Anchorage Daily News

If you jump off the chair lift at Hilltop Ski Area and get busted, chances are you're going to be kicked out of the ski area -- for a while anyway.

And if you go into roped-off areas or ski too recklessly on the slopes at Alyeska, be prepared for anything from a warning to losing your ski privileges.

Following a national trend, Alaska ski areas are working hard to keep all patrons happy, and that means cracking down on dangerous and obnoxious behavior. Ski too fast or too close to other skiers, pick fights or litter the slopes, and you can get yourself thrown off the mountain.

For the most part, said Hilltop Ski Area mountain manager Stephen Gautreau, skiers and snowboarders in the Anchorage area are well-behaved. Sure, he might have to occasionally remind them to clear their garbage off their tables in the chalet or keep their language clean on the slopes. But generally this community-oriented, kid-friendly ski area is happy with its patrons.

"In general, we get a great group of kids up here," Gautreau said. "We never try to think of it as us against them because it's really counterproductive. In general, the rules are pretty simple: Pick up your trash, watch your language and don't do anything you think could get you hurt."

Still, Gautreau said, "Kids will be kids, and things happen."

At Alyeska Resort, ski patrol director Peter Zug said the main challenges on the slopes there are making sure skiers and snowboarders are not reckless or skiing too close to others.

A lot of times, these kids don't know how fast they're moving or how dangerous it is to come close to people on the trail -- they don't seem to understand that 6 or 8 inches closer to someone means that you are hitting them," Zug said.

RESPECT PERSONAL SPACE

"That's one of those issues, the common-sense rules of the road that we all learn as (car) drivers. It applies in a ski area too, to respect people and give them room."

Unique to Alyeska is the fact that skiers must converge in one of several lift areas to reach ski terrain of varying difficulties. That means that beginner, intermediate and expert skiers often are bottlenecked in one area.

"We do our best to mix it up with merge areas with signs and ropes, but because our mountain is so steep, it really is difficult," Zug said. "I think that what happens because we have a mix of so many skiers and boarders at so many ability levels (is that) the experts want to go fast, and the beginners can't go fast and are scared by the experts flying by them.

"It's hard to mix all these varying abilities."

Chair 6, at midmountain is one such area, Zug said. The ski patrol monitors the area closely to make sure skiers and snowboarders are playing it safe.

CODE OF CONDUCT

Both ski areas have rules of the mountain, or a code of conduct, that skiers and snowboarders must follow.

Alyeska has a "progressive discipline program" in which a file is kept on offenders.

"We can do levels of warning, so when they do cross the line, the result is basically from a hand slap to taking away their privileges for being on the mountain for the whole season," Zug said. "A dose of common sense ... is what makes it work."

Hilltop uses "Smart Style," a national safety initiative geared toward terrain parks and sponsored by the National Ski Areas Association that promotes safe boarding and skiing.

"It's got the basics -- look before you leave, have a plan," Gautreau said. "And we have pretty clear signage at the terrain park entrance to let people know only experts should be there. As soon as they understand the boundaries, they almost like the fact that there are some rules. I think we have made a decent effort of giving the kids a little more ownership here, and they appreciate it."

SPEED A PROBLEM

Still, times have changed from a decade ago. As Zug said, "Society is becoming ruder and more impatient and more instant gratification-oriented."

And while "kids will be kids," there is a price to pay when that impatience is pushed too far.

In Alaska, such issues as trashing slopes with Red Bull cans, or clogging the runs by stopping on the trail and chatting on cell phones is not an issue.

But skiing too fast is common.

Another is using ear buds with the music so loud, skiers can't hear anything else.

"Six or eight times a season we'll have to deal with people wearing tunes on their ears," Zug said. "Just like cell phone talking in your car, you're distracted and you can't hear safety instructions."

Ear buds and music are not banned, Zug pointed out. The ski patrol just reminds people to keep their music at reasonable levels.

Fortunately, both men agree, Alaska is behind the times.

While Lower 48 ski areas may be struggling with poor etiquette, Alaskans, it seems, are relatively well-behaved.

"For the most part, they are all great folks and they all come out here to have a good time, and very rarely do we have the real problems," Zug said.

"Sometimes kids hang out in packs and once they pack up they become a pack.

"Sometimes groups of them will move around the mountain, and they might not make the same good decisions that they would on their own. But they do want to have fun."

Find Melissa DeVaughn online at adn.com/contact/mdevaughn or call 257-4482.

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