Lost-and-found skiers face a hefty rescue bill
March 4, 2005
By Alan J. Keays Herald Staff
Four Pennsylvania men who had to be rescued after skiing out of bounds at Killington Ski Resort are finding out just how costly a mistake they made.
They each just received a $4,177 bill from the Vermont State Police for their rescue after spending a bone-chilling night in the woods in late December.
The four men are the first skiers in Vermont this season to get a rescue bill from the State Police. Earlier this year, State Police said they planned to bill these skiers and crack down on others who get lost after recklessly going off resort trails, prompting full-scale searches.
"In this case we decided that, based upon the recklessness of folks (who) should have known where they were and what they were doing," said Maj. James Baker, who oversees the State Police search-and-rescue team. "The message is that this behavior cannot go on."
The lost men, all from Perkasie, Pa., included two snowboarders and two skiers. Jared Rush, 22, and Michael Styer, 23, were the snowboarders. Jared Raytek and Thomas Arnold, both 23, were the skiers.
Attempts to reach the four skiers Thursday at their homes in Pennsylvania were not successful.
"It's ridiculous," said a woman who answered the phone at Raytek's home in Pennsylvania, declining to be identified. "They are not happy."
A message left for Raytek was not returned Thursday evening.
Tom Horrocks, a Killington spokesman, said Thursday the ski resort has not billed the skiers. He added that the State Police are responsible for search-and-rescue operations.
Horrocks said all trails at the resort are marked with signs warning skiers against going out of bounds.
"We cannot prohibit people from leaving our ski area boundaries, but if they do, they need to be prepared to face the consequences," he said. "Hopefully it makes people think twice before skiing out of the ski area boundaries so they know what they are getting into. The lesson to learn is to know before you go."
The $16,708 total bill that was split four ways mainly covers the personnel cost associated with the rescue effort, mostly overtime expenses by the Vermont State Police as well as the cost of rescue teams from Colchester and Stowe.
"We have employees who are employed by the taxpayers to provide public safety services. It's when it's over an above that and it puts a strain on our services that we look at doing something like this," Baker said Thursday. "What we charge for is the overtime that it cost us to run the operation."
Other expenses, such as the wear and tear on equipment as well as fuel, are not included in the bill.
"If we actually charged for everything that went into it then it would be substantially more," the major said.
The four Pennsylvania men who skied off the trail and spent a night outside in bitter cold temperatures on Dec. 20 necessitated the first search-and-rescue of the season.
More than three dozen rescue workers took part in the rescue effort as temperatures dropped to more than 20 degrees below zero.
A Vermont National Guard helicopter that had recently arrived at the scene spotted a campfire the men had made in the woods.
The helicopter crew directed rescue workers already in the woods to the four men, who were able to locate them and guide them down Bucklin Trail to Brewer's Corner on Wheelerville Road in Mendon, nearly 30 hours after the skiers were last seen skiing out of bounds.
That is the spot where most lost skiers eventually walk out of the woods. The four men were treated at Rutland Regional Medical Center and released the same day.
Baker said Thursday that because of the "reckless" actions by the four men, State Police decided to charge them for the rescue.
The other rescue so far this ski season in Vermont that involved a full-scale search took place Jan. 10 when a Virginia man skied off a closed trail the day before at Killington and spent a chilly night out in the woods before he was safely found.
Baker said Thursday he was reserving comment on whether State Police would charge for that rescue until he reviewed more information.
Lt. Donald Patch, who oversees the State Police barracks in Rutland, said Thursday he hoped billing for the rescue of reckless skiers would deter other skiers from doing the same thing.
He said that, despite warnings from State Police, skiers continue to leave the trails. On Wednesday alone, the lieutenant said, five separate skiers went out of bounds at Killington and eventually walked out on their own on Wheelerville Road in Mendon.
In one of the cases, Patch said, State Police were called to the resort around 6 p.m. for a skier who went out of bounds on the West Glade Trail earlier in the day.
That skier, Shawn Goodwin, 29, of Hooksett, N.H., emerged from the woods around 10 p.m. Wednesday as State Police were gearing up to launch a search.
"The snow groomers picked him up," Patch said.
Since a full-scale search was not required, he said he doubted Goodwin would be billed by police.
Baker said he couldn't recall exactly when the State Police last billed a skier for a search and rescue, but added that it has happened in the past.
"We've only billed in about a handful of cases in the past. … We've always been able to work something out," the major said. "We normally will hear from them and I expect we will hear from these folks."
State Police sent out a notice Thursday that they were billing the four Pennsylvania men.
The notice included a copy of the state law that allows police to collect from lost skiers the "expenses associated with providing rescue operations to persons when the circumstances are resulting from the use of a ski area to access terrain outside the open and designated ski trails."
Baker, a State Police veteran of more than two dozen years, said he was not aware of any ski search-and-rescue operations that involved a fatality.
"We've been very fortunate that we have not lost a skier to hypothermia," he said. He later added, "Every time that we send rescuers out in those conditions, we run the risk of someone getting hurt. That's why it's so serious to us."
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Considering everything that goes into SAR, $4,177 seems pretty reasonable.
