After years of compensating Grand County for maintaining Class B roads that are remote from its headquarters in Monticello, San Juan County has re-assumed responsibility for roads such as Geyser Pass and Hurrah Pass.

    The motivation is to save money by utilizing San Juan's equipment and workers more efficiently, rather than passing class B road funds on to Grand County, according to Jack Randolph, the North District Road Foreman for San Juan County.

    This change has local winter recreationists worried about access to the Geyser Pass trailhead, which is the jumping off place for skiers, snow skaters, snowshoers, snowboarders, snowmobilers, and families taking their kids for tubing and sledding.

    One of the biggest problems is that equipment to clear the Geyser Pass road has to be hauled long distances from Monticello or remote areas in northern San Juan County and then up the La Sal Mountain Loop Road to the Geyser Pass road. Other priorities must be met before the equipment can be assigned to Geyser Pass.

    Hospitals, government services, and emergency facilities are the road district's first priority. Schools are second priority, then residential areas. Cattle ranches, farms, and recreation rank last on the priority list, according to Randolph.

    "We try to get to [the Geyser Pass road] as often as we can," Randolph said. "This first year has been a challenge. I think we will get better."

    He said the high cost of new equipment is always a concern. "We can't have a machine everywhere. But, as demand grows I'm sure the county commission will help us out," he said.

    Grand County Commission minutes for Nov. 18, 1991, show the commission instructed the county road department to plow the Geyser Pass road to the trailhead during the winter of  1991-92. The minutes also state that, in turn, "[forest officials] will review their position concerning use of ATVs on forest service roads."

    On Nov. 2, 1992, Grand County, the county travel council, and the Moab Ranger District of U.S. Forest Service signed an agreement for the 1992-93 winter season in which the county agreed to plow the road, the Forest Service agreed to provide avalanche forecasts, and the travel council agreed to promote winter recreation.

    Grand County Clerk Diana Carroll said she can find no evidence that the agreement was ever renewed, but Grand County continued to plow the road until this year.

    According to avalanche forecaster Max Forgensi, Grand County always kept the Geyser Pass road open to the trailhead, with never more than a day or two of delay after the biggest storms.

    But early this month the road stayed closed for eight days, after a week that saw 40 inches of new snow fall in the La Sals. San Juan County finally cleared it with a rented snow blower on Feb. 11-12. Crowds filled the parking lot the following weekend, according to avalanche center records.

    More snow fell in the Abajo Mountains than the La Sals during that big storm, according to Forgensi. All of San Juan County was hit so hard that the county had to rent a 600 horsepower snow blower to clear roads closed by drifts as high as 12 to 15 feet, according to Randolph.

    The snow blower was rented from a leasing company in Idaho for about $3,000 per week. San Juan road crew workers hauled it down from Alta Ski Resort on a flatbed truck and are returning it to Idaho this week, Randolph said.

    But, on Tuesday, before letting the blower go back to Idaho, Randolph had his crew use it one more time on the Geyser Pass Road to clear huge drifts piled up by winds over the weekend.

    Grand County was nearly as overwhelmed as San Juan by the big storm early this month, so county road crews could not help out during that eight day period when the road was closed, Grand County Roads Director Bill Jackson said. "In the future we will try to work together ‒ as long as we are not overwhelmed too," he said.

    Grand County still clears snow off the portion of the La Sal Loop Road that is in San Juan County so that Grand County residents who live just over the border can drive to their homes.

    "I think state law requires us to respond to anyone who calls for the service," Grand County Councilman Jerry McNeely said.