New Wrinkle in the skiing out of bound’s odyssey. Douglas County Nevada law prohibits it, even though US Forest Service says it is not illegal.
Posted: December 30, 2015 Filed under: Ski Area | Tags: backcountry, Boundary, Heavenly, Heavenly Ski Area, Out of Bounds, Side Country, Ski Area Boundary Leave a commentMan skiing out of bounds, missing & SAR goes looking for him. When he shows up, he is issued a ticket for violating an out of bounds skiing law in Douglas County, Nevada.
A skier a Tahoe NV resident, ducked a rope at Heavenly Ski Resort and ski out of bounds. When he did not come back after two hours, and the resort had closed his friends called the sheriff’s office.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s office and Douglas County Search and Rescue (SAR) team started a search. Four hours later, the missing skier contacted the sheriff’s office and notified them he was OK.
Soon thereafter, the sheriff’s office met the individual and issued him a ticket for skiing out of bounds. Bail was $640.00.
Nevada has a Skier Responsibility Code, which specifically allows counties to enact their own codes if they do not conflict with the Nevada state skier responsibility code. Consequently, Douglas County has added to the responsibilities with its code, which affects Heavenly.
(How the civil requirements and prohibitions are applied from a criminal code is confusing.)
The main difference between the state statute and the county ordinance is the skiing out of bound’s section.
In this case, based on the facts from various articles, the skier probably should have been fined ducking a rope by himself and disappearing for four hours.
However, several other news stories reported the US Forest Service side of the story which says skiing on US Forest Service land is not illegal. See the article in the local paper, The Record Courier: Skiing out of bounds is not a crime. It is a fairly well written article.
The article states that three people needed rescued after exiting through ski area gates.
Every ski area concessionaire’s contract I’ve seen requires at least one gate allowing access from the ski area to US Forest Service land. Consequently, the ski area cannot say the person violated any of their rules about ducking a rope or going out of bounds because it is required.
At the same time, it is legal to be on US Forest Service land unless the US Forest Service closes the land. So far, the US Forest Service only closes land to certain types of vehicles or for the land to recover. No winter closures have ever occurred to my knowledge.
California does have a statute that allows law enforcement to close land based on Avalanche risk. However, the actual authority to close US Forest Service land vests only with the US Forest Service. Here is the California Statute:
§ 409.6. Power of peace officers to close area after avalanche; Unauthorized entry
So if you are not in California where the land was allegedly was closed, and you duck a rope to ski US Forest Service land can you be criminally charged? Yes. However, only if a specific set of facts have occurred, and this can probably never happen.
If the ski area boundary rope is on the boundary of the concessionaire’s permit with the US Forest Service then ducking the rope is not illegal. You can legally gain access to the US Forest Service land. However, the boundary rope must be on the US Forest Service land or right on the border.
However, ski areas do not place their boundary ropes on the US Forest Service land. The boundary ropes are always offset from the boundary. If you duck a rope and enter closed ski area land, then you have committed two crimes under most state statutes.
You have ducked a rope, and you have trespassed onto closed land.
More importantly don’t be an idiot. You ski or board out of bounds, that triggers a search for your butt; I hope they do find you and fine you. The hard-working VOLUNTEER men and women of county Search and Rescue units have enough idiots to find every year. Don’t add your name to their list.
See Tahoe man cited for skiing out of bounds
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Author: Outdoor Recreation Insurance, Risk Management and Law
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By Recreation Law Rec-law@recreation-law.com James H. Moss
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Heavenly (Vail) being sued for off duty employee hitting a skier
Posted: July 3, 2012 Filed under: Skier v. Skier | Tags: Brazil, Employment, Heavenly Mountain Resort, Heavenly Ski Area, Skier, Snowboarder, Vail, Vail Resorts 1 CommentLawsuit claims heavenly is liable for not teaching the employee how to board?
What appears to be a beginner skier was hit by a snowboarder at Heavenly Ski Resort. Heavenly is owned by Vail Resorts. The article refers to
both resorts interchangeably. The snowboarder was an off duty Heavenly employee. The employee was working as a temporary seasonal employee and from Brazil.
The lawsuit claims that Heavenly is liable because:
…Heavenly solicits foreign employees, offers free season ski passes for use when they’re off duty, discounted merchandise, food and beverage, and low-cost housing that the company is responsible for their presence on the slopes.
Sullivan argues that the resort doesn’t provide adequate training to the employees on skiing and boarding skills and the need to follow the resort’s responsibility code.
I think that is a stretch. I think that claim has been stretched to Brazil and back. If Vail is liable for not teaching an employee how to ski, McDonald’s is in big trouble for not teaching its employees how to i.
See Gardnerville couple suing ski resort in accident or Second skier sues Vail Resorts claiming a Heavenly employee injured him while snowboarding out of control.
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