Oddest thing you've seen on the slopes.

[ski diva]

There's all kinds of weird stuff out there.

I think the strangest thing I've seen was a couple teenage boys boarding with no shirts on when the temperature was, shall we say, less than balmy. I don't think they were feeling any pain, though. Still, I couldn't wait for them to fall (I know -- I'm cruel).

What about you?

 

[snowflake]

I too have seen a skier wearing less layers then normal, but I think the strangest thing I have ever seen on snow was in New Zealand.

Granted there were a few odd things going on there, but this was the topper. It was a warm, sunny, corn snow day. We were riding up the chairlift and what do I see going down the slope below us? UNICYCLES!! I couldn't believe it. They were going about 10 feet then falling, but riding the unicycles down the snow none the less.

What I found even more odd then there were unicyclists on the slopes was that someone let them on the lift carrying unicycles. Who does that?!?

But we wrote it off as another crazy Kiwi thing.

 

[liquidfeet]

A rat ran across the slope in front of me at Sunday River once last year. It was headed right across in front of me, and I straddled it as I skied past (going very fast at the time). Thankfully neither of us freaked, so it and I survived unscathed.

Also, there are wild turkeys that browse around under two of the chairlifts at Attitash. I've seen them many times. I've also seen moose tracks under the lift, but alas no moose.

 

[Lynn]

moose?

My son went to McGill University as an undergrad. He and I went to Tremblant a few times to ski.

He told me that when he went skiing at Mont Ste. Anne a moose went across the trail. He couldn't quite believe it.
Not my strangest thing, but very odd.

 

[liquidfeet]

I so want to see a moose in moose country. Your son is luky. Where are they when you want to see 'em? I saw one during a fleeting peripheral vision moment out the car window once, standing still at the side of the road. It was young and alone, with no antlers. But no one else saw it, so I wonder....

Every weekend when I drive up to ski I get to read these frantic yellow/black signs: BRAKE FOR MOOSE - It Could Save Your Life -Hundreds of Collisions. Over and over there are these signs. But no moose. Perhaps I should be glad???

 

[teachski]

At Mt. Wachusett, on a Thursday night, which is packed with school groups, a couple teen girls were boarding without tops (in the terrain park of course), right below the chair lift on a 10 degree night. Apparently, they went into the woods and took them off and another skied them down below and put them in the woods for them to put back on. They got caught anyway...one fell and got an abrassion on her chest...then went to the patrol room for assistance.

 

[Lilgeorg]

Lola and I were skiing back to our condo at Treblant and we came upon a little boy who was pointing and saying" Pory Pig, Porky Pig". Well, that was what we thought bhe was saying until we saw the porqupine. The animal must have lived there because we saw him everyday about the same time when we went in for the day.

 

[Jilly]

There used to be a porcupine that lived in the trees next to the lowell-thomas chair (triple, north side). He/she was there for years. I would have to say it's in the spring that you see the "naked" skiers. I've either picked the wrong trails or wrong time. As for moose and deer, they don't like the noise etc of the mountain during the day. They seem to come out at night. I didn't have a rat, but I've dodged the odd fox, mole and bird.

 

[eng_ch]

I've seen a number of people take large dogs on chair lifts...

 

[ski diva]

I've seen dogs go up the lifts here in the states, but they're the dogs the patrollers use for avalanche training/detection. Are you sure it wasn't for something like that?

 

[eng_ch]

Nope, just your average (well-trained) pet - then the dog runs down the side of the slope while the person is skiing/boarding

 

[liquidfeet]

I've never seen dogs on the slopes. Is that really allowed? Where?

 

[snowflake]

I too used to see a dog or two on the slopes. It was in Germany and Austria. They don't seem to have a problem with the dogs there, granted the dogs weren't really a problem either.

Besides the ski hill you'd also see dogs in the restaurants, schnee bars, almost everywhere that people were. Dogs were there too.


Another Odd thing that I saw one time was a black bear. It was during early season at Big Mountain. There is also a part of the mountain that shuts down early because it's grizzly habbitat, I don't think I'd want to be the one skiing by the den when mom wakes up.

 

[Snowsong]

These are of the human kind. A four wheel drive vehicle under the lift at our mid-station. The girl was drunk the night before and thought the slope was the road to her chalet. Our lodge is at the top of the mt., so instead of making the left onto the road to go down the hill to her chalet, she made a left onto the slope instead. She almost made it,too, until the vehicle got stuck. Probably wouldn't have gotten so far if it would have been uphill. The other is that we have a school bus on one of our slopes. It is in the terrain park for the kids to slide across and "ride the bus", but I think it looks hideous, like a junk yard relic.

 

[Lynn]

I so want to see a moose in moose country. Your son is luky. Where are they when you want to see 'em? I saw one during a fleeting peripheral vision moment out the car window once, standing still at the side of the road. It was young and alone, with no antlers. But no one else saw it, so I wonder....


Well, not during skiing, but one night, after a luxurious dinner at the Stein Erickson Lodge in Deer Valley, we were driving down the windy road from the lodge, when the car in front of us slowed to a crawl. We were wondering 'what the hell' when we saw what it was...three moose meandering at the side of the road. No antlers, either too young or female, but still a treat. The first time we had seen moose. We haven't gone the last couple of years since they closed the very pricey restaurant that was our yearly treat. The food! The wine! Yum, yum. God, I love a good meal after skiing all day.

 

[HotChocolate]

Hindparts....all I can say is. Crack is whack!

 

[eng_ch]

Hindparts....all I can say is. Crack is whack!

oh heck - not builder's bum? Don't they get cold?

 

[homemaker]

I've seen bears at Whistler, which was a thrill.

The craziest thing was probably some guys from Quebec wearing tutus and bras. They were quite hairy, too...yuk!
They were fantastic skiers though and were doing big cornice drops on Harmony Horseshoes at W/B.

 

[ski diva]

Anyone seen anything odd on the slopes this past season?

 

[Gloria]

defied all laws of gravity

I was walking back up to the bar from the parking lot on the last day this year and on the way up I saw absolutely the strangest thing I will ever see on skiis.

We had very little coverage left at the base and as I was walking up here comes this guy skiing down towards where the snow ends and the gravel now begins. He is skiing with jeans and singing to his ipod, going pretty fast. It was apparent that he was going to keep skiing off of the snow. Everyone in the area stopped, of course looked at his skiis to see if he was going to do the old rental trick, nope not rentals, he skis right onto the gravel and continues moving forward,
making turns and singing loudly to himself. Those of us standing around had no idea what to think...is he blind,is he what is the matter with him. Finally after at least ten turns in the rocks and dirt he looks down yells oh @#$#% and does this complete acrobatic maneuver to keep from damaging this thing he has strapped to his side. Slides through the dirt picks himself up and immediately reaches for this item strapped to him. Once he checks it out he says " whew all my beers are safe " Go figure. Everyone watching was speechless, all I could think was, where in relation to my daughter was this whackjob up on the slopes. Although it sounds humorous, it took me a good ten minutes to get over the shock enough to laugh, he was just that drunk.