Poaching Resorts

montanabandits

montanabandits

Member
With the average price of a lift ticket growing more and more every year it gets harder and harder to get to resorts that you don't have a season pass too because it's getting more and more expensive. Does anyone have any experience or tips they would like to mention on how to make your resort poach as successful as possible?
 
Mammoth as well as a few other resorts I've skied don't have ticket scanners anywhere except the base chairs. In theory you could hike to a chair without gates and ride upper mountain all day.
 
A lot of smaller east coast hills (windham, hunter) have night skiing but dont check tickets for it, thunder ridge doesnt check tickets at the lift, they check at the entrance so you could hike the backside of the mountain (maybe 8 minutes) and ski all day, thats all just small NY hills though
 
most hills only have scanners at the main base lift. hike it up to the second lift up or so and ride mid mountain to top all day. we did it last week. worked fine.
 
=13859439: theft of services amigo.
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theft of services is a very real charge, so #1 don't get caught. You risk being fined, banned, or at least humiliated and chewed out.

If you have two+ friends with passes (5 total peeps is best to get two skiers on for free), send two+ up to midmountain. Then one of them skis down to base with all the passes and gives you one. Then you go up and are stuck skiing upper mountain for the day. Kinda inconvenient, risky, and generally not worth the trouble but that's how it's done if you don't know the lifties. If you know employees well enough to just bribe one, just greenpass like an adult and go to the upper mountain for the day. This obviously does not work for mountains like Targhee with all base to summit lifts.

Lifties are rewarded for catching people, so they are just doing their jobs with incentives not being dicks.
 
theft leads to higher lift ticket prices. what you're complaining about it is in part caused by what you're asking advice on doing. logic.

but for real, lift tickets are becoming more expensive at a rate far outpacing inflation or increases in hydro costs or labour etc. I suppose because resorts are going more in the direction of large corporations whose only goal is profit and pleasing investors.
 
So people have been able to get into bar code ticked events using a reprint from an insta or Facebook photo of a ticket or wristband, I bet you could do it with a picture of someone's pass.
 
Not worth it. I got caught doing this at Loon last season, they charged me for a full day ticket and told me if I tried to leave without paying they would call the po po. They said I could stay and ski only if I bought two full day lift tickets. Moral of the story, don't do it, but also fuck Loon, corporate assholes.
 
13859521:.Fry said:
Not worth it. I got caught doing this at Loon last season, they charged me for a full day ticket and told me if I tried to leave without paying they would call the po po. They said I could stay and ski only if I bought two full day lift tickets. Moral of the story, don't do it, but also fuck Loon, corporate assholes.
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How about I break into your car and steal your shit, then say fuck you, you corporate asshole.
 
13859528:freeballer said:
How about I break into your car and steal your shit, then say fuck you, you corporate asshole.
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I'd make you pay for a full day lift ticket to I don't give a fuck mountain
 
13859521:.Fry said:
Not worth it. I got caught doing this at Loon last season, they charged me for a full day ticket and told me if I tried to leave without paying they would call the po po. They said I could stay and ski only if I bought two full day lift tickets. Moral of the story, don't do it, but also fuck Loon, corporate assholes.
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So the extorted you for an the value of an extra day ticket? because you allegedly stole service from them ?

You shoulda lawyered up son.
 
13859534:Hugh_Conway_jr said:
So the extorted you for an the value of an extra day ticket? because you allegedly stole service from them ?

You shoulda lawyered up son.
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I never even successfully made it on the lift. Also I wouldn't have stood a chance against Loon and their policies.
 
13859540:.Fry said:
I never even successfully made it on the lift. Also I wouldn't have stood a chance against Loon and their policies.
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You never even made it on the lift? ... and they charged you for one day of skiing (the service that you are about to steal) and an extra day... for their troubles I guess?

You got hosed, and clearly taken advantage of. policy or not, its still extortion.... pay us more than you should or else.... and it sounds like their actual case for theft of service would have been weak. I mean, hey, pay the man .. path of least resistance, I get it. But they clearly took advantage of you in this instance.

I guess they could have just called it trespass, and refused to sell you lift tickets in the future... but I would have rather tried my luck with the police.

either way kids..moral of the story is .... Dont be a loon at Loon.

and Backcountry touring is fucking awesome.
 
13859544:Hugh_Conway_jr said:
You never even made it on the lift? ... and they charged you for one day of skiing (the service that you are about to steal) and an extra day... for their troubles I guess?

You got hosed, and clearly taken advantage of. policy or not, its still extortion.... pay us more than you should or else.... and it sounds like their actual case for theft of service would have been weak. I mean, hey, pay the man .. path of least resistance, I get it. But they clearly took advantage of you in this instance.

I guess they could have just called it trespass, and refused to sell you lift tickets in the future... but I would have rather tried my luck with the police.

either way kids..moral of the story is .... Dont be a loon at Loon.

and Backcountry touring is fucking awesome.
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Are you kidding? He was stealing. It's theft. They could have called the police instead of offering for him to pay for the service he was trying to steal. He could have been charged with theft and trespassing and I'm sure they could have tried to make something else up if they didn't like him.

"got hosed", "extortion", "took advantage". No. Just no. He was in the wrong, he got caught, and they offered him an easy and incredibly cheap (compared to anything that could have happened with lawyers) settlement. I mean, yes, they could have said don't do it again and let him go on with his day, but not everyone wants to let theft go unpunished.
 
At Ruapehu in NZ you can do this. If you manage to hike up they are like "fuck it you crazy bastard. We will let you up. Plus they don't have scanners above base area
 
13859521:.Fry said:
Not worth it. I got caught doing this at Loon last season, they charged me for a full day ticket and told me if I tried to leave without paying they would call the po po. They said I could stay and ski only if I bought two full day lift tickets. Moral of the story, don't do it, but also fuck Loon, corporate assholes.
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They charge like $70 for a day ticket at the end of the season. I just ski elsewhere late season like killi or sr, But everyone who poaches loon should know to avoid the gondola... they always check. Just curious, where did they catch you?
 
More and more resorts in the east and midwest are implementing rfid scanners. The glory days of poaching are over
 
My home resort in NY doesn't have any scanners or bar codes or anything. Not gunna lie, when I get back from college for winter break I'm just going to Photoshop my picture on a scan of one of my buddies passes. I'm not tryna pay $800 for a season pass to use for 3 weeks but I'm still going to ski. They make it almost to easy to fake a season pass. Broke college kid life.
 
13859544:Hugh_Conway_jr said:
You never even made it on the lift? ... and they charged you for one day of skiing (the service that you are about to steal) and an extra day... for their troubles I guess?

You got hosed, and clearly taken advantage of. policy or not, its still extortion.... pay us more than you should or else.... and it sounds like their actual case for theft of service would have been weak. I mean, hey, pay the man .. path of least resistance, I get it. But they clearly took advantage of you in this instance.

I guess they could have just called it trespass, and refused to sell you lift tickets in the future... but I would have rather tried my luck with the police.

either way kids..moral of the story is .... Dont be a loon at Loon.

and Backcountry touring is fucking awesome.
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So they should have just made him buy a single lift ticket? That would pretty much tell people to try and ride without a pass, and worst case they have to pay for the lift ticket they were supposed to have.

That seems like a brilliant policy. Derp.

Moral of the story, just buy a pass. If you ride other places hit up friends for comps or discounts. Try and go on days where they're running a special.

The whole thing has nothing to do with loon being corporate or their policies and everything to do with not stealing. He got caught, he didn't get in any trouble, but he had to pay more than the day would have cost him. In the future he'll probably think about just getting a ticket from somebody or buying a season pass.
 
13859694:jlens05 said:
My home resort in NY doesn't have any scanners or bar codes or anything. Not gunna lie, when I get back from college for winter break I'm just going to Photoshop my picture on a scan of one of my buddies passes. I'm not tryna pay $800 for a season pass to use for 3 weeks but I'm still going to ski. They make it almost to easy to fake a season pass. Broke college kid life.
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Don't most mtns offer super cheap college passes?
 
13859662:GREEN_BASTARD said:
They charge like $70 for a day ticket at the end of the season. I just ski elsewhere late season like killi or sr, But everyone who poaches loon should know to avoid the gondola... they always check. Just curious, where did they catch you?
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hahaha it was the gonadola bro, scrub move

*gondola*, small keyboards...

**This post was edited on Nov 25th 2017 at 3:21:44pm
 
No sympathy here for the dude who got caught, but if it were me I'd have said fuck off I'll leave then. Double charging someone for not even stealing a lift ride sounds like shit....even if he deserved it for being a chump. I could see if he had hitched a ride up and got caught on the way up again, but getting charged for trying seems like he got taken advantage of here. You probably could have gotten away with it if you played dumb and said your pass fell off. When they ask for the receipt say you threw it away and paid with cash and you'll leave then if they won't give you one. Act like they're being dicks. Also scrub move getting on a gondola.

Doesn't purchase of a lift ticket partly constitute release of liability for the resort if you're a dick and injure yourself or die? That's probably more of a reason why places are so strict. Nothing like a multimillion dollar lawsuit because a resort is known for not checking tickets.

Or you could buy a beginner area lift ticket and if you get caught elsewhere act stupid like you didn't know better.

All of this is impossible with rfid gates and scanning tickets at lifts these days that most resorts have. I'd say when I'm skiing, my pass gets checked on average 50-100% of the time depending on the resort.

If you live close enough to a resort, just buy a season pass you cheap ass. College students get cheap discounts on season passes and day lift tickets with IDs. For day passes, almost anywhere offering a discount just requires a student ID and depending on your ID, they might not know if it's expired or not (aka if you graduated). For season passes, you'd need a transcript most likely.

Also many places offer uphill travel hiking passes during certain hours and a select few offer all day.

If you live decently far enough that a season pass isn't worth to buy, why poach then? Why waste a trip because you were being cheap. If cost is really a problem, ski cheaper places and watch for discounts and use liftopia.

Fuckkkkkkk
 
13859433:Crust_Station said:
A lot of smaller east coast hills (windham, hunter) have night skiing but dont check tickets for it, thunder ridge doesnt check tickets at the lift, they check at the entrance so you could hike the backside of the mountain (maybe 8 minutes) and ski all day, thats all just small NY hills though
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windham and hunter have night skiing?
 
13859740:IsitWinterYet17 said:
Double charging someone for not even stealing a lift ride sounds like shit....even if he deserved it for being a chump.
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If you were an employee that caught someone trying to poach and they said "but I haven't even got a ride in yet!" would you a- believe them? or b- give a shit?

The fact he didn't take a ride is completely irrelevant. For all they know he took 10, and when you're caught stealing you aren't exactly going to be taken at your word for anything you say.

Besides letting him off with a warning they did the next most forgiving thing.
 
Out of curiosity, a lift ticket buys you access to the lift not the terrain correct? So if you hiked the mountain all day, could they throw you put?
 
13859830:Crust_Station said:
Out of curiosity, a lift ticket buys you access to the lift not the terrain correct? So if you hiked the mountain all day, could they throw you put?
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it depends.

some resorts allow uphill travel, some do this for free, some charge .. some just require a check-in.

Some resorts are built on private land, or require you to pass through private land to access the public lands. this allows them to prevent access.

other resorts, built on public lands operate under some form of recreational land use permit. and for the most part, if the hill can demonstrate that having the public access property poses a risk to the public, due to the nature of the resorts operations .. they can also restrict your access.

Re: liability, trespass and a waiver.

in most jurisdictions there is legislation that protects landowners from individuals who trespass or otherwise access their lands. In BC its known as the occupiers liability act.
 
13859830:Crust_Station said:
Out of curiosity, a lift ticket buys you access to the lift not the terrain correct? So if you hiked the mountain all day, could they throw you put?
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It depends on the resort. A lot of mountains don't allow hiking. Some of them if you ask or know the owners/ are a local. Mtns like aspen snowmass have a very mellow uphill policy. It's free to do it and they mark out routes at all the mountains. I'm not sure if you're still supposed to get a ticket as I had a pass. Some places will make you get a ticket even if it's free, just to lower the liability.

The same with people walking around in free rail jam/hike parks giving out tickets to make sure everyone has a ticket on them.

HIking the pipes some places used to be pretty mellow. Nobody really has pipes anymore though.

It really depends on the place though. But they definitely can tell you you can't hike and ask you to purchase a lift ticket and leave. It can be partly a $$$ thing, but also risk. If people are just bootpacking up any random trail they could get hit, especially in blind spots like steep blind hills or corners.

VR at least in CO has tickets that are like $10 I think to uphill for the day. I'm sure other resorts have similar thing. In the northeast it's doubtful many places do as there isn't much of a touring or split scene.

I've had people tell me that I couldn't hike features, and have heard other people say similar. Pretty rare that I've come across but there was apparently a "no hiking" policy that some people were a little overkill about.

If there is a park that's low enough to hike to, places will sometimes check tickets on people hiking features to make sure they have them for $$ and liability.
 
13859528:freeballer said:
How about I break into your car and steal your shit, then say fuck you, you corporate asshole.
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Free baller isn't a rich white prick who doesn't need the money. You think lifties and on hands workers are the ones getting screwed? Everyone knows 90% of those lift tickets go to ceos and board members
 
13859439:Chubz. said:
dont be a scumbag and buy a fuckin pass.

theft of services amigo.
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yeah buuuuuuut when all your homies have epicpasses and youre broke AF and not gonna fork out eighty bucks for a discount pass, a dudes gotta do what hes gotta do you know?

i will say that its incredibly fucking easy to poach PC resorts lol
 
Ive never done it, but always wondered if you could just use the little part you rip off at the bottom of a day-ticket and say you lost your ticket and get another ticket for a buddy? I assume it would somehow let the scanner know it was a duplicate/same barcode but I feel like most wouldnt give a shit. Anybody have any experience with this?
 
13859851:gofeickyourself said:
Free baller isn't a rich white prick who doesn't need the money. You think lifties and on hands workers are the ones getting screwed? Everyone knows 90% of those lift tickets go to ceos and board members
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Then don't fucking go skiing there. Jesus. It's stealing, straight up. It doesn't matter who you are stealing from or who that money would have gone to. So by your reasoning, it's ok to steal from people or certain companies on some sort of whacko sliding wealth scale. If you are wealthy, then it's perfectly ok to steal from you. If you are not, then it's not ok. WTF? Well, let me tell you something. You live in America, I presume. Therefore, it's ok to for someone to steal from you, because you happen to live in the richest country on earth. If you make more than $10,000 a year, then you are wealthier than 84% of the world. If you make $50,000 a year, you are the top 1% of the world. So by your reasoning, it's perfectly ok to steal your shit.
 
13859974:freeballer said:
Then don't fucking go skiing there. Jesus. It's stealing, straight up. It doesn't matter who you are stealing from or who that money would have gone to. So by your reasoning, it's ok to steal from people or certain companies on some sort of whacko sliding wealth scale. If you are wealthy, then it's perfectly ok to steal from you. If you are not, then it's not ok. WTF? Well, let me tell you something. You live in America, I presume. Therefore, it's ok to for someone to steal from you, because you happen to live in the richest country on earth. If you make more than $10,000 a year, then you are wealthier than 84% of the world. If you make $50,000 a year, you are the top 1% of the world. So by your reasoning, it's perfectly ok to steal your shit.
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Ok first off America is not the wealthiest country on earth, that's a fuckin lie. And secondly yeah haven't you ever seen Robin Hood before? The rich don't need what they already have. Fuck em
 
13859446:VinnieF said:
theft leads to higher lift ticket prices. what you're complaining about it is in part caused by what you're asking advice on doing. logic

but for real, lift tickets are becoming more expensive at a rate far outpacing inflation or increases in hydro costs or labour etc. I suppose because resorts are going more in the direction of large corporations whose only goal is profit and pleasing investors.
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Then I guess I'll just have to keep poaching then 👌
 
13859976:gofeickyourself said:
Ok first off America is not the wealthiest country on earth, that's a fuckin lie. And secondly yeah haven't you ever seen Robin Hood before? The rich don't need what they already have. Fuck em
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Those are really good points, but I'm still going to steal your shit based off your philosophy. I'm now 100% into taking other's stuff when they don't need what they already have. Thanks for showing me the light.
 
13859979:freeballer said:
Those are really good points, but I'm still going to steal your shit based off your philosophy. I'm now 100% into taking other's stuff when they don't need what they already have. Thanks for showing me the light.
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Fuck yourself and die freeballer. Taking people's possessions, like skis or property is fucked up. I haven't and don't do that, because I'm not a shitty person. However if you think I'm going to drop $60 dollars to sit in an enormous lift line at boreal when I could just walk around the fucking line and squeeze through at no cost of anyone else, is hilarious. imma keep that shit goin forever. 🤘
 
13859981:gofeickyourself said:
Fuck yourself and die freeballer. Taking people's possessions, like skis or property is fucked up. I haven't and don't do that, because I'm not a shitty person. However if you think I'm going to drop $60 dollars to sit in an enormous lift line at boreal when I could just walk around the fucking line and squeeze through at no cost of anyone else, is hilarious. imma keep that shit goin forever. 🤘
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What's hilarious is that you ski Boreal when you are surrounded by actual good mountains to go ski.
 
13859984:gofeickyourself said:
That's why I don't buy a pass there you dumb cunt
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That's a really good comeback. I'd suggest just keep spending your time hiking a lame terrain park instead of shredding big lines in the beautiful Seirra Nevadas, but maybe budget a little for when you get caught. That might hurt your budget for a cotton hoodie or new Full-Tilts though. I guess we all have to make some sort of compromises in life.
 
13859988:freeballer said:
That's a really good comeback. I'd suggest just keep spending your time hiking a lame terrain park instead of shredding big lines in the beautiful Seirra Nevadas, but maybe budget a little for when you get caught. That might hurt your budget for a cotton hoodie or new Full-Tilts though. I guess we all have to make some sort of compromises in life.
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Yeah and my compromise is ski all the mountains around here and pay for 1 and work for 1 at most. ill never get caught cause I'm not a free baller, I'm a very calculated baller who knows what's what. I would throw shade on your account but it's so fucking weak I have no idea who tf you are.
 
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