Skiing
How to beat the crowds during holidays
Waiting in line sucks. But for the creative mind, it's just another problem waiting to be solved.
Skiing holidays never fails to deliver the best of times for you and your friends. But going to a ski resort on a busy week can sometimes be affiliated with loooooong queues for ski passes, lifts, and restaurants.
Luckily, there are solutions for all of these problems; you just need to be one step ahead of the crowds at all times. Here are a few tips.
Get out early
The early bird gets the worm!
© Fabian Omne
The hardest, but also the most rewarding way to spend your ski holiday. By getting up early, you're beating 75% of the crowds by at least two hours. Now, we know this is tough, and while on vacation you really deserve a sleep-in. But on the other hand, slacking is for the 'waiting-in-line' kind of people. Furthermore, being out and about before the sun will set you off in the right direction for our next tip.
Lunch before the rush
1 min
Where is eveyone?
Apparently, not in the restaurant.
It doesn't take many people to stack up a restaurant, especially when everyone's wearing ski boots.
So what's the trick? Easy. Just as in our first tip: Get there early. We're not talking about having your lunch at 10 am, all it takes is fifteen minutes to beat the queues. If you get to the restaurant at 11:45 instead of 12, you're all set and will be enjoying your lunch in your base layer while sweaty boot-dwellers will roam the restaurant for a table, only to wait two hours before they're served. It's also a piece of great advice for adhering to current restrictions and recommendations!
Calculate the crowd-factor
Needless to say, this lift is gonna be packed.
© Marcus Ahlström
Some lifts are bound to draw more attention than others. Imagine one brand-spanking-new chairlift with heated seats and wind-shields versus an old T-bar with rusty bars taking you up a bumpy trail. Which one do you think draws the most crowds? Furthermore, which slopes do you think will get worn out first? The ones close to the chairlift, of course.
Single-queue is for winners
Living life in the single lane!
© Fabian Omne
Yes, it does go a lot faster. And no, you're not guaranteed to be getting on the same lift as your friends if you're in the single-queue.
"But I want to ride with my friends in the lift."
No, you don't. You want to get to the top ASAP. What you really want to do is ski with your friends and save the chit-chatting for dinner.
Night-skiing
Not exactly what average night-skiing looks like, but you get the point.
© Sweetgrass Productions
Often ruled out in favor of day-skiing. It's not even on the roster for most people. In the above-stated tips, you're more or less obliged to get up early, and lunch early. What we haven't accounted for is that people tend to wear out at around 3 pm after a day of skiing. Imagine this scenario: Get out at noon to ski the lunch hour, endure the crowds mid-day and then ride out the last hour in solitude. Get home and unbuckle your boots, have a gastronomic dinner in your base layer, and then strap the boots right back on and enjoy the magical views of endless newly trimmed groomers shining in the night, with no one around! A revolutionizing way of skiing to say the least. And you know what they say: Fortune favors the brave.
So now that you're ready to beat the queues like a true ninja, you've unlocked the secret to skiing during crowded times.
Psssstt.. Remember to take it easy during the first days of your holiday!
