Recently, CBS’s Inside Edition ran a story called “Inside Edition Investigates Pot Smoking Skiiers.” In the segment, they placed a hidden camera in Leo’s Cabin, an on-the-mountain shack in the woods off Breckenridge’s Peak 10 that they referred to as “the granddaddy of smoke shacks,” and filmed groups of skiers and snowboarders passing the pipe before heading down the slopes. They even got a couple of boarders to agree to let cameras tail them as they crashed down the mountain afterwards. Ominous voice-overs ensued.

As it turns out, it wasn’t the sort of publicity Breckenridge was looking for. This week, a press release from Vail Resorts announced that “a number of structures” suspected of being used to smoke marijuana had been destroyed over the past few weeks. Leo’s Cabin was among them. (No details were released on the others.)

Outcry from riders has echoed across the web, and a Facebook group dedicated to rebuilding the structure has already been formed.

Vail Resorts’ Director of Communications Russ Pecoraro said the decision was business as usual for the resort. “We have a history of destroying these shacks as we find out about them, and that’s what we’re doing here,” he said. “It is illegal to erect any kind of structure on federal land without a permit, so those are not permitted structures.”

Though the resort knew Leo’s Cabin existed, Pecoraro said, the Inside Edition story spotlighted it: “Since Amendment 64 became a law, there’s been a lot of unbalanced media coverage and we wanted to let everyone who’s coming here know what the rules are, what is permissible on our slopes, and how we’re going to protect them and their rights. We want people to understand the rules of engagement so that they can come here and have a great time.”

As for the hidden cameras, Pecoraro claimed the resort didn’t work with Inside Edition on the segment.

So, farewell, Leo’s. Looks like Breckenridge riders will just have to find a new spot to catch a buzz on the mountain—like one of its many slope-side bars.

—Image courtesy of Shutterstock