Ski areas in the Serria's are us Channel 9 tone 11 for ski patrol emergencys. Preprogram your radio and you can contact the ski patrol if you have a need. I do not know what other areas are using the FRS radios.
Groups normally program in another channel with a tone for group use, and then have the ski patrol 9 11 setup.
The folks my son snow boards with are dreaming about Garmins Rino 520/530 radios with built in gps and location system. You can locate a number of people. You can also text message with the 520/530 radios.
