February 18, 2009 E-MAIL PRINT

Get schooled before riding the rails

by Heather Burke/

Stratton now requires skiers complete a safety session to gain entrance to their parks. (photo: Greg Burke)

Stratton now requires skiers complete a safety session to gain entrance to their parks. (photo: Greg Burke)

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You can’t ride the rails at Stratton until you get schooled. That’s right, no entry to the Freestyle Terrain Park until you have passed a safety test. You need to show your SES (Safety Education Session) pass as you launch into the park, proof that you have watched the 13-minute safety video and answered five questions with "flying colors."

This might sound like a hassle at first, but the required SES class could save you from a big air blunder or a rail derail. Today’s parks, Stratton is no exception, are loaded with huge jumps, hidden landings and hazardous metal rails on which to impale. So, take 13 minutes to view the video, on your home computer or at a kiosk in Stratton’s base lodge.

I was not actually looking to go big on Stratton’s Beeline Park (one of Stratton’s five parks), but I cued up the video at Stratton.com and watched the grabby safety film. It’s filmed primarily at California’s Northstar at Tahoe Resort.

The short but sweet video gives basic tips on how to approach any park, with cameos from park experts and up-and-coming talents. They talk about making an inspection run prior to hitting any features in a park, and about the etiquette of waiting your turn for any feature. There is a code of ethics amongst what appears to be chaos in catastrophic size jumps.

The acronym ATML reminds you of the steps you need to know: Approach, Take off, Maneuver, Landing — which should always be on your feet – good, grounded advice! Another important message conveyed is start small and gradually work your way up the elements.

There is even a plug for wearing helmets and for seeking professional coaching in the vibrant video — more wisdom from the astute aerialists. Then you are prompted to answer five remedial questions that little Mikey and even Mom should be able to master. You receive a printout (and a responsibility waiver to sign) that you take to Stratton’s ticket window for your free official SES pass that clips onto your jacket or pants pocket. It’s kind of a Stratton status symbol, I suppose, and definitely your ticket to ride the parks.

“The SES pass is a good idea, it gives people a park safety lesson,” said Sean Brenker of Longmeadow, Mass. “Then they have a better understanding of what to expect and how to use the park properly.”

Dave Bottomley of Hadley, Mass., said, “It keeps people that don’t belong there — little kids and parents — out of the park if they don’t know the rules. Parks can be dangerous, there are blind spots under jumps and you need to know where to stand.”

I wager we will see more resorts on this bandwagon, requiring people to sign up, school up, and sign off on their own terrain park safety. After all, just because resorts build it doesn’t make it safe for everyone’s ability level. Requiring all park and pipe riders to commit to a safety protocol and accept responsibility is a smart move for ski resorts. And as a consumer, when you are heading into the park, one or two pearls of wisdom from the SES message could save your life.

As the safety video concludes, “Regardless of what resorts build, the responsibility for safety comes down to you.”

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