Slippery Slopes

Yes, ski areas are one of those places where you wish everyone would act more like you, for then the world would be a better place.

Jiminy PeakThe majority of the folks you find on the ski slopes are pleasant, normal people — but for some reason the sport seems to attract a fair number of d-bags. Fortunately, it’s easier to spot them these days because they are all talking loudly on their cell phones in the lift line or, god help me, on the ski lift.

One of my pet peeves  has always been people who fail to remove the old lift tickets from their jacket, wearing them like badges of honor of their exploits. That may soon be a thing of the past as places like Jiminy Peak replace the ubiquitous paper tickets with RFID cards that you keep in your pocket. Now you move up to a gate that reads your card and allows you access to the lift.

You might think that some people would resist this, and maybe punch a hole in their RFID card so they can dangle it from their jacket; according to the FAQ, this is a bad idea:

Holes must never be punched in the Axess Jiminy Cards. The card has an antenna inside that surrounds the RFID tag. Any damage to the surrounding antenna will render the card inactive and the card must be replaced. A replacement fee may be required.

Not to worry; these cards and electronic readers are very safe for people with pacemakers — but just in case:

Guests with pacemakers must not wear their lift access media cards near the heart when passing through the gate and a distance of 8 to 12 inches should be observed in the case of queues and while passing through the gate.   If vertigo or sickness is experienced, get out of the direct vicinity of the gate or device.

Oh, if only we could figure out a way to make these cards jam cell phone signals. Then we’d be making some progress.

3 thoughts on “Slippery Slopes

  1. Saw adults texting while snowboarding last year, have not seen them yet this year, so I can only hope they’ve been ‘called home’ by trees or ski lift support poles. Watching adults try to text (if they’re not wearing bifocals) is usually pretty amusing by itself.

    1. I noticed at Jiminy that they have big signs asking people not to talk on cell phones will boarding or exiting the lifts. Idiots.

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