East Fork

Is anyone else dissapointed that the E. Fork of Hyalite is now closed to motorized vehicles from arbitrary dates of Jan 1-May15.  This is apparently so that the kilometer-deprived skiers in town can have access to even more terrain.  Don't get me wrong I enjoy xc skiing too and don't want to create tension between the user groups, but come on!!  The bottom line is this - THERE IS ONLY ONE PLACE TO ICE CLIMB IN BOZEMAN - while there are numerous places to ski (e.g. Lindley, Bridger Cr. Golf Course, and Bohart); and in this case we have actually lost easy access to the East Fk. so that another already resource-wealthy user group increases theirs.

I am in no way against skiing into Palisade, Flanders or Emerald Lake, but it seems completely unfair to add an entirely new xc skiing resource at the expense of taking away ice access.  Now I know that the travel plan denotes "family" recreation as a top priority, but if the East Fk. Rd. was still open to vehicles, hiking, skiing, sledding, xmas tree cutting etc would all still be readily available...and so would the ice...food for thought.