My problem with Slope Nazis.....

[Blurred Elevens]

I'm going to try and condense this story as much as possible to keep it under a 30 minute read.


Well, Copper Mountains terrain park is located 1/3rd of the way down the mountain, and you have to go through a slow zone to get there. This place is always has the slopewatch people out on it, so you ALWAYS have to ski like 2 miles an hour so that they don't pull you aside to yell at you and tell you to slow down. (I know that these guys are there for "your safety", but I also know that they're more of an insurance card for the ski resorts.... I lived in Vail when Nathan Hall killed that guy, but c'mon, none of the skiing I've done past these guys is remotely a danger to anyone) These speeches usaully come from some gaper that just moved to Colorado from Texas, and is volunteering a day a week for his free ski pass. First of all, these people don't know how to ski, but think they can tell you that you are a safety concern. May I add that this is the same mountain who kicked Picabo Street off of it. At the time they kicked her off the mountain, she was the BEST female skier in the world. How are you going to tell her that she was out of control, or a threat to other skiers safety?? I mean, don't tell Tiger how to swing a club, and don't tell Jordan how to shoot a fade-away. You must be at that particular atheletes level to even have ANY insight as to what the hell you are talking about.


That brings me to what happened to me there last year. I was skiing down this run headed to the park, doing like 10 miles an hour, and NO ONE was around me. These 2 slopewatch guys were talking to each other, when one of them looked up when I was like 30 feet away. He totally over-reacted (his head was still in his conversation) and yelled and tried grabbing me!!! He was so pissed that I knew he was going to pull my pass, but he should have gotten an award for his OVER-DRAMATIC reaction. This was like the lamest thing I've ever seen someone do. I mean, it was REALLY, REALLY PATHETIC. I did'nt even acknowledge his crying little attempt at an academy award, and I simply kept skiing into the park. I did'nt even look back because this event was so superficial and over-dramatic. Well, now everytime I skied past those guys in the days to follow, they started to chase me everywhere. They chased me on several occasions, never catching me. (which only goes to show who can ski, and who cannot) Well, over the course of about 3 weeks, the slopewatch guys got a real boner for me and were looking for me everywhere. They got lucky one day, and saw me getting onto the chair. They radio'd some patrollers, and they stopped the chair about 2 towers from the top so that I could'nt jump and ski off. (it was like 30 feet to flat) I handed my pass to them, and they said It would be tough for me to get a pass there the next year. Did'nt ski at Copper after that day last year.

Fast-forward to this year. I went to the season pass office in October, and told them my story from last winter, and that I probably would'nt be able to get a pass. They looked in their computers, and there was nothing saying that I could'nt purchase another pass for this year. I told them to look again, and they did'nt see any problems under my name anywhere. I thought "cool" and bought a pass.

Fast-forward until today. I skied the super-pipe all day today at Copper. I haven't had an incident with the slopewatch people all year, I've been skiing super slow by them, so that I would'nt have a problem with them.

Well, it just so happens that this slopebitch stops me, and I think it's because she recognises me from last year. I ask her why she stopped me, and she won't say. She asked for my name and I told her my first name. She asks to see my pass, and I show her, covering my name with my thumb. She tells me that she just wants to see if I'm the same person on the pass, so I take off my hat and goggles to show her. She then says she wants my pass, and I say no, and continue to question her why she stopped me. I ask her about 10 times very nicely, and she won't come clean, and keeps asking questions to prolong the process. Pretty soon, there are about 3 other slope nazis with her, and I continue to ask her why she stopped me. She then radios for patrollers, and I finally tell her that if she doesn't give me a reason for stopping me, I'm going to ski off. She then threatens to call the Sheriff. I was hassled by these assholes, totally HASSLED. I got pissed and skied off. One of the slope-nazis tried skiing in front of me to cut me off. I skied around him, and then sat on the tails of my skis, and lost them all going down a run. I went into the trees, and did some stealthy skiing. I had to post-hole up through the trees about 1500 feet, and I crossed to the next run. There were patrollers obviously looking for someone, (me) at the bottom of the run. I stealthed it up through the trees another 400 feet, and kept cutting across the mountain. After about 3 hours of hiking and skiing, and dodging slopenazis, patrollers, and bilers looking for me, I finally gain the cover of darkness as the sun went down. I stealthed it down through the trees in the dark, and ended up walking about 2 miles in ski boots to my car. Needless to say, I'm exhausted right now, but moreso I'm really pissed off.

I mean c'mon. If the computer would have denied me for a pass, I could have lived with that. But, I paid good money for a pass there this year, and I did NOTHING wrong today UNTIL they hassled me and I had to protect my own.

Now, I'm sure my pass is no good, and for what? Nothing, if anything they owe me a refund on my pass if they don't want me skiing there, but now their argument will be "but you ran from our slopewatch! and for that, no refund, no nothing." What a bunch of assholes. Slopewatch are just incompetent wanna be skiers, who are simply pawns in a much bigger game being played by Intrawest.
Patrollers on the other hand know how to ski, know what the hell is going on, actually help people and can tell if someone is a danger or not, they get my respect.

Slopewatch is a joke.

[ak_powder_monkey]

Maybe you should become a slopewatch dick, then you can get the other nazis in trouble

[The Jackamo]

how are they always recognizing you? just get some different clothes and, voila problem solved.

[summit]

STEP ONE

STEP TWO
"I'm terribly sorry but your slopewatch personell refused after 10 attempts to tell me why they stopped me and then became extremely beligerent and rude. They were becoming violent so I thought I'd solve the situation by leaving. I don't think it would have looked good for Copper if one of their personell became violent on the slopes, yet that is exactly what happened. When I attempted to leave your slopewatch personell violated the Colorado Ski Safety Act by not yielding to the downhill skier. I could have been seriously injured and I could still file assault charges against that slopewatch personell that assaulted me. I suggest you eliminate that person from your staff because I'm sure they are harassing other customers."

if they still want to revoke your pass

STEP THREE
"Well if you want to go to small claims court I'll be happy to take this there. You can explain to the judge why your personell at harrassing and assaulting paying customers and then revoking their passes for NO reason. I was skiing in control and I was skiing with several friends who have skied their whole lives and will testifhy to that effect. I don't know how much experience your slopewatch personell have. Do you? Do you know their background? Because mine is spotless."

its a bluff but they might fall for it. if it doesnt work bluff em and scare em

STEP FOUR
"I am going to go ahead with the assault charges so I will be subpeoning the name of the slopewatch personell who accosted me. I'll have to find out from my lawyer if Intrawest is liable for criminally violent acts of its staff in a civil suit."

[BobMc]

Originally posted by SummitCo 1776
testifhy to that effect.

Plenty of character witnesses here to that effect.

BobMc

[The Jackamo]

i like 1776's better. thumbs up their asses.

[Blurred Elevens]

SummitCo-You're a fucking genius!! Way to put a smile on a bummed out maggots face! I'd ask you if you wanted to ride one of the 5 mountains to discuss this further...but...DOH, blackout dates!!!

You make some REALLY outstanding points! Are you a lawyer?! Wow, that's the perspective I was looking for, I will definitely be keeping these things in mind. Thanks for your inspiration/insight and I'll definitely keep you posted!!

[summit]

Lawyer???? I studied engineering actually.

I really hope that works for you! I definately wanna know how it turns out. If you execute it right and end up with the right person, you stand a good chance. If you get an asshole, maybe not so good.

I suggest going directly to the consumer relations office to make a report against htat slopewatch person. That way your are presenting yourself as the victem up front instead of waiting for them to attack you before you go on the defensive.

Obviously, work in some more wordage before and step two to work yourself into a good mood with them. After that, try and verbally maneuver before threatening them because once you are at that level there is no going back all your are trying to do is to convince them that letting you keep your pass will be less trouble. The basic goals of step 3 and 4 is to make them realize that its going to be way more trouble than it is worth to revoke your pass. They'll spend way more than $500 in labor dealing with the shitstorm you will create. If you can make them believe you will take them to court they will be thinking they will spend more.

If they ever question why you would go through such trouble, the answer is obvious "nothing motivates me like injustice. I'll pay $1000s to defend my rights to $350 rather than be treated in this manner."

Other threats for steps four and three:
Threatening to contact:

Local state and national news organizations.

Better Business Beureau.

The Summit Chamber

Colorado Attorney Generals Office Consumer Fraud Division

National Fraud Information Center

[summit]

If some patroller yells at someone they thought was you from afar and they catch up with you later:


transfered here: http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...&threadid=4507

[interloper]

I've was scolded twice in the same day last week for exhibiting an intimidating race carve profile while skiing.

[dipstik]

summit - very good advice, Im gonna hafta memorize that




blurred - thats the biggest dick in the ass ever. I would be so heated i that ever happened to me. I hate asshole mountains and just companies in general that treat their customers like assholes. They assume that because you are a "good" skier, that it means you are going to ski fast and are going to hurt someone. It's just the opposite though, some gaper going fast is way more likely to hurt somebody.


Same thing with stores and shit too. You have no idea how many times me and my friends have been asked to leave a place just because we are teenagers and they think we are going to start trouble.

what these mountains want is just a bunch of gapers skiing there all the time so that it is a "safe" environment, and so they can milk them out of every cent they have just because they dont know any better.


my advice? take a shit in a box and send it to 'em, and never ski there again.

[Blurred Elevens]

SummitCo-

Other threats for steps four and three:
Threatening to contact:

Local state and national news organizations.

Better Business Beureau.

The Summit Chamber

Colorado Attorney Generals Office Consumer Fraud Division

National Fraud Information Center

Oh the possibilities!! I kind of have the mind just to skip step 2, and go directly to the "shit storm" phase. I think a letter to the editor of the Summit Daily might get slipped in there too. Keep the ideas flowing dude, I'm going to take action soon. You rock!

Interloper-did you tone it down for those kooks to a not-so intimidating gaping stem-christie?

Dipstik-you're totally right. The companies with their discounted season passes know they have to make their money elsewhere. They know that I'm not buying real estate, timeshares or fine dining at their restaurants, so I'm "expendable".

Also, exposing their authorative slopewatch as the incompetent gaping chumps that they are really makes them all look bad.

[The Jackamo]

Originally posted by dipstik

Same thing with stores and shit too. You have no idea how many times me and my friends have been asked to leave a place just because we are teenagers and they think we are going to start trouble.

this is even worse: i'll walk into a store or a coffee place or something with my skateboard (hey, i'm only 16, no car, i'm too damn lazy to walk...) and all of a sudden al the employees are eying me like i'm the anti-christ or something. or if i'm riding back home or to school and i see someone walking and politely say "good afternoon" or "hello" they look at me like i'm going to mug them. just because i have a skateboard and happen to be 16, all of a sudden i'm instantly marked as trouble.

people piss me off

[summit]

Blurred: heheh fucking with them is a lot more fun than step two, but its a lot easier to convince a third party that their employees fuckedc up than it is to convince them that thier company should back down from a fight with you.

Try convincing them they are wrong before convincing them that it doesnt mattert who is right. That's my advice.

For real fun, if they won't give you your pass, do go ahead and create that shitstorm as much as you can without wasting $$$.



re prejuidicial shopkeepers...

I'm a pretty normal looking guy who dressed in plain jeans and teashirt or button shirt. They don't hastle me. They are still asslickers though.

I don't board... never have and probably never will whehter skate, snow, wake, river etc. But all the guys at my last job skateboarded... they were standup guys even if they didn't dress to society's norms... so who is the rat fink who made such a bad name for skate boarders? Shove a snowboard up their ass sideways.

[Blurred Elevens]

^^^
At this point in time, It looks like they may just refund my pass, and boot me. My pass HAS been banned, so I don't know. I kind of want to drag them through the mud now, just because I can, and they took me for a ride. We'll see I guess. :shrug:

[Rusty Nails]

Take the refund and walk away - essentially you just skied several days for free! If no refund you've got a prima facie winner in small claims court...

[sarge]

Be sure the Marketing Director at Copper sees this thread. Since this site is viewed and visited more than most ski magazines, it does have a sigificant impact on pontential customers impression of the resort. In spite of what some may think, this site is viewed by all levels of social and economic means, so it IS viewed by potential customers of Copper. Personally after reading your story, I have no desire to go to that resort in spite of the fact that it has some good terrain. Good luck.

[ak_powder_monkey]

Give em shit Blurred your the best one here at being an ass, oh but get your refund first

[laseranimal]

I remember reading Picabo Street got her lift ticket pulled for skiing too fast while she was training That must have been a pretty funny situation.

[Patroller]Uh miss, you were skiing out of control

[Picabo] Uhh do you know who I am?

[Patroller] Do I care who you were, you were skiing to fast and now I want your lift ticket

[Picabo] RIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHTTTTTTTT



Seriously blurred, get your refund and then drag them through the mud, first off, having never skied copper it strikes me as a REALLY bad idea to have the park empty out into a slow skiing area, the presence of non patrol safety personel indicates that the resort is worried about potential problems there. I would put it into the media, and make sure that the director of marketing is well aware of the fact that this thread has gotten 300 or so views, then attempt to take them to small claims, lawyer etc see what happens

[summit]

You could try step to to get your pass reinstated or as part of your bid for the refund. Then once they give it to you, give em hell with the shitstorm.

I agree with what was said above. Drag em through the shit.

I you are gonna tell the Intrawest marketing director

I'm not sure they would take this website as seriously as a letter to the editor in the summit daily or the denver post.

However, having never skied copper and having read this thread, I will almost certainly never buy a copper pass (something I *almost* did for this season).

[bigtwig00]

good luck blurred

[interloper]

Originally posted by Bullet
HUH? and "intimidating race carve profile" WTF is that? Maybe you should have left the big foot costume at home.

BTW - where were you skiing that they would have pulled you over for carving a turn.

In the "fun zone". Actually I wasn't even on the run the first time but on the side of a Intermediate run next to the trees. "He" was lurking just inside the tree line when he blew his whistle. The so called race-carve profile scares the other skiers is the way he put it. So I told "him" no worries and I'll just leave" and I did to another area. Needless to say I think he called his bud and this guy nails me for going to fast on a deserted Intermediate run on the otherside of the mt. Whatever. Too bad about you. Never run meet it head-on. Go to managment and demand a refund since they sold you a pass or have them tell their fools to back-off or you will have a harassment/stalking charged filed. And take care of that ticket soon. Good Luck on the out come.

[iceman]

I still don't know what an "intimidating reace-carve profile" is, but fortunately I don't really care.

[Blurred Elevens]

Originally posted by iceman
I still don't know what an "intimidating reace-carve profile" is, but fortunately I don't really care.

http://epicski.com/Assets/HomePageIm...peedSkiing.jpg

[phUnk]

Could it have happened to a nicer guy?

You decide.