fleshwound 0 Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 After reading the vented anger concerning ski patrol, I was just wondering - are they perfect out of Japan then? Link to post Share on other sites
Plucky 0 Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 I don't think it's that big of a deal. The guys who got manhandled must be small. I almost got my pass taken today. A ski patrol guy yelled at me for ducking a rope, two other sensai's came up to me. I was probably 6" taller than them. They said 'take it easy' and I was nice to them. Respect where respect is due. I ended up skiing with a guy later and he was goooood. It was a good day! Link to post Share on other sites
damian 0 Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 I am yet to really see one here in switzerland, but I doubt that they give a hard time as I am also yet to see a beginner, or even an intermediate rider, so I suspect that most people ride well within their skill level. It looks like every one on the slopes here were literally born on the snow. It is sickening how good they are. Link to post Share on other sites
Plucky 0 Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 I so envy you right now db.... I wanna go! Link to post Share on other sites
brit-gob 9 Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 Me too Link to post Share on other sites
proudtobegay 0 Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 Patrol depends on the characters involved, and the resort policy - so of course they are going to be different everywhere. Link to post Share on other sites
Simon 0 Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 Quote: Originally posted by db: I am yet to really see one here in switzerland, but I doubt that they give a hard time as I am also yet to see a beginner, or even an intermediate rider, so I suspect that most people ride well within their skill level. There is a lot of preventive work done by the people who work at the resorts in Switzerland. If you can ride off piste, you can be sure there is almost no risk of avalanche (well, let's say that the risk is very low). After a huge dump, the steepest slopes are ALWAYS closed and I'm not talking about a rope with a "closed" sign on it: the lifts are not working and you cannot reach the top until patrollers have checked all the mountain. IMO with this preventive work, there is little need to pester people who are riding off piste. As for Barok's incident... I can't see it happen here for a simple reason: I'm 100% sure that, seeing patrol guys beating a rider, people would jump in and help the rider, even if they don't know him. And I believe that patrol guys don't wanna fight 20-30 people at the same time. Sorry for my poor english, people. Link to post Share on other sites
Ocean11 0 Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 I love it when people with perfect, apparently native English apologize for their English on these threads! And the people who appear to be native speakers are almost totally incomprehensible at times... Simon, where are you from to be apologizing for your English? That sounds like a good sort of environment to be sliding in. I'll have to go there some day. Link to post Share on other sites
Simon 0 Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 Quote: Originally posted by Ocean11: That sounds like a good sort of environment to be sliding in. I'll have to go there some day. Ocean, before booking your ticket, consider two things. 1) Resorts on the Alps are having a huge boom in these years. This means thousands of people on the mountains and a huge crowd on the slopes. And I'm not talking about "some people here and there". I'm talking about a GALA-10-years-ago-on-worst-days" type of crowd. The (not so) funny thing is that resorts are doing their best to avoid queues at lifts and are buying vast amounts of ultra hi-tech gondolas and faster-than-light chairlifts (I wish some of this stuff reach japanese resorts...). Thus, you'll never wait more than five minutes to take a lift, but you have literally hordes of skiers/riders on the slopes. It's not a coincidence that the worst incidents this year are not caused by avalanches, but by people crashing against other people on the slopes. Well, you can still ride off piste... 2)...at least you could IF it snowed. I'm not an expert on the subject and I don't konw if it's because of global heating, El Nino, bad luck or what. But the fact is that the lack of snow is getting serious. I remember that 15 years ago you could ski at a lot of resorts at the beginning of december. 10 years ago it was Christmas. Now serious dumps never arrive before the end of january. So... thousands of people+artificial snow... you can imagine the results. As for my nationality, I'm writing from the only country in Europe where they don't teach english in schools (well, at least they didn't when I was a kid ): Italy. Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 Quote: Originally posted by fleshwound: I was just wondering - are they perfect out of Japan then? well of the ski patrollers I know in New Zealand, I can say they they were good guys, there are no trees so thats not a problem , but if they close an area or warn you not to go there, you can trust their judgement fairly soundly. Many of them are very very experienced in the mountains and have highly regarded patrol qualifications. They command respect and get it from me. Link to post Share on other sites
enderzero 0 Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 Agreed, I would never look at a ski patroller at home and think "cop." Instead I would just think they were doing their job to protect me and the others on the mountain. Here a patroller is more like a cop. They are out patrolling just to find people they can get in trouble. It's a power trip. They do it just because they can. Now I know this is a broad generalization. There are good patrollers and bad patrollers just like there are good cops and bad cops or good firefighters and bad firefighters ( ) but let's just say the difference here is much more pronounced. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 I think most Western Canadain Patrolers are far more skilled than here. When you get in shit its for a reason, and a good one. Just dont let the patrolers catch you keep changing areas. Sking under lifts is the fastest way to get caught. Link to post Share on other sites
SKI 15 Posted January 29, 2003 Share Posted January 29, 2003 They should be equipped with sirens and flashing lights. Link to post Share on other sites
barok 0 Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 i don't know how it works in Japan with the patrollers, but I know that in America, and I think Canada, and Europe, the ski patrol are volunteers. I think this fosters a better attitude towards their jobs. If someone is doing something because they are driven to do it for the good of helping people, or whatever, they are probably happier to do it for free. doing it for a measly check is probably not very rewarding. Link to post Share on other sites
Karnidge 2 Posted January 30, 2003 Share Posted January 30, 2003 I think they are angels everywhere. Link to post Share on other sites
Fattwins 0 Posted January 31, 2003 Share Posted January 31, 2003 Patrol in canada is a mix of Volunteers and paid patrol. The vols have to pass the test, then come up a certain amount of days a year. For this they get a free seasons pass. Most paid patrol has a mix of skill bomb techs rescue techs, nurse sometimes and regular 1st year guys and gals who know what they are doing. At Fernie it takes yearsto get into the paid patrol like red and the rest of the big pow resorts. So yeah, I have more respect for these people. You can sit in the top of the hut with them, chat about where the safest and best lines are on the day. Link to post Share on other sites
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