How do people get caught using someone else's pass?

I don't get why using a friend's pass isn't completely foolproof. There are thousands of different skiers on the mountain every day, each one essentially identical. Yet I've heard dozens of stories from friends of people getting caught by the resort Gestapo.

Asking for a friend.
 
2 seasons ago I was wearing my dads jacket (with his pass inside without me realizing) and also had my pass in the jacket. I was wearing a mask, goggles, helmet, etc. Must have been the age popping up because they asked to see my pass.
 
yeah the little scanner thing they have shows a pic of your face, your age, and the ones at my resort say your height too
 
A friend of mine got caught with a friends pass. Don’t know how they knew it wasn’t him. He had to pay for the season pass for him to keep it.
 
Resort employees get compensated for finding people stealing services, ie using someone else's pass. Its probably a lot easier this year since everyone is wearing a mask, but in a normal year they'll call you out and make you take your hat and shit off to verify.
 
I’ve never been requested to do this at any mountain, I grew up using friends brothers pass, my daughters use my wife’s if she not skiing ,I’ve had ikon since the beginning but before that I was buying and borrowing

14243292:eheath said:
Resort employees get compensated for finding people stealing services, ie using someone else's pass. Its probably a lot easier this year since everyone is wearing a mask, but in a normal year they'll call you out and make you take your hat and shit off to verify.
 
14243300:SavageBiff said:
I’ve never been requested to do this at any mountain, I grew up using friends brothers pass, my daughters use my wife’s if she not skiing ,I’ve had ikon since the beginning but before that I was buying and borrowing

I mean its a small picture and a couple of small details, I wasn't saying you'll get caught, tons of people don't get caught.
 
our local resort has a new system this year, each gate has a camera builtin, so can both check your height, but also tons of other stuff, no idea how much is implemented.
 
I remember one season Aspen started the season with the a $50 dollar bounty per person caught, untaxed. Never seen so many motivated ticket checkers.

14243292:eheath said:
Resort employees get compensated for finding people stealing services, ie using someone else's pass. Its probably a lot easier this year since everyone is wearing a mask, but in a normal year they'll call you out and make you take your hat and shit off to verify.
 
Not only is the picture on my pass totally unrecognizable because the pass printer at Shreadows sucks, but literally nobody has ever tried to check my face vs what my pass looks like. Also if you get caught during covid you're just fucking stupid because who in their right mind is gonna ask you to pull your mask down??
 
That’s when I pull my pants down and show the real meaning behind the “ikon ass “

14243337:NateDude said:
Not only is the picture on my pass totally unrecognizable because the pass printer at Shreadows sucks, but literally nobody has ever tried to check my face vs what my pass looks like. Also if you get caught during covid you're just fucking stupid because who in their right mind is gonna ask you to pull your mask down??
 
as long as your not being dumb I feel like its pretty easy to get away with. For example, don't use somebody's pass that is 20 years older than you, or that is 6 inches taller than you, or has a distinct feature on their face
 
as a ticket scanner at park city I can confirm that if we catch someone using a friends pass we can take it away and get cash rewards for it but I've never personally done it cuz homies gotta ride and I'm not stopping them not everyone can afford passes or lift tickets if yall are ever in park city as long as I work you goin up
 
14243401:watto said:
as a ticket scanner at park city I can confirm that if we catch someone using a friends pass we can take it away and get cash rewards for it but I've never personally done it cuz homies gotta ride and I'm not stopping them not everyone can afford passes or lift tickets if yall are ever in park city as long as I work you goin up

you the man, make this dude member of the year [tag=38820]@eheath[/tag]
 
14243401:watto said:
as a ticket scanner at park city I can confirm that if we catch someone using a friends pass we can take it away and get cash rewards for it but I've never personally done it cuz homies gotta ride and I'm not stopping them not everyone can afford passes or lift tickets if yall are ever in park city as long as I work you goin up

hell yeah we need more lifties like you
 
14243377:ColoradoDogfart said:
as long as your not being dumb I feel like its pretty easy to get away with. For example, don't use somebody's pass that is 20 years older than you, or that is 6 inches taller than you, or has a distinct feature on their face

Lmao that’s pretty close to the situation I’m in. My roommate offered me his pass but he’s 5’3” with a Super Troopers mustache so I think I’m just gonna have to pay up.
 
If they ask to see the pass and you have the ability to ski directly to your car, dip tf out and don't come back for a few days. Have your friend report a lost pass so they assume you were just using a pass you found. You're not gonna get fined if you drop your pass and some rando tries to use it.
 
not trying to take peoples jobs away, but I've never seen a person scanning tickets, its all 100% RFID 'ish tech here.
 
14243569:anders_a said:
not trying to take peoples jobs away, but I've never seen a person scanning tickets, its all 100% RFID 'ish tech here.

When PC had rfid gates, they had 2-4 people (depending on lift size) looking at ipads to check peoples passes, but after vail came in they changed everything to scanners.
 
They know dude. Just like when your high af at your friends house and his parents start talking to you.

They know, they always know.

Also god is watching you bro

But really it depends on the place. Some places have pretty heavy incentives to catch people. Like $100 if you snag somebody using another season pass. It makes sense on the mtns side because it keeps people more honest. Some people just ask questions and even if they don't know anything about the person that owns the lass just aee if they start freaking out. Some people are psychic maybe too. Idk
 
I believe it happens more often than you would think because the pass the falsifier is using is more than likely the pass of someone who often goes to the mountain and has been noticed over the season by the lift attendants.

I know of a person (later went on to be quite prominent person in the ski business world(no it's not J Lev)) that was put into a police car at Stowe years ago trying to use another person's pass while in college. This incident was more closely related to what Eheath said before about the commission/incentive for catching poachers. This lifty had it out for this type of thing.

On the other hand, I also know of a person that was in their 30s that used a junior (under 17) pass at Northstar at Tahoe.

A lot depends on the person checking and knowing the actual info of the person who owns the pass.

Using another's pass can be dicey. I always preferred the one lift ticket, glove drop off the lift, rinse and repeat. This works best at mountains where you can get up to other lifts that don't check after riding the first.
 
if they stop u and wanna see ur pass just say no and gtfo the lift line. End of the day no resort employee can legally put their hands on you to forcefully take the pass/ apprehend you. Also, knowing that ur taking a risk, always a good idea to have some cash on you to get yourself out of the jam and discreetly tell them youll give them whatever they would get from their supervisor to look the other way
 
season pass here is $290 on preseason sale, it covers multiple resorts , so not horrible

yet everybody still wants to borrow mine, but its counter intuitive, because I ski every day and when I ski with buds.. should I stay home and give me theirs then?

we did cheat with it with when a buddy broke something and was out for the season, but I dont think its a huge thing here.
 
14243753:KCoCM said:
if they stop u and wanna see ur pass just say no and gtfo the lift line. End of the day no resort employee can legally put their hands on you to forcefully take the pass/ apprehend you. Also, knowing that ur taking a risk, always a good idea to have some cash on you to get yourself out of the jam and discreetly tell them youll give them whatever they would get from their supervisor to look the other way

This might me the smartest response so far but it raises a lot of questions. I know a liftie won’t chase me to the parking lot but what happens if I’m on the upper mountain and ski patrol tries to take my pass? Can I just bomb it to the bottom? Idk I’m picturing an OJ style chase with 30 ski patrol behind me, none of them actually being able to lay a finger on me.
 
Dip into the glades

14243841:ToddlerBodyBag said:
This might me the smartest response so far but it raises a lot of questions. I know a liftie won’t chase me to the parking lot but what happens if I’m on the upper mountain and ski patrol tries to take my pass? Can I just bomb it to the bottom? Idk I’m picturing an OJ style chase with 30 ski patrol behind me, none of them actually being able to lay a finger on me.
 
Anyone on here know how Squaw is about this cuz I want to use my brothers pass and ski a few days there.
 
I feel like now that a lot of mountains have gates instead of an actual person scanning, it makes it ridiculously easy. Not saying I’d ever do it because that’s highly illegal and I would never commit an illegal crime of such proportions, but if I were to, just make sure you know your homies middle name and DOB. But like I said, I’d never do such a thing bc that’s highly illegal, Corey and Trevor.
 
If you are about the same height and weight of the pass’s owner u probably wont get caught.

but yeah the reason u send in a picture when ordering a season pas is so the ticket checker can scope you out.

i understand why resorts would deny cheaters to get onto the gondola, but the whole thing where resorts try to punish the fuck out of the owner of the pass by revoking it etc, is some vindictive bullshit.

also when u buy a day pass and you go home early, you should completely be allowed to sell ur day pass to somebody in the parking lot. The whole “theft of services” argument is bullshit. If i buy 2 packs of coca cola from the grocery store, and decide to sell one pack to a guy in the parking lot, it should be my right to do so. There should never be any sort of strings attached to something you buy. When you buy something, then tradewise It should be yours to do with whatever you want.

theft of services is an anti-free market crock of shit.

**This post was edited on Feb 16th 2021 at 4:28:51am
 
They incentivize their lifties with cash rewards. I know people who have gotten caught. If you’re roughly same size you’ll probably be fine

14243877:hdubs said:
Anyone on here know how Squaw is about this cuz I want to use my brothers pass and ski a few days there.
 
14243741:Saga. said:
I believe it happens more often than you would think because the pass the falsifier is using is more than likely the pass of someone who often goes to the mountain and has been noticed over the season by the lift attendants.

I know of a person (later went on to be quite prominent person in the ski business world(no it's not J Lev)) that was put into a police car at Stowe years ago trying to use another person's pass while in college. This incident was more closely related to what Eheath said before about the commission/incentive for catching poachers. This lifty had it out for this type of thing.

On the other hand, I also know of a person that was in their 30s that used a junior (under 17) pass at Northstar at Tahoe.

A lot depends on the person checking and knowing the actual info of the person who owns the pass.

Using another's pass can be dicey. I always preferred the one lift ticket, glove drop off the lift, rinse and repeat. This works best at mountains where you can get up to other lifts that don't check after riding the first.

Ive seen someone get pulled out of the line at Stowe by a cop while I was using a friends pass. Not sure if Stowe is still like that now, and I have a guess who that was.
 
Mf I barely know are always trying to mooch my pass, fuck off im not losing the pass I worked for just because you’re a bum, I had a guy that is kind of a friend of a friend who is a snowboarder actually hit me up asking to borrow my pass skis and boots because “my roommate wants to learn to ski and I want to learn with her” fucking ridiculous.
 
14243292:eheath said:
Resort employees get compensated for finding people stealing services, ie using someone else's pass. Its probably a lot easier this year since everyone is wearing a mask, but in a normal year they'll call you out and make you take your hat and shit off to verify.

My last roommate was a ticket scanner at Breck and said he got 200$ for every fake pass they caught
 
14243741:Saga. said:
I believe it happens more often than you would think because the pass the falsifier is using is more than likely the pass of someone who often goes to the mountain and has been noticed over the season by the lift attendants.

I know of a person (later went on to be quite prominent person in the ski business world(no it's not J Lev)) that was put into a police car at Stowe years ago trying to use another person's pass while in college. This incident was more closely related to what Eheath said before about the commission/incentive for catching poachers. This lifty had it out for this type of thing.

On the other hand, I also know of a person that was in their 30s that used a junior (under 17) pass at Northstar at Tahoe.

A lot depends on the person checking and knowing the actual info of the person who owns the pass.

Using another's pass can be dicey. I always preferred the one lift ticket, glove drop off the lift, rinse and repeat. This works best at mountains where you can get up to other lifts that don't check after riding the first.

In Colorado they do not screw around with borrowing passes. My buddy got caught and they actually charged him and he had court date etc and and bunch of fines to pay.
 
14243401:watto said:
as a ticket scanner at park city I can confirm that if we catch someone using a friends pass we can take it away and get cash rewards for it but I've never personally done it cuz homies gotta ride and I'm not stopping them not everyone can afford passes or lift tickets if yall are ever in park city as long as I work you goin up

brother r u still workin at park city?
 
14243401:watto said:
as a ticket scanner at park city I can confirm that if we catch someone using a friends pass we can take it away and get cash rewards for it but I've never personally done it cuz homies gotta ride and I'm not stopping them not everyone can afford passes or lift tickets if yall are ever in park city as long as I work you goin up

brother r u still workin at park city?
 
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