Hard Time Riding? Try a Different Resort

I have learned many things about riding this season, including the importance of the right resort.

What is “right” differs from person to person (some prefer pipes, others don’t, etc.), but a little “comparison shopping” convinced me that some ski areas are better for me than others.

There is, for example, a small ski hill nearby. It’s very convenient, and for the last three seasons, I have enjoyed having it around for a quick mid-day excursion in the sun. On skis, it gets old quickly, but it’s doable.

Riding a board is another story entirely. For one thing, two of the lifts have poorly-designed cattle pens. At least they’re poorly designed for me, on the board.

Here’s why: the entrance to the lifts is a long (100 foot) and narrow (10 feet wide) path set off by fences. Consider it the snow equivalent of a cattle pen.

To navigate this pen, you have two choices. The first is to approach the pen at a low speed, and then skate your way through the path. That’s fairly awkward, and I have never been able to skate well on a board.

The second choice is to maintain enough speed that momentum carries you towards the front of the pen–assuming you don’t hit anyone along the way. I can do this on skis. I get very nervous doing this on a board.

To further complicate either choice, the path within the cattle pen is curved, not straight. And the ground has little dips and doodles, bends and banks, and other tiny features that are enough — remember, we’re talking about a fairly narrow space here, with people milling around — to cause me grief.

I don’t need it. I’ll stick with ski areas with more reasonable approaches to the lift chair.

If you’re having too much trouble with a ski area that it makes you want to give up, maybe it’s a mismatch between what you’re comfortable with and what the area is like. If you can, try another one.