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

No you won't

www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboardi...ex.php?topic=20769.0

I was up there a few weeks ago and there was a closed sign but nobody pays attention of course.

Ski Patrol cannot give you tickets; they are private citizens. 

Well, the blog outta the Crystal ski patrol office seems to disagree. 

<begin quote>
New Ski Area Legislation
Posted on May 12, 2011 by Kim Kircher

Governor Chris Gregoire signed a bill last week making it a misdemeanor to ski into a closed area at a ski resort in Washington State. Jim Kastama D-Puyallup, sponsored the bill. Kastama is a volunteer ski patroller at Crystal with me, and I share many of his concerns.  Now, those found on the wrong side of the rope will face a criminal trespassing charge and a fine of up to $1000.
<end quote>
www.blogcrystal.com/2011/05/articles/new...ki-area-legislation/

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

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience

The ski patrol may think that they have that authority to give people citations, but they do not, at any circumstance have that right. Crystal ski patrol, or any patrol for that matter are not in the business of being an officer of the law. They do however have the right to alert the person of their offence, and if they purposefully broke a law, we can have security hold them when they get back to the base until a police officer can issue the person a citation.

That does not apply to ANY closed ski area that I have ever seen -- none post signs at the edge of the ski area stating the area beyond the sign is closed to the public. It clearly applies only to closed areas within OPEN ski areas where the ski area has posted signs indicating the closure.

The ski area boundary by Powder Pass at Crystal Mountain clearly states permanently closed area, so I guess it doesn't apply only to areas within OPEN ski areas!

Skibum I'd be reaaaaal leery about detaining someone for an extended period of time waiting for an officer to drive up to issue the citation for a brand new law. Seems like you'd be opening up Crystal to a false imprisonment claim if you didn't get the misdemeanor to stick. Maybe you guys do it all the time and it works, I dunno. This sure isn't the same as shoplifting though.