Skiing in groups..skiing alone?

[Warp Daddy]

I ski roughly 10-12 days with a groupof 5-6 guys , then about 5 days with my grown children and grandkids , tehn another 10-12 days Alone . i'm a social animal and luv to yuk it up with troops and hyper enjoy skiing with the family all good skiers


BUT damn skiing alone i just keep skiing non stop for 6 hrs , Lunch you say ?? Hell no time for that just an energy bar or two while riding the lifts

 

[SIKSKIER]

No more than 1 chairlift full is how it usually works out for me.There might be others in the group that went out together but it almost always ends sorting itself out by speed,terrain or something else and ends up with a chair group.It's all good though.

 

[gmcunni]

I guess maybe my answer is a little more complex than I first thought?

you said it!! i started writing my answer and ended up psychoanalyzing myself.:roll:

Taking into account my personality traits and flaws, the short answer is i prefer skiing with a group, but it depends on the group.

 

[Paul]

Its very complex. As such, I honestly don't prefer one over the other. I take what I can, when I can. Sometimes I enjoy the solitude, sometimes I enjoy sharing the time with wife and kid, either individually or both at the same time. Groups are few and very far between, but always fun. I try not to think about it, just adapt to whatever situation presents itself. One thing I try to do is mix it up each time as much as possible. For example, we hit Flatton yesterday to use a free ticket. The wife, kid and myself did about three runs together. Then the wife split off and the kid and I did about 2 more. After lunch, I headed-out solo for about 3-4 runs (I forget) and the wife and kid went together. When we met-up, wife was done for the day so my daughter and I did about 4 more runs together. It worked-out well, and everyone "got what they wanted."

 

[campgottagopee]

Depends----if i'ts balls cold I prefer to be solo just so i don't have to worry about anyone but myself. Ifin conditions are kick butt for major stompin' out some major vert I opt for the buddy system. I have one pal that he and I have been skiing together longer than GSS has been alive. Spring corn, well it's gaggle time. The more the better the party after.

 

[jaywbigred]

I have to say the responses in this thread surprised me. I didn't realize people were so willing to ski by themselves.

Personally, I don't think I have ever spent more than a half day skiing alone. I can count on one hand the number of runs I took this year, in 23 ski days, by myself. Part of this has to do with getting to the mountain, I'd guess. Taking a long car ride (1 hr to poconos or 3.5+ to VT) or a plane trip (CO, UT, etc) alone seems like a bad idea to me. Not fun, and maybe (?) not safe. Some of it has to do with my friends from school, being that a bunch of them skiing, and though none of them are as dedicated as I am, they are often up for multiple trips a year. And part of it has to do with the girl i've been dating for 4 years being an accomplished skier who has no trouble keeping up with me on 95% of available terrain. Instant ski partner ready at all times. Truly blessed to have her.

 

[Dr Skimeister]

My skiing in groups vs. solo has changed over the years. Years ago I almost exclusively skiied with a set group. The exception was weekday skiing I did alone when my comrades worked. Over the years those skiing companions have one-by-one reduced their ski days. This has resulted in more solo skiing for me. Some of my group days are now with my kids, either individually or in total. This season to date is an almost even split between solo and with others.

I have done day trips, over-nighters and longer destination journeys both in groups, with one other person and solo. It's all good.

 

[polski]

When I'm not with my kids I love to ski alone. In the first place I try (to the extent work allows) to chase snow on weekdays so that severely restricts my ability to hook up with others, as riverc0il notes. But once I've gotten wherever I'm going I like being able to make decisions without having to negotiate with anyone nor worrying about maybe not being a good skills match with any companions (me slowing them down or vice-versa).

The one drawback with going alone is I feel severely constrained skiing off-piste. Then again, I need to work on my woods skiing skills before I'd feel confident doing more of it. Bit of a catch-22, and one I'm thinking of starting to rectify by hiring a private instructor for a decent chunk of time at MRG one of these days.

 

[tekweezle]

i like skiing with others, even if they are slower than me. skiing can be a social activity! well not too slow. i like to push the slower skiers along and get them to ski fast.

i find i am less likely to get myself off trail and into dangerous situations too.

 

[NortheastSlopesest.1936]

I can say that I tend to push myself more when riding alone, I will pick one thing and just hammer it all day, wether it's simple just a line that I like that day or if it's throwing down some trick that I can't do yet, which is most all of them. I enjoy riding with friends that encourage and push me to do things out of my comfort zone, cause it only makes me better. Sometimes you need that extra boost of confidience, it is a very important thing to have, without it, you are screwed. It's good to have others around to show off for and who like to show off for you, it makes everyone try for bigger and better the next time. We are all pretty wiped by the end of a 6 hour session at the tow, needless to say. I ride with a group of great people and enjoy there company tremendously, I couldn't be happier.

 

[loafer89]

I ski with my son as most people on this board may be aware of and I have been doing that since 2005 on a consistent basis. Warren is really coming along with his skiing ability and we are now practicing parallel turns and pole plants on steeper terrain, so I enjoy watching him improve and sharing the great outdoors with my son.

 

[gmcunni]

I have to say the responses in this thread surprised me. I didn't realize people were so willing to ski by themselves.

i hear you on this.. Before this year I'd never purposely skied alone. I had skied by myself for a few hours here and there when I'd put one of my kids in a lesson but that was about it and I didn't really enjoy it too much.

This year I was all set to go out for a night skiing session with my son and he decided he wasn't in the mood so I went by myself. I had a great time. I did what I wanted to, skied where I wanted to ski, took a break when I wanted to and left when I wanted to.

I still prefer to ski with others but I'm not opposed to going solo.

 

[jaywbigred]

i hear you on this.. Before this year I'd never purposely skied alone. I had skied by myself for a few hours here and there when I'd put one of my kids in a lesson but that was about it and I didn't really enjoy it too much.

This year I was all set to go out for a night skiing session with my son and he decided he wasn't in the mood so I went by myself. I had a great time. I did what I wanted to, skied where I wanted to ski, took a break when I wanted to and left when I wanted to.

I still prefer to ski with others but I'm not opposed to going solo.

What does everyone think about the safety of skiing alone? I guess I was raised by my Mom (a non-skier until 5 years ago, who had a co-worker lose one of her sons to a skiing head injury in the early 80s) to think/understand that skiing alone was somewhat akin to swimming in the ocean alone. She always taught me the buddy system was very important when skiing, and I have the feeling that school ski trips reenforced this.

Obviously, many people on this board, incl. myself, consider themselves advanced or expert skiers, who ski in-control, take safety precautions, understand risk, etc...all as a rule. And obviously, especially skiing in the east, resorts tend to be well populated, to say the least. But accidents do happen, even to the best of us. A broken leg in the woods isn't a long term, serious injury, most of the time. But if you are by yourself and it is cold or night time, and no one can hear you...it could get serious, quickly...

I understand the risks are probably minimal, espcially in this age of cell phones, but there is always that "but" there....

 

[Phlogiston]

Alone. Always.

 

[severine]

When I injured my knee, I was skiing by myself. But it was on trail and had I agreed to help, it was easy to acquire (heck, as soon as I fell, someone stopped asked if I need patrol). Granted, had it been more serious, it would have been a lot easier getting home with help that night. But I also have to take what I can get, and most of the time, I cannot ski with my SO because of the child care issue.

If I had access to skiing off piste or trees, I would not do that alone. I fully believe in the buddy system for those activities.

 

[hiroto]

and no one can hear you...it could get serious, quickly...

I was skiing at Jay Peak a couple years ago and kind of got scared to learn how little sound travel through the woods, even during the winter time. Toward the end of the day, me and my son were going down Timbuku, relatively open wood. We are going relatively close to each other and felt his presence, either hearing him or seeing him in peripheral vision. But when I stopped in the middle of the wood, it was complete silence. I couldn't hear a sound of him nor see him. It was spring condition so you would be making good amount of noise while skiing but I couldn't feel his presence at all. I didn't know I was ahead of him or behind him. I yelled but no response. As I got out at the bottom of the wood, I was even more worried seeing a guy with blood all over his face, obviously from eating bark.

He was waiting at the chair, but I would have gone crazy if he was not there.

 

[mondeo]

And part of it has to do with the girl i've been dating for 4 years being an accomplished skier who has no trouble keeping up with me on 95% of available terrain. Instant ski partner ready at all times. Truly blessed to have her.

I've actually had my previous boss tell me, many times, that I need to find a girlfriend who skis bumps. Almost as if I wasn't already aware of that.

When I injured my knee, I was skiing by myself. But it was on trail and had I agreed to help, it was easy to acquire (heck, as soon as I fell, someone stopped asked if I need patrol). Granted, had it been more serious, it would have been a lot easier getting home with help that night. But I also have to take what I can get, and most of the time, I cannot ski with my SO because of the child care issue.

If I had access to skiing off piste or trees, I would not do that alone. I fully believe in the buddy system for those activities.

Same here. I haven't been tree skiing in the last two years (or six, if you count the years I didn't ski at all,) largely because I'm uncomfortable with my ability to control my speed in confined spaces (I also avoid the bump lines next to trees, for the same reason.) It is very rare that I'm on a trail by myself that isn't under a lift, and when I am it's one typically a blue square bump run. Transportation is a bit of a concern, but I figure I can drive stick with one hand, and if it's a leg I'll rent an auto if I'm in VT. Anything more serious than that and I don't really care about transportation.

 

[2knees]

I skied basically alone for about 6 years prior to becoming more involved with this board. One of my major reasons for trying to be more active here was to meet some people to ski with. All my buddies and my brother started slacking off and fell behing in the passion to go and the ability to ski stuff i want to. But i also found my skiing becoming very stagnant, due to the fact that i'm very hesitant to get hurt again. Not that that cant happen when skiing with others, but with all those solo chairlift rides, i found myself thinking about it waaay too much. So now, i really dislike skiing solo. not that i havent done it, even this year i think i have 3 or 4 days completely by myself but there is no comparison.

Huge groups dont really bother me cause everyone ends up finding their own level anyway.

 

[Greg]

That's basically where I'm at. I find it more relaxing when I'm alone, but it's fun to have people to chat with (that you actually know, even with skiers being as generally sociable as they are,) and I'd also like to have the benefit of having people critique my technique, so they can push me and help me get there at the same time. Skiing at Sundown more next year should help, and I figure I'll eventually get to know the dedicated bump skiers at Killington that I see every time I'm there.

Definitely join us at Sundown next season, Mike. I got 22 days/nights in there this season and never skied exclusively solo. We usually ski Wednesday nights, but the cool thing is once you get to know everyone, there is usually someone there just about anytime you want to go. Wednesday nights are a great way to break up the week and stay dialed between trips up north. Usually, we're pretty laid back, but if you want to get someone to analyze technique, one of us will do it. I consider the Sundown crew friends offline now.

 

[ski220]

Generally I go skiing w/ one or more friends. Skiing, while an individual (vs. team) sport just seems more fun when you have someone to share the experience with. On the other hand last time we went skiing I broke away and skied by myself because my buddies had either (1) decided to take a nap in the car or (2) seemed more interested in gabbing and smokin. I felt liberated! When you ski by yourself there is no comprimizing. Go where you want and at your own pace. But wait - I hadn't even skied down to the bench and ran into someone. We skied a couple of run together. Usually when I go someplace by myself I will run into some like minded people and so am not skiing solo anyway.