Originally Posted by
telefreewasatch
Winter '08? Been trying to get Zone 5 in play for a while. The Guntowers were a similar struggle ten years before. Management had been skeptical about each of the five Baldy expansions as recently as 1985 saying: "Baldy will never be open." Upper P gulch would be closed up to a week in those years on account of those slopes getting outta control.
Zone 5 and the Guntowers produce both natural and easily triggered avalanches into open catted terrain, and the return to the Alta, resulting in lengthy closures. Getting skier compaction on those slopes benefits many. April fools that year the ASP was gonna gang bang it. Titus caught them at the door, spidey senses tingling, and stopped it from happening, thank god. The few violators we did have in there weren't helping my efforts any. One fella (I assumed) had a unique entrance into the upper Comma. Kind of a signature place and style. Around 4:00 give or take. He'd been there eight or so times come spring. One day, upper BJ was closed for warming, but the groomer was open. I went to the top of Whodunnit as I had on more than one late afternoon lately and hung out under the shade and obscurity of that little aspen on the far side, just below the road, watching the warming and hoping to make a new friend.
Not much skier traffic. After a bit I hear someone singing. Takes a sec to realize its coming from the Comma chute. Yep, signature entrance and making big mtn turns, slayin it. A new friend! Move out from the tree and the singing stops. He comes over at my beckoning and halts. Ask for and pocket his pass without glancing at it. When told that he endangers others when he violates this zone, he tells me I'm nuts. Well I'd planned on taking him to be cited anyway, but he just put an exclamation point on it. Upon informing him of his near destiny, he looked at me calmly and said "Okay, I'm gonna go now." And off he went. His skis were dogshit slow and he wasn't gonna outrun a Motorola in the flats that day. Public Safety met us in the Gad Valley lot. (I was dreading pursuing him past the base of Baby T toward White Pine) Whilst driving up to the center, I pointed out two W facing wet slides that he had started, that ran into the recently closed upper BJ.
When a sheriff's deputy arrives to cite him in the public safety offices he is having trouble matching the pass with my new friend's verbally given address. Wallet was somewhere else.
deputy: "what's up with this?"
friend: "mumble"
deputy: "excuse me?"
friend: "it's not my pass"
WHAM on the desk getting cuffed, no warning given.
Over the next few years one of the lift foremen told me that this guy had changed his tune, was a good guy, and deserved another chance. He had a no trespass on him at both ski areas. A few years after the incident I interview him to see about removing it. Tells me that the no trespass had driven him to the back country and that he now understands. Upshot of it was that he landed a job on the the next year's trail crew with my blessing.
