Skier/Snowboarder Responsibility Code – More Thoughts
Let’s face it, unless you’re an active ski instructor trying to instill key concepts to your students, or a parent/grandparent trying to explain this thing to a relative or grandchild, when’s the last time you actually read this “Code”, now with 10 points?
Instead of reading each numbered point, let’s think about the most important messages we’re trying to convey to anybody and everybody we think needs to know this stuff.
Using the numbered list, and starting with kids, I ‘d go with these over everything else:
1. Ski or snowboard at a speed you can control. That means being able to slow down quickly to avoid other people, trees or objects in front of you. Why? So you don’t get injured, and so you don’t injure other people, because either of those outcomes will wreck your day.
2. Understand who has the right-of-way. That means people who are ahead of you or downhill from you have the right-of-way. Why? Because they are unable to see skiers/riders behind them, and it’s not always safe to be turning one’s head around anyway while descending a ski hill. The rule is simply: anybody ahead/downhill of you have the right to keep on skiing, and YOU have a responsibility to keep out of their way.
For my own kids I always gave them a“perimeter” concept which went like this:
Always keep an eye out for who is getting too close to you. Always try to find space where your progress downhill is not continually interfered with by nearby skiers. This was helpful because – being kids – they’d always find the loophole in my directions.
For example, they quickly explained that sometimes there’s a skier on the right, and even on the left, who is either right next to them, or a bit above or below. So who’s got the right of way now, they’d ask me?
3. Stop where you can be seen. This one I demonstrated physically, on the hill, when I took my kids to terrain where there was a slight rise, and then a dip. I’d lie down (assuming no one was around), then yell to them, asking: “CAN YOU SEE ME NOW?” Of course, I chose a spot where the person lying down would be 100% hidden from a downhiller perhaps only 10-15 yards uphill. It amazed my kids that I’d disappeared.
To me, that was possibly the most dangerous situation of all. And once I’d shown my kids how someone lying down on the snow, but slightly ahead of them, and hidden by a dip in the trail following a slight rise, could appear invisible until it was too late, and a fast skier might collide directly into the “lying down” skier/rider. DANGEROUS TO BOTH PARTIES.
4. Get your bearings, and look uphill to make sure it’s safe to start downhill.
5,6,7. (Obey signs, keep off closed trails) All helpful, but secondary and common sense. Obviously, much more important in the big mountains out West.
8,9. Know how to load/unload lifts, and someone should be with a newbie who does not know such things. The code should indicate that ski area personnel are authorized to “pull lift tickets” from drunk and/or drug-affected individuals. On roads, police will arrest people for such violations, and it should be the same on ski hills and mountains.
10. Finally, besides trading contact info, and especially if it seems someone’s unwilling to share contact info, it’s never a bad idea to get a quick picture of the person.
See full list here: https://seniorsskiing.com/skier-snowboarder-responsibility-code/
Editor’s Note –
We invite you to add your comments about experiences with downhillers who have violated the safety code. Even more, we invite you to contribute a full article on your opinion of the current state of safety and courtesy on the slopes today. Add your comment directly to the article, or send us your full article to info@seniorsskiingmedia.com
John teaches kids, ages 6 to 13, plus women and men of all ability levels – “never-evers” to experts, and skiers 4-82 yrs old. He knows a lot about "fear" in skiing, having had more than his share during his learn-to-ski years, and loves helping his guests manage their fears on snow. His first lift was a rope tow at North Creek, the old name for what's now Gore Mtn. NY. He spent his "learn to ski" years skiing at Stratton and Stowe, caught the racing bug at 13, and raced through high school. He discovered the beauty, challenge and powder of Utah in his 20's and has returned there to ski every year since 1981.
When his two sons grew up and moved west, John began working part-time as a ski instructor. When he's not running his music business, you can find him at Stratton or Butternut. March is always Utah month.
He'll always reply to your questions! jtgelb54@gmail.com
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I skied this week at Lake Louise Ski Area. I was run into twice the first AM. I stopped at the skiers right side of a spot where two trails merged, and wanted to cross over to skiers left, to read a large trail map. I checked uphill and finding only a snow boarder who I thought was a safe distance above me, I proceeded to traverse the run. I got almost across when the snow boarder ran across my ski tails. The run was fairly wide and I would have thought he could have missed me but like a magnet, he honed in on me, the sole skier. Luckily I didn’t fall. He didn’t stop.
And the later in the AM I skied down from the Top of the World lift, and entered a broad blue run. There were only a couple of skiers on the run, and I thought I made a wide both going skiers left. I suddenly was run into from behind. I did fall but the fellow that ran into me did stop, apologize saying he was at fault, and waited until I picked myself up and said I was OK
My oldest brother, a long time volunteer ski patrolman and then mountain host at Jackson Hole always preaches skiing on the extreme edge of runs, preferably the left side as he has a theory that most people didn’t like the left side, especially on tree lined runs which they feared going into the trees. My wife and I refreshed our memory and also mainly skied black runs the rest of the week, and kept to the sides, and the week passed with no more collisions or even close calls!
Hey Bruce,
You never know who’s going to run into you…and skiing on the extreme edges of trails often can be a solution. I also find that big groups come in waves, and sometimes I’ll just stop and watch the crowd go by on a run…not as focused on maximum runs as I was in younger days. And there’s often a lull in skier/rider traffic making for a more enjoyable moment
Thanks for this…just one thing. If you are skiing on the left side, you are only visible to snowboarders who face left, or “goofy foot”. The majority face the other way, with left foot forward. When I pass a boarder I try to pass on their “front” side, whichever that is.
Exactly. I don’t ski the left edge for that reason. I’ve been hit many times by Snowboarders because they didn’t see me from their blind side – seriously injured twice. Now I don’t ski on weekends and I never ski on the edges. My favorite ski areas are Deer Valley and Alta because they don’t allow boarders.
Hi Roger,
Great point about goofy vs regular snowboarders! When I took up snowboarding just long enough to get the feel and enjoy it, I certainly experienced the dramatic difference between facing uphill vs downhill…important for skiers to at least be aware of this – thanks for sharing!
Many drivers are reckless but many skiers are far worse – endangering themselves and everyone else. In seven decades of skiing I’ve never run into anyone. I’ve been hit several times. The only safe place to stand in the hill is the immediate downhill area below a lift tower, snow gun tower or large tree. Some collisions should be prosecuted as assaults. Ski areas should police reckless skiers. Paradoxically some ski area owners believe that policing reckless skiing increases their liability. God bless the tort law lawyers!
Doctor,
Many true words in your comment, & none truer than your comment about reluctance of ski areas to police skiing behavior. I have heard the same over the years, basically by resort personnel who insist that any bona fide efforts to police reckless ski/ride behavior will only result in more legal actions against resorts, on the theory of an injured party saying: “well, the resort clearly understands the dangers of these out-of-control skiers/riders, given what we see in the way of enforcement in area A, B & C, so you SHOULD BE DOING MORE in areas D & E also. So trying to reduce collisions in certain areas, but not in others could open resorts to liability & claims for damages – – ski safe, be safe…it’s all up to you unfortunately.
My concern with skiing on the sides of runs is the unexpected tree skier who can’t see me for the trees leaving the trees and entering the trail. I don’t know if this is a real concern but it worries me.
I totally agree with what you are saying, read my post in seniorsskiing.com nov 19, 2019. People on the slopes are getting worse than ever and with no regards to who is in front on them. the biggest concern is how to teach these idiots their right and left, and learn to communicate with one another!
How do we teach them!!!! looking for ideas! I have even had skiers get in arguments with me because I was in their way. Today we need to ski more defense than ever!
Hey Michael,
Don’t think there’s any great way to educate the idiots out there, and since no enforcement is done by resort personnel, there’s no downside to bad behavior except when the bad actor himself finally gets injured
As the author of one of SeniorsSkiing’s popular articles “ Blindsided & Body Slammed,” I outlined my experience getting hit on the slopes and I agree there is little we can do to police the slopes. We can ski defensively and try to remain aware of what is going on around you. Thanks for the suggestion to take a photo of perpetrators…at least you’d have a memento. Not certain it would constitute evidence unless it was taken while the act was in progress. The code does not protect us from those who don’t know it or don’t care about it.
Extraordinary information. Well researched. Insightful. Mr Gelb, your advice is priceless. Thanks for providing this public health advisory. You’ll no doubt save thousands of lives.
Well thanks Roger…glad it helps you, hope it helps many. I think the best thing I can do is to always warn those I’m skiing with about the risks of skiing “in the crowd”.
Roger,
Unfortunately the code itself doesn’t protect us from anything…only our knowledge of it, and the behaviors we adopt because of it, might help us avoid certain situations; in the end it’s really a situation like driving a car: all of us on the snow simply need to exercise vigilance constantly, “drive/ski at a reasonable speed for the conditions (since there’s NO speed limit), and understand that there’s NO speeding tickets being issued!
Approaching a skier or rider in a narrow or tightly packed slope, shout; “On Your Left”! or “On your Right”!
If they are deaf, at least you tried.
I’m amazed how few skiers/riders use this simple warning. I always shout back “Thank You”!
Richmond, agree, still a good idea. I mainly use this “warning call” when on busy traverses, where often the run is much narrower. and, I always try to shout it before I’m actually next to the person, cause it’s never a guarantee they’ll stay put! Sometimes all they’ll hear is “……….right”, or “…….left”, and then they’ll GO THAT WAY!
So true! Happens to me frequently. I am thinking of changing my wording to “keep right/keep left”.
Richard, when they don’t shout out, I shout out a few expletives and if I can get to them at the bottom, I gently give them a lesson of what is their right and left.
I do have a proposal to help educate. check out some of the next issues and see what I post.
Mike Roth