I use to live in Vail for a number of years and worked at a VR ski shop. During my time there I had a few encounters with yellow jackets and upper management applies stricter rules to employees with infractions, 3 strikes and your fired. So, I got a one week suspension for my second offense one season. My first day back I was skiing with some friends on my split shift and was heading back to the shop when I saw this little knoll with a "no jumping" sign. Before skiing over to it, I looked all around and was in the clear. I got about a foot of air and continued to ski down. One of my friends sped up to me and said a yellow jacket just crested over the ridge, saw me jump, and radioed in my outerwear color. I looked back and indeed there was a yellow jacket straight lining down to me. I'm usually pretty humble when it comes to skiing, but I knew this mountain better than the entire yellow jacket staff combined and could outski any of them any day. I figured I could ski into some deep woods and hide out for a while, but I had to get to back to work at the shop. As I head to one of the base areas, Lionshead, I notice a yellow jacket blocking that last catwalk talking on his radio. At that point my instincts kick in and I duck the rope and dip into this neighborhood that separates Lionshead from the main village. I worked landscaping in the summers and had done work on a few houses in this area so I kinda knew which yards to ski in to reach the main road. Once I reached the road, I hopped on a bus and made it to work. As I was clocking in, one of my ski buddies calls me and says there is a whole crew of yellow jackets at the base on their radios communicating to other staff about the color of my outerwear and to be on the lookout.
All I can say is I'm glad I got out of this one and fuck those yellow jacket cop/ski patrol wannabees.
