Illegal to ski at a closed ski area effective 7/22

apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2011-...202011/5186-S.SL.pdf

Interesting...

4 NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 79A.45 RCW
5 to read as follows:
6 A person is guilty of a misdemeanor if the person knowingly skis in
7 an area or on a ski trail, owned or controlled by a ski area operator,
8 that is closed to the public and that has signs posted indicating the
9 closure.

???

I guess it was just a matter of time after the first law was passed. I wouldn't be surprised if they kept trying to make the law more and more restrictive since backcountry skiing is "so dangerous" and we need to be protected from ourselves.

New bumper sticker: SKI TOURING IS NOT A CRIME

...which of course brings up the question: "how does a skier know if an area is closed?"...my favorite example is when patrol closes Boondoggle, a gate-controlled area skier's right of chair 4 at Crystal...when a skier exits Silver Basin, it is often preferable to follow the drainage of Elizabeth Creek into Boondoggle...so when does patrol closes Boondoggle?  typically when the race course is set up under chair 4 -- Boondoggle exits into the course, so of course patrol will close it down...but how would someone exiting SouthBack know of the closure?  i've never seen a sign at the Henskin Lake flats...the typical patrol quip is "a skier needs to know, at all times, which parts of the mountain are closed"...seems a tad over the top to me...

but the new law does make sense to me when patrol lofts a live charge into niagra's from gate 8 at 9:30 a.m.-- only to see, to their horror, rope duckers from left angle trees skiing directly into the path of the charge...

but the new law does make sense to me when patrol lofts a live charge into niagra's from gate 8 at 9:30 a.m.-- only to see, to their horror, rope duckers from left angle trees skiing directly into the path of the charge...

That I understand and maybe even agree with.  The original language of the law stated that it would be illegal to go into closed areas in an operational ski area.  The new law simply states lands owned or controlled by ski areas that are closed to the public, so it wouldn’t matter if they were operational. 

To me this sounds like Alpy after the area is completely shut down for the year and the “Ski area closed” sign is put up.  Whether or not Alpental cares about touring at that time, it would technically be illegal.

Kastama's Rationale

I googled it; the bill was introduced by Sen. Kastama (D-Puyallup) who is a volunteer patroller at Crystal and he was aiming at skiers going out of bounds when posted for danger.

Too bad the way it is written as passed is so broad as to be unreasonable; quite opposite the rationale.