h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was told when I first got on a chairlift not to hit my skis together to knock off snow, because this can apparently make one's skis fall off. The guy who taught me to ski said he had actually seen this happen, so I took his word for it. My question is, what do you do if a ski comes off halfway up the lift? Obviously you can't reach/jump down after it. So you get to the top with one ski on and the other one faaaar away down a treacherous ungroomed narrow access slope full of big poles holding up a ski lift. I've heard of people skiing down one one ski, but it just seems like it'd be a finicky snowboard from hell to me. Or I guess you could pop off the other ski and trudge all the way down in your boots. Neither choice sounds too much fun...

And THAT is what friends are for... assuming you have one or two, send them off to get your ski and wait at the top for them to return with it!

Or send ski patrol to get it... hehe, but they will often grunt about the stupidity of people who lose skis under their breath. So u may prefer to give that a miss.

You could always just ride a snowboard like me, at least they have legropes!

My state (Idaho) had the first modern ski resort... Chair Lifts were first used at the Sun Valley Ski Resort... I enjoyed skiing, but got tired of loosing skis and having to walk around and find them. So of corse I picked up snowboarding, Now I enjoy it a lot more, it gives me (personally) a better workout, and I cant loose it unless my bindings get ripped off the snowboard and since they are step in click click bindings I dont see that happening!
-Greg

Yes this happens (not all that often mind). Skiing on one ski is the easiest way to get the ski.

Seriously though, skiing on one ski is not all that hard. It's actually a good way to pass the day if you're stuck on the nursery slopes keeping a beginner signifiant other company. Leave one ski at the top of the lift and remember to switch feet each run otherwise you'll end up one monster sized leg and one weedy one (like the claws those strange crabs have).

Incidentally, skiing on one ski is *really good* for your skiing (particulary your balance), and a good ego booster for the situations when your friends loose a ski off the lift and you casually offer them one of your skis and then even more casually ski down with them to retrieve the ski skiing like you're still wearing two skis.

If you're still a bit wary about trying one ski skiing, why not get a lesson in it from an instructor (a private lesson would be best). Don't let them try and talk you out of it, if they do they're probably not a very experienced instructor and scared of falling over in uniform. I know this becasue I teach skiing and it's one of the ways *our* trainers deflate the (largish) egos of new instructors. In fact if you specifically ask for a lesson in one ski skiing you'll probably get taught by one of the best instructors at the resort (probably the instructor's trainer). It'll also be one of the few time's you stand a chance of seeing an instructor fall over!

The only Snowboarder (my now girlfriend)I have ever seen loose the board only lost one binding and it is because all the screws were torn out when she landed a jump and flipped forward. The only thing that sucks is getting up on a snowboard meant for racing on groomed runs when you get sucked into the powder! I spent almost an half an hour trying to get out of 2ft of powder! Ohh I was hurtin'! But then I learned to point the board down hill lay sideways and pull myself up that way... WOW it worked... till I lost balance (not enough speed) and fell over... I repeated this till I was out and stayed on the groomed runs for the rest of the day!... never try to go up-hill into powder on a small snowboard without powdertips!

I really miss snowboarding a lot as I am down in southern cali and I didnt have the money to go to LA during the witer breaks... it sucked! Oh well there is always next year when I go on my honeymoon into Canada! Ohh yeah... Oh thats right I am also going to take a vacation around Christmas time to visit my family and I can ski MT. Bachelor then! yeee! =
Well