Surviving Out-of-Towners

If you live anywhere near a destination ski resort then you probably deal with the same scenario that we do a few times per year; an old friend from far away is bringing his/her family for a ski vacation in your neck of the woods and they insist that you come spend some time with them while they are near.

It’s not that you don’t want to see your friend, it’s just that you hate to revert to acting like a tourist in what is essentially your home terrain. You meet them at their condo at 8:30, but they aren’t ready to get out the door till 10. After buying full-priced lift tickets and another round of Starbucks you aren’t on the first lift till 11. On the first run someone’s rental gear falls apart or hurts too badly so it’s back to the rental shop. Then lunch. Then finally everyone gets their first good run in around 2, but all of the frustration has them exhausted by 2:30….

You just wasted an entire day on the mountain waiting for people.

But all selfishness aside, your presence may have made the situation even worse for them. You know the scenario for getting on the mountain quickly. You have all of your own gear and a pass. You were happy with a Clif bar for lunch while everyone else needed an $11 burger and fries. Even if you kept a smile on your face all day long and you kept the jokes and conversation rolling, even if you reassured them that you’re really just there to enjoy their company (be it true or not), deep down these people see you as someone who is just sitting around waiting on them, and that is going to compound their vacation frustrations.

I try really hard to accommodate my out-of-town friends when they come around. I want them to go home thinking that the day they spent with me on the mountain was they best day of their vacation. In order to do so I have a set of rules or guidelines that I go by that minimizes frustration and increases excitement for everyone involved:

Never on day one. The first day of any ski vacation is almost always the most frustrating. This is the day that everything that can go wrong will. In all likelihood your friends spent the previous day driving or rushing through an airport and they are going to start off tired. They slept in a strange bed the night before. They need to acclimate. They need a day on the mountain to stretch out, warm up their muscles, and maybe remember how to ski. You might be able to help out with some of that, but personally I don’t care to get involved. Let your friends bumble around the resort town and figure out their routine on their own on day one, then swoop in and show them a good time on day two or three after they have started to get a little more comfortable.

Meet them on the mountain. I swear by this rule. “11am, summit house, at the coffee bar.” That rule can be applied to almost any ski resort in the western US. 11am is the perfect time because it gives your friends plenty of time to get on the mountain and get warmed up a bit. If they can’t hit an 11-11:30 window then they may still be ironing out the early-vacation kinks. 11am also gives you time to get in several solo runs so you aren’t missing out on freshies if it snowed the night before. It’s right before the lunch rush hits so the crowd at the lodge should still be thin, and if your friends will need a bite they can get it “right now.” After you meet up you can start skiing immediately, no buying tickets or standing in lift lines, just meet up and go for it. Just remember to replace “summit house” with the specific name of an on-mountain lodge so it can be found on a trail map. Vista Haus at Breckenridge and either Mid-Vail or Two Elk Lodge at Vail are solid examples of great meeting places; they are big and easy to find, have all of the amenities one would need, and they offer quick access to beginner, intermediate, and advanced terrain.

Warm ‘em up. You probably shouldn’t dive right into advanced terrain right away. For your first run after meeting take your friends down a nice groomer. Secretly assess their abilities so you can get a good idea of where it is and isn’t safe to take them before it’s too late. If your friend brought his ego with him and insists on going right for the blacks then take him for a blue cruiser anyway and tell him it’s the path to go access more exciting terrain.

Offer some options. You may have a sparkling personality, but that probably isn’t the only reason your out-of-towner friends invited you along for a day of their vacation. They wanted someone to come offer them some local knowledge of the mountain. Divide the mountain into sections in your mind and consider the high points and disadvantages of each. Take your friends to a few different areas for two or three laps each and then move on to another area. Don’t lull yourself into taking the same lap over and over again like you would if you were solo or with other local friends. Give them a bit of a tour, if they fall in love with a specific area then you can always double back.

Give them some local flavor. Flex this one according to your friends, but as a general rule vacationers love to do things that other vacationers don’t get to do. It makes them feel privileged. Know of a seedy, hole-in-the-wall, pizza-by-the-slice joint? (What’s up Pizza 101!) Take ‘em in for a snack. Your friends turn out to be great skiers? Take them through a gate for a short side-country hike to a fun powder stash (they’ll be gone by the next storm and you’ll have your stash all to yourself again). Visit a shack in the woods if you think it would be interesting to them (just remind them that locals can get territorial about these places). Your friends may be fine with the luxury vacation scene, and if they are then just go with it. But most of my friends can’t afford frequent or expensive ski vacations so they are looking as much cheap/free fun as they can get their hands on while they are here.

Have an apres-ski plan. If everything went well then a celebratory drink is in order. If everything went horribly then we’ll need two drinks to forget.

Either way, have a plan for something to do after the skiing part of the day comes to a close. Have two different happy hours in mind and take your friends to one (or both). Insist on buying a round or two. It will be on-the-cheap for you and it lets your friends know that you really did have a good time with them and you are enjoying their company. Also have two different dinner spots in mind that aren’t the most popular tourist spots in town. Suggest them but don’t expect to get invited to dinner. If they get a great meal on your suggestion it will be like you are still hooking them up even after you left.

Even if it is a good snow year the current economy is going to have an effect on ski tourism this year. We mountain folk are the “friends in high places” to the rest of the country when shopping for a winter vacation. Our ability to accomodate our friends, out of town guests, and other tourists will have a lasting effect on the wellbeing of our tourist trade. As much as we use “tourist” as a four letter word around here, the fact is that if it weren’t for their yearly pilgramages we wouldn’t have access to all of the resorts and ski hills we visit on a daily/weekly basis for as cheap as we do.