We only ever talk about the endless powder, the wonderful food, the laughs and the good times. But, while it’s hard to admit, sometimes a few things on a ski or snowboard holiday don’t quite go as planned. From long lift queues to lost clothing articles (or friends and family members), it’s not always easy. Of course, when you get back home to grey skies and greyer offices and your ski holiday fades into a distant memory, it’s easy to forget about the downsides. If you’re a true skier or snowboarder you won’t let these details get you down!
The temperatures outside are well below zero, so you’ve dressed in layer upon layer of your warmest clothing. But you do have to ask yourself, as you step into the ski storage: why is it always 40 degrees in here?
Looking forward to carving out fresh tracks on the new powder, you wake up bright and early and you’re one of the first ones on the lift. Unfortunately, you’re not the only one in this gondola, and you’re forced to share a very cramped space with a very sweaty, very noisy stag party.
It was such a good idea to pick up your skis right upon arriving on Saturday afternoon, in order to hit the ground running on Sunday morning! Unfortunately, ten thousand other people also had that idea…
Queues...
By lunchtime you’ve worked up an appetite and you’re looking forward to eating some delicious kaiserschmarrn at your favourite mountain restaurant! … but there are no empty tables. The cherry on top of the cake is the lonesome skier sitting alone at a table, pretending to “wait for his friends…”
Some lifts are just always busy, especially in high season. It’s extra nice to watch half-filled seats go up as you’re stuck in the half-hour-long queue.
It’s the end of the afternoon, so everyone decides to head down the hill. Yes, E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E. Suddenly the mountain is feeling like a molehill!
How were you proposing to get your hands on a drink?
You finally squeezed into the village’s most popular après-ski bar! Good on you. But now the moment of truth: Who is going to get the beer? And how exactly do we reach the bar?
It’s bad enough taking off all your own gear to go to the toilet, but when you have to wait for a dozen people to do the same before you even step foot inside the loo… Has anybody ever calculated exactly how long skiers spend waiting for the toilet during the typical skiing time? It should be refunded from the lift ticket!
It was a long queue, but it was worth it. You settle down with your friends and family in the same lift chair and even the icy seat feels like a throne fit for a king, until some new skier trips and the whole operation grinds to a halt. Suddenly things don’t seem quite so cosy.
Waiting for the lift to start up again
You gave it your best shot and asked a carefully-rehearsed question in pigeon German, to which you receive a long, unintelligible answer. Awkward silence. What exactly did they just say?
Skiing and snowboarding are fantastic sports, in your opinion, and you’re confident this love will grow naturally in your children. After all, they have your genes, right? Wrong. It’s hard to convince someone that they’re having fun when it’s -2 and snowing and they’ve just fallen for the umpteenth time. Matter of fact, you’re not having so much fun yourself anymore. What was the address of the nursery again?
Maybe you were taking an Instagram photo or maybe you were rooting around in your pocket trying to find that coveted piece of chocolate. Whatever the reason, now you’re staring in shock as your poles plummet forty feet down into a mound of snow. Oops.
Lovely view!
“How were the mountains?” ask your jealous colleagues when you come back from a week of skiing. Erm. Good question. You have no idea. You’ve been enveloped in fog and snow the whole week.
They have to be here somewhere. The ski racks stretch on seemingly forever. So many pretty bright colours! Ok, concentrate, it’s just a question of patience. Or… maybe they’re really gone. Ouch.
For all its hardships, somehow a ski holiday still ends up being the best time of your life. How can you wait another whole year for the next one?
Where did I put my skis?
We only ever talk about the endless powder, the wonderful food, the laughs and the good times. But, while it’s hard to admit, sometimes a few things on a ski or snowboard holiday don’t quite go as planned. From long lift queues to lost clothing articles (or friends and family members), it’s not always easy. Of course, when you get back home to grey skies and greyer offices and your ski holiday fades into a distant memory, it’s easy to forget about the downsides. If you’re a true skier or snowboarder you won’t let these details get you down!
The temperatures outside are well below zero, so you’ve dressed in layer upon layer of your warmest clothing. But you do have to ask yourself, as you step into the ski storage: why is it always 40 degrees in here?
Looking forward to carving out fresh tracks on the new powder, you wake up bright and early and you’re one of the first ones on the lift. Unfortunately, you’re not the only one in this gondola, and you’re forced to share a very cramped space with a very sweaty, very noisy stag party.
It was such a good idea to pick up your skis right upon arriving on Saturday afternoon, in order to hit the ground running on Sunday morning! Unfortunately, ten thousand other people also had that idea…
Queues...
By lunchtime you’ve worked up an appetite and you’re looking forward to eating some delicious kaiserschmarrn at your favourite mountain restaurant! … but there are no empty tables. The cherry on top of the cake is the lonesome skier sitting alone at a table, pretending to “wait for his friends…”
Some lifts are just always busy, especially in high season. It’s extra nice to watch half-filled seats go up as you’re stuck in the half-hour-long queue.
It’s the end of the afternoon, so everyone decides to head down the hill. Yes, E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E. Suddenly the mountain is feeling like a molehill!
How were you proposing to get your hands on a drink?
You finally squeezed into the village’s most popular après-ski bar! Good on you. But now the moment of truth: Who is going to get the beer? And how exactly do we reach the bar?
It’s bad enough taking off all your own gear to go to the toilet, but when you have to wait for a dozen people to do the same before you even step foot inside the loo… Has anybody ever calculated exactly how long skiers spend waiting for the toilet during the typical skiing time? It should be refunded from the lift ticket!
It was a long queue, but it was worth it. You settle down with your friends and family in the same lift chair and even the icy seat feels like a throne fit for a king, until some new skier trips and the whole operation grinds to a halt. Suddenly things don’t seem quite so cosy.
Waiting for the lift to start up again
You gave it your best shot and asked a carefully-rehearsed question in pigeon German, to which you receive a long, unintelligible answer. Awkward silence. What exactly did they just say?
Skiing and snowboarding are fantastic sports, in your opinion, and you’re confident this love will grow naturally in your children. After all, they have your genes, right? Wrong. It’s hard to convince someone that they’re having fun when it’s -2 and snowing and they’ve just fallen for the umpteenth time. Matter of fact, you’re not having so much fun yourself anymore. What was the address of the nursery again?
Maybe you were taking an Instagram photo or maybe you were rooting around in your pocket trying to find that coveted piece of chocolate. Whatever the reason, now you’re staring in shock as your poles plummet forty feet down into a mound of snow. Oops.
Lovely view!
“How were the mountains?” ask your jealous colleagues when you come back from a week of skiing. Erm. Good question. You have no idea. You’ve been enveloped in fog and snow the whole week.
They have to be here somewhere. The ski racks stretch on seemingly forever. So many pretty bright colours! Ok, concentrate, it’s just a question of patience. Or… maybe they’re really gone. Ouch.
For all its hardships, somehow a ski holiday still ends up being the best time of your life. How can you wait another whole year for the next one?
Where did I put my skis?
Born and raised in the ski paradise of Vancouver, Canada, I learned to ski before I can remember, balancing precariously on my parents’ skis as they sailed down the hill. I started snowboarding in my teens and am now delighted to be exploring everything Europe’s ski scene has to offer!
