Touring gear classification semantics something

Last Friday I was riding the lifts with my splitboard at Snoqualmie Pass. I am riding the lifts because I am new to snowboarding and trying to development my skills to the point were I can take my splitboard into the backcountry. I am getting the hang of boarding on piste but definitely need to work on riding in deeper snow. I had gotten a few powder shots on Thursday but by Friday it was all packed. As fate would have it someone noticed I was on a splitboard and suggested i go over to Hyak and ride the lift there, which was currently only open to people on touring gear (x-country, telemark, etc.). <br><br>I arrived at the base of the Hyak lift in ski mode. The liftie asked me what the heck my gear was and I explained it to him. After a pause he said "Is it nordic?" and I said "Yes". I rode the lift and assembled my board at the top. I rode down the deep, heavy, wet powder under the lift. Some of the mysteries of riding the deep stuff were revealed to me. In sharp contrast to needing to keep your weight forward to turn on piste you gotta lean waaayyy back for the deep stuff. <br><br>I arrived back at the base of the lift exhilarated by my learning experience and the sensation of surfing on snow. I proceeded to switch back into ski mode but was told by a new liftie that I couldn't ride the lift. "But you let people on tele gear ride the lift" I protested. After some discussion he agreed to call his supervisor and returned with the answer that I could ride the lift and ski down in ski mode if I wanted, but if ski patrol caught me riding down in board mode they would chase me off the mountain. WTF! ??? Not wishing to be an a$$hole I went home. <br><br>Ok so I don't get it:<br><br>You can ride the lift in tele gear and ski down in tele. <br><br>You can ride the lift in split mode and ski down in split mode, but you cannot ride down in solid mode. <br><br>If you ride the lift on AT gear are you not allowed to ski down with your heels locked? <br><br>If you ride the lift on tele gear are you not allowed to do parallel turns on the way down? <br><br>The place was empty, why did anyone care? <br><br>Am I allowed to ride down in solid mode if you use my poles? <br><br>Would I be allowed to ride down with a tele-board? <br><br>Would I be allowed to ride down with tele gear with one ski on and the other ski strapped to my pack? With AT gear and one ski strapped to my pack? <br><br> ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ???

Greg - do they have a ban on snowboards? (thought those days were gone) Otherwise, I can't imagine why they would care.<br><br>Maybe it's case of "we don't know what you're doing - therefore it's not allowed!".

They let tele skiers on when it's nordic only?<br>Crap. Wish I knew that a few weeks ago...

Wow, that is crazy. FWIW, I saw a splitboarder at summit west a couple of weeks ago ( maybe it was you?). I'll probably be hitting the lifts on my SB soon to get some more practice on it. Hopefully they won't chase me off the mountain <br>

Somehow I missed the part about "currently only open to people on touring gear (x-country, telemark, etc.)" in your first post.<br><br>It seems it depends how they advertise:<br>Nordic gear = you're out of luck, probably AT as well<br>Touring gear = split board & ATshould fit the definition<br><br>Bottom line is they have the right to call it and define it as they see fit.... &gt;

Weird. I just wish I knew about it and got up there with my tele skis that day (I assume it was a special day, and not a new policy every Friday??). I'm sure it thinned the crowds. But WTF indeed!?