Mob of 400 poaches Mineral Basin at Snowbird

[raueda1]

That's right. My buddy and are waiting for the rope to drop on Mineral. The rope had about 10x as many Snow Safety people as usual and so we get to talking. This is what we were told:

About 30 minutes earlier a couple guys just jumped in before the rope dropped. Couldn't wait any more. They were immediately followed by a mob of 400 people straight down from the top. Nobody traversed off to the side. They were all captured by the ski patrol at the bottom after shutting down the lift. Names were taken, passes punched etc. Apparently it was a total mob scene. Snow Safety said that there are a few who won't be skiing at the Bird again for some time.

So: WTF??? The whole thing leaves me scratching my head. I guess everybody was on edge from being denied the day before by the road closure and crazed because Mineral had been closed for the whole recent storm cycle. Make of this what you will. Regardless, it was amazing after they reopened. Very, very, very deep.

[yabyum]

Shutting down the lift pretty much closes the pen.....may I see your pass please? Snow Safety should pull some passes!

[skinipenem]

Ah Utah.. powder frenzy.

Mineral basin is pretty flat anyway with a sunny exposurey (if I remember correctly ) ... why freak?

[raueda1]

Where these folks went down is far from flat. But true, it's south-facing. But it got no sun for days cause of a prolonged storm cycle dumping 50+ inches of snow. See Wasatch thread. But why freak? That's the question. But it's undeniable. The rope drops really do make people nuts.

[Skidog]

Wow if true this is just stupid. Plenty of pow to slay last few days. Oh well dumbasses will be dumbasses.

[detrusor]

True, it's a great fall line straight down where the rope drops. In fact I've seen people bam over that cliff band in the middle during a storm...

[straightlineorbust]

Can confirm, tram ops was very testy about it. Announced at the time that mineral would be closed due to violators never heard a bigger boo ever.

Of all the mountains in the world to cut lines, snowbird may be one of the dumbest imo

[abraham]

Of all the mountains in the world to cut lines, snowbird may be one of the dumbest imo

Especially mineral. There's no way out

[Skidog]

Especially mineral. There's no way out

Guess you could but it would be a very very long hike out. Like American fork long. But yeah so stupid. Wonder if they were passholders or day tickets. Would be even dumber for a passholder. Day ticket? Meh screw you left my ID in the car/hotel names Frank Smith. No pow is worth that whole hassle in general though.

[The SnowShow]

Especially mineral. There's no way out

There's a reason they're called Utards.

[JongDoe]

Hell after the 1st rush of people go through I would think the followers may have just been following the frenzy and thought it was a go.

[whyturn]

This is why I don't go the bird on the weekend. Classic

[straightlineorbust]

This is why I don't go the bird on the weekend. Classic

A friend posted a picture on their Instagram of the line up little cottonwood today about how the line is worth it for the pow.... It's Sunday, the storm truly ended Friday night, I don't know what pow they're looking to ski because it's all gone now.

People like that are why I don't like weekend skiing

[Skidog]

A friend posted a picture on their Instagram of the line up little cottonwood today about how the line is worth it for the pow.... It's Sunday, the storm truly ended Friday night, I don't know what pow they're looking to ski because it's all gone now.

People like that are why I don't like weekend skiing

Alta folks are probably hoping for devil's castle. Likely some good turns out patsey Marley too. Did bird open all of tiger tail? Granted that ain't much. I saw the lineup this morning and was shocked. I'm resting til Tuesday.

[sfotex]

A friend posted a picture on their Instagram of the line up little cottonwood today about how the line is worth it for the pow.... It's Sunday, the storm truly ended Friday night, I don't know what pow they're looking to ski because it's all gone now.

People like that are why I don't like weekend skiing

People love their bluebird skiing after a storm -- snow on the trees, everything is white, groomers are soft....

[SJG]

I was up early this am with the kids. The far west stuff in Gad Valley was closed, including Baby Thunder. Patrol told me they had avy activity over there, and would be a bit before they got it safe. Exit Gully, Mushroom Land, stuff West of the High Saddle.

Snow was total hero though.

[ill-advised strategy]

Hell after the 1st rush of people go through I would think the followers may have just been following the frenzy and thought it was a go.

Right...how do you sort that out? Imagine you just ski up there and 300 people are dropping in....then you drop and at the bottom you're getting couped up and fucked with.
I bet that happened to at least a few people...
I can't even imagine the chaos. Is there video?

[SJG]

It's pretty simple, where there is a rope you don't cross it. If 200 guys go ahead of you but the rope is still up, don't cross it. Otherwise you broke the same rules the first guy to do it did. Like driving 10mph over the speed limit with everyone else, but you get pulled over, right?

But there are a lot of guys that will duck the rope rather than go the extra 10m to the gate. So if 10 is "OK", then so is 20m, 30m, and "whatever". The SB Patrol get REALLY pissed when you don't go thru a gate, even if you are just an arm's length from it. With this policy there is no excuse for crossing a rope ever. SB patrol are really consistent about it. I have seen patrol open a gate, and guys cross the rope 10' from the gate (after the rope drop) to get a head start, then get their ticket pulled lower down (because the patrol are paying attention).

There are also the situations where guys CUT a rope at a gate. Next guys show up and it's open, so they go thru, and then there's a mess, and some really POed patrol.

I would love to see a video of this event!

[Skistack]

SB is an incredible place, but there's way too many people there that take themselves and skiing too seriously.

It's skiing people, we're not solving world hunger here.

[Rideski]

Is there video?

Has to be

[Rideski]

If 200 guys go ahead of you but the rope is still up, don't cross it.

If a legit 200 went through, most likely line is packed down in snow and or boo knocked over.

[yeahman]

At least nobody got trampled to death.

[straightlineorbust]

Okay, who was taking footy for the boys. Bet it could be jerry(s) of the day worthy

[old goat]

At least nobody got trampled to death.

A couple of years ago--the worst of the CA drought years, the first decent storm was in April. Only the upper mountain was open at Squaw--no snow on the lower mountain. Huge line for the Funitel--when the doors open there was a huge surge towards the doors. Once through the RFID gates people kept pushing forward. I was within inches of being pushed onto the tracks in front of a moving Funitel cabin. People need to calm the fuck down. And areas need to anticipate and staff situations like this with adequate, experienced people. That day Squaw had one older woman on the Funitel deck trying and failing to control the crowd. But mainly people need to calm the fuck down.

[Nevada29er]

We get chinese downhills at Mt Rose on a regular basis, at least this year. Chutes are closed after a storm cycle, and there are people lining up at the gates anticipating when patrol will open them. Luckily, there are multiple gates to disperse the crowds. Patrol has also starting open just 1 or 2 gates at a time to try to limit the flow of people, like throttling a valve on a hose.