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By: Kelly Bastone

Issue: December 2010

Section: Department

Tags: snowboard, ski, resorts, police, patrol

Long Arm of the Law

Police are increasingly patrolling Colorado ski areas. But are they actually making us safer or just destroying the free-wheeling culture of the slopes?

In any business—and skiing is big business in Colorado—the answer to most questions is money. And this situation is no different. Lean recession years have made resorts especially prickly about attracting and keeping paying customers—“paying” being the operative word. Resorts are eager to prevent pass fraud because even a handful of missed ticket sales cuts into revenues. So, cops stationed at lifts watch for “borrowed” passes. Police presence also combats ski and snowboard theft. “We’ve paid attention to trends—what times of day and days of the week thefts occurred—and put uniformed officers in place at those times,” Breck’s Morrison explains. The surveillance has reduced thefts by two-thirds: Only 57 pairs of skis and snowboards were stolen in 2009–2010, compared to 165 pairs in the 2007–2008 ski season.

But the biggest factor driving up the police presence is a shift in demographics: Many Colorado resorts now court families rather than swinging singles. Baby boomers who couch-surfed through ski towns 30 years ago now bring their families to the slopes. And across demographics, families spend big when they ski: In one week, the average family of four spends 10 grand on lift tickets, accommodations, ski school, babysitters, meals, and the like. “We’re a family area,” says Greg Ralph, Monarch’s director of marketing. “Those kind of people feel more secure in [a policed] environment.” Which means the ski bums, who occasionally foul the family-friendly vibe resorts are trying to promote, are not welcome any longer, especially when their rowdiness sneaks out of the bars and onto the runs. Four years ago on April 1—dubbed “Gaper Day” by some—a group of Breck employees got drunk, dressed in costumes, and taunted tourists. The resort brought cops onto the hill. And when Gaper Day antics migrated to Steamboat the next year, police patrols were initiated there as well. “The sport of skiing doesn’t really have room for that,” Steamboat’s Allen says. “We are a family resort, and we want to stay that way.”

Allen explains that Steamboat’s gondola-based searches are another attempt to maintain the PG-rated ambience. Police at the gondola are looking to curtail the flow of alcohol—cans of PBR and flasks of Maker’s stuffed into skiers’ puffy jackets—which he says can fuel “antifamily” behavior. (Interestingly, alcohol sales at the resort continue. Allen insists the problems are not generated from those alcohol sales.) “Word spreads like wildfire that the cops are on the mountain,” Breck’s Morrison says. “It has a very good preventive effect.” Plus, Morrison adds, ski hills are like stadiums. “Any time you get 20,000 people together, whether at a rock concert, a beach, wherever—there will be a few troublemakers in the crowd, and dealing with them enhances the experience for everyone else,” he says.

Apparently “everyone else” does not include 32-year-old Steamboat local Mark McNeal, an ACZ Laboratories Inc. technician who’s tallied five season passes in Ski Town USA. “Ski areas should expect a certain amount of misbehavior, especially when they’re selling alcohol,” McNeal says. “Unless there’s an issue, there’s no reason they should be searching people.” There’s also no evidence—none of the resorts or any other organizations could provide hard, researched numbers—suggesting that officers’ watchful eyes make us safer on the slopes. At Arapahoe Basin, which is famous for its closing-day carousing, police are conspicuously absent. Drinking is rampant. Costumes are provocative. Pond-skimming stunts raise concerns for skier safety. Yet, each year passes without incident. “We don’t feel the atmosphere and environment really require police on site,” says Leigh Hierholzer, A-Basin’s director of marketing and communication.

There, at least, skiers can still find fun without the fuzz. That means more than just the freedom to strain your groin by pulling a drunken daffy: It yields a temporary escape from the best-behavior expectations of daily life. This is skiing, after all, a sport born out of a need for speed and a craving to experience something just a bit out of bounds.

Comments

Really?

Submitted by mTnsmith on Fri, 2010-12-10 11:00.

Passholder since 1995, never seen any of this. Heard it happened on 2 -3 days of the year, St. Pats, April 1st and closing day, and if you rode here, you would see why it needed to be done on those days.

I wonder if Kelley was so appauled by these invasions of privacy, that she has stopped skiing @ Steamboat?

Keep up the strong writing and deceitfulness Kelley, I am sure you will sore to the top while stepping on and over whomever you need to succeed.

Is Kelly Crazy... or just trying to get published?

Submitted by Arock on Thu, 2010-12-09 12:14.

I have lived and skied in Steamboat for more than 10 years and have NEVER been "searched" or even looked at sideways boarding a lift of any kind.  I also own a bar, and spend night after night trying to figure out how to cut down on brought in liquor, which is not only against the law, but can get the bar owner in trouble for not catching it at the door.  No, we don't search people at the door of the bar, and neither does Steamboat Ski area.  But they do at a Bronco game... and no one seems to complain.   The real problem here is that someone who has lived in Steamboat for some time experienced one "search" on gaper day and decided it was an opportunity to further her career by slandering the ski area and screwing the very town that provides a home for her.  Kelly, this is just wrong.  You know this only happens 1 or 2 days a season.  For anyone who knows Steamboat, it doesn't even make a very good story... BECAUSE IT'S NOT TRUE.   It is disappointing that the article was picked up by 5280 and the Denver Post who obviously didn't do any fact checking.  I have not only lost respect for Kelly, but these 2 rags as well.  How about a little research before printing damaging articles about Colorado Businesses?  Do we really need the negative press?  How about this for a headline: STEAMBOAT SKI RESORT AT THE TOP OF THE SNOWFALL CHAIN THIS WINTER WITH OVER 120" SO FAR, AND COUNTING!  That's the Truth.

We stand by our story

Submitted by Daniel Brogan on Sun, 2010-12-05 12:48.

I've posted a response to the comments surrounding this article here: 

http://www.5280.com/blogs/2010/12/05/steamboat-springs-and-long-arm-law

Ski area lies

Submitted by clarinet on Sat, 2010-12-04 18:04.

Well I came to this site to refute all the lies the Steamboat Ski area has been saying about this story. They are searching packs and pockets and patting down people. The big lie is it is only this one day,"gaper day", wrong, it's basically all of the spring season now. If I am traveling to ski and paying top dollar Steamboat is not the place I will go. If They are serious about on the hill antics, hire more Patrolers, which have had to endure huge cutbacks in the last years, not because of the economy, but because realtor corporations keep using operating revenue to finance all their speculation. Lets get the ski industry back to skiing and bring the fourth amendment back to The United States of America!

Off-base

Submitted by bschmelt on Sat, 2010-12-04 09:03.

While I can't vouch for the other parts of this article, I can 100% say that Kelly's portrayal of Steamboat is very inaccurate. While it's true that on closing day there were police searching packs and bulky jackets, that is the only time anyone's seen police at/on the slopes of Steamboat. By painting the picture that officers are on and around the mountain on a daily basis is misleading  and sheds an incorrect light on how it is to ski/ride in Steamboat. I hope that this article doesn't deter people from coming to visit a great place to ride because of its false reporting.

total BS

Submitted by skierB on Fri, 2010-12-03 18:23.

Shame on you Kelly. Have you ever skied Steamboat except on gapper day? I have skied there 5 times this year already and have yet to see any police and have never been frisked or had my pockets turned out. Last season they did check backpacks on April 1st due to some very bad bvehaviour from a few unruly youths. That was the ONLY day they checked to my knowledge and I ski in Steamboat 30 to 50 day a season.

Seems like you were going for sensationalism rather than truth.  The only good thing to come out of this nonsense article is that I will have much smaller lift lines this season!

I'll be at A-Basin this year!

Submitted by kajamy2 on Wed, 2010-12-01 21:08.

Wow.  First DIA, now the SKI SLOPES??  I know I'll be spending my money at A-Basin this year instead of Steamboat.  No groping while skiing for me!  (What am I going to do - try to steal someone's skis by hiding them in my jacket??)  What a dumb new policy on Steamboat's part.

I welcome the rules!

Submitted by Colt on Mon, 2010-11-29 20:40.

The article "Long Arm of the Law" would probably have been better served in the Westword than 5280.  Kelly Bastone complains about the presence of security at some ski resorts and complains about how people should be able to "evade the everyday routine".  This article is so one-sided, I picture Kelly wearing horse blinds as she typed it out, with 5 empty cans of PBR on her desk.  Skiing is indeed a sport "born out of a need for speed" which makes it the perfect reason to have some rules.  Kelly has obviously not been railroaded by an inebriated skiier that told her to watch where she is going.  This article would have been more appropriate in a different setting.  Picture a movie theater where people are trying to cut loose, and they are not allowed to bring in alcohol!  Forget that it is against the policies of the theater, it is really about the man stealing your rights!  Well personally, I say let people get drunk at the movie theater.  Let them get stoned at the concerts!  But when you have thousands of people firing downhill with ski poles, a like the majority of them to be sober.  Using her logic, I better get hammered at the next Sunrise Century at Boulder (the 75 mile bike ride) so I can "experience something just a bit out of bounds". 

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