March 9, 2011 Take Responsibility For Your Actions

If the rules of compensation for rescue are clearly stated then I have no problem with it. When you have a volunteer staff that knows OB resort skiing goes on, and is allowed for the most part then they expect to have a few rescues from time to time.
A good comparison would be small towns with volunteer fire departments. They do not request payment from homes they save, or people they treat for injury. If a house is burning the firemen don't ask "can you pay for us to put it out?" when you call 911. Who is going to say no?

Unless you get the full story from both sides it is not really fair to trash the lost skier. It sounds like there was very little effort required to guide him back out so I doubt there was really any cost involved. Volunteer ski patrol is just that, they should not expect payment for doing what they do. Most people would go help others in distress w/o thinking of compensation and I know I've helped others in different situations w/o thinking of it because you would want others to do the same for you.

Control gates for leaving ski area boundaries are common, but choosing to jump the ropes and enter places both within the boundaries and beyond that the ski area has identified as hazardous places are what the Colorado law I worked under dealt with.

These closed areas sometimes pose a threat to skiers on other parts of the hill or are not places where the patrol should be expected to search for lost skiers.

A good comparison would be small towns with volunteer fire departments.  They do not request payment from homes they save, or people they treat for injury.  If a house is burning the firemen don't ask "can you pay for us to put it out?" when you call 911.  Who is going to say no?

Actually this happened recently. No word on whether the FD was "volunteer" though.

thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/ten...ers-watch-home-burn/

Actually this happened recently.  No word on whether the FD was "volunteer" though.

thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/ten...ers-watch-home-burn/

That was because they didn't pay the fire department fee imposed by the town.  Maybe you could compare that to a lift ticket holder who paid for a ticket to a ski area that pays for the ski patrol then goes OB vs a skinner who does not pay and goes out of bounds.  The ticket holder's paid ticket pays for the ski patrol where the skinner did not pay the area so should they then get the same assistance? 

Of course they would, but one could make an argument I guess.

The ability of a ski area to successfully bill someone for an out of area rescue would be greatly helped if State law clearly made leaving the ski area boundary or entering closed areas a violation subject to arrest and penalty.

Let's see how the proposed law develops...

Why does it have to be illegal to to leave a ski area boundary for the ski patrol to charge for rescue? I would much rather have the boundary clearly marked, and legal to cross, but those who chose to do so are responsible for their actions, ie, responsible for their rescue expenses should they need rescued... Pay for your rescue or risk a fine, possibly being arrested, having a criminal record, etc? Most people would rather pay for their rescue...

It would definitely be easier to make judgments on this case if more details were known, like how much they were asking Marcus to pay, and what rescuing him really consisted of..

Instead of stoning would it not be more appropriate to flog him with poles ?
He should be tracked down and black listed for clearly skiing into a closed area. The biggest problem was putting others in danger on the slide path. I would sincerely hope that if I require assistance in the backcountry that some of the ski patraol would be willing to volunteer their expertise in rescuing me as I would do what I can to help others. If he was in real danger maybe he should carry a SPOT and try out their rescue service.