Plea to Americans!!!

[MikeK]

Please, for the love of God, learn how to ski!

I swung by a golf course on Saturday, skied some of the groomed parts they had on my way to the park which adjoins it (it's a county owned course and park). I have to say, even on my FAT skis and stiff boots I just blast by people like they are standing still. I'm not racing or anything, just skiing... most people are just barely shuffling along.

I skied past some folks on some S Bounds earlier this year. I'm not even sure what they were doing qualified as skiing. I think the wind was pushing them along!

Then there's the booters. I don't know what it is but when people with bare boots see a ski track they just REALLY, REALLY want to walk in it. It's funny because sometimes you'll see where it's been all tore up from people walking over a track that someone broke so someone starts a new set, and magically the boot tracks move over there!!!

What boggles my mind is how it's more enjoyable to walk along on rutted up ice, mud and slush or deep snow when you could be gliding over it smoothly on a ski!

I was laughin' yesterday because I broke all the trails that people had booted but. Just a few days there was so much snow I could barely break through, now it was down to mud and ice post holes. Sure you can just ski around or make a new track but sometimes it's nice to ski a track you broke, or someone else did.

I think I'm going to start a petition to put up signs at our county parks. Snow on the ground: PLEASE wear skis or snowshoes! It won't help. Only takes one booter to ruin it all and people are too arrogant to care.

Anyway back to golf course skiers... at least they are giving it a shot, granted they only ski on the parts that have been packed down by a drag and snowmobile, and booters still walk in the ski tracks.

When you go to a place like BREIA it's not like that at all. Early season before they groom you only run into hardcore Nordic skiers who don't mind making their own trails. Once it's been tracked the people you run into usually are pretty good skiers. They actually move along at a good clip and can go up and down hills. And of course there are NO booters. It's strictly forbidden there and even snowshoes are asked to keep clear of ski tracks. I've never seen this violated.

It's a shame. I need to be like Jackrabbit. Get pro-active and teach people about skiing. Most of it is ignorance I'm sure, but I also assume some people are so miserable during winter they just want to make everyone else miserable.

Nobody needs to go to a resort to ski.... skiing is everywhere. All you need is snow. We need to teach people this again.

[connyro]

I suggest skiing where others don't if you want to avoid stupidity. I don't like sharing ski terrain with postholers, snowshoers, other skiers, other skiers' dogs, etc. Untracked snow complete with wildlife tracks and silence is one of the best parts of BC skiing IMO.

[MikeK]

I totally agree! My problem is my location.

It's not like that when I go to the Adirondacks.

[Woodserson]

Even in the Whites we have this problem. The SKI trail from the Kangamangus Highway to the Greeley Ponds will get people boot packing up it, even though the HIKING trail is but 100 yards further up the road. It's a good way to get a beating. It's certainly a lost art, deference to skiers. We just don't have the culture here in the States.

[MikeK]

Actually you know what... did happen last time I was in the Adirondacks too, and I was steamed.

Skied a lollipop loop and when I had completed my loop and come back to the "stick" someone had walked right in the tracks I broke, bare boots.

It's a lot less common up there I should say. It's a real mess near cities and we don't have a lot of terrain. I bushwhack now as much as I can but people wind up following the tracks you break... and I usually want to reuse them later when the snow has melted and then crusted over. That's where I really don't like breaking trail.

[connyro]

Even in the Whites we have this problem. The SKI trail from the Kangamangus Highway to the Greeley Ponds will get people boot packing up it, even though the HIKING trail is but 100 yards further up the road. It's a good way to get a beating. It's certainly a lost art, deference to skiers. We just don't have the culture here in the States.

Well put! Out here, we have "multi-use" trails that are used for MTB, fatbikes, skiers, dog-walkers, snowshoers, etc. The fatbikers have taken over all of the traditionally winter use trails with their groomed trails and now they are all pissy because, -shock!- other people use those trails too! It's all a big mess. You can't tell the public to stay off the public's trails unless they use them exactly the way one group wants them to be used. I have no solution other than writing bitter posts on ski forums!

[MikeK]

Our county actually bans bikes everywhere except the bike parks, and the bike parks are multi-use, so you get everything there + the bikes.

There's actually a law in the High Peaks Wilderness that you need to wear skis or snowshoes when the snow is over 8" deep. This really ticks some people off because sometimes the trails get packed to rock hard highways and they want to race along to bag peaks in their micro-spikes.

There certainly are times when you are climbing where spikes or crampons are much better than snowshoes, and certainly better than skis. But this is typically when ice and rock prevails over snow pack.

I'm sorry, I like a good rant sometimes! But I actually want to go to the board meetings and see if I can attempt to do something. It actually becomes a safety issue (and I'm going to play that card all I can) when people make those icy post hole.

There is really no one to enforce it, but if people get the idea, and enough people stick with it, maybe when you see a booter you call them out.

I have issues with people with not keeping their dogs leashed and saying something rarely does work.

[MikeK]

And also I just can't believe how bad the general public is at XC skiing... it's shameful.

[Woodserson]

Remind them at the meetings it's not about keeping people off the trails, just no walking in the ski track, please. A few signs could help. Too much on the safety, and they'll just ban skiing instead... like swimming is now banned at the local docks where we used to swim as kids... I guess I'll stay home and do drugs instead (sarcasm). I do a little volunteer work with a local XC club, and there is a trail that also takes pedestrian and snowshoes traffic, we have a few signs up, and generally people respect the track, but not always. Better than nothing.

[MikeK]

Yeah I guess that's a start... thanks for the suggestion!