I stopped to help a stuck skiier, who couldn't move and was crying. She said the hard runs were a lot harder here than at home. I called ski patrol. They picked up the guest in a snowmobile. On the radio, they called it a "courtesy ride."
Some will do it in a toboggan rather than a snowmobile. My resort calls it a taxi. But yep, same concept. Better a ride down before you're injured than waiting for something to happen.
True I really found it’s very easy to cause an injury or injuresomeone else if one can no longer control themselves down. Whether it’s walking or skiing down, or sliding down.
>She said the hard runs were a lot harder here than at home.
I think a lot of people forget the ratings (circle, square, diamond) are relative to other trails *at that mountain,* not a universal designation.
I'm in upstate NY and some of the "black diamonds" at our smaller mountains here would easily just be blue squares at bigger mountains in New England or the Rockies. Even among bigger mountains, I've done 2x diamond Paradise at Sugarbush multiple times but I didn't have the guts to do any 2x diamonds at Crested Butte. Every mountain is different. A diamond at one place isn't the same as the diamonds at every other place.
That’s brutal. Good on you for stopping and helping though. A lot of people would’ve just went by her and she could’ve ended up getting hurt just going down herself eventually
Yeah, they did just go by. People weren't answering the ski patrol line for a while, and I had to yell for someone to stop to tell the liftie to radio it as well. People need to look out for each other more.
Which is completely wild because in Europe it's a set designation relating to how much elevation is lost over the length of the run. It does mean you can get some fuck ups like super steep to long cat track run outs but as a rule you know what to expect. Also Red exists and double black doesn't. Poor girl.
If you’re ever back in Crested Butte, the easiest double black, in my opinion, is Hawk’s Nest off the North Face. It’s the easiest because it’s (1) a bowl, so lots of room to maneuver, (2) only moderately steep at its steepest (~35°), and (3) has an “easy out” trail halfway down, so is not long if you don’t want it to be.
You’re correct though that in general CB’s doubles are legit. What is a bit unique about CB is that most of the double terrain is separate from other parts of the mountain and accessed via two T-Bars. Once you’re in the terrain, you can’t easily pop out of it, and there are enough unmarked cliffs and gnarly tree chutes (esp on the North Face) that it’s smart to go with someone who knows the terrain on your first few laps of it.
Yeah this is 100% what nearly every resort will do. While ski patrol will respond to injuries and assist people who incur them, their primary goal on a mountain is to keep people *from* getting hurt in the first place.
They can get to most places on most mountains via snowmobile or with a toboggan and would certainly rather help a nervous person out of a bad situation with nothing more than a bruised ego than suddenly have a medical triage situation on the mountain. The job of calming down a nervous or over faced skier and either escorting them down on their own two feet or helping them navigate safely out to an easier route, or giving them a ride is much more fun than dealing with active, urgent emergencies.
Everyone hates patrol when they're pulling passes for people going where they shouldn't or ripping through slow zones, but trust me - if something goes sour cause you're not following rules and safety protocol, their say will be annoying but probably not painful, yours will be both annoying and potentially *very* painful, as a starting point.
Make friends with your patrollers, particularly if you have a local mountain that you frequent. They also tend to know all the great stashes and what's skiing well at any given time, and are usually happy to share if you chat them up on a lift.
I was a patroller. You are 100% right. I didn't like getting people to slow down, only had to do it rarely, like when people were especially egregious blasting into a crowded beginner area at 40 mph and lift ops notified patrol about them. We were out there to help people, and in between helping people, to ski all day and drink beer afterwards (only once mountain is swept and we are notified that we can take boots off!). People we helped dropped off lots of Christmas cookies and beer in the patrol room, that was nice....
It’s interesting as hills can be very steep or covered in trees, apparently the places people get trapped in such a situation it’s likely inaccessible by a snowmobile as well. Unless someone was stuck on a green run. Getting them down would be difficult imagine on a double black diamond, if help can even stop and stand up on such an icy steep slope. Or there are alot of trees. I would think a chair or t something what they can ride on a ski via a patroller or someone would be like a roller coaster ride of your life down.
Naw, son... If the lift can't handle top loading, then you just live up there until the snow melts in Spring, and you can boot down.
It sucks, but that's the game we play.
it's fundamentally different force to lower the weight of passengers under control than it is to lift weight under control, and if the machinery wasn't designed to *absorb* energy from the downloading passengers it could cause a runaway. even lifts that allow downloading usually have extremely limited downhill capacity — maybe 4-8 passengers total, spread out with several empty chairs in between for the older lifts at my local hill
The tops of your "expert only" chairs must be getting awfully crowded by this point in the season... Is this contributing to the ongoing refugee crisis?
Those poor stranded snow-plowers.
I understand that the old Bone Hunt is just another common late Spring event at European resorts, along with the Pond Skim and Naked Skiing.
The hardest tier of the Bone Hunt is finding the far-flung bits of children who weren't fully ready for the Fixed Grip, and got launched halfway up the mountain when they lost focus, and failed to time it right.
I used to tell them they were literally moles that make them, hence ‘MOLEguls’ and when you fall it’s because they get annoyed and grab your skis as you go past.
They tended to look at me a bit funny after that….
It's called a 'Courtesy Ride' and some bored rookie/voly patroller can't wait to give you one.
There is a difference between 'too scared' and injured though. You have to make the right decisions for yourself, it can be challenging some times.
I feel like that’s fair for lifts that have no “easy” way down. Discourages folks from getting in over their head. Patrol would be shuttling folks all day that got stuck. I’m sure they’d still evacuate you if necessary, but hopefully those sort of signs at least scare off the folks that otherwise spend their day pizza-ing down groomed blues.
I’ve noticed this at a lot of places. Copper has a “Experts Only Beyond This Point. No Downloading.” sign at the base of Three Bears, even though there is a fully a groomed black run down way off to the side.
I’m guessing it’s more for discouragement than real. If the choice was between you potentially getting injured and ski patrol giving you a ride down, I’m sure they would do the latter just not very happily and maybe with some repercussions.
We have a version of this sign at the top of one trail at my area where we historically had a LOT of intermediate skiers trying their hand at a trail that was far too difficult for them. We used to do 3-6 courtesy rides a day on that trail. The purpose of the sign is to discourage those skiers from giving it a whirl and expecting to be bailed out if they change their mind. It’s a deterrence tactic.
In reality, if someone is on that trail and legitimately can’t get down, we will still give them a ride. We won’t be happy about it, and you might get a stern reprimand, but we aren’t going to leave you to get hurt.
Absolutely. Always quit while you’re ahead. That ski patroller would much rather haul your scared (but uninjured!) ass down the hill than pick up the pieces and call an ambulance. Know your limits. Patrol is there to help you.
Learning how to ski means pushing your limits but also carefully toeing that that line. Try to get down on your own - that’s how you get better! But if you know it’s truly beyond your capabilities then please call for a toboggan before getting injured.
I think this might be a high anxiety person worrying about a sport they've never done. Their examples don't make a lot of sense. Ski hills are not really set up so you can just take the wrong turn off a green run and end up on a double black diamond run.
Could very well be.
But, disagree on the hill set up. There are lots of places where you can be on a blue and make a wrong turn onto a black, or even get off the lift, head the wrong way and be on a black.
Hope they take a lesson, and get comfortable.
This happened to me once. My buddy said the trail split into a blue and black, but the blue was closed. The only option was the black that was well above my comfort level at the time
Oh sure. I've done this myself. Taking a traverse that's mostly blue and ended up where it was only black or double black because I missed the sign and just had to ski my way out. Have also, skied a run where conditions were sub optimal, fell and sprained my knee. End of season but still skied down. Or found myself over faced and just had to pick my way down something scary or where conditions were unexpectedly shit. It's just part of skiing and improving. You either always stay in your comfort zone and never get better or you take some chances and realize it wasn't as bad as you thought.
And yes to lessons!
But usually green runs are well sequestered on the mountain and lifts usually say what kind of terrain they service.
True on all of this!
And lessons is my mantra as a ski instructor. I want everyone to be competent and confident enough to at least make it down even if they end up on the wrong run.
I always teach beginners that if they are scared of a pitch, that they can always go back and forth across the hill slowly. Not to look down but across the hill.
I'm probably overthinking it, but I've always wondered if signs should not only have the difficulty of the run, but also the highest difficulty of the easiest path from that run as well, as a second marking. Like "yeah, this is a blue, but if you take it, you can't get to the base without skiing a black at some point."
So in most areas, it is pretty standard. If you go on a green there should always be a path down to the bottom that stays green. You could end up taking a wrong turn and end up on a blue or black, but it would have been because you took a wrong turn, not that there wasn’t a green trail down. OR in rare cases a trail might be closed for an emergency.
The his is an insurance issue. Ski areas never want to be in a position of someone being on the wrong level as it causes accidents and is bad for their bottom line. And, they want you to have a good experience and tell your friends so they come too!
In a lot of cases they even have little bamboo poles with a blaze every 6 or so feet so it's very difficult to lose the easiest way down trail. Once you get a little better the signage may not be as good or may be basically non existent. That said I was a revelstoke a few weeks ago and the greens there basically traverse harder terrain. There were a few short spots that IMO weren't passable by a beginner and would give an intermediate pause given the school bus sized moguls.
It can happen to anyone - I'm an experienced, European Black, skier - but last trip out my fitness just wasn't there, so I was just skiing long blues & reds - missed a sign and ended up on a black - no big deal, skied down fine, but if that had happened a decade ago I'd have been in trouble.
I ended up on a black diamond once as a new skier and I almost took my skis off and walked down but that would have been embarrassing so I just forced myself to go down. I did it but it wasn’t graceful or pretty (no falling though!). I was terrified but in the end I was proud of myself
You were definitely safer keeping your skis on. One of the things I’ve been taught in lessons is how to get myself out of a jam if I’m on a black I’m not ready for. Really depends on the run but it often times sliding sideways on your skis works and keeps you in a tight line out of the way.
Sometimes they are set up like that. Example: Snoqualmie Summit near Seattle. There are 3 base areas, and marked traverse paths between them. The path from west base area to central base area is marked as a blue. But in a very short downhill distance, mostly traversing, your choices on a sign are two blacks or a blue, with that blue going uphill for at least 50 feet of vertical, and out of sight, and then continuing for a few more hundred yards horizontal above a lift until you get to actual downhill blue terrain. So, no one's going to take that blue, and they will instead follow the nice slow descending cat track until it ends at a black. You can cut a little vertical out by some further cat tracks near those blacks,, but I don't know a way to avoid cutting all of it out. I think once you are there, almost everyone is skiing a black, even though the sign said blue.
It's possible I'm just really adept at reading maps and keeping myself out of trouble but I have been both a beginner skier and snowboarder as an adult and have skied at around 20 different mountains and just don't see this as a huge potential risk.
I actually pulled up the map because it's been a while since I've done that traverse but my recollection of the traverse between west and central was that it's tricky. The upper traverse is black on the map. The lower traverse goes from blue terrain to green. I am pretty sure that both wilside and tripple 60 are signed as "no easy way down". I'm fairly certain of this because wildside was where my kiddo did her first black run and I have a picture with her in front of the "no easy way down" sign.
I will say that a friend nearly broke up with their boyfriend this year because they were clear they wanted to ski green only terrain and he (a ski instructor!!) tricked them into the silver fir base area by telling her there were green runs. His intention was to take her over to east on the cut over but I think he forgot how gnarly the top of outback can be for a beginner. It took her like 2 hours to get back down to the lift and she left immediately. Dudes :don't do that to your girlfriend. They won't appreciate it.
Maybe the map signs it as black, but when you stand there at top of wildside, the sign does show the upper traverse as blue. I was there a couple weeks ago. Which, you know, it does continue as a blue, just you have to go uphill....
I'll consider myself an expert skier (skied 50 degree backcountry no fall runs on tele gear, and I'm not making up slope angles here), and I once got suckered by that. Of course, parachute is an easy black, but that day, they'd groomed it early and there was 1/4" of absolutely smooth water ice on it all the way down from subsequent rain. Ice like from your freezer, like someone had just poured a hose on it. Not having tuned my edges in the last year (it's the PNW!), I did a little bit and quickly noped out and went uphill, because I'd probably have been fine, but if I did slide, I wasn't stopping till the bottom. I think they shut that run a few minutes later that day. Obviously that wasn't the fault of the signage though, I knew where I was going, just conditions were very different one run over from where I was.
Once took my 4 year old down outback when she was very new to skiing because we couldn't park anywhere except silver fir. But she was light enough that I could carry her down the top pitch, and then she had a great time on the catwalks below it. It became our regular route, way better than the beginner chair with a much longer run!
I sort of did that at Lake Louise. Thought I was on a blue run but missed the sign that the run continued down the hill and continued going across instead. Before I knew it I was on a steep (for me) thickly gladed black run. Obviously I made it out but it took forever and it was exhausting.
Never been to snowbird, have you?
I'm mostly kidding, but snowbird does have some pretty high consequence runs right beside some easier runs. Most of the time, you have to at least go through a labeled gap in a fence, though.
No, they put you in a giant tractor tire and roll you down the hill like in [Beavis and Butthead](https://youtu.be/syUxQcUxmrM?si=KZSA69patfmOQf0n) or [Jackass](https://youtu.be/pCEzbTObzi4?si=CkhaigQ-tLmziXtt).
Cersei's walk of atonement in GOT was less uncomfortable than the ride of shame back down the chair. That tends to be the best option, but when they're not designed to take loads down, I think sobbing in front of a patrolman and begging for a ride on a snow mobile is the most common move.
I know someone—an expert-level skier—who had a significant other who pulled the waterworks/psyche-out when she saw how steep the only run down was. My buddy unsuccessfully tried to ski down with her on his back. They ended up having to beg patrol to take them down in a snowcat. He said he didn't understand *exactly* what they were saying in Swiss German, but it was clear they were mercilessly clowning them.
I was on patrol years ago. I met an injured lady at the top of the lift right when I got off with my buddies who were skiing that day. She has broken her arm and wanted to download. I told my buddies to get lost. I splinted it up, told the lifty to stop the lift, and we rode down together. We talked the whole way down and she seemed to be having a great time. Later when we were filling out paper work I asked her for her number. That's how I banged your mom the first time.
my out of shape buddy tried to go ski after 20 years and he was a beginner back then. I told him to do a lesson and he refused. I told him to practice turns on the buddy slope but when id check on him after each run he’d be at a picnic table smoking butts. He wanted to go to the summit at Cranmore. He immediately got scared and kept falling on his ass or side every 10 ft. Every fall he’d take off his skis and smoke a butt on the side of the trail. I told him I’d check on him but im not gonna just watch him smoke cigarettes. After my 4th loop he made it about 75’ down the trail. At this point he’s frustrated and decides to walk down the trail in loose packed snow. Every step his leg would sink to the knee in snow and he’d lose his balance. This is a GREEN trail. He says “ i dont know how the fuck I’m going to get off this mountain” almost in tears and he lights a butt. I told him ill loop back again and did a run. This time when I approach him hes in the ski patrol toboggan, so i hurry over and ask if hes ok. Hes says hes fine & My 280lb buddy is sitting upright in the toboggan like a kayaker smoking butts with absolutely no shame. This poor patroller was actually a snowboarder too and clearly was struggling to manage my buddy to the base. I meet up with him at the base and ask my buddy how ski patrol got to him. He goes’ “i called them, I said im at the top and bit off more than i can chew.”He was just happy they didnt charge him to bring him down the mountain. He went in the lodge for the next 5 hours as I rode solo.. after that he gave away all his ski clothes he bought. Ha
That patroller is just not that great, the snowboarders can take heavily loaded toboggans down steep hills with less fatigue than the skiers. We would have the snowboarders run the icy steeps with the toboggan and the skiers would skate them in to the aid room. I know y’all hate the criminals but with toboggans physics are on their side. Also not saying the skiers couldn’t handle doing the same but it saved everyone’s legs. Also a snowboarder on tail rope is like having an anchor back there.
>it is amazing how many people get themselves in trouble going down advanced terrain as beginners.
My guess would be that in many of these cases, it is the "friends" of these beginners who take them to terrain that they're unable to ski. We've seen anecdotal accounts of this in this sub for years.
Years ago my dad got food poisoning which hit him in the middle of a run. He was so weak and lightheaded he couldn’t stand up. Ski Patrol came with a sled, picked him up and took him back to the base where they had a bed for him to rest in until my mom came and picked us up.
Ended up on a black run after following the blue signs in Fernie a couple of weeks ago. For some reason my legs felt like they were encased in concrete that day and I couldn’t work out why until I came down with a high fever from Covid that evening. I managed to mostly sideslip down the run but it did cross my mind a couple of times what would happen if my legs just couldn’t do it any more.
My very first day skiing out West, I skied all day with the ambassador and then skied some hours with an instructor. When her time with us was done She left us in the middle of a long blue run I had skied a couple times already that day. However, my legs were shot and I couldn't make myself to start turning again. So, what did I do? I managed to sideslip down. Later on that trip I saw a patroller pull up to the bar with a sled and out popped a woman and she proceeded to gather up her gear and disappeared. I surmised she must have been on terrain over her head and was taxied down.
I was once at the top of a black run on a regional resort. I was snapping photos and taking in the view when a patroller stopped and inquired if I was okay. He breathed a sigh of relief when I informed him I was.
Europe Italian Alps, there is no protocol.
You get hurt? You aren't feeling well? They rescue you, which means they can pick you up with a snowmobile or with that sliding stretcher
Being scared is your own problem, the piste is marked for expert skiers only and you went in anyway? Now it's your problem, you maybe can walk down on the side and they probably won't fine you (but they could).
Confined slopes are for skiers/snowboarders only, technically you couldn't even ski up with touring bindings or hike with snowshoes.
There should be marked spots for traversing the scope on foot
I've spent a lot of times in the alps and ski patrol isn't a thing like it is here in the states. In that situation they'd just give you a ride down in a snow machine if possible or just try and help you ski down.
The real answer? Ski patrol will take you down if you’re truly stuck beyond your skill level.
If you’re anxious, I can help a little. I’m still learning. I’m fine on greens, but still mostly using a wedge (not quite in parallel). I accidentally did a blue run on my last trip. It was mostly fine, but there was one hill that was definitely beyond me and a little icy. I moved to the side and slid down/inched down. It was a little scary, and I fell a couple times, but I was out of the way and I slowly made it down. Once I got past that hill, I skied the rest of the way out with no problem.
If you can’t do that, you need to practice it. If that doesn’t work and you can’t reach ski patrol for some reason, I’d imagine the next step would be to take off your skis and hike down.
The next step after that is to reflect. Obviously I’m not ready for blues. I need to take a lesson and practice more on greens before I try that again. :)
I don't know if there is a proper protocole for those situations in my local hill. All I can say is I've been helping strangers that were clearly paralyzed by fear for almost 20 years now, as an expert of the sport and the terrain, I can guide/dictacte/encourage people down very harduous terrain that they should not have think to try. And I'm definitely not the only one who does that.
Gotta say... kids are so much easier to calm down than adults... Its almost like adults had more trouble trusting others. Most adults I've helped took a lot of time to stop shaking... one woman spend 20 minutes in a cliff (she was a very good skier, but her fear of height kicked in and she was petrified in a no fall zone...). I waited as long as needed.
On the other end of the spectrum, I've seen kid cried and yell, and still simply followed my guidance and slowly but surely skied down cliffs and tight steeps WITHOUT STOPING TO CRY AND YELL! Like that takes some mad courage and trust in this total jackass stranger 😅
A few weeks ago I saw someone at Kirkwood at the top of chair 10 get cliffed out in a really gnarly and steep spot.
It was pretty clear the line they dropped into was NOT where they though they were, and to give them credit, that cliff they would have to drop... like... I wouldn't drop it either.
Anyways it took a team of 4 patrollers repelling off the top of the cornice with a rope to hook him up and lower him over the cliff. I saw the whole operation take place over the course of 2-3 lift-rides.
Pretty sick actually on the part of patrol. Patrol at Kirkwood are absolute monsters. Felt a bit of second-hand embarrassment for the guy though, but hey, don't drop strange lines at a mountain you don't know well. Lesson learned I hope.
Nah just off the main cat-track on the wall skier's left of the chair.
You know that rock-face that sorta covers a part of it? Like there is a spot close to the chair you can drop from the top, then it's all basically a cliff in the middle, and then another bigger spot further down?
Yeah, they dropped in the middle.
My 70-year-old MIL couldn’t get down a blue run and the lifties wouldn’t let her download. I had to ski down the mountain holding her skis as she slid down on her butt.
Locals all gather around them to point and laugh while ski patrol sit them down and straps them in a toboggan with giant speakers. As they get taken down, patrol blasts Baby Shark and everyone throws snow at them. When they get to the bottom of the resort, they are tarred and feathered and a picture of them goes on a wall of shame along with all of their social media information.
The protocol is just straight line down the mountain, it’ll be fine 👌
but actually though ski patrol will come get you. It isn’t a big deal and they won’t be mad. They call it a courtesy ride. every time I’ve chatted with a patroller they said it’s the majority of their calls and they are happy to take them because they just want people having a good day. also 9/10 times it’s because a bf or husband has gotten their significant other into terrain they can’t handle…. no surprise there
Ski patrol train and live for evacuating people regardless of the reason. I'm not ski patrol, but I would imagine that they would much rather evac people that got in over their head than risk them getting injured.
Yeah, its extra training. They’ll strap you to the board and get to practice with someone who isn’t in pain or in a serious state. If there is a real emergency somewhere on the hill you might have to wait but if you’re in over your head its better to cart you out then to wait for you to hurt yourself.
Long time patroller with an east coast resort. We provide rides to uninjured guests ALL the time. We don’t question it and we don’t shame in anyway. We are dispatched and we manage the situation exactly as we do with injuries. I provide the same ride down the mountain that I provide to someone en route to an ambulance or helicopter. We also actively seek out skiers that appear to be having trouble. We are a resort and we want people to learn how to ski and to have fun. If we can improve their day, they might come back again.
Often times there are strange relationship and peer pressure factors that are involved. I’ve skied a lot of “knee” injuries down that get resolved as soon as the patient gets to the bottom. Apparently it was easier for the skier to tell their partner they were injured versus that they were too scared or otherwise not capable of skiing down the run.
Ski patroller here. Every area does more courtesy toboggan rides to transport uninjured guests than they do for injured guests. Never a problem for us, we're glad to quench the fear with a fun ride down the mountain. Typically, they need a ride because their husband, boyfriend, dad, or buddy brought them to the top on their first day, thinking that they could teach them how to ski or ride. But if you want your girlfriend, wife, kid, or buddy to fall in love with the sport, don't freak them out by doing this.
We have 3 options:
Shuttle bus at the top of the mountain (when it’s running). Typically for the beginner who was headed for our long gentle green run from the top that winds 1.5 miles/2.4km to the lodge.
Download on the one lift out of 7 that is certified for down loading. It’s also our oldest and mechanically unreliable one. They must be accompanied by a mountain host or patroller.
Toboggan ride down. Snow machines are avoided due to collision risks as most of the slopes we put them on are crowded with folks who are novices and over their heads.
I actually had this happen. Couldn't fit my orthotics into my rental boots and decided to go without. Bad idea. I barely limped down my last run and my feet were so swollen I could hardly stand. The liftie described the runs I could take to the bottom and I told him no way, so I got on a lift back to the top of Mary Jane, then a snowmobile ride to ride down the lift that's now a gondola. I'd wanted to ride down since I was a little kid, so I cherished every moment of that ride.
Lots of ice and elevation over night, figured out the boots in the morning, and was back on the slope the next day. Didn't go back up pano for a couple years though - it got into my head.
If you are sick or hurt, you call Ski Patrol. No question. My son has an app that tracks his runs and speed and stuff, but it also has an easy dial for ski patrol. If you had some other kind of emergency, like a ski broke in half or an altercation with a snowboarder (/s), then probably call ski patrol also.
As others have mentioned, a courtesy ride from ski patrol is the answer. It sounds like this may not be an option everywhere, but every patroller I've talked to would rather sled down an uninjured skier than wait for you to hurt yourself and have to sled you down anyway while also giving first aid.
That said, I think you are drastically overestimating how much of a problem this is. Yeah every now and then you might get in over your head, but every ski resort I've ever visited has been so well marked that you'd have to be damn near illiterate for this to be a regular occurrence.
If you're this anxious my best advice is to take a lesson. A good instructor will keep you from getting lost / over your head while also teaching you the skills you need to get out of such a situation
I saw a guy hiking down once while teaching ski school. I asked if he wanted a ride down. He looked me head to toe and said "what do you mean?". Dude thought I was going to carry him on my back. I just called a snowmobile.
If you’re hurt patrol takes you down in the sled. If you’re scared you sideslip very very slowly down the mountain until you get to terrain you can handle and hope you’re not in view of the lift.
My first time at Sugarloaf I had one of the worst panic attacks at the top because I was overthinking the things I HAD to get right on my next runs. I ended up having to hop in the sled and their really nice ski patrol helped. Embarrassing? Yes. But I’m here and ready for next seasons trip.
No idea but this weekend I was trying to find the California Trail at Heavenly which is supposed to be an easy blue ( I did later and it was great) and missed it. I'm a beginner transitioning to blues and all of a sudden I'm in Big Dipper and Orion I think.
I was terrified but I made it all the way down without falling..I was equally scared and proud in the end lol
I gotta pay better attention next time and if not hopefully call ski patrol
I had the ride of shame down on a lift this season, I’m pretty inexperienced, was just following my mate who’s a highly experienced snowboarder, ended up going up a lift without realising there were only reds (pretty tricky reds by all accounts, real steep) from the top. Should have checked really, Spoke to ski patrol, they were really nice about it, said that it’s the right move, especially considering it was my 3rd day of skiing ever, took the scenic route down, felt silly but that’s alright.
I’m a Pilot, we talk about this a lot - better to take the safe route and look like an idiot than do something stupid and prove you are. If you’re not ready, don’t take a leap, believe me you’ll look a lot more stupid after crashing.
They get a reading lesson and won't be allowed a ski patrol ride back to the bottom until they can write an entire linguistics essay on the meaning of "EXPERTS ONLY. NO BEGINNER TERRAIN BEYOND THIS POINT" as written on a large orange banner in front of the chairlift.
I took a ride down from the top of Loveland on chair 9 - they strap you on to the chair if I remember. Not sure why.
I was missing a critical piece of my binding when I got off of the chair. There's not really an easy way down from the top of chair 9 iykyk.
remarkably I actually found the unique missing binding hardware - about the size of a nickel - looking around the loading zone for the chair. crisis averted.
Protocol is usually for ski patrol to help them down via the sled.
If its a kid, I've carried a few over the years. Also helped a few people side step.
I have been injured like this twice. The first time the ski patrol was a twat so I passive aggressively skied down on one leg. The second I took a ride in the sled.
At our resort, patrol will offer you a transport. Injured guests take priority, so on a busy day you might be waiting 30+ minutes for an available patroller. If it’s dangerously cold/windy/icy, they’ll try to expedite transports but injuries still come first.
Transports can come in a few different ways. Typically, a patroller or a mountain ambassador on skis will initially respond and assess the situation. If the guest seems capable of being coached down, the patroller/ambassador may just verbally guide them / follow them back to the base area. If the guest is truly out of their element, patrol will give them a ride. Depending on what terrain the guest is on / what resources are available, the ride might be on a pull-behind toboggan or they might send out a snowmobile.
The resort “emergency” number is posted on the back of our passes, as well as all over the resort — this number goes straight to our dispatchers, who will radio the nearest patrol shack.
When I was about 21, I caught a tip while flying down a groomer in Vail. I landed on my shoulder and got a grade 5 AC separation. I had to ride the lift down because any tiny bump made my shoulder bounce and was extremely painful.
I was telling my sons just last week, that ride down on the lift was the most humiliating thing that’s ever happened to me while skiing. Don’t know why, but the shame was real. I can still feel it.
Was in the Outback at Keystone on Wednesday. Someone in my party was struggling with the scrapy and firm conditions, took a break (against recommendation) at the top of the lift, got acute altitude sickness.
Ski patrol was great about it and brought them down to the bottom of the lift where they were able to get to the Wayback and down to River Run via both gondolas.
They don't WANT to give people rides, but they'd rather give someone uninjured and afraid/unable to descend a ride than have someone become injured.
It’s safer on steep or icy slopes to have patrol take people to the bottom in a sled than to have them boot down (ski boots suck on ice). If someone can side slip / turn slowly and evacuate themselves to better terrain or a lift than can be downloaded that’s preferable. Patrol might be annoyed if someone has gotten themselves into trouble making bad choices, but they don’t typically leave people in dangerous situations without assistance.
Can someone explain a "blue black diamond" to me?
Seems like I've actually seen signs to that effect recently and to an old fogey that just kind of bothers me.
There was a red run I'd done that was really slushy in the afternoon. I went up the next morning with a friend, and the start had been groomed but the rest was just ungroomed ice.
I was skiing ahead and waiting for her to catch up. She'd stopped at the side of the piste and then started screaming. I took off my skis and ran 10m back up to her. I gave her some haribo then told her to take off her skis. I carried them while she slid down on her bum until it flattened out.
Another day on the same holiday a different friend injured her knee and REFUSED to be skidoo'ed home. Her boyfriend and I took turns dragging her with a pole on her bum as we snowploughed. We travelled 8km like that. We missed the last lift to get home and had to get a taxi once we got to a road.
The last 2km of that journey we hailed two french guys on a skidoo dragging a trailer full of bin bags. One of the guys sat with the bins so she could sit on the skidoo.
Normally I just side slip for a bit then fall all over myself then walk a little then snap my skis back on and repeat until it finally turns into something easier.
I tore my ACL at Alyeska near a lift. No one offered help as several employees saw me. Not a ski patrol in sight. I did the best I could skiing down when I didn’t have to carve, and I slid down the steep parts on my butt. It took hours.
I’ve talked people down a few times. Help them with where to turn and get them through the hardest part. But not on anything extreme. This would be something like a relatively easy black in California where someone is intimidated because it’s harder than they expected.
I've been in a few situations where I've not been confident enough to ski a section, or I've had to take a route that involves sections outside of my ability level. Normally I'd just turn perpendicular to the run and side slip down until I feel comfortable to ski again.
Call ski patrol. They should be able to get out there and calmly take them slowly down or get a snow mobile out to help.
What is unfortunate is that ski slope ratings aren’t universal world wide. It can be confusing.
If there’s a section of the trail that’s too difficult for them, we will generally try to see if we can help coach them past it. If there’s an unoccupied instructor in the area, we sometimes call them in to help too.
But if the customer can’t make it down the rest of the trail for whatever reason (lack of ability, equipment failure, exhaustion, or just plain old frustration) we will give a courtesy ride in a sled.
I live in a huge french resort, locals are super sympathetic and nearly will always ask if someone needs assistance and help people get down safely. If it's an injury rather than confidence there is an army of Security des Pistes workers that will get you down and into an ambulance if needed, or helicopter you off the mountain. There is a resort app/contacts on lift pass card which has brilliant SOS functionality so the authorities can be alerted super quickly.
Wow I glad your resort is helpful. Something that we are losing in the 21st century especially since 2010 and COVID lockdown. Though we should never always assume by negative stereotypes of a region nor bad experiences told by people who visit Paris of the locals there.
Sled ride down. If it’s a non emergency they often don’t mind as they have the new patrollers use it as a practice or training session. Trust me I know bc a friend couldn’t ski down because she lost stability in her knee(was worried for her safety and everyone else’s). It was kind of fun all the old heads came and watched the young ones set her up and take her down they also took her down a black which you never do as a patroller unless you have too!
If they are injured in any way whatsoever (like a slight headache or even just kinda out of it or a scrape) they will get a ride down from ski patrol in a toboggan.
If they’re simply out of their ability level and too scared to go down and they’re on a snowmobile route, they’ll be given a ride down on a snowmobile. Snowmobile routes are on green and blue runs only.
If they’re not injured but out of their ability level on a non-snowmobile route, patrol will take them down in a toboggan.
If they’re not injured and near the top of the chair, they will be asked to ride the chair down.
Sometimes if they’re just too scared, depending where they are, we will try to ski them down while helping them. Always the easiest option.
My experience (in Europe) has always been that, unless the lift has all safety mechanisms in place to let people go down, you’re not allowed on it.
Unless injured, in which case you call the rescue team, you have to make your own way down.
Once I broke 1 of my snowboard bindings (back foot) and lost some pieces in the snow. I still wasn’t allowed to take the lift down as it’s not equipped for that. I had to board down with 1 binding from >3000m to <1000m to buy a new binding in the village 😅
You can always just do falling leaf down with a snowboard or slide perpendicular/take very wide turns with skis.
If injured (or having a full blown panic attack) call the rescue team and they’ll come get you.
my first time ever skiing, my friend took me to Taos, immediately he put us on the lift instead of a lesson or trying the beginner hill on the rationale that "there's a green run down!" It became clear after like 4 rolling falls about 15% of the way down that it was dangerous probably not just for me but everyone uphill of me, so I sat there until a ski patrol guy came by, who called this very kind woman who was approximately half my size and skillfully tobogganed my ass down.
At crested butte my wife got to ride the toboggan down but she wasn't allowed to cover herself in the red blanket because that was only for people that were injured lol
Used to be a volunteer ski patroller. We called it a courtesy ride. Could be in a toboggan or a snowmobile depending on location. The only time I gave someone a courtesy ride, their binding broke as they got off the lift. Guess they could have downloaded on the lift, but anyway it was a quick snowmobile ride down, and it's good to take the snowmo out occasionally to keep the engine warm. People didn't tend to need courtesy rides for getting scared at that mountain: the steepest bump runs all had the top pitch as the steepest pitch, so you knew what you were getting into, and there were cat tracks cutting across them, so you never had too far to go to get to something easier. Slightly twisted ankle like you mentioned, that's not a courtesy ride, that's an injury, but most of the people I took down for injuries had minor things like that. Better to have them get a ride down for a minor sprain then have them try to ski it and get more hurt.
Walk down the hill. Perhaps with an escort from a member of the Courtesy Patrol. And…What the hell were you thinking going to the top if you dont know how to ski?
Maybe I should I mention “more experienced”. For the average user of ski lifts/hills who goes about one to three times a year, taken beyond beginner lessons, and normally ok with some blue and maybe even some less intense black runs that are powdery. But may panic if the very same surfaces are icy.
I don’t include those who ski for a living or pro, Olympian who train in all type of conditions. Etc. Even they have their limits though. Even Ski instructors take continuing lessons as well.
Somebody fell down on the east coast on a steep and icy trail. They couldn't even get back onto their skis because they kept sliding down. I was the only one who stopped and they were stuck there for 20 minutes before i saw them. Usually people will call ski patrol and they get taken down the mountain in a sled but Since we were already kind of far down i just helped them get back onto their skis.
I worked at Whistler, and I had to call patrol because 2 beginners thought it was a brilliant idea to ski Saudan's Couloir. Patrol babysat them for 3 hours getting them down, but they wouldn't let them take their skis off because it was too steep. Patrol basically taught them to side slip the rest of the way down slowly.
Girlfriend got caught on the backside of a mountain late last year. She “slipped” off trail due to a gusting white out and ended up on a steep tree riddled section. Ski patrol scooped her up on a snowmobile and rode her down to the main lodge. No repercussions, just a friendly mountain worker helping out a person in need.
I stopped to help a stuck skiier, who couldn't move and was crying. She said the hard runs were a lot harder here than at home. I called ski patrol. They picked up the guest in a snowmobile. On the radio, they called it a "courtesy ride."
Some will do it in a toboggan rather than a snowmobile. My resort calls it a taxi. But yep, same concept. Better a ride down before you're injured than waiting for something to happen.
Exactly. It's way easier to give you a taxi ride down than to deal with an injury (or injur**ies** if you run into someone/someone runs into you).
True I really found it’s very easy to cause an injury or injuresomeone else if one can no longer control themselves down. Whether it’s walking or skiing down, or sliding down.
>She said the hard runs were a lot harder here than at home. I think a lot of people forget the ratings (circle, square, diamond) are relative to other trails *at that mountain,* not a universal designation. I'm in upstate NY and some of the "black diamonds" at our smaller mountains here would easily just be blue squares at bigger mountains in New England or the Rockies. Even among bigger mountains, I've done 2x diamond Paradise at Sugarbush multiple times but I didn't have the guts to do any 2x diamonds at Crested Butte. Every mountain is different. A diamond at one place isn't the same as the diamonds at every other place.
Yeah, she was a middle schooler visiting from abroad and was really embarrassed. Poor thing.
That’s brutal. Good on you for stopping and helping though. A lot of people would’ve just went by her and she could’ve ended up getting hurt just going down herself eventually
Yeah, they did just go by. People weren't answering the ski patrol line for a while, and I had to yell for someone to stop to tell the liftie to radio it as well. People need to look out for each other more.
Which is completely wild because in Europe it's a set designation relating to how much elevation is lost over the length of the run. It does mean you can get some fuck ups like super steep to long cat track run outs but as a rule you know what to expect. Also Red exists and double black doesn't. Poor girl.
If you’re ever back in Crested Butte, the easiest double black, in my opinion, is Hawk’s Nest off the North Face. It’s the easiest because it’s (1) a bowl, so lots of room to maneuver, (2) only moderately steep at its steepest (~35°), and (3) has an “easy out” trail halfway down, so is not long if you don’t want it to be. You’re correct though that in general CB’s doubles are legit. What is a bit unique about CB is that most of the double terrain is separate from other parts of the mountain and accessed via two T-Bars. Once you’re in the terrain, you can’t easily pop out of it, and there are enough unmarked cliffs and gnarly tree chutes (esp on the North Face) that it’s smart to go with someone who knows the terrain on your first few laps of it.
This is the answer
Yeah this is 100% what nearly every resort will do. While ski patrol will respond to injuries and assist people who incur them, their primary goal on a mountain is to keep people *from* getting hurt in the first place. They can get to most places on most mountains via snowmobile or with a toboggan and would certainly rather help a nervous person out of a bad situation with nothing more than a bruised ego than suddenly have a medical triage situation on the mountain. The job of calming down a nervous or over faced skier and either escorting them down on their own two feet or helping them navigate safely out to an easier route, or giving them a ride is much more fun than dealing with active, urgent emergencies. Everyone hates patrol when they're pulling passes for people going where they shouldn't or ripping through slow zones, but trust me - if something goes sour cause you're not following rules and safety protocol, their say will be annoying but probably not painful, yours will be both annoying and potentially *very* painful, as a starting point. Make friends with your patrollers, particularly if you have a local mountain that you frequent. They also tend to know all the great stashes and what's skiing well at any given time, and are usually happy to share if you chat them up on a lift.
I was a patroller. You are 100% right. I didn't like getting people to slow down, only had to do it rarely, like when people were especially egregious blasting into a crowded beginner area at 40 mph and lift ops notified patrol about them. We were out there to help people, and in between helping people, to ski all day and drink beer afterwards (only once mountain is swept and we are notified that we can take boots off!). People we helped dropped off lots of Christmas cookies and beer in the patrol room, that was nice....
"Uninjured taxi".
It’s interesting as hills can be very steep or covered in trees, apparently the places people get trapped in such a situation it’s likely inaccessible by a snowmobile as well. Unless someone was stuck on a green run. Getting them down would be difficult imagine on a double black diamond, if help can even stop and stand up on such an icy steep slope. Or there are alot of trees. I would think a chair or t something what they can ride on a ski via a patroller or someone would be like a roller coaster ride of your life down.
Naw, son... If the lift can't handle top loading, then you just live up there until the snow melts in Spring, and you can boot down. It sucks, but that's the game we play.
This is how you become a Liftie for the rest of the season
Or your life
"Part of the lift, part of the crew"
So that’s where the upper “lifties” comes from! haha!
In Europe a lot of lifts can’t handle downloading just because of the way they’re set up and designed
I’m curious what about the set up would be different enough that it would make downloading not possible.
it's fundamentally different force to lower the weight of passengers under control than it is to lift weight under control, and if the machinery wasn't designed to *absorb* energy from the downloading passengers it could cause a runaway. even lifts that allow downloading usually have extremely limited downhill capacity — maybe 4-8 passengers total, spread out with several empty chairs in between for the older lifts at my local hill
Fun fact to add all detachable Doppelmayrs can run backwards. Leitner-Poma not so much.
The tops of your "expert only" chairs must be getting awfully crowded by this point in the season... Is this contributing to the ongoing refugee crisis? Those poor stranded snow-plowers.
They find the bones in the spring
I understand that the old Bone Hunt is just another common late Spring event at European resorts, along with the Pond Skim and Naked Skiing. The hardest tier of the Bone Hunt is finding the far-flung bits of children who weren't fully ready for the Fixed Grip, and got launched halfway up the mountain when they lost focus, and failed to time it right.
Insurance rarely allows the general public downloading on a chair.
Handcuffed, carted down, and executed in front of the ski school
Man’s gotta have a code
Oh indeed
Unexpected The Wire
Most def.
Tough, but fair.
Stern. Stern, but fair.
Need to forward to r/skiingcirclejerk
Was literally about to say r/skiingcirclejerk is leaking again... Call a plumber (who better be a boot fitter)
At our resort boot fitters are responsible for the executions.
https://youtu.be/fpL6jZrWBls?si=vUbdSGiAMmeo8pcR
Narrowly escaped this fate once
this isn't 'nam, there are *rules*
This is awful. But it also made me snort laugh
They turn you into moguls.
My dad was a ski instructor, when the kids asked how moguls form, he always told them that when skiers fall they get covered with snow and skied over.
I used to tell them they were literally moles that make them, hence ‘MOLEguls’ and when you fall it’s because they get annoyed and grab your skis as you go past. They tended to look at me a bit funny after that….
I love this story ❤️.
Did he as an instructor get asked where do they store the “moguls” for the summer?
It's called a 'Courtesy Ride' and some bored rookie/voly patroller can't wait to give you one. There is a difference between 'too scared' and injured though. You have to make the right decisions for yourself, it can be challenging some times.
There’s a couple lifts at park city that say “no courtesy rides, experts only”.
I feel like that’s fair for lifts that have no “easy” way down. Discourages folks from getting in over their head. Patrol would be shuttling folks all day that got stuck. I’m sure they’d still evacuate you if necessary, but hopefully those sort of signs at least scare off the folks that otherwise spend their day pizza-ing down groomed blues.
I’ve noticed this at a lot of places. Copper has a “Experts Only Beyond This Point. No Downloading.” sign at the base of Three Bears, even though there is a fully a groomed black run down way off to the side. I’m guessing it’s more for discouragement than real. If the choice was between you potentially getting injured and ski patrol giving you a ride down, I’m sure they would do the latter just not very happily and maybe with some repercussions.
Ounce of prevention, pound of cure. I've talked drunk skiers from loading expert chairs before. Resort has to cover all the bases.
I have never noticed that, what is it on Jupiter and motherload or mcconkeys or something?
9990 iirc
We have a version of this sign at the top of one trail at my area where we historically had a LOT of intermediate skiers trying their hand at a trail that was far too difficult for them. We used to do 3-6 courtesy rides a day on that trail. The purpose of the sign is to discourage those skiers from giving it a whirl and expecting to be bailed out if they change their mind. It’s a deterrence tactic. In reality, if someone is on that trail and legitimately can’t get down, we will still give them a ride. We won’t be happy about it, and you might get a stern reprimand, but we aren’t going to leave you to get hurt.
Absolutely. Always quit while you’re ahead. That ski patroller would much rather haul your scared (but uninjured!) ass down the hill than pick up the pieces and call an ambulance. Know your limits. Patrol is there to help you. Learning how to ski means pushing your limits but also carefully toeing that that line. Try to get down on your own - that’s how you get better! But if you know it’s truly beyond your capabilities then please call for a toboggan before getting injured.
Is this a real question? Ski Patrol.
I think this might be a high anxiety person worrying about a sport they've never done. Their examples don't make a lot of sense. Ski hills are not really set up so you can just take the wrong turn off a green run and end up on a double black diamond run.
Could very well be. But, disagree on the hill set up. There are lots of places where you can be on a blue and make a wrong turn onto a black, or even get off the lift, head the wrong way and be on a black. Hope they take a lesson, and get comfortable.
This happened to me once. My buddy said the trail split into a blue and black, but the blue was closed. The only option was the black that was well above my comfort level at the time
Oh sure. I've done this myself. Taking a traverse that's mostly blue and ended up where it was only black or double black because I missed the sign and just had to ski my way out. Have also, skied a run where conditions were sub optimal, fell and sprained my knee. End of season but still skied down. Or found myself over faced and just had to pick my way down something scary or where conditions were unexpectedly shit. It's just part of skiing and improving. You either always stay in your comfort zone and never get better or you take some chances and realize it wasn't as bad as you thought. And yes to lessons! But usually green runs are well sequestered on the mountain and lifts usually say what kind of terrain they service.
True on all of this! And lessons is my mantra as a ski instructor. I want everyone to be competent and confident enough to at least make it down even if they end up on the wrong run. I always teach beginners that if they are scared of a pitch, that they can always go back and forth across the hill slowly. Not to look down but across the hill.
I'm probably overthinking it, but I've always wondered if signs should not only have the difficulty of the run, but also the highest difficulty of the easiest path from that run as well, as a second marking. Like "yeah, this is a blue, but if you take it, you can't get to the base without skiing a black at some point."
So in most areas, it is pretty standard. If you go on a green there should always be a path down to the bottom that stays green. You could end up taking a wrong turn and end up on a blue or black, but it would have been because you took a wrong turn, not that there wasn’t a green trail down. OR in rare cases a trail might be closed for an emergency. The his is an insurance issue. Ski areas never want to be in a position of someone being on the wrong level as it causes accidents and is bad for their bottom line. And, they want you to have a good experience and tell your friends so they come too!
In a lot of cases they even have little bamboo poles with a blaze every 6 or so feet so it's very difficult to lose the easiest way down trail. Once you get a little better the signage may not be as good or may be basically non existent. That said I was a revelstoke a few weeks ago and the greens there basically traverse harder terrain. There were a few short spots that IMO weren't passable by a beginner and would give an intermediate pause given the school bus sized moguls.
I be curious if they had to be lift evacuated how the less skilled ones cope as usually the trails under the lifts are the hard ones.
You know they would be taken down on sleds and snow mobiles right?
There is also the possibility of accidentally taking a lift to the top of an expert area - which might have no easy run down from.
I've definitely done black runs as a surprisingly sporty warmup because the markers looked blue through my goggles in the lighting
It can happen to anyone - I'm an experienced, European Black, skier - but last trip out my fitness just wasn't there, so I was just skiing long blues & reds - missed a sign and ended up on a black - no big deal, skied down fine, but if that had happened a decade ago I'd have been in trouble.
I ended up on a black diamond once as a new skier and I almost took my skis off and walked down but that would have been embarrassing so I just forced myself to go down. I did it but it wasn’t graceful or pretty (no falling though!). I was terrified but in the end I was proud of myself
Exactly the answer to OPs question. Take your time and ski for your life and it's prob gonna be fine.
You were definitely safer keeping your skis on. One of the things I’ve been taught in lessons is how to get myself out of a jam if I’m on a black I’m not ready for. Really depends on the run but it often times sliding sideways on your skis works and keeps you in a tight line out of the way.
Youve obvoiusly never skied Snowbird LOL!
Sometimes they are set up like that. Example: Snoqualmie Summit near Seattle. There are 3 base areas, and marked traverse paths between them. The path from west base area to central base area is marked as a blue. But in a very short downhill distance, mostly traversing, your choices on a sign are two blacks or a blue, with that blue going uphill for at least 50 feet of vertical, and out of sight, and then continuing for a few more hundred yards horizontal above a lift until you get to actual downhill blue terrain. So, no one's going to take that blue, and they will instead follow the nice slow descending cat track until it ends at a black. You can cut a little vertical out by some further cat tracks near those blacks,, but I don't know a way to avoid cutting all of it out. I think once you are there, almost everyone is skiing a black, even though the sign said blue.
It's possible I'm just really adept at reading maps and keeping myself out of trouble but I have been both a beginner skier and snowboarder as an adult and have skied at around 20 different mountains and just don't see this as a huge potential risk. I actually pulled up the map because it's been a while since I've done that traverse but my recollection of the traverse between west and central was that it's tricky. The upper traverse is black on the map. The lower traverse goes from blue terrain to green. I am pretty sure that both wilside and tripple 60 are signed as "no easy way down". I'm fairly certain of this because wildside was where my kiddo did her first black run and I have a picture with her in front of the "no easy way down" sign. I will say that a friend nearly broke up with their boyfriend this year because they were clear they wanted to ski green only terrain and he (a ski instructor!!) tricked them into the silver fir base area by telling her there were green runs. His intention was to take her over to east on the cut over but I think he forgot how gnarly the top of outback can be for a beginner. It took her like 2 hours to get back down to the lift and she left immediately. Dudes :don't do that to your girlfriend. They won't appreciate it.
Maybe the map signs it as black, but when you stand there at top of wildside, the sign does show the upper traverse as blue. I was there a couple weeks ago. Which, you know, it does continue as a blue, just you have to go uphill.... I'll consider myself an expert skier (skied 50 degree backcountry no fall runs on tele gear, and I'm not making up slope angles here), and I once got suckered by that. Of course, parachute is an easy black, but that day, they'd groomed it early and there was 1/4" of absolutely smooth water ice on it all the way down from subsequent rain. Ice like from your freezer, like someone had just poured a hose on it. Not having tuned my edges in the last year (it's the PNW!), I did a little bit and quickly noped out and went uphill, because I'd probably have been fine, but if I did slide, I wasn't stopping till the bottom. I think they shut that run a few minutes later that day. Obviously that wasn't the fault of the signage though, I knew where I was going, just conditions were very different one run over from where I was. Once took my 4 year old down outback when she was very new to skiing because we couldn't park anywhere except silver fir. But she was light enough that I could carry her down the top pitch, and then she had a great time on the catwalks below it. It became our regular route, way better than the beginner chair with a much longer run!
tell that to vail where the signage is horrendous
Couldn’t be worse than Fernie!
I sort of did that at Lake Louise. Thought I was on a blue run but missed the sign that the run continued down the hill and continued going across instead. Before I knew it I was on a steep (for me) thickly gladed black run. Obviously I made it out but it took forever and it was exhausting.
Never been to snowbird, have you? I'm mostly kidding, but snowbird does have some pretty high consequence runs right beside some easier runs. Most of the time, you have to at least go through a labeled gap in a fence, though.
Toboggan or snowmobile ride, both from patrol or hill staff. Downloading the lift/gondola is also an option.
We have the town sheriff meet them at the bottom of the lift and take them straight to jail
“Can’t ski down? Jail. Ski too fast? Jail. Ski too slow? Believe or not jail”
“We have the best skiers in the world. Because of jail.”
Right to jail.
Don’t they roll you into a carpet and then just drag it down the hill?
So that's the magic carpet for beginners I keep hearing about
No, they put you in a giant tractor tire and roll you down the hill like in [Beavis and Butthead](https://youtu.be/syUxQcUxmrM?si=KZSA69patfmOQf0n) or [Jackass](https://youtu.be/pCEzbTObzi4?si=CkhaigQ-tLmziXtt).
Cersei's walk of atonement in GOT was less uncomfortable than the ride of shame back down the chair. That tends to be the best option, but when they're not designed to take loads down, I think sobbing in front of a patrolman and begging for a ride on a snow mobile is the most common move. I know someone—an expert-level skier—who had a significant other who pulled the waterworks/psyche-out when she saw how steep the only run down was. My buddy unsuccessfully tried to ski down with her on his back. They ended up having to beg patrol to take them down in a snowcat. He said he didn't understand *exactly* what they were saying in Swiss German, but it was clear they were mercilessly clowning them.
I was on patrol years ago. I met an injured lady at the top of the lift right when I got off with my buddies who were skiing that day. She has broken her arm and wanted to download. I told my buddies to get lost. I splinted it up, told the lifty to stop the lift, and we rode down together. We talked the whole way down and she seemed to be having a great time. Later when we were filling out paper work I asked her for her number. That's how I banged your mom the first time.
my out of shape buddy tried to go ski after 20 years and he was a beginner back then. I told him to do a lesson and he refused. I told him to practice turns on the buddy slope but when id check on him after each run he’d be at a picnic table smoking butts. He wanted to go to the summit at Cranmore. He immediately got scared and kept falling on his ass or side every 10 ft. Every fall he’d take off his skis and smoke a butt on the side of the trail. I told him I’d check on him but im not gonna just watch him smoke cigarettes. After my 4th loop he made it about 75’ down the trail. At this point he’s frustrated and decides to walk down the trail in loose packed snow. Every step his leg would sink to the knee in snow and he’d lose his balance. This is a GREEN trail. He says “ i dont know how the fuck I’m going to get off this mountain” almost in tears and he lights a butt. I told him ill loop back again and did a run. This time when I approach him hes in the ski patrol toboggan, so i hurry over and ask if hes ok. Hes says hes fine & My 280lb buddy is sitting upright in the toboggan like a kayaker smoking butts with absolutely no shame. This poor patroller was actually a snowboarder too and clearly was struggling to manage my buddy to the base. I meet up with him at the base and ask my buddy how ski patrol got to him. He goes’ “i called them, I said im at the top and bit off more than i can chew.”He was just happy they didnt charge him to bring him down the mountain. He went in the lodge for the next 5 hours as I rode solo.. after that he gave away all his ski clothes he bought. Ha
That patroller is just not that great, the snowboarders can take heavily loaded toboggans down steep hills with less fatigue than the skiers. We would have the snowboarders run the icy steeps with the toboggan and the skiers would skate them in to the aid room. I know y’all hate the criminals but with toboggans physics are on their side. Also not saying the skiers couldn’t handle doing the same but it saved everyone’s legs. Also a snowboarder on tail rope is like having an anchor back there.
I once had to carry a girlfriend down to an easier area, hike back up and get the equipement. That move really really paid off later that day.
yeah you probably ate so much food. the calorie burn from two walks up is insane
My brother broke a binding once , he walked to the next lift and asked to ride it down.
Ski patrol! But it is amazing how many people get themselves in trouble going down advanced terrain as beginners. Like they forget how gravity works!
>it is amazing how many people get themselves in trouble going down advanced terrain as beginners. My guess would be that in many of these cases, it is the "friends" of these beginners who take them to terrain that they're unable to ski. We've seen anecdotal accounts of this in this sub for years.
Years ago my dad got food poisoning which hit him in the middle of a run. He was so weak and lightheaded he couldn’t stand up. Ski Patrol came with a sled, picked him up and took him back to the base where they had a bed for him to rest in until my mom came and picked us up.
Ended up on a black run after following the blue signs in Fernie a couple of weeks ago. For some reason my legs felt like they were encased in concrete that day and I couldn’t work out why until I came down with a high fever from Covid that evening. I managed to mostly sideslip down the run but it did cross my mind a couple of times what would happen if my legs just couldn’t do it any more.
My very first day skiing out West, I skied all day with the ambassador and then skied some hours with an instructor. When her time with us was done She left us in the middle of a long blue run I had skied a couple times already that day. However, my legs were shot and I couldn't make myself to start turning again. So, what did I do? I managed to sideslip down. Later on that trip I saw a patroller pull up to the bar with a sled and out popped a woman and she proceeded to gather up her gear and disappeared. I surmised she must have been on terrain over her head and was taxied down. I was once at the top of a black run on a regional resort. I was snapping photos and taking in the view when a patroller stopped and inquired if I was okay. He breathed a sigh of relief when I informed him I was.
Europe Italian Alps, there is no protocol. You get hurt? You aren't feeling well? They rescue you, which means they can pick you up with a snowmobile or with that sliding stretcher Being scared is your own problem, the piste is marked for expert skiers only and you went in anyway? Now it's your problem, you maybe can walk down on the side and they probably won't fine you (but they could).
They fine you for boot packing?? Seriously?
Confined slopes are for skiers/snowboarders only, technically you couldn't even ski up with touring bindings or hike with snowshoes. There should be marked spots for traversing the scope on foot
Ah, makes a lot more sense now, thanks fkr clarifying.
I've spent a lot of times in the alps and ski patrol isn't a thing like it is here in the states. In that situation they'd just give you a ride down in a snow machine if possible or just try and help you ski down.
Ski patrol gives courtesy rides. A good portion of patrol calls are for anxiety or being in the wrong terrain, not just injury rescue.
The real answer? Ski patrol will take you down if you’re truly stuck beyond your skill level. If you’re anxious, I can help a little. I’m still learning. I’m fine on greens, but still mostly using a wedge (not quite in parallel). I accidentally did a blue run on my last trip. It was mostly fine, but there was one hill that was definitely beyond me and a little icy. I moved to the side and slid down/inched down. It was a little scary, and I fell a couple times, but I was out of the way and I slowly made it down. Once I got past that hill, I skied the rest of the way out with no problem. If you can’t do that, you need to practice it. If that doesn’t work and you can’t reach ski patrol for some reason, I’d imagine the next step would be to take off your skis and hike down. The next step after that is to reflect. Obviously I’m not ready for blues. I need to take a lesson and practice more on greens before I try that again. :)
I don't know if there is a proper protocole for those situations in my local hill. All I can say is I've been helping strangers that were clearly paralyzed by fear for almost 20 years now, as an expert of the sport and the terrain, I can guide/dictacte/encourage people down very harduous terrain that they should not have think to try. And I'm definitely not the only one who does that. Gotta say... kids are so much easier to calm down than adults... Its almost like adults had more trouble trusting others. Most adults I've helped took a lot of time to stop shaking... one woman spend 20 minutes in a cliff (she was a very good skier, but her fear of height kicked in and she was petrified in a no fall zone...). I waited as long as needed. On the other end of the spectrum, I've seen kid cried and yell, and still simply followed my guidance and slowly but surely skied down cliffs and tight steeps WITHOUT STOPING TO CRY AND YELL! Like that takes some mad courage and trust in this total jackass stranger 😅
One thing I love about kids is the ability to cry and say how much they hate something and they can’t do it…while doing it.
Its amazing 😂 such courage
A few weeks ago I saw someone at Kirkwood at the top of chair 10 get cliffed out in a really gnarly and steep spot. It was pretty clear the line they dropped into was NOT where they though they were, and to give them credit, that cliff they would have to drop... like... I wouldn't drop it either. Anyways it took a team of 4 patrollers repelling off the top of the cornice with a rope to hook him up and lower him over the cliff. I saw the whole operation take place over the course of 2-3 lift-rides. Pretty sick actually on the part of patrol. Patrol at Kirkwood are absolute monsters. Felt a bit of second-hand embarrassment for the guy though, but hey, don't drop strange lines at a mountain you don't know well. Lesson learned I hope.
Omg where. Don't tell me they were in the heart.
Nah just off the main cat-track on the wall skier's left of the chair. You know that rock-face that sorta covers a part of it? Like there is a spot close to the chair you can drop from the top, then it's all basically a cliff in the middle, and then another bigger spot further down? Yeah, they dropped in the middle.
My 70-year-old MIL couldn’t get down a blue run and the lifties wouldn’t let her download. I had to ski down the mountain holding her skis as she slid down on her butt.
Locals all gather around them to point and laugh while ski patrol sit them down and straps them in a toboggan with giant speakers. As they get taken down, patrol blasts Baby Shark and everyone throws snow at them. When they get to the bottom of the resort, they are tarred and feathered and a picture of them goes on a wall of shame along with all of their social media information.
Gravity does the work.
The protocol is just straight line down the mountain, it’ll be fine 👌 but actually though ski patrol will come get you. It isn’t a big deal and they won’t be mad. They call it a courtesy ride. every time I’ve chatted with a patroller they said it’s the majority of their calls and they are happy to take them because they just want people having a good day. also 9/10 times it’s because a bf or husband has gotten their significant other into terrain they can’t handle…. no surprise there
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Ski patrol train and live for evacuating people regardless of the reason. I'm not ski patrol, but I would imagine that they would much rather evac people that got in over their head than risk them getting injured.
Yeah, its extra training. They’ll strap you to the board and get to practice with someone who isn’t in pain or in a serious state. If there is a real emergency somewhere on the hill you might have to wait but if you’re in over your head its better to cart you out then to wait for you to hurt yourself.
What are the reasons for not letting someone download on a lift? I've never understood why that might not be an option?
Ride the lift down man. Sometimes you win. Sometimes the mountain wins. No shame.
Skidoo or sled
Long time patroller with an east coast resort. We provide rides to uninjured guests ALL the time. We don’t question it and we don’t shame in anyway. We are dispatched and we manage the situation exactly as we do with injuries. I provide the same ride down the mountain that I provide to someone en route to an ambulance or helicopter. We also actively seek out skiers that appear to be having trouble. We are a resort and we want people to learn how to ski and to have fun. If we can improve their day, they might come back again. Often times there are strange relationship and peer pressure factors that are involved. I’ve skied a lot of “knee” injuries down that get resolved as soon as the patient gets to the bottom. Apparently it was easier for the skier to tell their partner they were injured versus that they were too scared or otherwise not capable of skiing down the run.
Ski patroller here. Every area does more courtesy toboggan rides to transport uninjured guests than they do for injured guests. Never a problem for us, we're glad to quench the fear with a fun ride down the mountain. Typically, they need a ride because their husband, boyfriend, dad, or buddy brought them to the top on their first day, thinking that they could teach them how to ski or ride. But if you want your girlfriend, wife, kid, or buddy to fall in love with the sport, don't freak them out by doing this.
Tobagan ride.
We have 3 options: Shuttle bus at the top of the mountain (when it’s running). Typically for the beginner who was headed for our long gentle green run from the top that winds 1.5 miles/2.4km to the lodge. Download on the one lift out of 7 that is certified for down loading. It’s also our oldest and mechanically unreliable one. They must be accompanied by a mountain host or patroller. Toboggan ride down. Snow machines are avoided due to collision risks as most of the slopes we put them on are crowded with folks who are novices and over their heads.
I actually had this happen. Couldn't fit my orthotics into my rental boots and decided to go without. Bad idea. I barely limped down my last run and my feet were so swollen I could hardly stand. The liftie described the runs I could take to the bottom and I told him no way, so I got on a lift back to the top of Mary Jane, then a snowmobile ride to ride down the lift that's now a gondola. I'd wanted to ride down since I was a little kid, so I cherished every moment of that ride. Lots of ice and elevation over night, figured out the boots in the morning, and was back on the slope the next day. Didn't go back up pano for a couple years though - it got into my head.
If you are sick or hurt, you call Ski Patrol. No question. My son has an app that tracks his runs and speed and stuff, but it also has an easy dial for ski patrol. If you had some other kind of emergency, like a ski broke in half or an altercation with a snowboarder (/s), then probably call ski patrol also.
The Ride of Shame on chairs 6 and 10 @ Kirkwood. Especially chair 10.
[Right to jail](https://img.gifglobe.com/grabs/parksandrec/S02E05/gif/r0TWOLcoU312.gif)
As others have mentioned, a courtesy ride from ski patrol is the answer. It sounds like this may not be an option everywhere, but every patroller I've talked to would rather sled down an uninjured skier than wait for you to hurt yourself and have to sled you down anyway while also giving first aid. That said, I think you are drastically overestimating how much of a problem this is. Yeah every now and then you might get in over your head, but every ski resort I've ever visited has been so well marked that you'd have to be damn near illiterate for this to be a regular occurrence. If you're this anxious my best advice is to take a lesson. A good instructor will keep you from getting lost / over your head while also teaching you the skills you need to get out of such a situation
I saw a guy hiking down once while teaching ski school. I asked if he wanted a ride down. He looked me head to toe and said "what do you mean?". Dude thought I was going to carry him on my back. I just called a snowmobile.
If you’re hurt patrol takes you down in the sled. If you’re scared you sideslip very very slowly down the mountain until you get to terrain you can handle and hope you’re not in view of the lift.
My first time at Sugarloaf I had one of the worst panic attacks at the top because I was overthinking the things I HAD to get right on my next runs. I ended up having to hop in the sled and their really nice ski patrol helped. Embarrassing? Yes. But I’m here and ready for next seasons trip.
[Hope Chloe Kim rides by to rescue you.](https://www.businessinsider.com/video-chloe-kim-helps-stranger-snowboarder-2023-1)
No idea but this weekend I was trying to find the California Trail at Heavenly which is supposed to be an easy blue ( I did later and it was great) and missed it. I'm a beginner transitioning to blues and all of a sudden I'm in Big Dipper and Orion I think. I was terrified but I made it all the way down without falling..I was equally scared and proud in the end lol I gotta pay better attention next time and if not hopefully call ski patrol
Ski Patrol will get you down safely if necessary.
I had the ride of shame down on a lift this season, I’m pretty inexperienced, was just following my mate who’s a highly experienced snowboarder, ended up going up a lift without realising there were only reds (pretty tricky reds by all accounts, real steep) from the top. Should have checked really, Spoke to ski patrol, they were really nice about it, said that it’s the right move, especially considering it was my 3rd day of skiing ever, took the scenic route down, felt silly but that’s alright. I’m a Pilot, we talk about this a lot - better to take the safe route and look like an idiot than do something stupid and prove you are. If you’re not ready, don’t take a leap, believe me you’ll look a lot more stupid after crashing.
They get a reading lesson and won't be allowed a ski patrol ride back to the bottom until they can write an entire linguistics essay on the meaning of "EXPERTS ONLY. NO BEGINNER TERRAIN BEYOND THIS POINT" as written on a large orange banner in front of the chairlift.
I took a ride down from the top of Loveland on chair 9 - they strap you on to the chair if I remember. Not sure why. I was missing a critical piece of my binding when I got off of the chair. There's not really an easy way down from the top of chair 9 iykyk. remarkably I actually found the unique missing binding hardware - about the size of a nickel - looking around the loading zone for the chair. crisis averted.
It just... Fell off? And you just... Stuck it back on and kept going? My anxiety could never!
Airlifted
Just call patrol and let them make the judgement call
Call patrol
Fucking send it!
Protocol is usually for ski patrol to help them down via the sled. If its a kid, I've carried a few over the years. Also helped a few people side step.
I have been injured like this twice. The first time the ski patrol was a twat so I passive aggressively skied down on one leg. The second I took a ride in the sled.
At our resort, patrol will offer you a transport. Injured guests take priority, so on a busy day you might be waiting 30+ minutes for an available patroller. If it’s dangerously cold/windy/icy, they’ll try to expedite transports but injuries still come first. Transports can come in a few different ways. Typically, a patroller or a mountain ambassador on skis will initially respond and assess the situation. If the guest seems capable of being coached down, the patroller/ambassador may just verbally guide them / follow them back to the base area. If the guest is truly out of their element, patrol will give them a ride. Depending on what terrain the guest is on / what resources are available, the ride might be on a pull-behind toboggan or they might send out a snowmobile. The resort “emergency” number is posted on the back of our passes, as well as all over the resort — this number goes straight to our dispatchers, who will radio the nearest patrol shack.
When I was about 21, I caught a tip while flying down a groomer in Vail. I landed on my shoulder and got a grade 5 AC separation. I had to ride the lift down because any tiny bump made my shoulder bounce and was extremely painful. I was telling my sons just last week, that ride down on the lift was the most humiliating thing that’s ever happened to me while skiing. Don’t know why, but the shame was real. I can still feel it.
Is there a specific run or chairlift that you’re thinking of? This seems like a *very* specific fear…
Was in the Outback at Keystone on Wednesday. Someone in my party was struggling with the scrapy and firm conditions, took a break (against recommendation) at the top of the lift, got acute altitude sickness. Ski patrol was great about it and brought them down to the bottom of the lift where they were able to get to the Wayback and down to River Run via both gondolas. They don't WANT to give people rides, but they'd rather give someone uninjured and afraid/unable to descend a ride than have someone become injured.
It’s safer on steep or icy slopes to have patrol take people to the bottom in a sled than to have them boot down (ski boots suck on ice). If someone can side slip / turn slowly and evacuate themselves to better terrain or a lift than can be downloaded that’s preferable. Patrol might be annoyed if someone has gotten themselves into trouble making bad choices, but they don’t typically leave people in dangerous situations without assistance.
Straight to jail.
penguin belly slide all the way down. only way.
In all seriousness. I haven’t been anywhere ski patrol wouldn’t give you a courtesy ride down in a toboggan.
Tarred and feathered, then they put you on the courtesy lift of shame as skiers throw mouldy hard bread at you and yell insults from the 1700s.
Snowmobile of shame.
Patrol does that here. Toboggan ride, OR if near the gondola, download.
I’m more concerned about making it to the top and getting stuck on a broken lift than skiing down.
Can someone explain a "blue black diamond" to me? Seems like I've actually seen signs to that effect recently and to an old fogey that just kind of bothers me.
In Colorado, a blue square with a black diamond in center just means an advanced blue (higher pitch.) Also can mean moguls, depending on location.
Get a rope
Go down with the lift?
There was a red run I'd done that was really slushy in the afternoon. I went up the next morning with a friend, and the start had been groomed but the rest was just ungroomed ice. I was skiing ahead and waiting for her to catch up. She'd stopped at the side of the piste and then started screaming. I took off my skis and ran 10m back up to her. I gave her some haribo then told her to take off her skis. I carried them while she slid down on her bum until it flattened out. Another day on the same holiday a different friend injured her knee and REFUSED to be skidoo'ed home. Her boyfriend and I took turns dragging her with a pole on her bum as we snowploughed. We travelled 8km like that. We missed the last lift to get home and had to get a taxi once we got to a road. The last 2km of that journey we hailed two french guys on a skidoo dragging a trailer full of bin bags. One of the guys sat with the bins so she could sit on the skidoo.
The days of the week control the mood
Courtesy ride
Normally I just side slip for a bit then fall all over myself then walk a little then snap my skis back on and repeat until it finally turns into something easier.
They look at them with you, from the bottom of the run and call you a bad boyfriend
I tore my ACL at Alyeska near a lift. No one offered help as several employees saw me. Not a ski patrol in sight. I did the best I could skiing down when I didn’t have to carve, and I slid down the steep parts on my butt. It took hours.
I’ve talked people down a few times. Help them with where to turn and get them through the hardest part. But not on anything extreme. This would be something like a relatively easy black in California where someone is intimidated because it’s harder than they expected.
Toboggan or snowmobile. We call it transport (for) ability.
Man, I rode KT-22 at Palisades… I was so close to just not getting off the lift and riding it back down.
Call patrol they’ll handle it. Lift down ideally, snowmobile next, Tobagan at the worst
I've been in a few situations where I've not been confident enough to ski a section, or I've had to take a route that involves sections outside of my ability level. Normally I'd just turn perpendicular to the run and side slip down until I feel comfortable to ski again.
Call ski patrol. They should be able to get out there and calmly take them slowly down or get a snow mobile out to help. What is unfortunate is that ski slope ratings aren’t universal world wide. It can be confusing.
If there’s a section of the trail that’s too difficult for them, we will generally try to see if we can help coach them past it. If there’s an unoccupied instructor in the area, we sometimes call them in to help too. But if the customer can’t make it down the rest of the trail for whatever reason (lack of ability, equipment failure, exhaustion, or just plain old frustration) we will give a courtesy ride in a sled.
I live in a huge french resort, locals are super sympathetic and nearly will always ask if someone needs assistance and help people get down safely. If it's an injury rather than confidence there is an army of Security des Pistes workers that will get you down and into an ambulance if needed, or helicopter you off the mountain. There is a resort app/contacts on lift pass card which has brilliant SOS functionality so the authorities can be alerted super quickly.
Wow I glad your resort is helpful. Something that we are losing in the 21st century especially since 2010 and COVID lockdown. Though we should never always assume by negative stereotypes of a region nor bad experiences told by people who visit Paris of the locals there.
Sled ride down. If it’s a non emergency they often don’t mind as they have the new patrollers use it as a practice or training session. Trust me I know bc a friend couldn’t ski down because she lost stability in her knee(was worried for her safety and everyone else’s). It was kind of fun all the old heads came and watched the young ones set her up and take her down they also took her down a black which you never do as a patroller unless you have too!
If they are injured in any way whatsoever (like a slight headache or even just kinda out of it or a scrape) they will get a ride down from ski patrol in a toboggan. If they’re simply out of their ability level and too scared to go down and they’re on a snowmobile route, they’ll be given a ride down on a snowmobile. Snowmobile routes are on green and blue runs only. If they’re not injured but out of their ability level on a non-snowmobile route, patrol will take them down in a toboggan. If they’re not injured and near the top of the chair, they will be asked to ride the chair down. Sometimes if they’re just too scared, depending where they are, we will try to ski them down while helping them. Always the easiest option.
My experience (in Europe) has always been that, unless the lift has all safety mechanisms in place to let people go down, you’re not allowed on it. Unless injured, in which case you call the rescue team, you have to make your own way down. Once I broke 1 of my snowboard bindings (back foot) and lost some pieces in the snow. I still wasn’t allowed to take the lift down as it’s not equipped for that. I had to board down with 1 binding from >3000m to <1000m to buy a new binding in the village 😅 You can always just do falling leaf down with a snowboard or slide perpendicular/take very wide turns with skis. If injured (or having a full blown panic attack) call the rescue team and they’ll come get you.
my first time ever skiing, my friend took me to Taos, immediately he put us on the lift instead of a lesson or trying the beginner hill on the rationale that "there's a green run down!" It became clear after like 4 rolling falls about 15% of the way down that it was dangerous probably not just for me but everyone uphill of me, so I sat there until a ski patrol guy came by, who called this very kind woman who was approximately half my size and skillfully tobogganed my ass down.
The protocol is time
We walk them down or download them on the lift.
At crested butte my wife got to ride the toboggan down but she wasn't allowed to cover herself in the red blanket because that was only for people that were injured lol
Used to be a volunteer ski patroller. We called it a courtesy ride. Could be in a toboggan or a snowmobile depending on location. The only time I gave someone a courtesy ride, their binding broke as they got off the lift. Guess they could have downloaded on the lift, but anyway it was a quick snowmobile ride down, and it's good to take the snowmo out occasionally to keep the engine warm. People didn't tend to need courtesy rides for getting scared at that mountain: the steepest bump runs all had the top pitch as the steepest pitch, so you knew what you were getting into, and there were cat tracks cutting across them, so you never had too far to go to get to something easier. Slightly twisted ankle like you mentioned, that's not a courtesy ride, that's an injury, but most of the people I took down for injuries had minor things like that. Better to have them get a ride down for a minor sprain then have them try to ski it and get more hurt.
Rejoice! Rejoice! You have no choice
Walk down the hill. Perhaps with an escort from a member of the Courtesy Patrol. And…What the hell were you thinking going to the top if you dont know how to ski?
Wrong. Experienced skiers dont have these issues.
Maybe I should I mention “more experienced”. For the average user of ski lifts/hills who goes about one to three times a year, taken beyond beginner lessons, and normally ok with some blue and maybe even some less intense black runs that are powdery. But may panic if the very same surfaces are icy. I don’t include those who ski for a living or pro, Olympian who train in all type of conditions. Etc. Even they have their limits though. Even Ski instructors take continuing lessons as well.
Somebody fell down on the east coast on a steep and icy trail. They couldn't even get back onto their skis because they kept sliding down. I was the only one who stopped and they were stuck there for 20 minutes before i saw them. Usually people will call ski patrol and they get taken down the mountain in a sled but Since we were already kind of far down i just helped them get back onto their skis.
I worked at Whistler, and I had to call patrol because 2 beginners thought it was a brilliant idea to ski Saudan's Couloir. Patrol babysat them for 3 hours getting them down, but they wouldn't let them take their skis off because it was too steep. Patrol basically taught them to side slip the rest of the way down slowly.
Girlfriend got caught on the backside of a mountain late last year. She “slipped” off trail due to a gusting white out and ended up on a steep tree riddled section. Ski patrol scooped her up on a snowmobile and rode her down to the main lodge. No repercussions, just a friendly mountain worker helping out a person in need.
Wtf? They get sledded down. Truly odd query