Getting a Peak Experience Out of the Seasonal Ski Trip

When Kenny Miller skied the wrong way at the top of Telluride’s Chair 9, his plans for another blue-ribbon day in the Rockies turned into a nightmare.

Hobbled by rented boots that blistered his shins, Miller strayed onto ungroomed powder on an expert bump run, popped off a ski and lost his sunglasses. Hurting, sweaty and close to panic, he spent the next hour and a half floundering down to the lift. “It took me 10 minutes to put the ski on, but the moguls were so steep I kept falling,” said Miller, 38, a high school teacher from Pittsburgh. “Finally I took both skis off and tried to walk, but I sank in up to my hips. I thought I’d never get out of there.”

Deep, dry powder and adrenaline-rush runs are every skier’s white dream. But at the end of the day, it’s ski savvy that makes those perfect memories.

I asked some frequent skiers how to make a good ski trip great and here’s what they said. Score five points for each tip you actually followed last season. If your score is less than 20, go to Florida, instead.

* Study the trail map: It’s amazing how many skiers blithely ride to the top of a 12,000-foot, wind-scoured, snowbound peak without the slightest idea about where they’re going. The problem, said Doug Morrison, a ski school manager at Telluride in western Colorado, is that most of them are city folk who think a ski area’s just another amusement park.

“Ski resorts are wilderness,” Morrison said. “When you ski at a new place, you should know the area from the map before you ever put on your boots.” Most ski areas today post Easiest Way Down arrows at the top of chairlifts and trail intersections. If you slow down and read the signs on your first day out, you’ll avoid getting stuck in the wrong place.

* Take the free mountain tour: Occasional skiers don’t realize that ski resorts aren’t static places, frozen in time. A smooth highway of snow one day might be an icy field of crud the next, depending on snowfall, air temperature, daytime melt and recent grooming.

To help you find your way around, nearly every ski resort offers mountain tours led by an official host. These local skiers know every dip and hollow and can show you where to find the great cruising slopes that best match your abilities, said Joan Christiansen, a spokeswoman at Winter Park Ski area, west of Denver.

* Get lodging on the slopes: “Renting a condo on the slopes makes everything so much easier, especially when you have small children,” said Barbara Thomke of Smugglers’ Notch in rural northern Vermont, where all the condos are built near Lower Morse, the main trail up Morse Mountain. “You don’t have to load up the car, or park in a lot or carry your skis for miles. The kids can go back home on a moment’s notice.”

If on-slope lodging is too expensive, try for a place near a shuttle bus stop or one offering free transportation to the slopes.

* Go with goggles: Those cool shades with the contoured frames and vermilion lenses are awesome. But goggles are the experts’ choice for all-weather eye wear, said Hank Thiess, ski school director at Keystone Ski Resort in Summit County, Colo. “They keep your face warmer and they’re protection if you run into a branch or fall on a ski pole. They’re also a great way to hold down a knitted hat.” For contact lens wearers, goggles block out the wind and blowing snow, preventing eyes from tearing.

“It’s better to go with a lens that has good optical quality and is well-ventilated,” Thiess said. “In Colorado, where we have 300 days of sun a year, you’re going to be in bright sunlight all day.”

* Take lessons: “I wish somebody had made me take lessons,” said Steve Lewis, a spokesman for Santa Fe Ski Area, who skied for 20 years before he got serious about improving. “You develop bad habits and you don’t progress as fast as you should. Plus, if you’re out hacking around by yourself, you don’t learn anything about mountain etiquette.”

Beginners should take three group lessons when they’re starting out. One, to introduce the basics; two, to correct emerging bad habits and three, to relearn fundamentals so they can ski comfortably by themselves.

* Drink liquids: “I don’t carry a lot of stuff around with me on the mountain, but I always pack a water bottle,” said Jeff Mugleston, a supervisor in the Junior Elite Ski School at Taos Ski Valley, in northern New Mexico. “Most skiers don’t drink enough water throughout the day,” he said. “There aren’t any water fountains out there, and it’s a pain to stop and go in the lodge. But medical studies of sports performance show that people who are dehydrated are a lot more prone to injury.”

* Buy a multi-day lift pass in advance: Savvy skiers learn to eliminate lines and crowd hassles. Skiers with multi-day lift tickets can get in the lift line and head up the mountain while novices are still standing at the ticket window. You may save money, as well, since passes are often discounted, or even free, with lodging.

* Bring layered ski clothes: “Wear layers,” said Sue Ladich, a ski school supervisor at Northstar, near Lake Tahoe. “Just because it’s March or April doesn’t mean the temperature can’t drop to zero. Or that we won’t have 40-degree weather in January.”Here’s what I pack: thermal underwear, knit turtleneck, wool sweater, fleece liner and a medium-weight parka, to combine as needed. For icy days I add a neck gaiter, mittens and a knit hat.

* Rent skis at the resort: “If you rent skis at home and a problem develops, you’re stuck,” said Doug Morrison. “But if you rent them near the ski resort and something’s not right, you can drop in between runs and have the shop make adjustments.” Or try new ones. “Ski technology is changing so quickly it’s better for occasional skiers to rent high quality demo skis and get the newest thing.”

Cooke is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer. Christopher Reynolds is on assignment.