Ski Patrol: Friends or Enemies

CalvinStork

CalvinStork

Member
argue it! stories pleas!

here is mine its kinda lame:

ummm kinda frienemie?

All off the good runs and my home hill or closed for snow making but are perfectly skiable. We got yelled at twice for hitting stuff that we "lazily" marked as closed. They called us assholes. But they didnt cut our passes. sooo kinda cool.
 
This one time we decided to poach a glad. We had gotten about a foot and a half of snow. We could resist. Idk why the hell it was closed. Anyway we drop it once no problem. We go to hit it again and as we're hiking in these 3 patrollers come out from the trees and tell us to stop right there. Anyway the one pulled out a gun and they proceeded to forced us to sing Bon Jovi before taking our money and telling us that if we ever told anyone they would kill us. My one buddy Jason wanted to go to the police. I tried to convince him not to but he didn't listen. The police report says he was speeding down the access road and lost control. I checked his car though and his brake lines were cut.

I used to think poaching was NBD, but I will Never ever poach another trail. I'm honestly scared just posting this here. If you never hear from me again tell my wife and kids that I'm sorry, and I love them very much.
 
Good man making you sing Bon Jovi, the eternal protector of the values behind those stars and stripes.
 
Do you even know why runs with snowmaking are closed....? Because they're fucking dangerous you dipshit.

They weren't closed because of lack of snow (I mean you said it..."they're perfectly skiable"), they were closed because snowmaking entails power lines @ 440, expensive/fragile equipment, and unmarked and hidden obstacles (buried hydrants and literally holes in the fucking ground). Not to mention, people on ski doos and/or working.

Think about what you posted. You're view point is stupidly narrow, selfish, and where all you can see is "perfectly skiable" runs, there's a lot of dangerous shit that you have no fucking clue about. You think the guy that called you an asshole wants to endanger himself trying to pull you off a 440v line in order to thump on your chest? Think he wants to call your mom and explain what happened? That's obviously melodramatic and worst case scenario, but you have to use your brain for two seconds to figure out why what you did was fucking idiotic.

This is why patrolling can be frustrating. People with literally no idea about how ski areas operate make these selfish, yahoo decisions because they're impatient. Patrol and mountains don't close terrain or not open terrain on purpose, or in order to "save it for themselves". There's nothing areas want more than to be open wall to wall, as they can then advertise what terrain is in fact open and thus bring in more people.

It's one thing to duck a rope and dip into thin coverage early season as long as you understand you're on your own, it is a whole other game to duck a rope into avy terrain yet to be controlled or to ski a run with current snowmaking. Those decisions could cost you, and the people tasked with helping you, their lives.

tl;dr : pull your head out of your ass, patrollers are people like anyone else, some are cool, some are dick brooms, but for the most part they are paid shit and took the job so they could ski their asses off and help people.
 
Sure some patrollers take things too far just like some cops suck ass but you have that with every job with "authority". As a patroller I realized there is good reason for most things we do. For most closures, there is good reason it is closed. No they arent powder farming or anything like that. Its usually because they are blasting, its sketchy and they will get sued, or something else where its not safe. Also these people are the ones saving your ass when shit goes down. It may not be you but maybe your friend or family that is dying on the mtn and you will be stoked to have patrollers around.
 
i mean, i've definitely had run ins with patrollers on the east coast that get overly upset about things like skiing switch too fast and whatnot, but on those days when you do get injured you'll always be glad they're there. and in the west the patrollers are avalanche preventing, lifesaving badasses who usually know the difference between whats a safe good time and what needs to be prevented.
 
friends, they might do some things that SEEM unfair, but really they are keeping everyone safe, you should be happy that when you fall and break your neck someone is there to help you live.
 
I give thanks for ski patrol for letting us ski "safely" on the mountain.... But some of those guys are pure assholes. Last year I was skiing down a run pretty fast, I was completely in control though. And I suppose that some ski patrol guy saw me ski down "too fast". When I was waiting in line after the run to go back up, the guy came up to me and started bitching and making a big scene about how I was putting everyone on the runs "life in danger" and that I was skiing recklessly.

 
Pals.

Tad too arrogant when you chat with them on the lifts though I respect lift ops and other mountain operation people more just because they do the brunt work with less gratitude and ski time. I'd like to see them have to be lifties part of the time just to keep the egos in check. At least the young ones.

The older the ski patroller is the chiller he is. Under age 40 are the only douches you come across. All the older patrollers are solid as fuck.
 
Ski patrols are totally different in Euripe than in the U.S. I have never heard, taking a pass from someone in europe and they don't usually occupy themselves with minor things. They are highly trained , and they will keep you alive when you need it the most! I have never skied in the U.S. or Canada but i have seen videos of people getting their pass taken because of high speed and shit like that , in Europe that would be totally funny!
 
Lets turn this into a stories of Ski Patrol yelling at me/other people for being fucking stupid. Last year at Jay Peak the park crew was reshaping the jumps for most of the day. So as me and my friend are passing the park entrance (which is clearly roped off and closed) some random run of the mill skier decides fuck it I guess, he couldn't resist the siren call of those knuckles that he could totally get some sweet air over. Ducks the rope, and rips the fuck outa those knuckles, while simultaneously completely ignoring the cat driver and several park crew screaming at him. Found him at the bottom actually arguing with ski patrol, they were not having any of his shit thankfully.
 
all give sumsum give all

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vibes to the friends and fams of those no longer makin it safer
 
I've never had a patroller give me shit for skiing too fast (which is all the time). Maybe it's because I'm older? Maybe it's because I'm clearly not out of control and I don't buzz people?

Friends, for sure.
 
this thread is stupid. Ski patrol works hard to keep the mountain (and you) safe. If you are fucking off and being a dickhead and they say something to you..that doesnt make them a dick.. they are doing their job..but if they are going out of there way to be an asshole and go on a power trip then that person is just a douche regardless of them being ski patrol or not.
 
In their hearts they are definitely all trying to be friends, just sometimes (especially with park skiers) they get a little too upset about things that aren't real problems
 
my family has been on ski patrol forever at mount snow and some of my family's best friends are on ski patrol. you could say im pretty tight with patrol
 
One thing you need to do is put your patrol in perspective to where you ski. You volly patrol on the 300 ft garbage hill is probably bored as fuck trying to mange so many dipshits packed so tightly. Especially when most can't make a turn on their 25 year old straight skis's. Contrast that with pro patrol on a mountain that has serious terrain and snowpack risks. The last thing they are worried about is enforcing speed. They are constantly evaluating the mountian, and trying to get terrain open safely.
 
Definitely friends, I just wish they would leave side booters that are clearly out of the way alone.
 
A friend of mine was "out west" skiing a huge resort and saw some patroller with a radar gun pointed at him. "OH SWEET!" he thinks and immediately tucks it out, hoping to maximize his speed and "win" as he put it. I can't even imagine his dumbfounded expression when he stopped to ask the patroller if he won he got his pass clipped haha... I thought that was hilarious personally.
 
nah, id compare us more directly with an ambulance service. we have to do the policing on occasion though, we don't like to but we have to.
 
The patrollers in the east coast didnt like our style. Since my parents would kill me for getting my pass punched, I tried to stay out of trouble. The mountain was equipped with volunteer patrollers who where older than my parents and couldnt ski moguls. It was pretty pathetic. Some would even yell at me for shaping the jump and prepping the landing ( yes we were a large group and we keep it safe)

But, my mind was blown when I was at Jay Peak. I took a tram ride with a red coat and he was super stoked. He laughed when someone was poaching a run and did not even call for backup.

Out West, Patrollers are my friends. They are super chill and really understand the importance of freeriding. Much respect for patrol, I wish I could help out too
 
Frienemies lol. Most of the time they're great people who enjoy their job and are there to save your life and they do an awesome job! Occasionally there's some douches just like anywhere else
 
This could be the dumbest thread ever made on ns.

Anyone who thinks ski patrol is your "enemy" is a fucking moron who should be kept in lifelong quarantine as to not infect the rest of humanity with their stupidity
 
There are good and bad ones. A lot of patrollers are chill as fuck if you're real with them. They like to have a good time too but their job is to keep the mountain safe.

They like deep powder lines in the trees, crushing some steeps, some of them like to blaze, some of them could blow your mind in the park, and all of them are there to save your ass if something bad happens to you.

The first ski inversion I saw in person was in about 2000 at Labrador watching two ski patrollers filming each other in the pipe. I could barely get out of the thing and they were just boosting.

Even some of the ones that are yelling at you for poaching trails. You think they take their job way to seriously. Have the time they'll be joking about it after. It's like a parent when they have to yell at their kid for doing something stupid but they aren't really mad they just need to let their kid no what the boundaries are.

They were all young once. If you respect them for the most part you won't have many problems. If they tell you not to poach something just apologize for doing it the run before and let it go instead of getting all FUCK THE POLICE!

 
If you get your pass clipped can you get it back or is it gone for the season? Never had it done so. I assume they take it for the season.
 
It seems like there are 2 types of patrollers in this world...

The first kind is the guy with the epic beard and the permanent goggle/windburn tan, who rides beat to shit Seth Pistols with tele bindings and has gloves made more from tape than leather. He's the guy out there at 5am, cutting cornices and throwing avi bombs by the light of a headlamp so that you can slay pow from the time the lifts open. The kind of guy who will see you sneak a minor poach or boost through a slow zone and look the other way because he's been there and done that when he's not wearing a patrol jacket. The same kind of guy who will happily haul your stupid ass down 1000ft of vert in a bloodbucket as long as you were throwing down righteously when you got wrecked.

The other kind is the rent-a-cop power-tripping dork who rolls around the mountain on race skis and pulls your pass for riding switch, because you could like, hurt someone.

 
at my mountain, your pass gets clipped and your name goes on record. the ticket gun's then don't "beep" normally if you try and scan a pass because they are programmed not to let you on the lift. so it's a season thing
 
As long as they stay out of my way I will get out of their way. But when they start yelling at me for no reason because I have twin tips and shit that's where I draw the line and get pissed
 
I'm on the ski patrol at my little home mountain, so obviously I'm a fan, but sometimes patrollers will overreact to dumb shit, or go mad with power and just bitch at people for no reason. It's pretty rare though
 
not kinda cool. thats really fucking cool. they deffinetly shouldve cut your passes. if patrol is being "dicks" then most of the time you're in the wrong and they are just doing their job.
 
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