The Great Outdoors

One of the best things about skiing, in my opinion, is that it's just amazing to be outdoors. The sun, the fresh air, the cold wind, the snow... the awe inspiring scenery! The untouched layer of white snow coating everything but the beer bottles and cans thrown about. What?

I was released from teaching duties a little earlier than usual the other day, I had already filled my quota of 5 year olds and group lessons somehow in the early morning hours. As I headed up the lower chair I, I semi-listened to a conversation between two women in the chair in front of me. Nothing too exciting being sad until I watched one of them randomly throw their now empty energy drink can off the chair.

This has been a growing problem at the resort, and for the other resorts around as well. Skiers and boarders generally not caring to keep the place garbage free. I realize that there is a severe lack of garbage cans on the slopes, but how hard is it to hold onto garbage until you find one? We've even gone as far as putting cans underneath the lift with backboards and signs like "Go Ahead, Hit Me" to encourage throwing trash in one area. Yet liter persists around the entire mountain. Beer cans and bottles in the parking lot are the worst offenders, with lift ticket backings coming in a close second, and energy drink/bar cans/wrappers on the slopes a third.

Back to the young woman on the lift though. One of the nice things about snowboarders is the amount of time they take to actually start a run. After following her to the start of the run, I confronted her about littering and was assaulted by the smell of alcohol. I thanked her for coming to the mountain, enjoying our resort, and invited her to pick up her trash that she left under the lift. Like everyone you confront on the mountain, she pointed out she hasn't been the only one to do this and became rather belligerent about it. Most of the other employees at this point just yank a ticket, but I hate being the bad guy ruining a day for someone. Especially on a beautiful day like this was. I gave her the red slash of doom with initials and the code letter for the incident, which she and her friends mocked. A liftee later told me he yanked her pass entirely for the same thing. I guess some people will never learn.

The point of this story, the employees of the mountain love it there. The jobs we do vary a lot, but one thing for certain is none of our titles should be "Clean up after slobby people on the slopes". Any fan of the outdoors should know you carry out what you pack in. Leaving a trail or any kind of sign that you were there is just disrespectful. Besides, it'd suck to run over a can only to have it rip up the baseboard, or to crash land on an empty bottle.