Poaching (snowboarding)

Poaching originally refers to the act of snowboarding at a resort where snowboards are explicitly prohibited. Poaching is intended as a form of protest against what snowboarders view as segregation and can be seen as a form of civil disobedience.

Very few resorts continue to ban snowboarders. By definition, poaching is the practice of snowboarding where it is disallowed. Usage of this term as a means of protest is falling out of use as most resorts now allow snowboarding. In the United States only three resorts, Deer Valley, Alta Ski Area (both in Utah) and Mad River Glen in Vermont, continue to ban snowboarding. In contemporary usage, the term sometimes refers to skiing and snowboarding in out-of-bounds areas.

Mad River Glen is situated on private property and is privately owned. The policy of the resort states, "To preserve the area's unique character the shareholders of the Mad River Glen Cooperative choose not to allow snowboards."

Deer Valley is also situated on private property and is privately owned. The policy of Deer Valley states, "Deer Valley is a ski only resort. Guests on alpine, telemark or mono ski equipment with feet placed side by side and facing forward are allowed. Snowboards and carving boards are restricted from use." It is possible that the reason for this is due to guests not wanting snowboarders on the resort, and the resort eventually made this a rule.

Alta is unique among the three resorts because it resides on land owned by the U.S. Forest Service, in which the land is currently leased by the resort. Alta states in its rules, "Alta Ski Area is for skiers and restricts equipment other than skis (which means skis that have metal edges, retaining devices and are attached to ski boots by bindings) for anyone who wants to ride the lifts and ski the mountain or play around the base areas."

The most recent case against the rule was filed by Wasatch Equality and was taken up to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals on April 19, 2016 in which it affirmed the previous decision by the lower court that Alta Ski Resort is able to ban snowboarders. In the official court document it states, "Under the terms of the permit, the Forest Service reviews and approves Alta’s winter site operation plan each year. This site plan includes a hill management section detailing Alta’s management decisions regarding its ski runs. In relevant part, the hill management section grants Alta the right to exclude any skiing device from its ski runs." This hill management section allows Alta, and any other ski resort owned by the U.S. Forest Service, to determine how its own ski runs are operated.

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Wikipedia