Friday, May 6, 2005 | 10:05 a.m.
Local telephone provider Sprint Corp. has decided on a plan to return telephone service to Mount Charleston's Lee Canyon, but it could be another 120 days or more before telephones start ringing.
The company conducted a meeting for Lee Canyon residents Thursday and said the quickest way to re-establish phone service severed by a Jan. 9 avalanche would be to put microwave relays into the Spring Mountains from Las Vegas, then reconnect with the existing phone lines in the canyon. The phone service previously depended on a cable strung precariously over the top of the mountain from Kyle Canyon and suspended from trees.
During the time it would take to win federal environmental approval and build the new phone system, Sprint will provide four or more satellite telephones for use in emergencies, company officials said.
"Plan B" would be to replace 18,000 feet of telephone cable partly through sensitive federally protected wilderness, a process that could take significantly longer, Sprint operations director Scott Mitchell said.
Mitchell said replacing the cable would be particularly complex and difficult because it is severed in numerous places in steep, inaccessible terrain that is still covered by heavy snow. The 40-year-old cable that provided service to 69 resident in Lee Canyon has been repaired many times in the past, mostly because of damage from lightning strikes and once before because of an avalanche in 1982.
"There's multiple breaks, four to six breaks, in that cable," Mitchell told the residents and a handful of local and federal government officials.
Including the fact that it would be less susceptible to weather-related damage, the microwave relay solution, which would cost the company an estimated $750,000 to $1 million just for construction, would have long-term advantages over the existing cable, Mitchell said.
"This is the best solution long-term," he told the group of about two dozen people. "It is the best solution environmentally. It is the best solution in terms of maintenance."
The microwave relay plan depends on the cooperation of the Girl Scouts. The organization's generators would provide the full-time power to keep the system running.
Darbie Adams, the Girl Scout camp administrator, said her organization has committed to working with Sprint on the plan. The company would provide funding for the construction and upkeep of the system, which would have batteries for emergency backups.
Tim Short, U.S. Forest Service district ranger, said his agency also is committed to working with Sprint, to try to trim the time it takes to bring back telephone service to Lee Canyon, which includes two popular summertime camps, one run by the Girl Scouts and one by Clark County. Lee Canyon is also home to the Las Vegas Ski and Snowboard Resort, where a teenager died in the same series of Jan. 9 avalanches that knocked out phone service.
Short said that like Sprint, the emphasis for the forest service is on resuming phone service as soon as possible because of the potential that emergency situations could arise.
"We're concerned about communication for the public at large," Short said.
But federal law protecting wilderness areas means that it could take 60 days before approval comes for the limited construction that Sprint will have to do to establish the microwave relay, Short and Mitchell said.
Short said he would like to do it in less time.
Mitchell estimated it would take another 60 days for construction, although the timeline could be longer or shorter depending on weather, unforeseen difficulties or other factors.
"We are going to push that as hard as we can," he said, in an effort to cut the time.
He said Sprint has already ordered needed electronics and other equipment for the effort in an attempt to expedite the process.
However, for some Lee Canyon residents 120 days is too long to wait.
"It's already been four months, for crying out loud," said Stephanie Myers, one of about two dozen people who live in the canyon year-round.
"There's going to be a tragic accident. Someone may lose their life. Who is going to take the rap for that? Who is responsible?"
Mitchell said the company is doing all that it can, and the microwave relay is the fastest way to get service back up to the canyon. He said re-establishing service was the company's "primary responsibility."
"I don't have a better answer then our best effort," Mitchell said.
But Myers, who said her business as a jury consultant for trial lawyers has been fatally affected by the lack of consistent phone service, called the company's stand "bureaucratic bull." The timeline provided by Sprint is "not good enough," she added.
Mitchell said the company will try to advance the timeline where possible, and the satellite phones should help in an emergency situation in the isolated area.
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