Nearest of misses

Nah, I'm not talking about snobs. I'm talking about the spoiled, clueless, greedy, and impolite in almost a sociopathic way. It's like that little boy who is my girlfriends nephew I have to put up with every Xmas. Man, would I just love to slap him and tell him to stop at times, but, he may very well grow up to be an adult acting like that,and, he'll have money and a good job. Of course they're letting him learn to snowboard. I usually tell kids that age that skiing is cooler and much harder, but, him, he'll have to learn on his own.

Benny Profane wrote

Gunny J wrote

How could that be a near miss, that boarder was in control, was never going to hit the man in blue and was going for a little air. Skiing this holiday myself and my seven year old son have had dozens of closer incidents this week.
Mostly skiers in a full blown wedge tuck unable and never taught how to stop or avoid anyone. I really feel that ski patroller has issues with the younger generation. He now has time to cool off.

OK, here I go again. The moron actually jumped right in between an instructor and a tiny, what, three, four year old in total beginners land. I'm not being a drama queen when I say that he could have killed the kid, if he caught his back edge and backslammed him. Been there, almost done it, but I was just falling as I was learning once.
Skiing is populated by some of the most selfish, clueless and entitled morons I have ever met. I'm shocked sometimes at the bad behavior I encounter at ski hills, and, yes, by young snowboarders who think they bought a lift ticket to a video game.

The guy wasn't really going that fast and was in control. He  wasn't really overly close to the instructor and didn't seem to be anywhere near the kid. You can't even see the kid in the video within 20ft of the boarder. I bet everyone in here has had one of their friends ski closer to them than that kid did to the instructor. Looks like the boarder actually stayed way clear of the kid who was cutting to the other side of the trail

Face4Me wrote

ausable skier wrote

I would have went over and given that guy a few choice words and reported him to the safety patrol folks - since he would have been walking down he would have been easy to for them to snag.

There was a patroller who was standing right there when it happened. He was taking video of his kid coming down from Summit Express, so he didn't see it happen. Funny ... when I was yelling "Runaway Board", the patroller never even looked over. I guess he didn't hear me.

I went over to him and told him what happened. The guy was walking down the Easy Street hill and the patroller went over to him. I didn't stick around to see what happened next.

At WF the Ski Patrol aka MSA is really only tasked with "slope safety" and injuries.  I've never seen them get involved with misbehaving customers except for those who ski on closed trails as this is catagorized as slope safety.  The host / safety patrols are tasked with handing the out of control / unsafe skiers / riders.  That may explain the patrollers reaction - its not my job man.

Another thing to keep in mind for those temped to huck over blind drop offs and ski too fast in a family zone or congested spot where the safety patrol is posted is that many of them safety patrol are off duty or retired NYS troopers and they can arrest an unsafe skier / boarder.  The skier responsibility code has been codified into law by NYS.

Would love to see some visible presence at the critical safety spots on "family trails" by mountain hosts/ski patrollers:
-Lower Jamboree
-Lower Sunway
-Sunway just past Quicksilver
-Twister right by crosscut to Showcase

I believe a posted presence says a lot more about the mountain's committment to reinforcing the correct behavior than the trail sweeps currently done now. When the patroller is just standing there, he can see a lot more coming and pay more attention to potentially risky/endangering bahvior.

With two little ones of my own, it is more nerve-wracking at times than it needs to be--and the mountain can help control that. For whatever reason, that section of lower Jamboree has turned into a veritable Super G course lately, despite it being clearly marked "Slow Zone". It's a wide, low angle trail for a reason---begineers need that much room to get around and develop their skills without the race team and untold number of boarders zooming past them at Mach speeds....

The thing that really sets instructors off is when they are parked on the side of the trail with their class never ever ski / ride between them and the woods.  To me that is a ticket pulling offense and it happens way too often.

^^^^^

Was skiing with my daughter at Stowe a couple years ago--she was 5 at the time. We were on Gondolier and crowds were sparse, bright sunny day. I was skiing behind her and was deliberately sticking my poles out to the side to help indicate to folks upslope to keep their distance from us. As we approached the trails edge--and that's a darn wide trail--I looked upslope to see what was coming as we initiated a turn. I saw a skier going full bore down along the trails edge and had time to wave and yell at him. He attempted to pull up but still couldn't stop in time and he completely leveled my daughter. Double ejection for both skiers, my daughter flew head first  like a ragdoll into the snow, and upon impact lost her helmet (it was on pretty good to start with--so it's a reference to the force of impact).

I was more scared than I've ever been, or ever should be. Naturally she was full of tears and dazed pretty good, with a busted lip to show for it. As for him, he came up to check on us and apologized--claiming he thought she was going to turn before he got to her. As if it was her fault! If I wasn't so shaken up and I likely would've pounded him into oblivion.

Our ski day and only Stowe experience ended right there. But we did make an educational opportunity out of it by taking her down to ski patrol to report the incident and have one of the patrollers take a look at her. Not to mention talking about how the "PEOPLE AHEAD OF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY".

The thing is — when you are coming up on someone from behind — you have to allow (more than) enough space for them if they DECIDE TO TURN perpendicular to the slope at the precise moment you are passing them.  Neve was clocked by a rider this past week, and had another VERY close call that was only a miss because she DIDN'T turn at the worst possible time.  That's not enough of a safety margin.

SIAWOL that is a scary story.  Head injuries are forever.  And it's REALLY not fair to little kids because WE'VE made the choice for them to be on the hill. They don't understand the risks.

It seems that most skiing etiquette has been lost.  Most people don't seem to know, or more likely care, that the downhill skier has the right of way.  Many of those who aren't ignorant about this most basic of skiing tennets overestimate their ability and believe that they are capable of avoiding last second accidents even at breakneck speeds.  With earbuds in place.  Turned up to 11.

CMR wrote

It seems that most skiing etiquette has been lost.  Most people don't seem to know, or more likely care, that the downhill skier has the right of way.  Many of those who aren't ignorant about this most basic of skiing tennets overestimate their ability and believe that they are capable of avoiding last second accidents even at breakneck speeds.  With earbuds in place.  Turned up to 11.

+1

I think you hit the nail on the head ... Too many people don't know, understand or care that the downhill skier has the right of way ... No matter what!

The freeride element celebrates straight lining in movies so these kids think its ok to do it anywhere.  I think that part of the issue is that many of these "jibbers" spend so much time jumping on wood and metal objects that their turning ability is not anywhere near what earlier generations of skiers was.  The also ski on equipment that is substandard when it comes to being able to carve a turn.  And if you dull your edges on said wood / metal objects your skis certainly are not tuned to turn optimally.

These full rocker wide skis can do many other things but turning quickly on hard pack is not something the skis do well add to that a lack of technical ability + ipods set to max + caffinated energy drinks + extra testosterone of youth + the suspect decision making ability of youth + a culture today that is more me oriented (dude the little kid was right in the way of the jump I wanted to take) = potential for disasters.

Not to mention how can you possibly ski well with your ski pants (that like look like drapes in my 1980's apartment) hanging down to your knees?

Face4Me wrote

 Too many people don't know, understand or care that the downhill skier has the right of way ... No matter what!

Exactly Face. But IMO, the key word there is " care ". FWIW, I've heard the " you were in my way " BS before and that's all that it is....flat out friggin BS. Just a lame excuse to try to shed responsiblity for their rude and selfish behavior. It's a bit of an epidemic in our nation.

Snowballs wrote

Just a lame excuse to try to shed responsiblity for their rude and selfish behavior. It's a bit of an epidemic in our nation.

Exactly. It's no surprise that we see this kind of behavior on the slopes when we see it all around us every day.

ausable skier wrote

Not to mention how can you possibly ski well with your ski pants (that like look like drapes in my 1980's apartment) hanging down to your knees?                                                                                                                          

Warren Miller called that look "a sack of cats"

off topic but do these kids every bother to look in the mirror and see how silly they look?

Nah Aussie, they're too busy dreaming just how bad azz they are/wanna be.

Wannabe wiggers.....hehehe.

Camelback was the worst this past week (TR to come later tonight)...sadly I'm stuck skiing mountains close to home this year due to money and the crowds seem to get more rude the closer you get to Jersey. Day after Christmas the mountain was packed and all i could smell on the mountain was pot. Honestly I have nothing against people who chose to smoke it, but not at a family resort like that...its gross and disrespectful. Not to mention I was by myself and got stuck on the lifts several times with groups of guys smoking up and passing a bottle of booze back and forth. I wrote to Camelback that evening to complain and ask what they were doing to fix the issue and of course they never got back to me...

Kids will be kids when it comes to appearance.

This year it seems the baggy snow pants come a distant fourth for me as I'm scratching my head about these fashion trends that can't disappear fast enough on the slopes:
-tall tees--these just look ridiculous and have for years
-the goggle strap IN/UNDER the helmet. How can that helmet possible be on tight enough to be effective if you can just slide your goggles up to your forehead on the lift?
-midget ski poles--what is the deal with those? They don't even come up to their waist!

edit: Hey Harv, how about a thread for questionable fashion onslope? Pics from Gore/WF required!

PS--I'm the guy with a stitched up jacket and black duct tape around my cuffs, so I'm hardly runway-ready. But midget poles? Come on!

jimvdak wrote

 Camelback was the worst this past week (TR to come later tonight)...sadly I'm stuck skiing mountains close to home this year due to money and the crowds seem to get more rude the closer you get to Jersey. Day after Christmas the mountain was packed and all i could smell on the mountain was pot. Honestly I have nothing against people who chose to smoke it, but not at a family resort like that...its gross and disrespectful. Not to mention I was by myself and got stuck on the lifts several times with groups of guys smoking up and passing a bottle of booze back and forth. I wrote to Camelback that evening to complain and ask what they were doing to fix the issue and of course they never got back to me...

Ah, you shoukdn't have to suffer that JM !!! Are you a poor college ...?

When you gonna ski Gore, maybe with the HR crowd?

What's holding you back, funds/place to stay?

Yep..it's the poor POST college thing now that I'm actually paying the loans back. It's a 4 hour drive for me, so it's the place to stay thing and the funds. I had enough Best Western points to stay a night in Lake George for one weekend when i checked a few weeks ago, but the rates have gone up apparently so now can't even do that..I would have to stay in Albany which I'm tempted...I really want to check out Gore in the spring if I get around to it. Last year I was able to afford a 4 day trip to whiteface and two weekends in vermont cuz my loans hadnt started yet..I think I just need to marry rich..

if your gonna be poor isnt it  better to be poor up here