Ropes Are for the Other People

Its been slow here in the "Patrol Shack" forum

Read by someone in some magazine .

(Guy looks down from a lift and notices a father lifting a rope to a closed trail so that his son can go under it and access the fresh powder)

Guy from chairlift: That's right son. Ropes are for the OTHER people!

aw, Guy on lift should save his sanctimonious self righteous outbursts for someone who cares. 

Since that story isn't accompanied by some tale of tragedy of same kid being rescued after ducking the rope his dad lifted I can only assume his son scored the powder..Dad's a Hero!


There, now that ought to liven up the forum!

Some people just need to feel self-important and justify their existence.  I remember when people decided where and when they could ski without needing to lift any ropes out of the way.  Now you can't leave the resort boundaries without being "rescued".

It's much much more entertaining to instead yell "DUDE PATROL IS COMING! I CAN SEE THEM! GO GO GO  GO GO!!!"

I'm sorry

It's funny regardless.  In terms of the Dad/son lessons learned, it depends where this happened.  Anywhere with slide danger this would be very uncool behavior on the part of anyone, much less Dad.  There are also some places without slide risk or other significant hazards where patrol still may pull your ticket for ducking a rope in plain view, but where rope ducking in other areas not so much in view, while still against policy, may not rank as high on the list of things they are "policing" against.  Age of kiddo, competency and self-reliance of both also factors. 

People do die even in the east from ducking ropes, of course.  Even on nice days with fresh snow. 

I thought it was actually a man at Kicking Horse lifting the rope for his wife

http://www2.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=1378874

If some dad wants to subject his son to ski area Darwinism, then I don't see how it's chairlift person's problem. It's not them that will have to rescue them if something goes wrong. OTOH, as a mountain employee who is often in uniform, I'll usually say something if somebody is breaking a rule or the SRC. If I see somebody doing something unsafe, and don't say anything while in an instructor's uniform, I'm pretty much saying it's okay. I have gone to the point of bringing ridiculous offenders to the patrol shack, where they will sometimes lose their tickets. But that's when I'm operating as a representative of the mountain. When I'm in my civilian gear, or skiing off my home mountain, people's poor decisions are their own, and I don't feel the need to comment upon them. Unless I just feel like making fun of something stupid .

Ski instructors assembling their class in front of the entrance gates to a lift. No clue.

Well, in some states (including Colorado), ducking a rope is actually illegal and an offense for which you can be arrested. I wonder if that makes this dad a contributor to the delinquency of a minor?

I remember a number of years ago we were down skiing Snowbird skiing a litf served run down the bowl on the backside of the tram. We would all meet up down on the flats off to the far side by a rope line. Well some yahoo decides to hit the big drift the rope line was denying access too, and flew right by my head only a couple of feet away. The next guy skiing by decides to go better and hit the drift and clear the rope, so there he went up over and out of sight. Then I hear this faint wheezy help coming from just out of sight. Well the guy had landed on a broke off dead snag sticking out of the snow a couple of feet. He was seriously hurt had to life flighted off the mountain. I will always remember sitting with him and waiting for the patrol top find us. Punctured lung, broken ribs ect., who knows what all in the end.

At Bridger we take our ropes lines very seriously, for safety reasons, primarily cliff and avalanche reasons. A couple of Bears almost lost their tickets last year thinking they could duck a rope line instead of skiing down to the gate. Fast talking and name dropping got them out of the situation, but I had to hear about it for days to come.

Don't duck rope lines,,,,and if you do be prepared to suffer the consequences. Which might physical hurt.

A couple of Bears almost lost their tickets last year thinking they could duck a rope line instead of skiing down to the gate. Fast talking and name dropping got them out of the situation, but I had to hear about it for days to come.  I can't believe someone would blindside a jump without checking the LZ.

Monkey see monkey do. The first guy never crossed the rope line, the next guy obviously thought he go one better. He was a long time Snowbird skier, and a local. I still remember his first name.

Trails are closed for a reason. People should be subjected to Ski Patrol PSA's waiting for the lift. Maybe that would cut down on the stupidity.

Anyone that skis closed terrain in avalanche country is beyond stupid in my opinion. Back country skiing is about 13 times more lethal than in-bounds, based on last years avalanche fatalities.