Skiing incognito

Often times, when I return from skiing alone, my wife asks “Have you seen anyone we know”? All the time I simply respond “No”.

The only time I met someone I knew, this winter, was on the chairlift, when I rode up with Mark Seltenrich, a business associate I met in the early 90s and who successfully picked up my French accent as a mean of identification.

Several decades ago, it was fairly easy to spot friends while they were skiing on the mountain, and most particularly in a ski lift corral or on a chairlift. Today, recognizing an acquaintance while skiing slopes has become increasingly difficult, if not totally impossible.

This is due in great part to skiers wearing helmets, donning increasingly large goggles and wearing balaclavas hiding the rest of the face that used to remain exposed.

The bottom line is that we don't seem to see anyone we know when we're on the hill and it takes an individual's outfit, voice, or accent, to allow for some kind of identification.

Funny, in an era were we're losing privacy left and right, skiing is the only place were we seem to find it back!