Crowded Resorts

Last weekend I had the rare experience of skiing in a crowd. While I've made peace with the fact that I'll never be featured in a ski movie outside of the bloopers reel, I still prefer to ski steep (and of course deep) terrain, but when I can't find that, I'm happy to carve some turns and enjoy being outside, breathing the mountain air. Then I went to a crowded resort. My friend asked how skiing was over the weekend, and I asked how well he remembered the asteroid field sequence from Empire Strikes Back. I felt like I was in a crowded mall shopping just before Christmas. It's not the bad skiers who are dangerous in these situations, it's the bad skiers who think they're good skiers--these people are terrifying to behold. More than once I pulled off to what I thought was the very far edge of the run only to have a family of four blow past me on the outside. I didn't know this, but the basic rule here is that it's okay to ski over peoples' skis if they're standing still. That's all the room some of these people need. Wear your helmet.