Look both ways, move across quickly, hyper aware of ice underneath the fresh-plowed snow.
Thumbs out, ready to hustle as soon as someone pulls over.
I love hitchhiking to ski.
Its one of my favorite things about living close to the mountains.
Or drop partway, hitch, traverse, ski, traverse again, and hitch back.
And theyre all wonderful.
My partner prefers the bus.
She dislikes the emotional labor of hitching, and prefers her podcasts.
I, on the other hand, love connecting with whoever happens to stop.
Ive chatted up schoolteachers and loggers, patrollers and electricians.
Often we find out that weve got friends in common.
In the winter its easy.
Its exactly the level of human interaction I want on a ski day.
And then, of course, theres the game of it all.
I love to have a go at figure out the ideal strategy for hitching.
Where to stand, when to go, what cars are more likely to stop.
Its important to put yourself in the drivers shoes.
So often I see other skiers hitching with no regard to highway safety.
We give a shot to plan it out so that the fewest number of people have to hitch.
Theyre just making it harder on themselves!
But, once youve got your strategy figured out, theres no guarantee.
Dont trust Utah plates, theyve got places to go, and traction laws to ignore.
Same goes for California.
That truck full of drywallers though, theres a good chance theyll stop for you.
Just dont ever expect a luxury SUV with a rocket box to pick you up.
Minivans are a safe bet.
So are small trucks from the early 2000s.
Ive ridden in a lot of Tacomas.
Once I hitched up with a guy in a Subaru Baja.
I was so smitten by its practicality that we bought our own two weeks later.
Subarus are a safe bet, generally, theyre often driven by folks who understand the ethos of hitching.
What goes around comes around after all.
Once I got picked up by a massive LDS family in a farm truck.
Often therell be Phish playing, and an ashtray in the center console.
Its best to just nod along with these folks, any interjection will probably be overridden anyway.
Ive only shared my partners trepidation about hitching a few times.
Once a guy in an Audi picked me up on a pow day.
We drove 75 mph all the way up the winding road, passing cars in every blind corner.
But still, even then, I was glad I didnt have to drive to the hill.
Hitchhiking is a mixed bag.
Youve got to take the weird with the mediocre.
