A sign of the times? Single, male skiers... enter here-

[deadheadskier]

I had this situation come up once this winter at Mt. Abram, which markets itself as a family mountain and truly is. 90% of the clientele are families from what I saw and it seeing kids off skiing with friends or alone without their parents is pretty common. The area is set up well for this as there is just the one double chair to the top of th mountain and everything flows back to there.

I rode up with a girl who was perhaps 10 or 11. She was by herself with no visible family or friends on chairs in front of us or behind us, which I presume means there also wasn't anyone she knew in the ten minute liftline near her. I will admit to feeling somewhat uncomfortable at first. This stems from the same instinct Marc discribes. I felt uncomfortable because I was concerned that she might be uncomfortable.

So, I was the single male stranger. As there was a liftline, I would no way refuse to ride with this girl. If there was no line, I would've let her go ahead of me. This would also be true though if I encountered another adult with no line....I'd hang back and insist on riding alone.

I had two options riding with this girl. One option would to just be quiet; the other to engage her in conversation. As it turns out, we had a lengthy conversation about skiing, her parents, her brother who were all there and we eventually ended up seeing from the lift. It was great to hear her talk about how much she loved skiing with her family and the sport in general. I could see in her that wide eyed enthusiam I had for the sport while skiing as kid and how much I enjoyed going to the mountain with my family. I got off the lift feeling like my friendliness and politeness to this girl allowed her to feel comfortable and at ease and I was glad I shared the chair with her.

There is a deserved bad stigma placed on single men. If I had a daughter, I would teach her to be very wary of male strangers and more trusting of females. That said, when I am the male stranger, I go out of my way to do anything necessary to make that child feel comfortable and safe.

Part of that reason is a general concern for their well being. I'd rather have that child whom I don't know riding the lift with me than seeing he or her riding the lift with another stranger who might be a total creep.

 

[severine]

I'd rather have that child whom I don't know riding the lift with me than seeing he or her riding the lift with another stranger who might be a total creep.

Well said! :beer:

It really is a crappy world these days. It's bad enough when my 2.5 year old runs off (and boy does she love to do that!). I'm terrified of the thought of her being on her own any time in the next 15 years.... or more. As far as my son... I dread the day I have to start making the mens room-vs-ladies room decision when we're out in public sans Daddy. And that's just the mens room! Too many cuckoos out there... hard to feel safe anymore.

 

[wa-loaf]

I was at Wachusett tonight and because of this thread I suddenly noticed a bunch of little kids, that couldn't be more and 6 or 7, traversing around the base area without any adults nearby. Not something i would feel comfortable about with my kids, even though Wachusett does have a very friendly feel at night and a lot of people know one another. However I wouldn't be afraid of getting on a lift with them and they were small enough to need help getting on or off.

 

[Geoff]

I think worrying about being accused of being a sexual predator riding single with a bunch of little kids on a life is extreme paranoia. Everybody has 18 layers of clothes on. It's a very short ride. If you pull out your johnson, it will freeze and fall off.

I avoid getting in the 8-seater gondolas with ski club junior program girls. It's not being accused of being a predator. It's the noise. I guess if I skied with my IPod, I'd have the technology to drown it out but 6 or 7 tweleve year old girls in a small enclosed space with the raw, unfiltered audio feed is tough to take.

 

[Marc]

said, when I am the male stranger, I go out of my way to do anything necessary to make that child feel comfortable and safe.

Child predators do the same thing.



Just sayin...

 

[deadheadskier]

Child predators do the same thing.



Just sayin...

....oh I'm aware. That said, I'm more comfortable with the idea of the child riding with me then the possibility of them riding with the unknown total creep behind me. I do know where you're coming from though

 

[Marc]

This thread should be renamed to 'Guilty Confessions of a Middle Aged Pedophile.'

Just a thought?

Unless you think 25 is "middle aged" and being paranoid to the point of fear being alone with children makes me a "pedophile" I'd say you're wrong.

 

[deadheadskier]

Marc if you had children of your own *shudders :lol:* do you think you'd still feel as uncomfortable if you were skiing alone?

 

[Marc]

Marc if you had children of your own *shudders :lol:* do you think you'd still feel as uncomfortable if you were skiing alone?

Don't ever want any... so I can fortunately block that issue from my mind.

 

[BLESS]

I had this situation come up once this winter at Mt. Abram, which markets itself as a family mountain and truly is. 90% of the clientele are families from what I saw and it seeing kids off skiing with friends or alone without their parents is pretty common. The area is set up well for this as there is just the one double chair to the top of th mountain and everything flows back to there.

I rode up with a girl who was perhaps 10 or 11. She was by herself with no visible family or friends on chairs in front of us or behind us, which I presume means there also wasn't anyone she knew in the ten minute liftline near her. I will admit to feeling somewhat uncomfortable at first. This stems from the same instinct Marc discribes. I felt uncomfortable because I was concerned that she might be uncomfortable.

So, I was the single male stranger. As there was a liftline, I would no way refuse to ride with this girl. If there was no line, I would've let her go ahead of me. This would also be true though if I encountered another adult with no line....I'd hang back and insist on riding alone.

I had two options riding with this girl. One option would to just be quiet; the other to engage her in conversation. As it turns out, we had a lengthy conversation about skiing, her parents, her brother who were all there and we eventually ended up seeing from the lift. It was great to hear her talk about how much she loved skiing with her family and the sport in general. I could see in her that wide eyed enthusiam I had for the sport while skiing as kid and how much I enjoyed going to the mountain with my family. I got off the lift feeling like my friendliness and politeness to this girl allowed her to feel comfortable and at ease and I was glad I shared the chair with her.

There is a deserved bad stigma placed on single men. If I had a daughter, I would teach her to be very wary of male strangers and more trusting of females. That said, when I am the male stranger, I go out of my way to do anything necessary to make that child feel comfortable and safe.

Part of that reason is a general concern for their well being. I'd rather have that child whom I don't know riding the lift with me than seeing he or her riding the lift with another stranger who might be a total creep.

well said.


For me, personally I wouldn't give it a second thought. Life's too short to worry about such things. My intuition has served me very well thus far. If I rode the chair and something like that ACTUALLY happened, I'd deal with it then. In the meantime, I'll just go on enjoying my days......

 

[Marc]

I have 3 grown kids and 3 grandchildren and I still do ... but reading this thread made me rethink this situation and it is really an unreasonable fear to have in relation to the "risk" involved. But I am still not sharing a chair with just teenage girls.

What the fluck OSME??

If anyone around here, I thought I could count on you to be completely unreasonable on most things with me. Thanks for letting me down.

 

[tcharron]

So it could be that I'm wildly paranoid. Well actually, that's a given. But enough about that.

I was skiing by myself at Wachusett last night, and it being school vacation, there were lots of kids there. On more than one occasion, I saw kids that had to be under 10 years old, in groups of two or three, skiing and riding the lift alone.

I intentionally avoided riding on a chair alone with only one, two or three other kids. All kinds of things were running through my mind, but I knew there wasn't any way in hell I was going to take the risk of sitting alone on a lift chair in the dark with these minors. I know it's probably very implausible that a minor of that age would fabricate something like this, but you never know in this day and age how you might be the target of a witch hunt. I decided waiting a chair, and pissing people off in the process, was worth it to mitigate the risk.

Unfounded paranoia or sad commentary on the state of today's society? Anyone else that skis alone ever had these thoughts?

And what kind of parent is letting their two 7 - 8 year olds ski at Wachusett alone? It's not exactly Killington or Sunday River, but still?? WTF?

Marc, it's really not going to help you denial of a kids story when your here looking for single male skiiers. :-D

 

[tcharron]

I have 3 grown kids and 3 grandchildren and I still do ... but reading this thread made me rethink this situation and it is really an unreasonable fear to have in relation to the "risk" involved. But I am still not sharing a chair with just teenage girls.

Hey, they SAID they where 18.....

:-D

 

[Marc]

I have taken on a greater task .. namely the god myth.. now that I am openly Atheist ( for years I was a closet atheist ) I now have a greater mission to debunk religion... Don't be concerned, I won't do it openly on AZ...

Good luck with that. You know most guys just take up fishing or something when they retire... it's supposed to be the relaxing part of your life.

 

[Marc]

I think snowboarding is going to be pretty much it ...

What about being the topless cheerleader for me next year at the PMC finish.

Of course, being a hetero, topless in Provincetown is probably not the smartest thing one could do...