Crazy Steamboat Snowboarder Manifesto

[Dam Skier]

This letter has been posted at back country gates, in bars, and at ski shops.



It's signed by "The Equalizer."
I know it's more Colorado drama, but can't we all get along. Kickers in all the secret spots would be sweet though. I hope he makes them in spots with good landings.

[arild]

That rules.

[Phill]

Stupid tele-nazis

[bdog]

That rules.

THAT most certainly DOES NOT RULE!
I am not condoning any fascist attitudes that may or may not prevail amongst tele skiers in that or any other backcountry area. But this one fools plan is pathetic and dangerous ... and you are an idiot!

[serb]

People on both sides can get fucked. Unless it is your property, take your battitude somewhere else.

[arild]

THAT most certainly DOES NOT RULE!
I am not condoning any fascist attitudes that may or may not prevail amongst tele skiers in that or any other backcountry area. But this one fools plan is pathetic and dangerous ... and you are an idiot!

Indirectly, only the tele-nazis are to blame here. Lighten up, princess. At least I was able to get a laugh out of that sign.

[ANON-505]

WTF??

God I'm glad I don't live in CO.

What does this guy want? A handjob?

[Vinman]

Can't we all just get along?

The equalizer need to grow some thicker skin and stop being such a whiny bitch.

[MarkoInTheBoat]

It sucks this guy has got himself so worked up over this shit. Yeah, a lot of shitty stuff goes on out back, and I don't really blame people for having a piss poor attitude towards snowboarders hiking around out back.
But pulling shit like this certainly doesn't help either user group.

I would be shocked if this guy actually publishes a map. Talk about a lynching.

[soylent green]

It sounds like this guy has been pushed around for years by some people who think what they do is specialer. Interesting reaction to the soulful turn crowd.

[Ripzalot]

someone MUST go there and post a little sign under his stating:

SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU STUPID FUCKING MORON!!!

[Mathematics]

kind of funny really.

[glenplake]

If I were a telemark-nazi I would publish a trail map before he does and distribute it. And then I would still treat him like a douche.

[hemas]

That wanker was prolly being fed up getting yelled at from slogging (ie. walking) up on the skin tracks....

That guy needs to get a life and thicker skin.

[summit]

It sucks this guy has got himself so worked up over this shit. Yeah, a lot of shitty stuff goes on out back, and I don't really blame people for having a piss poor attitude towards snowboarders hiking around out back.
But pulling shit like this certainly doesn't help either user group.

I would be shocked if this guy actually publishes a map. Talk about a lynching.

*nod*

Someone will figure out who it is and while hippies are usually peaceful, truly angry hippies are scary.

Maybe the guy should just learn how to ski

It sounds like he has some sorta mental issue though...

[HotCarl]

Kind've funny,i guess. But if some Tele,(or alpine,or snowlerblader or another boarder for that matter)skier was being a bitch to me for being in the BC,i wouldn't post shit. I'd ask him to step up to the plate and we could settle it right there.

[wandering, not lost]

That wanker was prolly being fed up getting yelled at from slogging (ie. walking) up on the skin tracks....

That guy needs to get a life and thicker skin.

my thoughts exactly...

[summit]

I'd think after 16 years the guy is probably a splitboarder, no?

[HotCarl]

Surely,after 16yrs he's figured out not to walk in the skintrack. And hopefully he has discovered splittin

[hemas]

Surely,after 16yrs he's figured out not to walk in the skintrack. And hopefully he has discovered splittin

While for normal peeps that would be the norm... If a dweeb posts such banners, well... I wouldn't really count on it, some peeps seem to just have really thick heads...

[Name Redacted]

Wow, this guy is pissed! I wonder if he's a member of this board. He should be, it would be entertaining and if he posted that shit here I bet it would go to at least 14 pages.

I think the guy needs to get a splitboard and learn a little etiquette and maybe the evil tele-nazis will leave him alone.

He probably just walked in a few skin tracks and got shit for it.

[rideit]

Drama is all over the place, and not just involving boarders:
http://www.jacksonholenews.com/article.php?art_id=2656

Ambassador asks for understanding as confrontations increase in Teton backcountry.

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By Michael Pearlman, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
January 23, 2008

Arguments over parking spaces that end in punches.

Dog poop on the boot trail that owners refuse to clean up when asked.

Traffic jams on the boot pack up Mount Glory.

Is the backcountry skiing community loving Teton Pass to death, or is peaceful coexistence still possible?

While skiers and snowboarders have enjoyed extraordinary powder in Jackson’s most accessible backcountry ski terrain, a spate of conflicts in the parking lot and on the popular hike up Mount Glory have turned physical several times this season. Teton Pass winter ambassador Jay Pistono – whose part-time, paid position is jointly funded by Friends of Pathways and the U.S. Forest Service – said he’s witnessed four fights in the parking lot this winter, three that stemmed from disputes over parking. The other was instigated by a skier driving aggressively through the parking area and ended with Pistono stepping between two men after the driver began landing blows on a skier at the start of the bootpack.

“The people who are using the pass have to think about the common good,” Pistono said Monday. “You can’t make enough rules or signs to make it work for everybody.”

Fed up by what he viewed as poor hiking etiquette from backcountry users on the crowded main track up Mount Glory, Jackson resident Jason Tattersall set a second boot track west of the main trail two weeks ago. Where the new trail split off, Tattersall installed a sign that read “Express Boot Pack! Fast hikers have right of way. No dogs!”

“There’s people who don’t understand backcountry courtesy – it’s about educating people,” Tattersall said. “The only thing the sign was for was to allow people who were hauling to follow that track.”

Tattersall, a fast hiker who regularly makes multiple trips up Mount Glory in a single day, said he grew frustrated that people listening to music too loudly to hear him approach, or who simply refused to step aside and let him pass, were repeatedly slowing his climbs.

“That’s some people’s ski resort – it’s not fair to slow people down if they’re up there too,” Tattersall said. “Not everyone is on a slow schedule. Some people have to go to work, some people are training.”

When Tattersall’s “express boot pack” sign was torn down, skier Joe Egolf put up a second sign that read “The bootpack to the left was put down to cut down traffic (not to divide us). If you’re in a hurry and have to get to work, the left lane is for you. If you’re a normal person, the right lane is a good choice.”

That sign was also torn down.

Pistono, who had skied the pass for 57 consecutive days through Monday, said he didn’t believe that creating a second track was necessarily a problem, and he urged hikers to be considerate of others using the track.

“There’s nothing wrong with having two tracks – its a solution to a problem,” Pistono said. “If someone’s coming up behind you, step out of the way. It doesn’t matter if you’re going north or south. People don’t need to get annoyed about it. If those guys want to put all that work in to put another track in, don’t harsh on them. They’re trying to solve a problem.“

Pistono estimates the pass parking lot holds an average of 60 vehicles and that each space turns over an average of three times, meaning several hundred skiers are visiting the pass each day. At peak hours on busy weekends, as many as five cars might be idling in the lot, waiting for an available spot. When a vehicle pulls out and one of the waiting cars doesn’t pull into the spot quickly, another driver will take the spot, unaware that others are waiting, and a conflict will begin.

“I try not to be in the parking lot all the time, but I’ll try to get people organized as to who’s next,” Pistono said. “What I’m finding out is that nobody likes to be told what to do.”

Egolf, who’s been skiing Teton Pass for 15 years, said the number of skiers, a lack of communication among backcountry users and a lack of agreement on parking policy are contributing to problems and conflicts. A regular issue that has flared up is whether drivers who have picked up a hitchhiker on their way up the pass should be entitled to that person’s parking space if the hitchhiker is leaving. Pistono thinks they should, but Egolf sees it differently.

“If I pick up six hitchhikers driving up, I don’t think that grandfathers me a spot on the top,” Egolf said. “You’re driving up to an existing situation on the pass.”

Pistono counters that getting hitchhikers off the side of the road should be encouraged, and he said that based on repeated conversations with backcountry users, the majority feels that way, as well.

“It just has to be that way, because it’s cut and dry,” Pistono said. “From mine and WYDOT’s point of view, it makes for less hitchhikers and it speeds up the turnover.”

Pistono said he’s seen vehicles wait as long as 30 minutes on busy days for a parking spot. While many drivers make a concerted effort to conserve spaces by parking close to adjacent cars, Pistono also witnessed a driver repeatedly slam his truck door into a woman’s battered Subaru, upset because she had parked so close to his vehicle. Fortunately, the woman laughed off the action.

“It was classic because she dealt with it so well,” Pistono said.

Pistono’s role on the pass is to educate users and not enforce backcountry policy, yet he’s begun to grow weary of the attitude he receives when making suggestions or requesting that dog owners pick up poop or leash their pets while walking back to their cars. He regularly witnesses unsafe backcountry practices, such as skiers jumping into Glory Bowl while other skiers are below them. He’s heard from Wyoming Highway Patrol, which is getting continual complaints about hitchhikers and skiers not walking on the side of the highway.

“A lot of people using a resource isn’t a bad thing, it’s just attitude,” Pistono said. “It only takes 10 percent of the people up there to have a bad attitude and make it bad for everyone else, but I’m not going to let it bum me out.”

The Forest Service and Friends of Pathways have plans to erect new signs at the bottom of Mount Glory and on the south side of Teton Pass next winter, but until then Pistono is urging people to be considerate and realize that the pass is a shared resource that is a reflection of Jackson’s ski community.

Egolf believes the key to minimizing conflicts lies in better communication among backcountry users.

“If we stay quiet, there’s going to be continual misunderstandings,” Egolf said. “I just want us to all understand each other and have some compassion.”

[MarkoInTheBoat]

I'd think after 16 years the guy is probably a splitboarder, no?

Splitboarding isn't really that necessary or practical for most of the slack-country skiing.
The majority of "skin tracks" are more like hard packed roads. Any snowboarder with dignity can easily do the 1 footed skate back to the ski area.

There are skin tracks that head out farther away from the ski area, but it would be impossible to try to bootpack one of the trails w/o snowshoes. These trails are so flat that snowshoe tracks don't really effect traction for people skinning up.

Just wanted to add this picture of a gal on a snowboard putting in the trail out of 3rd pitch on the first hike of the year (right behind one of crusty old BC pioneers)

[Burt Hermel]

Lighten up tele nazis it doesnt get any steeper! Share the wealth!

[jSki]

Some tele nazis keyed my friends truck because he drove a sled up 4th of july road (perfectly legal) for access, and he was even tele skiing. That didn't leave a good impression of tele skiers.