For some reason this winter slopesports season, there have been multiple cases of drivers taking their vehicles off-road and onto the slopes at various ski areas around North America. That said, perhaps none of those instances have resulted in more property damage than a recent case out of Maine.

According to the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office, significant damage occurred at Newry’s Sunday River ski area during the early morning hours of March 9, when a 33-year-old male allegedly drove a Subaru Impreza around the base area of the destination. Their alleged driving on the slopes reportedly resulted in deep ruts, with the driver also said to have crashed into the ski lift scan gates before fleeing the scene. In total, damages were estimated to be in excess of $45,000.

The suspect was quickly identified by Sunday River Security, with the Subaru believed to be involved in the incident later found at his residence with extensive damage.

Multiple attempts were made to locate and arrest the suspect, with the suspect eventually getting arrested at his home on the night of March 12. The suspect was charged with aggravated criminal mischief and violation of conditions of release. Civil penalties may also result from the damages that resulted from the suspect’s alleged actions.

All suspects are to be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Meanwhile, in Colorado, a driver mistakenly drove their vehicle across a snow-covered access road in the Peak 7 area of Breckenridge in recent days, creating ruts and getting stuck in deep snow. In that situation, a local resident reported it to law enforcement out of concern for trail users in the area. The Summit County Sheriff’s Office coordinated with Breckenridge Ski Patrol to repair the ruts with a snowcat.

In another recent incident, someone drove their Lamborghini onto the slopes of California’s Mammoth Mountain, with video of that scene hitting Reddit on March 11.

But wait… there’s more.

In early January, a driver who reports they were misguided by their GPS ended up at the bottom of a Keystone Resort run, getting stuck and requiring removal. No damage was reported in that scenario. This incident happened just days after another incident in the Keystone area in which a driver ended up getting a vehicle stuck in the area of a local Nordic ski track, reportedly causing damages.

Oh – and one last similar incident – in December, the driver of a Jeep reportedly attempted to take a short cut across the ski slopes of California’s Northstar Resort, getting stuck and later arrested on the suspicion of driving under the influence.

A common theme that seems to be involved in most of these cases is drivers being too confident with their vehicle’s ability to handle snowy terrain. Remember, always double-check a route to make sure it’s not a ‘summer-only’ route and if something seems wrong, stop and reconsider before pushing onward.

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