Max:
Apples and oranges? It's easy to maintain surveillance of the entire rink. Not so with the entire mountain (unless you are talking about the 4 run local hills in Virginia).
The challenge is getting the witness, the "accused", and the patroller together. Like your friends case, they often just ski away.
However, I believe it IS a misdemeanor in Colorado to leave the scene of a ski accident.
I will also say that we saw numerous patrol at Breck last week enforcing the SLOW zones. They were having a Mt. Dew Tour event (won by Shawn White) so that may have contributed to the vigilence; or maybe it was because of limited terrain that was open.
LP: I don't think you can mandate responsible behavior, but hopefully you can still hold them accountable for the consequences. Hitting someone IS skiing out of control (unless it's me running into Lynn, and thats stupidity), is contrary to the skiers code and, I believe, Colorado law. But it's much like speeding on the highways, there is a lot of judgement in when the police officer chooses to pull someone over for speeding (and if he is even around to see you speeding).
I will say that Lynn and I were very careful all week to pick gaps in traffic to find space to ski and tried to stay on the less trafficked part of the trails (usually the edges).
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