More skiing in less time

If you’re a pretty good skier can’t afford a helicopter, most time is spent riding up the lift than skiing down. In terms of numbers, and assuming one skis non-stop, the ratio between time on the lift and time on the snow generally varies between 80 and 60 percent depending on the grade of the slope and the speed of the lift. This means that for half a day worth of skiing - say four entire hours - it’s common to spend three hours sitting on a chair, inside a gondola or standing in a tram. Since skiing is time-hungry, this becomes a consideration if you ski a lot and you still want to do a few things around the house, especially if like me, you are “retired.” As I’ve said before, we switched this season from Park City Mountain Resort to The Canyons where more steep runs are served with fast lifts (Park City’s best runs are still equipped with rickety old chairs) and after skiing twenty days, I can attest that I’ve skied 50 percent more in the same amount of time; just what the doctor ordered! So, if you skiing is almost a daily hobby and if you’d like to spend less time on the hill and more doing things that can’t wait, take the time to examine the lift infrastructure before you commit to purchasing a ski pass in one area over an other…