bogarting catski operations

[burn it to keep warm]

I've always wondered this and thought it was too dumb of a question to ask in real life - at most cat skiing operations, can you just follow the hardpack made by the cat up and hike some turns that way? If I understand right most operations just have the rights to operate there, they don't own the area like resorts do, so there wouldn't be an issue of riding their snow? I just thought that following a cat trail for a hike would be easier than busting your own trail, so why dont more people do it or do they and i just dont hear of it?


Thanks

[shirk]

It's been an issue of guys poaching cat ops with sleds.

If it's private land obviously you don't have a right to be there.

Personally I think there is more than enough mountains out there that you shouldn't bother poach cat ops terrain.

[trout]

Cat operations "usually" have a non-exclusive tenure, meaning that they have tenure over operating a commercial venture on the terrain but other users are allowed access to the area. Most cat operations use crown land which belongs to "us". There is no poaching involved if you use their terrain if they are on crown land (few operations like island lake lodge owns their property). When the Liberals came into power and the application process was streamlined cat operations popped up all over the place in many areas that were traditionally used by sledders and tourers.