Best and Worst of Ski Patrol.

C

CabbyArrant

Member
We all have had days up on the mountain where we have had interesting encounters with ski patrol. Whether they yanked your lift ticket or carted your injured sorry ass off the mountain. These intrepid red backed skiing machines lie at the heart of unique love hate relationship that exists everywhere there is snow and hills. With that being said what are the best and worst encounters people have had with ski patrol??
 
We were building a jump and they skied over and I tonight we were gonna get in trouble and then have to take the jump down.

Turns out they ended up hitting our jump and the one dude went off so back seat and landed on his back haha

We all laughed and they were on there way
 
One early season pow day there were still a few trails not open so me and my friends were skiing those because I don't give a fuck, and one time a ski patroller saw us and he just said the pow is great and just not to ski this one trAil.

at killington the weekend after they took down the hike park at some other chair on a trail and there was a flat bar and again we don't give a fuck so we started setting it up and we were building a jump but we didnt have a shovel so we were just asking random people for a shovel and we asked one of the groomer people (not wearing any special jacket just a random shirt) and he asked why and we said we are setting up a rail and he just laughed and didn't say anything and then when we saw him coming down the trail we already moved and set up the 300 pound rail and set it up and we were just making a jump, he went off on us swearing and all and made us take it down and when we said we saw him on the chairlift and he didn't say anything he said he thoight we were kidding.

Also later that day we found some random corrugated tube so we quickly put it on the trail(because I don't give a fuck) and made a jump out of stacking wood and covering it with snow and we were hitting it for a little while and a ski patrol came up and said we can all hit it one more time and we had to put it back after but he said we could move it onto a closed trail so it would be out of the way so we went down with out the tube to think of a plan on the chairlift to set it up somewhere and it was gone and we never found it.

Moral an of the story is my friends and I are dumb andI don't give any fucks
 
13451301:Mr.noodle said:
One early season pow day there were still a few trails not open so me and my friends were skiing those because I don't give a fuck, and one time a ski patroller saw us and he just said the pow is great and just not to ski this one trAil.

at killington the weekend after they took down the hike park at some other chair on a trail and there was a flat bar and again we don't give a fuck so we started setting it up and we were building a jump but we didnt have a shovel so we were just asking random people for a shovel and we asked one of the groomer people (not wearing any special jacket just a random shirt) and he asked why and we said we are setting up a rail and he just laughed and didn't say anything and then when we saw him coming down the trail we already moved and set up the 300 pound rail and set it up and we were just making a jump, he went off on us swearing and all and made us take it down and when we said we saw him on the chairlift and he didn't say anything he said he thoight we were kidding.

Also later that day we found some random corrugated tube so we quickly put it on the trail(because I don't give a fuck) and made a jump out of stacking wood and covering it with snow and we were hitting it for a little while and a ski patrol came up and said we can all hit it one more time and we had to put it back after but he said we could move it onto a closed trail so it would be out of the way so we went down with out the tube to think of a plan on the chairlift to set it up somewhere and it was gone and we never found it.

Moral an of the story is my friends and I are dumb andI don't give any fucks
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no moral is killington needs to keep the hike park later
 
Before I tell this story I wanna say that I have nothing but respect for patrollers. They're out there to keep skiers and snowboarders safe and I completely respect that.

So opening day, towards the end of the day I was on one of the main lifts by myself. I was chillin listening to music and I didn't put the bar down. When I got like half way down the hill, a patroller stopped me and started screaming at me. He told me to give him my pass before I even knew what was going on. I asked him what was up and why he was screaming at me.

This guy said he was yelling to me from the hill to put my bar down. I saw nothing and I heard nothing, or else I would have put it down. I tried to tell him that I was listening to music and couldn't hear him yell to me and that I would put the bar down next run. He lectured me saying I wouldn't have a "next run" if I fell from the lift. After trying to apologize several times the guy wouldn't budge so first day of the season my pass got pulled.

There's some tough ski patrollers out there but at the end of the day they're just doing their job and trying to keep us all safe. Can't hate on that.
 
My dad is a ski patroller... Honestly it's great, from the free seasons pass to the FREE pulled pork sandwiches at the ski patrol top shack I am defiantly not complaining.
 
so the patrolers had their ride down the hill with some of those red torches (Supposed to be some stupid way of saying thank you for them) and it was freshly groomed. They where dumb enough to groom it before putting up the fence on a Friday night so I went in thinking it was a trail that was groomed for tomorrow. Then they started setting up the fence while I was on it, And I was fucked. Later that night I asked a liftie and said " do you think they will throw u guys something like this? *In a sarcastic tone* he said fuck no and we laughed until I was loaded.
 
13451413:Mingg said:
Before I tell this story I wanna say that I have nothing but respect for patrollers. They're out there to keep skiers and snowboarders safe and I completely respect that.

So opening day, towards the end of the day I was on one of the main lifts by myself. I was chillin listening to music and I didn't put the bar down. When I got like half way down the hill, a patroller stopped me and started screaming at me. He told me to give him my pass before I even knew what was going on. I asked him what was up and why he was screaming at me.

This guy said he was yelling to me from the hill to put my bar down. I saw nothing and I heard nothing, or else I would have put it down. I tried to tell him that I was listening to music and couldn't hear him yell to me and that I would put the bar down next run. He lectured me saying I wouldn't have a "next run" if I fell from the lift. After trying to apologize several times the guy wouldn't budge so first day of the season my pass got pulled.

There's some tough ski patrollers out there but at the end of the day they're just doing their job and trying to keep us all safe. Can't hate on that.
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Troll attempt was decent
 
One ski patrol seshed a jump we built with us. Our mountain/ski patrol does not allow inverts under any circumstance and he was throwing massive backflips and trying to learn flatspins. Last day I ever saw he though.. haha probably got fired
 
Almost got my pass clipped for skiing on a closed run even though I wasn't. He claimed to see me ski out of it even though I didn't, thought it was pretty funny. I'm guessing he assumed I did since I looked like a park rat, but I calmly explained what really happened and he let me go. Most negative encounters for me are along these lines (unless I actually did break one of their rules).

On the positive side one talked me into jumping off a lift with him, I thought he was kidding so I made him go first. All other positive encounters involve them seeing me doing something I know I shouldn't be doing and them not saying anything.
 
13451413:Mingg said:
Before I tell this story I wanna say that I have nothing but respect for patrollers. They're out there to keep skiers and snowboarders safe and I completely respect that.

So opening day, towards the end of the day I was on one of the main lifts by myself. I was chillin listening to music and I didn't put the bar down. When I got like half way down the hill, a patroller stopped me and started screaming at me. He told me to give him my pass before I even knew what was going on. I asked him what was up and why he was screaming at me.

This guy said he was yelling to me from the hill to put my bar down. I saw nothing and I heard nothing, or else I would have put it down. I tried to tell him that I was listening to music and couldn't hear him yell to me and that I would put the bar down next run. He lectured me saying I wouldn't have a "next run" if I fell from the lift. After trying to apologize several times the guy wouldn't budge so first day of the season my pass got pulled.

There's some tough ski patrollers out there but at the end of the day they're just doing their job and trying to keep us all safe. Can't hate on that.
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Thank god no one in Colorado gives a shit about the "safety bar".
 
I was skiing on a powder with some friends and it was near the end of the day on our last run. Tree skiing is banned at my home mt but there is a pretty obvious gladed area tons of people ski. There is an auto road the runs across the bottom of it and then there is more woods.

When we got to the road some instructor dude had another group of people who were in front of us stopped and told us to stop too. I did, and he was talking about taking passes and shit, when I noticed we were standing right at the drop off the road into another glade. After a couple more seconds I decided fuck this shit and dropped into the woods and was gone.
 
Rachel and I were hiking a closed trail, since it was ungroomed and full of manmade powder (Eastern PA, we take what we can get). It was sick, double helix down the hill but the after the second time we did it two patrollers were at the top waiting for us. So we just got lectured a bit, they said we could obviously ski it but other people would follow suit, those who potentially could not ski it. We got a verbal warning, no pass mark or anything, so they were cool about it. Sure enough, we saw some other skiers climbing up the face of this diamond, whereas we went through a little connector trail so it was less tedious and less obvious. Anyway, they got yelled at and passes pulled (to my knowledge). So yeah they were right, can't doubt them for that. Oh well, got to ski Sasquatch at Bear Creek first time all year/all 2014-2015 season, since it was Jan. 1st.
 
13451301:Mr.noodle said:
One early season pow day there were still a few trails not open so me and my friends were skiing those because I don't give a fuck, and one time a ski patroller saw us and he just said the pow is great and just not to ski this one trAil.

at killington the weekend after they took down the hike park at some other chair on a trail and there was a flat bar and again we don't give a fuck so we started setting it up and we were building a jump but we didnt have a shovel so we were just asking random people for a shovel and we asked one of the groomer people (not wearing any special jacket just a random shirt) and he asked why and we said we are setting up a rail and he just laughed and didn't say anything and then when we saw him coming down the trail we already moved and set up the 300 pound rail and set it up and we were just making a jump, he went off on us swearing and all and made us take it down and when we said we saw him on the chairlift and he didn't say anything he said he thoight we were kidding.

Also later that day we found some random corrugated tube so we quickly put it on the trail(because I don't give a fuck) and made a jump out of stacking wood and covering it with snow and we were hitting it for a little while and a ski patrol came up and said we can all hit it one more time and we had to put it back after but he said we could move it onto a closed trail so it would be out of the way so we went down with out the tube to think of a plan on the chairlift to set it up somewhere and it was gone and we never found it.

Moral an of the story is my friends and I are dumb andI don't give any fucks
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Well said mr noodle
 
13451671:Mingg said:
I'm not trolling...
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What resort was that at because because getting your pass pulled for simply not using the safety bar is ludacris. That's a choice not a requirement. Unless you were giving sass which I could see you giving sass.
 
13451835:HP123 said:
What resort was that at because because getting your pass pulled for simply not using the safety bar is ludacris. That's a choice not a requirement. Unless you were giving sass which I could see you giving sass.
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I imagine it was probably the patroller being angry at being ignored and not the bar being up
 
13451835:HP123 said:
What resort was that at because because getting your pass pulled for simply not using the safety bar is ludacris. That's a choice not a requirement. Unless you were giving sass which I could see you giving sass.
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Holiday Valley, NY. I later learned it's the law to put your bar down in NYS.

I mean, there's more to the story but I thought I'd save it. I was caught off guard and was unaware of why he was yelling at me. Yeah, I told him to calm down and shit. I gave some sass but it wasn't intentional. Either way, I got my pass back the next day(team pass) and was able to apologize to the dude so it all worked out fine.
 
13451854:Mingg said:
Holiday Valley, NY. I later learned it's the law to put your bar down in NYS.

I mean, there's more to the story but I thought I'd save it. I was caught off guard and was unaware of why he was yelling at me. Yeah, I told him to calm down and shit. I gave some sass but it wasn't intentional. Either way, I got my pass back the next day(team pass) and was able to apologize to the dude so it all worked out fine.
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you seem like such a nice person!

Why is HP h8ing?
 
I have lots of respect for the pro patrollers at my mtn, even if they are egotistical douches. The sketchy shit they have to do for avy control and the intense rescues they've done in hairy terrain is pretty badass. That being said, Fuck volunteer patrol. At least where I work, the vast majority can barely ski/snowboard and spend most of their time in the lift shack taking up space and studying for their classes and only use the position to get a free pass and make their med school resume look better. I would say less than 10% actually take the job seriously and they all have an undeserved God complex.

It is nice getting to take their attitudes down a few notches though. Whenever they get snooty with me I like to remind them of their volunteer status and remind them that I am a full time year round resort employee who gets to do whatever the Fuck I want when lifts are involved. I'll kick those prices out of the lift shack whenever I have to watch wind and I love seeing how butthurt they get when they realize they can't do anything about it
 
13452336:YoungDaph said:
I have lots of respect for the pro patrollers at my mtn, even if they are egotistical douches. The sketchy shit they have to do for avy control and the intense rescues they've done in hairy terrain is pretty badass. That being said, Fuck volunteer patrol. At least where I work, the vast majority can barely ski/snowboard and spend most of their time in the lift shack taking up space and studying for their classes and only use the position to get a free pass and make their med school resume look better. I would say less than 10% actually take the job seriously and they all have an undeserved God complex.

It is nice getting to take their attitudes down a few notches though. Whenever they get snooty with me I like to remind them of their volunteer status and remind them that I am a full time year round resort employee who gets to do whatever the Fuck I want when lifts are involved. I'll kick those prices out of the lift shack whenever I have to watch wind and I love seeing how butthurt they get when they realize they can't do anything about it
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If you ever break your leg one, of these douches is going to ski right by lol.
 
13452363:L_B said:
If you ever break your leg one, of these douches is going to ski right by lol.
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I did break my leg catastrophically and had a lovely batch of pro patrollers save my life. If a volunteer had shown up I would have told them to send a pro, and I know many people who have done that
 
13452365:YoungDaph said:
I did break my leg catastrophically and had a lovely batch of pro patrollers save my life. If a volunteer had shown up I would have told them to send a pro, and I know many people who have done that
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uncanny
 
i find typically, if youre not a douche, ski patrol are not douches to you.

if you are a douche, patrols are douchey to you.

i dunno, might be coincidence.
 
I saw one catch an edge and eat it big time - his pack mustn't have been fastened properly because he sprinkled various patrol items all over the hill like a piñata. I bet that cost him a few beers.

I was waiting with a kid once who had just snapped his collarbone in the park, someone had called patrol and the patroller chick was skiing down with the sled. At the last moment she dropped into the jump and hit it, telemark skis and all, actually got the whole contraption airborne and went "Whooooop" as she did it. I couldn't help but laugh.
 
I was in the lift line by myself and I saw my buddies one party in front of me so I asked the people if I could cut in front of them so I could join my friends. There was a ski patroller who saw me ski around them and grabbed me by the back of my jacket and pulled me backwards a small ways. He then proceed to bitch at me hardcore for cutting people in line and held on to my jacket for easily 10 minutes making me wait at the bottom of the lift. I explained to him these people had given me permission and he told me I was talking back to him and threatened to pull my pass. What a douche.

But, I do work at the resort in the rental shop and frequently make trips to the patrol room to collect accident skis. I'm made friends with some of the patrollers and even celebrated the one's birthday in the break room with them. Overall I have lots of respect for patrollers and have always gotten along with them but every once in a while you will run into a douche.
 
At my local mountain its mostly the volunteer patrol you have to watch out for. They're super uptight about everything but I've skied with some of the pro patrol guys and they shred super hard. They definitely saw some friends of mine doing a naked run at the end of night skiing and just kind of decided to say fuck it and not try to run us down.
 
My friend and I were a bit sauced up and wearing skin tight one-peices for a Sunday Funday. We ducked a rope to get some fresh that ended up funneling right into a patroler. We worked for the resort and he realized this when he grabbed our employee passes. He waived them in our faces and goes "I have your jobs right here.." Now he is gearing up for the lecture. He starts in with the "there is no way you didn't see the closure" and is attempting to yell at us but he can't keep his laughter back. We look like some clowns and it's hilarious. He's trying to keep it serious but just started cracking up after while. We begin laughing with him and he finally goes "alright...get the fuck out of here."

As others have said, some patrolers are dicks but most are just doing their job.
 
13451854:Mingg said:
Holiday Valley, NY. I later learned it's the law to put your bar down in NYS.

I mean, there's more to the story but I thought I'd save it. I was caught off guard and was unaware of why he was yelling at me. Yeah, I told him to calm down and shit. I gave some sass but it wasn't intentional. Either way, I got my pass back the next day(team pass) and was able to apologize to the dude so it all worked out fine.
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Holiday Valley Ski Patrol are like the yellow jackets of the East.
 
everytime I hit my head and knock myself out their always there to bring me down the hill so I'm stoked on them in that way. Sometimes they think theyre top shit tho and get their jimmis rustled when a couple of boys try and slay the pow under lift lines
 
I was at Aspen a few years ago with my mom on a week day. Rolled up to a chairlift with absolutely zero people anywhere near the line maze except me, my mom, and the lifty. I unknowingly went through the ski school line because it was the shortest distance to the chairlift.

First thing the lifty says to me is "And you're with who exactly?" (implying that I need an instructor with me to be in this line) in the most sarcastic eat-shit tone I've ever heard in my life. Not knowing that I was in the ski school line I pointed to my mom with a stupid-ass look on my face. He starts bitching at me while I point out that it isn't a big deal because there is not a single other person anywhere in or near the maze and asks if he wants me to have him call patrol on me. I calmly said, "sure" and hopped on the chair.

A patroller meets me at the top and tries having a discussion about respect with me. I basically tell him that I don't give respect when I'm met with disrespect for no reason. He couldn't really poke any holes in that so I skied off and never returned to Aspen.

I'm sure many of the lifties and patrollers at Aspen are fine people but being met with 2 douchebag, king-of-the-mountain type dudes really ruined that place for me. Or maybe I'm just the biggest asshole ever for going through the ski school line when there was no one around.
 
13454031:chuckmarty said:
I was at Aspen a few years ago with my mom on a week day. Rolled up to a chairlift with absolutely zero people anywhere near the line maze except me, my mom, and the lifty. I unknowingly went through the ski school line because it was the shortest distance to the chairlift.

First thing the lifty says to me is "And you're with who exactly?" (implying that I need an instructor with me to be in this line) in the most sarcastic eat-shit tone I've ever heard in my life. Not knowing that I was in the ski school line I pointed to my mom with a stupid-ass look on my face. He starts bitching at me while I point out that it isn't a big deal because there is not a single other person anywhere in or near the maze and asks if he wants me to have him call patrol on me. I calmly said, "sure" and hopped on the chair.

A patroller meets me at the top and tries having a discussion about respect with me. I basically tell him that I don't give respect when I'm met with disrespect for no reason. He couldn't really poke any holes in that so I skied off and never returned to Aspen.

I'm sure many of the lifties and patrollers at Aspen are fine people but being met with 2 douchebag, king-of-the-mountain type dudes really ruined that place for me. Or maybe I'm just the biggest asshole ever for going through the ski school line when there was no one around.
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Had a similar experience. No one was in the lift line and I went through ski school and this "mountain security" guy (pretty much just hall monitors for ski slopes) starts yelling at me making a scene. Made me get out of line and go back in the regular way. Then proceeded to tell me that I was "influencing others to act improperly", even though there was no one else around. I just looked at him like he was stupid and got on the lift.
 
Broke my arm by losing control in glades I had only skied once before. Luckily, I didn't hit a tree, but I landed on my arm. Laid there for 3 minutes before I decided to roll off of it, put on my skis and went down the hill (I felt like Aron fucking Ralston). I skied down to get ski patrol, but no one is in the office. Got someone to get them for me while I went in and sat on a bed. Their idea of a sling in the southern tier of upstate New York is a piece of cardboard with linen cloth tied to it with some comfy 10 year old insulation foam.
 
at beaver creek one day this past winter... it hadnt snowed it about a week, so i went to my go-to tree run that usually holds good snow. its really hard to get to and rarely gets skied, however it is a run with a gate to accees it (inbounds, just through a gate so they can close it easily i presume).

anyways halfway down i see a patroller skiing slowly across the slope through the trees. I am coming down fairly quick, and throw on the breaks to be respectful and safe.

This patroller instantly goes "i know you ducked the rope!". which causes me to stop completely, and talk to her. I explain i came right through a gate that was open... she insists it is a permanently closed area, and that i ducked a rope. again i tell her i came through a marked opening. she then tells me to just go and not come back to the area... so i leave

i see her at the top of the chair and, being so confused, ask her to follow me to the gate to clear up the confusion of why she thinks i ducked a rope. she refuses and skis off. i didnt go back there that day, but continue to ski the run to this day without any other encounters of patrollers.

does anyone think she was serious? or was she just trying to protect a secret pow stash that i wasn't supposed to know about? and then why was she in the closed area in the first place if it was infact closed? this encounter still confuses me to this day
 
Circa 2001 when terrain parks were first being introduced we got the first rails ever at my home hill, they were made of pvc

a rather large man who I patrolled with (fat tony) decided to try the contraption. Tony honed in on the rail at mach 3 not knowing he had to turn onto the rail, his ski shot right up the front of the hollow pvc tube and he launched all his mass 20 feet past the end of the rail

this was both the best and worst of ski patrol all at once
 
i went into the forest one time to and then came back out to find ski patrol waiting at the bottom he was not being reasonable and yelled for me to give him my pass and then he ripped off my park pass and lift ticket. still better than the Vail yellow jackets
 
13454031:chuckmarty said:
I was at Aspen a few years ago with my mom on a week day. Rolled up to a chairlift with absolutely zero people anywhere near the line maze except me, my mom, and the lifty. I unknowingly went through the ski school line because it was the shortest distance to the chairlift.

First thing the lifty says to me is "And you're with who exactly?" (implying that I need an instructor with me to be in this line) in the most sarcastic eat-shit tone I've ever heard in my life. Not knowing that I was in the ski school line I pointed to my mom with a stupid-ass look on my face. He starts bitching at me while I point out that it isn't a big deal because there is not a single other person anywhere in or near the maze and asks if he wants me to have him call patrol on me. I calmly said, "sure" and hopped on the chair.

A patroller meets me at the top and tries having a discussion about respect with me. I basically tell him that I don't give respect when I'm met with disrespect for no reason. He couldn't really poke any holes in that so I skied off and never returned to Aspen.

I'm sure many of the lifties and patrollers at Aspen are fine people but being met with 2 douchebag, king-of-the-mountain type dudes really ruined that place for me. Or maybe I'm just the biggest asshole ever for going through the ski school line when there was no one around.
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My hill is the complete opposite for this. On busy days when my instructor friends get off work they leave their instructors jackets on and we use the ski school line. The sorters don't seem to care about the 1 or 2 snowboarders that are with the ski instructor in the ski school line
 
I was skiing on a small mountain with some friends and some kids gapped the magic carpet taking toddlers up the mini hill and I didn't do it but the ski patrollers just rounded up a huge group of kids and kipper all of our passes and I told him I never did it and my friends vouched for me and he said shut up and stop giving me mouth I don't care and clipped it any way
 
skiing down the closed slope my house is own with my little brother and the ski patrol made us take off our skis and put our hands up and stood us against the fence and called someone to pick us up and drive us home. Pass pulled for two weekends.
 
When I was younger, my father met some patrollers at our former resort. To this day they are still friend and we recently went on a ski trip in France with them and did some backcountry and drank beer. Some of the nicest persons I've met. But some are jerks my friend got his pass pulled because he went through an open fense in the line for the lift. It's always opened so he though it was fine to go through it but the patroller yelled at him and took his pass although since I work there I went and talked to the guy and later gave him his pass back... atleast
 
13454418:Borealix said:
Their idea of a sling in the southern tier of upstate New York is a piece of cardboard with linen cloth tied to it with some comfy 10 year old insulation foam.
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this is what it's like pretty much everywhere. Patrol usually doesn't have the budget to get fancy, and cardboard + cloth is quite effective and versatile.
 
13454826:G5_KiD said:
at beaver creek one day this past winter... it hadnt snowed it about a week, so i went to my go-to tree run that usually holds good snow. its really hard to get to and rarely gets skied, however it is a run with a gate to accees it (inbounds, just through a gate so they can close it easily i presume).

anyways halfway down i see a patroller skiing slowly across the slope through the trees. I am coming down fairly quick, and throw on the breaks to be respectful and safe.

This patroller instantly goes "i know you ducked the rope!". which causes me to stop completely, and talk to her. I explain i came right through a gate that was open... she insists it is a permanently closed area, and that i ducked a rope. again i tell her i came through a marked opening. she then tells me to just go and not come back to the area... so i leave

i see her at the top of the chair and, being so confused, ask her to follow me to the gate to clear up the confusion of why she thinks i ducked a rope. she refuses and skis off. i didnt go back there that day, but continue to ski the run to this day without any other encounters of patrollers.

does anyone think she was serious? or was she just trying to protect a secret pow stash that i wasn't supposed to know about? and then why was she in the closed area in the first place if it was infact closed? this encounter still confuses me to this day
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If this particular area was located on the "far left" edge of the resort, then yes she was protecting something.
 
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