Resort doesn't allow us to hike rails stating no uphill traffic, anyone else have this problem? Help with solutions?

H

Hard

Member
I ski at a medium-large resort on the west coast. The parks are generally good, but have somewhat lengthy runs before and after the parks, and usually crazy lift lines. To mitigate this and get more hits on the most trickable rails we often times hike. This year we have been told by mountain ambassadors (yeah, red coats..) that uphill traffic is not allowed and that we can not hike. We hike only in clear to see areas and out of the way of everyone. We tried to reason with him stating that the no uphill traffic rule applies mainly to touring skiers skinning up and people who want to poach. He got pissed and threatened to pull our passes when we brought this up, so we stopped hiking. A different day park crew told us the same thing. And they're never nice about it.

It just seems counter productive to the park scene. One run up and down takes about half hour, and depending on the park there may only be 4 rails to hit in that half hour. That's not enough in my opinion. Plus I've seen lots of other people do it, and if the people hiking are pro or 'semi pro' they are allowed to do it.

Anyone else have this issue? Any ideas on how to resolve this?
 
1. Get your boys together

2. Kidnap the owner of the resort

3. Hold him for ransom in exchange for hiking to be allowed

4. Profit
 
1. Get sponsored by Proteus

2. You are now semi-pro

3. Hike all day

(Seriously though this is super weird and I've never had this problem at any hill. Even as a freestyle instructor we'd have the kids hiking to teach them features, all official af)
 
bro ur really gonna let some no name red NPC tell u how to live ur life?

hike the rail and if they converge on you, simply ski away and come back. maybe even keep a few burner jackets in the car for disguises. You can be agent 47.
 
as long as you have a lift ticket (liability insurance) and you are walking up on the side of the run, they shouldnt bother you.

the job of ski patrol is to keep people safe...
 
Leave one of your poles above the top of the run in and if they come by and ask what you're doing say you're just hiking back up to pick up your pole that you “dropped”.

Unless they're happy to have gear littered across the hill there should be no reason that you shouldn't be allowed to climb back up to get a dropped piece of equipment like on any other trail.
 
This is such an unreasonable reading of a rule clearly established to disallow skinning during op hours and to stop people from avoiding terrain closures by going to the bottom and walking up instead of ducking a rope.

the park is closed off, right? Like a roped off park run?

I’ve never heard of an area enforcing a no uphill policy like this. Where does it stop? You can’t walk uphill to help someone? You started down a trail over your ability and you can’t walk up to avoid skiing it?

insane. You should respectfully reach out to patrol or area management/marketing. We don’t allow uphill during op hours, but we would never stop someone hiking a feature.

Hopefully that’s just one dummy enforcing a policy they don’t actually understand. Reach out to the patrol director and clarify. Do it verrrry respectfully.
 
14390253:casual said:
This is such an unreasonable reading of a rule clearly established to disallow skinning during op hours and to stop people from avoiding terrain closures by going to the bottom and walking up instead of ducking a rope.

the park is closed off, right? Like a roped off park run?

I’ve never heard of an area enforcing a no uphill policy like this. Where does it stop? You can’t walk uphill to help someone? You started down a trail over your ability and you can’t walk up to avoid skiing it?

insane. You should respectfully reach out to patrol or area management/marketing. We don’t allow uphill during op hours, but we would never stop someone hiking a feature.

Hopefully that’s just one dummy enforcing a policy they don’t actually understand. Reach out to the patrol director and clarify. Do it verrrry respectfully.
Click to expand...

yeah i agree that it's silly but my guess is that if it's a legit rule they've been told to enforce, it's probably something regarding insurance or whatever

def also agree that OP should very respectfully bring it up with someone in the office. arguing with the dude out on the snow isn't gonna go anywhere
 
It might help to respectfully explain the situation to the park manager and/ or head ski patrol. Ask if you can have an established 'hiking lane' off to the side or in a place where there's no traffic.
 
This is what happens when mtns hire kooks tbat barely ski for these positions. Wanna be cop types with no idea about how mtns work trying to throw their weight around.

Just bring a hat or glove and drop it accidently every time you head to the rail. Then realize you dropped it, and hike back up to get it. He can't tell you that you can't. Ski gear is expensive. Your mom would be pissed if you just left a new glove there on the hill.

As far as why you keep dropping stuff? You're learning, people drop stuff all the time, he shouldn't make feel uncomfortable about your progression in the sport.
 
Definitely possible, and if that’s the case, it is what it is.

in my experience though, certain individuals don’t think critically about the spirit or intention of a particular rule and instead apply it way too literally.

If there aren’t “ no uphill hiking” signs at the park or at the bottom, I wonder if it’s just not some over zealous employee going rogue.

14390258:SofaKingSick said:
yeah i agree that it's silly but my guess is that if it's a legit rule they've been told to enforce, it's probably something regarding insurance or whatever

def also agree that OP should very respectfully bring it up with someone in the office. arguing with the dude out on the snow isn't gonna go anywhere
Click to expand...
 
"mountain ambassador" - so not ski patrol? I haven't skied at your mountain but anywhere else I've skied these guys don't even have the ability to pull your pass. I'd say reach out to management and find out the reason why they don't want you hiking, it can't be for the rule he stated.
 
I think at our mountain they cracked down pretty hard on uphill travel. I’ve never heard of this, the problems usually came from touring groups potentially getting into areas where control work is being done. And also touring up when it’s super busy is kind of asking for a collision in my opinion. Saying you can’t hike a rail is a little heavy handed IMO
 
This

14390253:casual said:
This is such an unreasonable reading of a rule clearly established to disallow skinning during op hours and to stop people from avoiding terrain closures by going to the bottom and walking up instead of ducking a rope.

insane. You should respectfully reach out to patrol or area management/marketing. We don’t allow uphill during op hours, but we would never stop someone hiking a feature.

Hopefully that’s just one dummy enforcing a policy they don’t actually understand. Reach out to the patrol director and clarify. Do it verrrry respectfully.
Click to expand...

and this.

14390258:SofaKingSick said:
yeah i agree that it's silly but my guess is that if it's a legit rule they've been told to enforce, it's probably something regarding insurance or whatever

def also agree that OP should very respectfully bring it up with someone in the office. arguing with the dude out on the snow isn't gonna go anywhere
Click to expand...

If you VERRRRY respectfully and professionally (research the exact rule you're breaking and practice a nicely worded speech) make your point, you mighttttt be able to convince an upper management person to amend the rules.
 
I thought mountains weren’t legally allowed to own anything besides the chairlifts? You can do whatever u want I’m p sure. Sounds like they just want u to buy a pass, but I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to not let people hike cuz most mountains are like state property or whatever not private property
 
14390517:Farmville420 said:
I thought mountains weren’t legally allowed to own anything besides the chairlifts? You can do whatever u want I’m p sure. Sounds like they just want u to buy a pass, but I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to not let people hike cuz most mountains are like state property or whatever not private property
Click to expand...

Once you get out of the american west most resorts operate on private land and even resorts with a forest service lease have some liberties with what can be done within boundaries, especially in the name of 'safety.'
 
14390517:Farmville420 said:
I thought mountains weren’t legally allowed to own anything besides the chairlifts? You can do whatever u want I’m p sure. Sounds like they just want u to buy a pass, but I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to not let people hike cuz most mountains are like state property or whatever not private property
Click to expand...

This is just fundamentally untrue. Even resorts operating on US Forest Service land enter into permitting agreements with the USFS and have rights to restrict access both for safety reasons and to prevent damage to specific kinds of flora and fauna.

There’s this idea out there that “it’s public land! You have no authority!” which simply isn’t true.

The areas have to provide reasonable access to the public, but it’s been litigated to death that ski area purveyors have the right to restrict access.

It also blows my mind that people think there’s no cost to grooming, trail maintenance, routing, staffing of patrol, lighting, avalanche mitigation, parking, mountain access, etc. and that they should be entitled to do whatever they want wherever they want.

Basically, people want it both ways: safe lil environment to “play” mountaineer where there’s no real consequence due to the extensive taming of the environment (at great cost to the areas) that they can also do whatever they want on.

If people don’t want to be told when/where to go, there’s countless places to do that beyond the boundaries of ski areas. The trade off to not being obliged to follow established routes and policies is that you have to make your own way and mitigate any risk on your own.

P.S. This is just an aside and I fully disagree with disallowing people to hike features in the park or to reasonably travel uphill for non-nefarious/policy avoiding reasons (retrieving dropped equipment, heading back to a junction due to going the wrong way, etc.).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top