mountain etiquette anyone???

[skimama]

Yesterday just reminded me why I try to never ski on Saturdays anymore. I ski in the Tahoe area and we've had a very LEAN year this year. So, when we FINALLY got a significant storm that was cold enough to do something, I toted up the my boys and hubby and we hit our hill of choice DESPITE the fact that it was Saturday. So, now I feel the need to VENT!!!!

What ever happened to mountain etiquette? I've skied for about 30 years and it always seemed that there were an unwritten set of rules that we all adhered to. As a kid, I was taught that we take turns as we merge in a line, if we're single, we search out a partner, we didn't yell at the lift ops if they weren't scanning fast enough (they punched back then, boy, that must have taken a ton of time!!), we didn't ski with our walkmans (no iPods then) blarring so that we could ignore everyone else around, we always said, "Excuse me", if we bumped into people (it happens), and believe it or not, "Please" and "Thank you", were requested out of our mouths by our parents.

At lunch, I had a kid (maybe 12 or 13) bump into me, and then stop and stare me down. The PUNK wouldn't let me by (yes, I was carrying a tray and had my 4 yr old and 6 yr old in tow). Many seats were filled with stuff and not people, when I asked someone for a chair to use, they told me they needed it to hold their stuff - they didn't want to put it on the floor!

Need I discuss behavior on the actual mountain??? I can't bash snow boarders due to the fact that my 6 year old has traded in his sticks for a board, but come on!!! These kids behave as if they are THUGS!! (which I'm guessing that they are not as skiing and boarding are really expensive sports) Alas, my son is going to be a boarder, but it is possible for him to be a polite one!!

Is the ski hill just a little example of what is happening to our world all together, or am I just getting old (I'm 36 - not TOO old) and intolerant? Are these musings that my parents had when they took me skiing years ago? I DEMAND polite behavior from my boys, am I being too harsh? Yesterday, my 4 year old asked me if we could cut in line since everyone else was too. I said that we needed to wait our turn and he seemed to think that I was being unfair.

I guess I'm back to skiing on the weekdays!!!

 

[Kimmyt]

You have brought up many of my own pet peeves (for more gripes and rants, check out the Pet Peeves thread in this forum... it's a good place to let out the steam).

I don't know what it is, I'd imagine it's a bit of getting older vs. not being a part of the current youth culture, and the feeling of self-entitlement that many middle to upper-class children seem to have.

I'm 25, and I feel that way, so it's certainly not that you're too old! Unless I'm just prematurely crotchety! :D

 

[Little Lightning]

I don't think it's because you're getting older. We ski during the week and still have some of the same issues. There is no respect for people in class or the instructors either. I've had skiers practically kill themselves to get in front of us in the lift line, can't figure that out as there was no line, ski into us while we're trying to practice something on the hill, ski between us, ski into our instructor. In the bumps other skiers stand around and listen as the instructor is telling us something then ski down ahead of us in the line she is trying to get us to take or ski into us. Or they come bombing down the bumps as if they are trying to prove that are great bump skiers. Most of them could stand to take a lesson or two.:D

In class last week our instructor was talking to us and a woman, not so young, in a very loud voice asked us if we knew where her group went. She was upset because they went ahead of her and she was going to give them a bump lesson. She kept on talking to the point that none of us heard our instructor. We tried not to be rude but finally pointed out that we were in a class and was trying to hear. After she left one of the women in my class, in a very loud voice, asked our instructor to repeat what she had said because we couldn't hear and missed what she said because someone was talking to us that wasn't in our lesson. She said it loud enough for that lady to hear.

At the end of our lesson last week our instructor took us to a tree run. Some guys followed us and, of course, they had to go charging down the run in the middle of us. Some of us aren't good tree skiers and all they did was throw us off. Them being there upset our instructor so much she apologized to us!

At Keystone a couple of weeks ago there were 2 of us getting on a quad chair, no lift line, and a couple almost knocked us down to get on the chair with us. Then they abruptly pulled the foot rest down without saying a word to us. They were not speaking in English and completely ignored us. The woman was sitting next to me and she kept putting her pole on my knees. I took my hand and moved it away. She put it right back. Finally, I put my poles underneath her pole to get it away from my knees. She just let her pole rest on mine. When we got off I pushed away as far as I could to get away from them. I slowed down and someone skied over the back of my skis. When I turned around to see who it was it was the guy from the chair. He gave me a dirty look like it was my fault he skied on my skis!

Unfortunately, March is going to be worse with all the kids and college students out for spring break.

Kathi

 

[altagirl]

My biggest etiquette complaint is people (especially ski school groups - there's really no excuse) who stop in bad spots that block the whole traverse or cat-track. Though this year I've seen a big improvement with ski school groups and I've thanked them profusely when I hear an instructor saying let's move off the traverse to stop. Yay!

The other day I was coming down a cat track and there was a family of 5 standing at a stop on the side. Looked good. The problem came as I approached, two of the kids didn't look and decided to jump out in front of me, just as their other child decided to drop down from above from the other direction, thereby blocking 100% of the path when I was about 10 feet away. I managed to stop just in time. And yes, they're downhill, they have the right of way... but like driving - it's in your own self interest to not cut people off or slam on the brakes for no reason, etc. I just wish everyone would think to look when merging onto a new trail or see who's coming from above before starting again from a stop, etc.

And I'm glad we don't have safety bars at Alta. I hate getting slammed in the head/knees/etc. with those things by someone who just yanks it down the second you're sitting. I'd rather not use them at all. Not that I mind if you want to, just say something (body language works too). I've even had the people who realize it's stuck on something (like my leg) and keep pushing harder and harder instead of say... listening for the "ouch!" and figuring out who they're squashing in their panicked attempt to get it all the way down.

 

[pinto]

....At Keystone a couple of weeks ago there were 2 of us getting on a quad chair, no lift line, and a couple almost knocked us down to get on the chair with us. Then they abruptly pulled the foot rest down without saying a word to us. They were not speaking in English and completely ignored us. ....i

I will say, some of this is cultural. In Europe, they slam those bars down immediately when getting on the lift, and leave them down until the last possible second. It seems weird to us. But you'll notice that many of the people here being "rude" about the bar are probably foreign.

And yes, they are pushy in lines, too. I'm sure when we travel, we do strange things, as well. ;)

I do agree with altagirl that people blocking trails drive me crazy. When we were at Copper a couple of weeks ago, there was this big family that had plopped down on the side of the bunny hill. Yes, at least they were on the side. However, they were in front of a cutoff that we needed to take, which I guess they didn't notice. (There was a sign.)

All this stuff was spread out on the ground, and as we picked our way through the bodies and backpacks, my husband noticed that in one of the backpacks lying on the ground NEXT TO HIS SKIS AND THEIR SHARP EDGES was a baby's head.

Yes, they had plopped a baby in a backpack right down on the snow in an intersection, and he skied a foot from it. He was rather shaken.

I realize they were rank beginners, but hel-LO!

 

[ISki]

An advice columnist when asked recently about how to deal with declining manners had a good suggestion:

lower your expectations.

If you expect bad manners, you don't get ruffled when this proves true. If you encounter good manners, you get a nice surprise.

 

[num]

When we were at Copper a couple of weeks ago, there was this big family that had plopped down on the side of the bunny hill. Yes, at least they were on the side. However, they were in front of a cutoff that we needed to take, which I guess they didn't notice. (There was a sign.)

All this stuff was spread out on the ground, and as we picked our way through the bodies and backpacks, my husband noticed that in one of the backpacks lying on the ground NEXT TO HIS SKIS AND THEIR SHARP EDGES was a baby's head.

Insane! Aside from manners, etiquette and everything else, why would anyone put the pack containing their baby on the ground in the snow where people are whizzing by?

I wonder how everything looked from the baby's perspective

 

[Pequenita]

The safety bar sometimes comes down on its own at a pretty quick clip immediately after you get on the lift, due to the momentum. I've definitely been on lifts before with random people where the bar comes whipping down, and we're all staring at each other like, "What the heck just happened?" Although, what altagirl describes is disturbing to me....

 

[ski diva]

I don't think this rude behavior is limited to skiing. In recent years I've read a number of articles about how bad manners, along with crude language, are becoming the norm rather than the exception. With more and more people behaving poorly, it seems inevitable that this would find its way into skiing, too.

The baby thing, however -- that doesn't have anything to do with manners. That's just INSANE!!!!!