If you are an Alpine skier, you know how crucial visibility can be. Okay, we all know that seeing clearly is paramount when we’re skiing, and if you don’t know it or aren’t so sure, here's why. It begins with one’s ability to assess the terrain, as skiing requires constant evaluation of what comes ahead.
One must identify bumps, dips, obstacles of all kinds besides the moving targets that skiers are, and a reading of snow conditions at the time. Poor visibility hinders this, making it harder to adapt speed, technique and maintain control. It’s also true that picking the right line down the slope relies heavily on visual cues.
A limited visibility makes it difficult to select the best path and can lead to inefficient or even dangerous skiing. Some conditions are worse than others, like skiing over the timberline in wide open snowfields under flat light or in fog makes it difficult to see all the elements we already discussed, not to mention other skiers, obstacles (like trees, stumps, cliffs or rocks), and changes in terrain.
As skier collisions have become a widespread hazard, it’s good to be able to read the mind of the skiers below you that all have a full right of way, which often turns into a game of Russian-roulette and impossible to execute perfectly.
The only ways are taking a chance, which is a dumb idea, or slowing down as well as moving away and freeing enough space between one’s and the other skiers. Never ski a terrain or a ski run that you have never skied on when visibility is poor and never forget the gold standard of low visibility conditions, which is drastically lower your speed.
Now that you see what I mean by seeing well when skiing, see you on the slopes!
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