KILLINGTON, Vt. -
People skiing out of bounds are draining Vermont State Police of their time and money. More than 40 have gotten lost so far this season. Police say every one of those search and rescues were avoidable.
I first reported on this Monday... since then, there have been even more skiers lost on Killington Mountain. We asked what changes will be made to prevent this.
"It's frustrating," Captain Robert Evans said.
Vermont State Police are fed up with people who intentionally ski out of bounds, get lost and then have to call for help to get out of the woods.
"It's just individuals making bad decisions," Captain Evans said.
Because there have been so many out of bound skiers already this season, I asked Captain Evans what actions they can take immediately. They're starting with a new code. Troopers who respond to these search and rescue missions will write that on their time sheet, so that the number of hours and your tax payer dollars can be tracked.
"If we see a spike this year, then we need to get together with our partners and see how we can do things differently," Captain Evans said.
Because when troopers are on the mountain, they're not on the streets, which means it's going to take longer for them to respond to your call.
"That's just one less trooper that we have out on the road to respond to a burglary, complaint or an accident," the Captain said.
Almost every single out of bounds skier has been from out of state, so educating everyone on the dangers of potentially being stranded in the wilderness could be part of the future prevention plan. But police say what already exists is obvious.
"They're spending thousands of dollars on ropes and signage and those kinds of things, the problem is the people ski right by the signs, they go right underneath the ropes and they're in the back country," Captain Evans said.
Skiing out of bounds is technically illegal, but people are rarely charged because police don't want anyone to fear calling if they're in danger.
We reached out to law makers to see if the legislature plans to take up the topic this session, and find a way to be compensated financially by the lost skiers, but we did not hear back yet.
