Man gets DUI after driving a Range Rover up a Vermont ski slope

An idyllic trip to Vermont ended poorly for a 59-year old man who drove up a ski slope in a Land Rover Range Rover. Police officers arrested him after he made his way down and charged him with driving under the influence.

The incident happened at the Magic Mountain ski resort, where witnesses told The Chester Telegraph they spotted an SUV driving up the Hocus Pocus trail well after dark. Alarmed, and likely at least a little bit intrigued, they called police while keeping an eye on the scene. “He got a couple of hundred feet up the terrain park and turned around,” said Craig Moulton, who works at the Black Line Tavern located at the bottom of the slopes.

Officers from the Vermont State Police and the Winhall Police Department caught up with the driver, Frederick Brechter, and noticed he “displayed indicators of impairment.” They charged him with a DUI — which, if found guilty, would be the second on his record — and took him into custody. He’ll need to return to Vermont on March 17 to appear in court.

Driving up a beginner-level ski slope without prior authorization is never a good idea, even when you’re behind the wheel of one of the world’s most capable SUVs, and especially not after you’ve had a few drinks. Magic Mountain officials said the Range Rover’s tires left ruts in the Hocus Pocus trail, but groomers managed to fill them, and it remains open to skiers. There’s no word yet on why Brechter decided to drive up the slope.

In better circumstances, driving what sounds like a bone-stock Range Rover up a ski slope could have been the ideal way to demonstrate what Land Rover’s flagship model is capable of off the beaten path. In 2019, an Audi E-Tron fitted with studded snow tires made its way up a 153-yard stretch of the Kitzbühel Streif in Austria. The difference is that the company got permission to drive on the slope, and driver Mattias Ekström wasn’t drunk.

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