Telluride enforcing its rules

We may find out again if Telluride is going to go exercise its right to banish people who violate their rules (contractual requirements) and state laws. See A snow-lover’s nightmare: banishment. Banishment not only means not allowed to ski the rest of the season, but banned from skiing, in the case in the article for the next two years.

Most ski resorts in the West are on land owned by the Federal Government, the U.S. Forest Service. The resorts operate under a Special Use Permit. The USFS owns the land and basically leases it to the ski area. The lease, called a Special Use Permit, allows the ski area to operate on the land. A simple comparison would be the same as a landlord tenant arrangement when renting an apartment. The tenant, in this case the ski area has the right to control who enters their apartment, land, when and how.

Telluride revoked 47 passes last year. Telluride pays ticket checkers a $50 bonus for catching people trying to sneak onto lifts without paying for a ticket. Most resorts reward their ticket checkers for catching cheats.

The subject in the story was banned for two years for attempting to access a lift without buying a ticket.