BIG COTTONWOOD CANYON, Utah — Solitude Mountain Resort had a close call last week.
“We had someone duck a rope and go into Honeycomb Canyon, which was closed on Friday, and it caused a natural avalanche,” explained Andria Huskinson, the resort's communication and PR manager. “No one was caught in it, but our patrollers had to go make sure no one was caught in it and make sure everyone was okay, and so that pulled them from what they were doing to open the mountain.”
Patrollers close off runs to keep people safe as they work to mitigate the terrain.
“We definitely have seen a lot more of the rope ducking,” said Huskinson. “I don't know if it's because it's kind of been a slow start to the season.”
Not only can skiers get their passes pulled for at least 30 days, or possibly the rest of the season, but they could face up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for ducking ropes.
Justin Chatroop, a snowboarder visiting from out of town, heard about last week's in-bounds avalanche.
“It seems pretty irresponsible, that's for sure,” he said. “I heard pretty bad things about people getting hurt. And, you know, obviously people can get killed. It's not just yourself you're risking. You're risking the safety of others.”
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Chatroop doesn’t know if the risk is enough to stop people.
“Seems like it's probably pretty easy still to just duck ropes whenever you want,” he admitted. “Just look left to right, ‘Okay I'm going to do it.’”
A big storm forecast for this weekend will likely elevate avalanche danger, and Huskinson hopes people will be patient and respect the ropes.
“They see the fresh powder and they just want to go ski it,” she said. “I mean, we all do, but you have to remember, if it's closed, then there's a reason it's closed.”
