Not really, some places that is an acceptable activity.

Look were not super secret spies, moving down dark alleys in eastern bloc countries trying to thwart the KGB or Stasi.

If your not comfortable leaving your own house to go into the back country without leaving some sort of notice, why should your guard be less when in your in unfamiliar location, state or country.

Being on vacation from life is not the time to drop the preparedness you practice in your everyday life.

I don't tell the front desk I am going to the shopping district and then having dinner with friends, but I do tell them that I am going on a 2.5 mile out and back trail run starting out heading east and if I don't call or check in in 90 minutes Im lost.

One of the problems with this "out of bounds" thing is that people who aren't familiar with the region misinterpret it.

It does not mean "off limits." It means "outside the boundary of the resort, not maintained or patrolled."

These areas are crown land and unless specifically posted as closed (and I'm not sure what provisions exist to do that in BC), you may ski there. But whenever one of these stories hits the news, the media fail to clarify this -- because they know that it will stir up controversy.

The authorities discourage skiing out of bounds, but then, the authorities discourage fishing in the stormwater management pond near my home, because they imagine someone will drown. The authorities discourage you from doing all kinds of things that it is your right to do.

Thousands of people ski out of bounds every year. A small number get into trouble, and these people are almost universally those who don't know the area and are ill-prepared.

This is the same old story whenever a SAR callout hits the news, because callouts for well-prepared people don't make good news stories.

What stands out here is the part that isn't the same as it ever was: the fact that there was no SAR callout for nine days, despite the fact that several people saw the signals and the town was buzzing, according to reports, with rumours of skiers lost in the backcountry.

If you don't think people should be concerned over that failure, I don't know what to say to you.

So it's not really out-of-bounds, just outside the resort's area of responsibility. Still, if someone chooses to go there they should know that they are on their own. This incident reinforced that concept.

If the boundaries are not clearly posted, people may not KNOW they're out of bounds.

As I see it, if you DO get lost, and DO survive for ten days, and DO signal BY WHATEVER MEANS (PBS, fire, signal mirror, messages in the snow), and people see it and report it, WHY would anyone in the business IGNORE it?

We've got two posts right together, of people getting into trouble, contacting (by whatever means) the outside world, and no one goes to help.

If the British couple on the yacht died during a storm after talking to family and authorities, would it be their fault for being on the ocean? Would it be their fault if their rudder sticks? Would it be their fault that they are in a less-traveled part of the world? Would it be their fault that ships' captains are afraid of pirates?

Both these cases were dependent on private decisions: the BC couple were found by a private helicopter company that went looking on its own. The Brits were rescued when ONE SINGLE SHIP CAPTAIN went out of his way to find them.

Now, I'm as nasty and as cynical as most (and more than some), but if someone does get into trouble and does survive and does get the word out, why should they be ignored?

Like I said, don't change the rules in the middle of the game. You wouldn't tolerate it in penny-ante poker.

Sue

Thanks Andrew.
I was thinking about coming back to this thread to explain that part of it. You did a good job.

Not only is "Out of Bounds" not prohibited, "closed for the season" in parks just means no services. Going into the park outside of season is not a criminal offense either

You need to do the notification thing like Russ, Comms, DesertFox and others say, just like if you were heading into the north bush.

Now accepting that they didn't cover that need properly, knowing that their SOS was basically ignored even after it was reported should still give you a bit of a pause.

What if a person was in there and had never been at the lodge? What if it had been somebody else whose life was lost based on the resort's front desk flunky not finding a car in the parking lot (that they were too incompetent to even properly check)?
What if SAR or Coast Guard decided they needed a missing persons report before responding to a PLB, SOS broadcast or red flares?
What if they were depending on hotel parking staff for that report?

Whose fault would it be then? Who would you point the finger of blame at in the hypothetical scenario you just outlined? Who would you send to prison because it was "their fault"?

Sometimes bad things happen to good people through no fault of their own. That doesn't mean you get to blame someone else for the event.

Assigning blame is one topic. Discussing the moral aspects of a failure to respond or a mis-communication between the authorities is different. Authorities should respond to credible reports, but only after taking their own safety into consideration first. But things happen, poor choices are made, and things look different in retrospect. Learn from it but don't waste time slinging blame around - it's counterproductive.

On a related note, I see that families of the people who died in that recent airplane crash are blaming everybody. The airline, the pilots, the training they had, the airplane manufacturer, to deicing system ... and they're throwing lawsuits around to add exclamation points to their blaming. Nobody knows why the plane went down yet, it's still under investigation. I feel sorry for the families involved, but I abhor what they are doing with the lawsuits. They will no doubt end up ruining reputations and lives in their zeal to prematurely assign blame while hitting everybody, the blameless included, with these shotgun lawsuits. It wasn't the fault of the passengers riding on the airplane, so everybody else is fair game, right? What kind of thinking is that?!

One of the other problems with blame finding is it very seldom leads to useful solutions of the problem.

Well stated Sue, I was considering posting virtually the same things that you stated very nicely. Comanche7

Missed my point, I was trying to say what Andrew S. said.