Fired for skiing an unmarked glade?

Word on the hill (Gore) last weekend was that an instructor got fired for skiing an unmarked glade during/after last week's storm....... wait for it....... wait for it....... while NOT on the clock. If true, I sure hope it wasn't someone on here.

If someone got fired for skiing an unmarked glade after a 20" storm, well, imo, there's more to the story.

Because of a previous lawsuit (of course), instructors were ordered several years ago either to not wear or to cover up their ORDA jackets when not on the clock. The instructor may have disobeyed that order. Seems harsh, but understandable.

I think instructors have been pretty good about the jacket thing.

What I heard was that this was a poach of a very obvious (from the lift) and closed on the map glade.

Harvey wrote

What I heard was that this was a poach of a very obvious (from the lift) and closed on the map glade.

Snoopy Chute? Power Line? I always wonder how people expect to get away with that.

If you're gonna go off map, be discrete.

Snoop has absolutely no signage that it is not a trail or closed, so like George Costanza said "nobody said you can't do that." If snoop even exists, which it might not, oh never mind I have no idea what this is about.

Harvey wrote

...on the map...

Harvey wrote

Harvey wrote

...on the map...

My mistake.

Gore seemed to have a decent amount of ropes up on some glades.  Is that typical?  Is there an open woods policy at Gore?  

I thought all of the open glades had great coverage. The closed ones likely had ok coverage--not great. Should have been skiable but my thought was they kept the lower mountain ones closed to help preserve them for next couple weeks. Just my thoughts.

I know the season long coaches had it stressed to the them all season--only marked glades were to be skied. And they held pretty firm to that directive.

There was a "thin cover" sign on Lower Steilhang on Sunday. It had, by far, the softest snow on any marked trail that we encountered all day. I'm also still looking for the thin cover.

Seems like an evolving policy. WF must have a different policy as Coach wrote about skiing a closed glade recently with no fear of retribution.

PeeTex wrote

 Seems like an evolving policy.

It does. Maybe the issue was a limited number of ski patrol this past weekend.

Either way, closing off unmarked glades permanently will surely upset many.

Harvey wrote

What I heard was that this was a poach of a very obvious (from the lift) and closed on the map glade.

If that is the case then it certainly changes the equation. I thought it was unmarked and not obvious. If it was a marked, closed trail then different story. Firing might be a little harsh IMO but I guess it sends a message.

As SIAWOL noted, the season long coaches were told they would be fired on the spot if they got caught taking their groups into unmarked territory. That I can understand completely with possibly injury, liability, etc. for kids that don't necessarily understand the risk they are taking.

PeeTex wrote

Seems like an evolving policy. WF must have a different policy as Coach wrote about skiing a closed glade recently with no fear of retribution.

Probably not the smartest thing I've written on here

Like I said the way what I skied was marked up for interpretation.  Going under a full rope or skiing the closed lift lines or worst of all skiing the slides when closed are firing offenses for sure

Non marked glades are more of a gray area.  Out of uniform it's probably ok.  Bubbas is so popular I don't know why they don't just put it on the map.

This past weekend the amount of true poaching I saw going on was almost off the charts.  I did not see any enforcement except the noted case of the slides.  That is a big no no in my book.

Granted I've never been stopped for skiing on something unmarked, but regardless I always have a logical excuse on the ready--I don't duck a rope, I enter/exit on open trails, and I relate the conditions of adjacent trails to the unmarked one I'm skiing (if adjacent trail coverage is good then unmarked is probably fine). Lastly I consider skier traffic in area and time of day--I'm not hitting snoopy at 11a on a holiday weekend....no guarantee my logic will ever hold up, but at least it demonstrates I've considered risks and am respectful of concerns that patrol would raise...

I didn't post the specifics because it came to me third hand and I didn't know if my source was positive about the info. At the risk of providing mis-info I was told the offense occurred under the High Peaks chair when the terrain was closed.

Harvey wrote

I didn't post the specifics because it came to me third hand and I didn't know if my source was positive about the info. At the risk of providing mis-info I was told the offense occurred under the High Peaks chair when the terrain was closed.

That terrain can be entered from so many un-roped points.

PeeTex wrote

That terrain can be entered from so many un-roped points.

I can see a patron using that defense.  But this was a mountain employee, who is supposed to be helping the mountain achieve their objectives (revenue, safety or whatever?).

Firing the kid may over the top.  The problem is when you are off the clock are you an employee or customer?  If the pass you are skiing on is part of your compensation it complicates things.

Coach Z wrote

PeeTex wrote

Seems like an evolving policy. WF must have a different policy as Coach wrote about skiing a closed glade recently with no fear of retribution.

Probably not the smartest thing I've written on here

Like I said the way what I skied was marked up for interpretation.  Going under a full rope or skiing the closed lift lines or worst of all skiing the slides when closed are firing offenses for sure

I don't know Coach...I think its more about learning how to do the wrong thing the right way.