Vermont Law Would Fine Skiers Who Venture Out of Bounds
By Rocky Thompson on February 21st, 2013
A law proposed in Vermont would fine skiers who deliberately go out of bounds $500. Now, if Vermont is like anywhere else in the world, backcountry skiers will occasionally use the lifts to gain access to backcountry terrain on at least their first pass. I’m not sure if the law would require that the ski patrol shoot these kinds of skiers with tasers and drag them down to the jail on toboggans, but I can see how that could be an issue. The lawmaker who proposed the bill said that he capped the fine at $500 so that people who really need rescue wouldn’t hesitate to call in. Someone should probably tell him that $500 is a lot of money to a lot of people. That said, ambulance rides cost a lot more than $500 and plenty of people still call them.
So only people that need to be rescued will be fined? There wont be any strange backcountry patrol handing out fines?
Unenforcible. And here we go again w/ punitive attempts at solving problems. Could be solved much more easily by providing affordable search&rescue insurance. Something similar to what Colorado Dept of Fish and Wildlife offered for something like $5-10/year. Not sure if that benefit still exists.
I would actually volunteer to enforce this law. Just give me a tranquilizer gun and a badge.