Free 2 Be: Silverton Mountain Ski Trip: Not So Happy Birthday

So here's the scoop on the Silverton Mountain trip. I got arrested on my birthday. What happened? Well let's look into that a little more.

We started the morning bright and early with the first run hiking up as far as we could go. We were all stoked on being there and having a good time. So we are hiking on the boot pack (skis on our packs) and are behind and mixed in with a group that didn't have a guide with them. They walked under a rope that crossed the trail about 5 1/2 feet above the ground, doesn't have a sign stating guided only beyond that point, and we herd in right behind them. At this point we were were concerned that were crossed into a "guided only" area of the mountain. We didn't want to get into any trouble as we were skiing "unguided." This is a different type of a resort and there are a lot of rules left up to interpretation.

The sign at the top of the lift said our desired run was open, but didn't say if it was restricted to guided groups only or open to unguided skiers.

So the man in the front approaches the first mountain professional we see to clarify if we could ski our chosen run or not. He [the mountain professional], asks us which guide we were with and when we stated that we were unguided but wanted to check with him to make sure that we were allowed in this area, he grabs his radio, states that he has caught 4 poachers, and that he's sending them down to meet with the owner of the resort.

So we're kind of confused. We head down and meet a ski patroller that says we need to talk with the owner, that everything should be alright, and that once we explain our story, the owner should let us ski. So we meet the owner, tell him our story about 5 times, the tool asked us to retell it over and over, and then the sheriff's deputy shows up. Now we're detained, getting processed for "skiing out of bounds", and missing out on all the fun we intended on having for my birthday. I can't believe that this is going on. The owner clips our passes and walks away to talk to the deputy. As he walks back to us he says, "You guys are more than welcome to buy another pass and ski for the rest of the day."

EXCUSE ME?!?! So you kick us off your mountain, call the sheriff on us, talk with us till the deputy shows up, clip our passes that we didn't even get to use, and now say that we can pay for another pass to ski? Who do you think you are you pompous rat fink tool?!?!

So as the deputy talks with me, he genuinely says "Happy Birthday" and wishes that he didn't have to give me this citation which the owner told us was a misdemeanor with an "up to $1000" fine. Plus it's a summons citation not a pay this freaking huge fine citation, which means we have to return back to Silverton in a month. That's about 450 miles away from Ogden. Not a good thing. Luckily my buddy Clint was there with us, a Master Sergeant in the Air Force. This is good because the deputy tells us that the county judge and other individuals are all retired military and really like those in the military. That means that they might let us off.

Now we're all dejected, don't want to pay for another pass from this Mickey Mouse operation, but want to ski. We head up to the Red mountain Pass and find some low angle terrain for a short tour. Why low angle? Because the avalanche danger was still considerable.

I had the most sour taste in my mouth. How is all this crap happening on my birthday. We kept joking about it and ripping on the tool of an owner to try to mitigate the pain and agitation that we were experiencing.

The next day we were "marked" individuals at the resort. When we pulled up the owner pointed us out to all the other employees and was chatting about us on the radio. Seeing our doomed state before us, we decided to pay another $50 to upgrade to a guided pass. To some the day up the skiing was good for 4 day old snow.

The extremely sucky thing was that I sprained my knee on the last run of the day. All this crap on what was supposed to be a celebration, turned my 27th birthday into a wretched weekend to remember. I will admit this: this will be a funny story in the future. I'll update you on what happens with the charges when things come about.

Trip Pics

My Birthday Present to Myself: Powder Skis