Don’t Crowd the Unloading Area

One of the elements of the alpine responsibility code is “You must not stop where you obstruct a trail, or are not visible from above.”

Like most elements of the code, it’s flouted far too often.

Today I was about to leave the unloading area at the top of the lift. Then I looked in front of me. The path away from there was fairly narrow, what the edge of the hill on one side and the lift shack on the other.

So what did I notice directly in my path? Three young snowboarders, sitting on the ground, boards spread horizontally across the path. To make matters worse, Curly, Moe and Larry, as I’ll call them, were sitting side by side by side.

Each board was about a board’s width apart from each other, with a few inches to spare. I had to pick a channel between two of the boards to get my run started.

Now you could say that another element of the responsibility code should have obtained: “People ahead of you have the right of way. It is your responsibility to avoid them.”

I did avoid them–that is, I avoided running into any of the boards. So you might say “No harm, no foul.”

On the other hand, Larry, Curly and Moe could have handled the situation differently, such as lining up vertically (that is, one in front of the other in front of the other).

Situational awareness, people!

(For more on snowboarding safety, see the Grays on Trays safety page.)