for mining operations, which if it goes much further, would kill the windy mecca for flying.
"Land swap or purchase would be the only way Geneva would want to leave because they are well established here, they're settled in here, they own the land," said Chris Hunlow, writer from savesteepmountain.org.
The group from Save Steep Mountain first went to Draper city leaders.
"But you go to the city and you ask them for help, they say, ‘We can't. We need to go to the state.' So, we asked the state for help, they say, ‘We need to go to the fed.' We go to the federal government for help, they say, ‘We need to get it controlled by the state,'" Hunlow said.
Land swap or purchase would be the only way Geneva would want to leave because they are well established here, they're settled in here, they own the land.
–Chris Hunlow, Save Steep Mountain
Flight Park North is a Salt Lake County park, but until it has historic value recognized by the state, Geneva can keep mining away.
To their credit, the rock company has been more than willing to take less than what the land is worth to keep these flyers happy.
"It has been used since World War II. We're still using it today. Again, it's something that's rare around the world. So if we protect this and make it a historic spot, the state could adopt it as a park and we could turn this into a conservation effort, rather than a destruction," Hunlow said.
The flyers here note that a similar process occurred on the south side of the point of the mountain, which has been designated as a state park and cannot be infringed up on by Geneva Rock.
