The fine print on the trail maps and signage at backcountry access gates now alert skiers that they can be charged up to $500 per person for rescues at the Steamboat Ski Area.

The policy is new this year, and the ski area hopes it will deter inexperienced skiers from going places they do not belong.

“If you don’t know, don’t go,” was the advice Ski Patrol director John Kohnke offered.

Melanie Mills, CEO of the Colorado Ski Country USA trade group, said she was not aware of any similar fines at any Colorado ski areas, but she added she supports it and said other ski areas are considering it.

“I think they’re very serious about it,” Mills said. “I don’t know if we’ll see other ski areas do it, but it’s a hot topic in the industry.”

Kohnke said the need for a fine as a deterrent was necessary, because in recent years, the popularity of backcountry skiing has increased. This has led to more people going through the out-of-bounds access gates the U.S. Forest Service requires. It is mainly in the Fish Creek Canyon where skiers get into trouble.

Kohnke said at the beginning of his 40-year career, perhaps 20 people would go through the gates each day. These days, he said, the number might be closer to 500.

Kohnke recalled one rescue mission two seasons ago when about 12 skiers followed someone else’s track and got stranded on a cliff.

About 14 ski patrollers were involved in the rescue, which required setting up ropes and lowering the skiers to safety.

“The next day, we were short a third of our staff, because they were exhausted,” Kohnke said.

Read more of this story at Steamboat Today.