Fight The Power?

[highpeaksdrifter]

You’re skiing along at a pretty good clip on a relatively uncrowded trail, but you feel you’re in control. A ski patrol/safety patrol stops you and says you are skiing way too fast and endangering yourself and others. He says if he sees you skiing that fast again he will take your ticket. Do you

 

[riverc0il]

I have a high level of respect for patrol even if I occasionally disagree about how they are required to direct traffic. I have never been cited for speeding but I got a warning for ducking a rope once. I took the tongue lashing quietly then went on my way. No need to get all personal with patrol, they are just doing what they are told to do and they have to make judgment calls given a criteria of what is dangerous. People should take their arguments to management instead of attacking the messenger. And if you disagree with how the ski area is operated, go somewhere else instead of busting on their employees.

 

[Hawkshot99]

If it is exactly as your situation describes I will apologize to the patrolmen, being very polite, then if I feel I was in total control I will most likely continue to ski in the exact same fashion.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

I have never been cited for speeding but I got a warning for ducking a rope once. .

Not the same. If you duck the rope you are clearly breaking a ski area rule. The patroller telling someone he is skiing too fast is subjective on his part.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I never stop for a ski patroller...I get chased to the liftline where a full-on confrontation will occur..no way will I interrupt a perfectly good run and the only place this sort of shit goes down is Blue mountain..it's part of the reason the Blue mountain redcoats got on their reality show...

 

[riverc0il]

Well then I have zero first hand experience with the spirit of this topic but I will stand by the comments I made in my first post about respecting patrols' requirement of having to make subjective decisions per instructions from the area management. But I am the last person that would ever get a speeding warning so what do I know.

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

If it is exactly as your situation describes I will apologize to the patrolmen, being very polite, then if I feel I was in total control I will most likely continue to ski in the exact same fashion.

Same dude sees you next run skiing the same as when he warned you. He says, "I told you I'd take your ticket if I saw you skiing too fast, I'm cutting it off and your done for the day." Now what?

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

I never stop for a ski patroller...I get chased to the liftline where a full-on confrontation will occur...

I’m guessin you’re a marked man there. You make they’re day/night miserable so they’re lookin to do the same to you.

 

[Geoff]

I'm assuming that this isn't in a designated slow skiing area and you're talking about a true ski patroller.....

At my home mountain, I'd have a discussion with the guy. Something is really wrong if that's happening. At some other hill where I'm on a day ticket, I'd just ignore the guy and continue on my way.

 

[Hawkshot99]

Same dude sees you next run skiing the same as when he warned you. He says, "I told you I'd take your ticket if I saw you skiing too fast, I'm cutting it off and your done for the day." Now what?

I ask him where the speedo is on my skis?

 

[highpeaksdrifter]

I'm assuming that this isn't in a designated slow skiing area and you're talking about a true ski patroller.....
.

You're first assumption is right, but the second is not. Safety patrolmen have the juice to take tickets at many ski areas, Whiteface for one. Would you treat the Safety guy different then a patrolman?

 

[Hawkshot99]

Would you treat the Safety guy different then a patrolman?

Yes. While I would be nice to both of them, my fuse is much shorter with the Safety guy than with a patroller. Most of the safety guys I have interacted with thought they were hot stuff because they have a jacket. Patrollers are much cooler, and treat the people better.

 

[TheBEast]

As a patroller I certainly respect patrollers at other mountains and generally haven't had any issues with speed (ducking ropes is another story). But I find if you as a patroller give respect to the skiers when you stop them for skiing too fast, etc. that they'll often return the same respect to you.

 

[bigbog]

....

Patrol works for their supervisor and the supervisor works for the employer, who...usually combines ideas with supervisors to create policy. Most patrollers are mature, there probably are a small minority that aren't...but the hiring process usually does a pretty good job of filtering them out. Ditto BEast's....treat everyone with some respect and they'll feel less hassled and will allow what they deem safe...to fly.
That said, I ski in the lesser congested resorts...when skiing inbounds, but I learned to ski in my early 30s and never got into racing....so the issue of speed = freedom just doesn't resonate with me. ...But I did do a lot of wandering around in the boonies/backcountry early in life...and so the marked inbounds/out-of-bounds issue is understandable but as you're at a resort you have to weigh the consequences of losing your ticket/pass.

$.01

 

[eastcoastpowderhound]

it would have a lot to do with the situation...what trail I was on, the conditions, how many other people were on the trail, etc.. If its a groomer, I'm making big gs turns 90% of the time...just giving in to gravity...and I'll wait for the traffic to clear so I've got enough space to ski the way I prefer. So, if I got stopped in that situation I'd probably start a calm debate about skiing in control, plenty of room, etc. I'd be more likely to have the debate at Sunday River, my home hill, than another area...I know the patrol director and director of risk management and they know I'm not a loose cannon. I've also got a couple of friends who are volunteer patrollers and they'll both admit there are a couple of guys who get all gestapo when they throw on the red jacket...and then love to tell their war stories in the patrol shack. If it was a slow area or crowded, I'd take my slap on the wrist and go on with the day.

 

[campgottagopee]

Honeslty, I'd give 'em my take---if I felt he was correct I'd appologize and take whatever I had comming. If I felt he was wrong I'd let him know then see where the dance lead us. If it's one of those dweeby Mt. Host's, I'm swingin' :razz:

 

[dmc]

that has only happened to me at Camelback... I just left... F that..

And Alpine Meadows... I apologized there - had no idea it was a connector traill...

 

[hammer]

I've had a few times when I wish I could have run interference for my son...he's had a couple of run-ins with instructors with attitudes who feel like they own the trails side to side when giving lessons.

Not saying that he's super careful, but he's tame compared to others I've seen.

I don't ski fast enough to get called out, but if I ever did my reaction would depend on the situation. If I felt the patroller was being unprofessional or unreasonable, I'd report it.

 

[drjeff]

Probably just listen, and politely talk to the patroller. Kind of figure that one day I'll need their services again, and if so I'll probably have quite a bit of respect for them at that time, so I might as well show the same amount of respect all the time.

Plus, as I've aged a bit, I tend to find that my level of stupid actions on the hill that might gain a patrollers attention in the 1st place has gone done (the occasional rope duck on a powder day being omitted from this )

 

[Dr Skimeister]

I'd avoid confrontation. That's assuming the patroller wasn't being confrontational in his/her reprimand.....