When terrain at the ski area is closed, it’s closed for a good reason. Sometimes it’s because of a lack of coverage, sometimes it’s dangerous conditions, sometimes it’s avalanche risk, and sometimes it’s because patrollers are actively conducting avalanche control. Ducking the ropes isn’t just against the rules, it’s dangerous to both you and others on the mountain.
As such it’s understandable that ski patrol gets very upset when people fail to listen to those closures, but this ski patroller took his anger a little bit too far.
Let’s be clear: the snowboarder was clearly in the wrong. If ski patrol is flagging you down, you stop and listen to what they have to say. Maybe he didn’t realize they were in closed terrain, though based on the fact that he ran away that doesn’t seem to be the case. Still, attempting to push a moving snowboarder as a patroller doesn’t seem like the best approach.
