Ski jail/Vail jail. The ski-pass cops are looking for a few naughty boys and girls. Somewhere & Sometimes.

[MidnightJester]

Dam technology.
Sure me and my snowboard don't look like that short skier in the picture. Its just the camera angle and I identify differently as a snowboarder now.

'180 Days in Jail' For Using Someone Else's Pass, Warns Vail Police Department - SnowBrains

The Vail Police Department is warning skiers and riders to avoid the temptation of borrowing a ski pass to save on the cost of a lift ticket.

snowbrains.com

Been there and Did that, To each there own. Person was happy, I was happy, I spent money on food and drink there on the mountain. My friend did it and they took away the pass that I had to go and get it back : ( for another friend. Threw myself on the proverbial Ski Pole. Just be polite and kiss ski boots at that point ugggg.

 

[BodeMiller1]

They take this stuff too seriously. Now you have to pay to ski at Vail? That's what they don't tell you. 180 days or $999.

 

[crystalmountainskier]

I had a friend get busted at Vail a few years ago. He spent the rest of the weekend in Vail jail.

 

[SteezyRob]

out of all the things that have ever sucked, vail sucks the most

 

[joshua segal]

While I work for Vail now, if Peak Resorts caught someone without a pass (and they didn't just leave their season pass in another pocket or coat), their approach was:
Tell the person they have two choices;
1. The ski area will call the police and have the person arrested for "theft of service"
or
2. The thief would pay for a ticket and immediately leave the premises (without using the ticket).

Life has changed in the ski industry when there were many ways that poor people could get a free ticket to ski including:
1. Staple tickets for a few hours in the morning.
2. Cut pucker brush (in the days before snowmaking)
3. Be a gate judge for a race
4. Pick up trash in the parking lot
5. Know someone in Ski School (now Snowsports) or Patrol (because we use to get almost unlimited comps. Today, I get 2-feebies and 8-half-price for the entire season.).

Skiing is big business. Kids get busted (malls have ersatz jails for shoplifters while they wait for the police to arrive) for $10 worth of shoplifting. Busting people for stealing $100+ of services from a ski area doesn't seem out-of-line to me.

 

[2Planker]

Many places (Stratton, SR, The Cat) used to give a CA$H reward to lifties & patrollers for catching someone.... Now it's usually some sort of Comp

 

[joshua segal]

Many places (Stratton, SR, The Cat) used to give a CA$H reward to lifties & patrollers for catching someone.... Now it's usually some sort of Comp

Peak Resorts did that for a while, but 95% of those whom they caught were season pass people who left their pass in another coat or sweater or their bootbag... And they (Peak) weren't getting any real return for the bounties they were paying!

 

[Smellytele]

Many places (Stratton, SR, The Cat) used to give a CA$H reward to lifties & patrollers for catching someone.... Now it's usually some sort of Comp

Pats peak does this with the cash payout

 

[djd66]

Personally, I have ZERO issue with any resort (Vail included) enforcing the laws on theft of services. Just like shop lifting, we are all paying for it.

 

[2Planker]

I don't even wanna tell you what we did w/ people caught stealing skis/boards......

 

[SteezyRob]

I think stealing from Vail is a moral necessity, and it benefits society & the soul.

 

[dlague]

Not because of trying to ski free but our son got busted skiing backwards in a beginner skiing area and got a written warning for wreckless skiing and probably skied better than most in that area. fast forward two weeks - we are skiing at Vail and there was a yellow jacket just be for the lift entry - son comes down and sprayed the slow sign and sure enough that was a violation. the guy looks up his pass and notices the Breck violation and continued to revoke pass privilege for two weeks because this was a second violation. His intention was not to spray the sign - we always wait at slow signs to regroup. I explained this to the yellow jacket and he let him go but put him on probation for full season loss next time. Makes me think that I should buy a yellow jacket and black ski pants for skiing Vail Resorts.

 

[deadheadskier]

Many places (Stratton, SR, The Cat) used to give a CA$H reward to lifties & patrollers for catching someone.... Now it's usually some sort of Comp

I was a student at UVM in the late 90s. Counterfeit season passes all over the dorms for $100-$200. This despite the College Pass being only around $375. Kids with a decent printer and laminating machine could make darn good fakes because the mountain passes weren't all that sophisticated.

Had friends who were lifties at Stowe and they'd get $100 for every one they found.

 

[2Planker]

I was a student at UVM in the late 90s. Counterfeit season passes all over the dorms for $100-$200. This despite the College Pass being only around $375. Kids with a decent printer and laminating machine could make darn good fakes because the mountain passes weren't all that sophisticated.

Had friends who were lifties at Stowe and they'd get $100 for every one they found.

Yup, in the early 90's SR had 2 lifties (orig. from MA) that were making laminated passes which were practically perfect in every way.
They also stole a Credit Card machine from the Sudbury Inn and went to jail on Federal counterfitting charges.

SR also had reward $$$ for us for to spot fake passes in those days

 

[BodeMiller1]

I think stealing from Vail is a moral necessity, and it benefits society & the soul.

There's no question this is correct.

Out west environmentalists torch the lifts and we're the bad hombres for skiing on our mountains. .

Skiing in New Hampshire is not a privilege it's a god given right. Especially, if you're a legislature. Do they get paid to drive to Cannon. I bet they try.

Get a real job....

Further - you think they're dangerous on the roads; you should see them miss the turn on Vista Way.

Merry Christmases

 

[BodeMiller1]

Yup, in the early 90's SR had 2 lifties (orig. from MA) that were making laminated passes which were practically perfect in every way.
They also stole a Credit Card machine from the Sudbury Inn and went to jail on Federal counterfitting charges.

SR also had reward $$$ for us for to spot fake passes in those days

 

[machski]

I have seen SR get quite honorary with folks that crossed the RFID gates with cards that were clearly not theirs. Theft of services suck, if you want to ski for free check out Granite Backcountry Alliance and get some AT gear. Too bad if ma nature doesn't want to play nice.

 

[deadheadskier]

Also while a student at UVM, they had a ski area management class I took. Tim and Diane Mueller's (Okemo owners) son Ethan was in my class. For one of the final classes of my Senior semester, they were able to pull in about ten GMs from VT ski areas for a Q&A session basically.

The question of theft of services came up because everyone saw all the counterfeit passes throughout the campus. They said they had no way to quantify it accurately, but estimated that somewhere around 5% of their visitors didn't pay for tickets / passes. So, no wonder why RFID came about.

Also of interest from that session was Smuggs was the only major area in VT that turned a profit every year of the 90s. Every other place had at least a year in the red. Maybe that's why Smuggs has always been super conservative with lift and snowmaking investments.

 

[BodeMiller1]

I have seen SR get quite honorary with folks that crossed the RFID gates with cards that were clearly not theirs. Theft of services suck, if you want to ski for free check out Granite Backcountry Alliance and get some AT gear. Too bad if ma nature doesn't want to play nice.

Okay, settle down... When you're paying big bucks to support an area then you have skin in the game.

As far as Sunday River in the Spring when they have big events drawing college kids there can be a huge police presence on the access road. It's kind of like "don't get wasted until you're on the mountain".

Do any ski areas use RFD to "sweep" the trails at the end of the day. I know they look for cars in the parking lot. In a perfect world you could hit a button on a keyboard an get an all clear (no stranded skiiers on the hill). Butt, the world is not perfect and if it did I wouldn't ski there, meow

 

[BodeMiller1]

Also while a student at UVM, they had a ski area management class I took. Tim and Diane Mueller's (Okemo owners) son Ethan was in my class. For one of the final classes of my Senior semester, they were able to pull in about ten GMs from VT ski areas for a Q&A session basically.

The question of theft of services came up because everyone saw all the counterfeit passes throughout the campus. They said they had no way to quantify it accurately, but estimated that somewhere around 5% of their visitors didn't pay for tickets / passes. So, no wonder why RFID came about.

Also of interest from that session was Smuggs was the only major area in VT that turned a profit every year of the 90s. Every other place had at least a year in the red. Maybe that's why Smuggs has always been super conservative with lift and snowmaking investments.

I thought about going back to school in Killington for resort management, butt I need to make money and not spend money cause I'm starting to go over the hill.