This winter is already rife with uncertainty.
Everything is still up in the air.
Will ski resorts actually open?
How hard will it be to get lift tickets?
How long will they stay open?
Are we doomed for another repeat of last seasons debacle?
The positives are simple: somehow, somewhere, we will make turns on snow.
Or astroturf, or something.
There will still be runs that leave me giggling.
I will figure out a way to get snow into my face, at least a few times.
But there are definitive negative aspects to anticipate as well.
These are the disappointments we can actually anticipate and prepare for.
But its a small but important aspect of the resort skiing experience that will disappear this year.
I love riding chairlifts with strangers.
I dont really know why, and I dont always want to share the chair.
Every lap is a crapshoot, totally random, who knows who I will ride with.
Its like speed dating but without the pressure.
Shuffle through the lift line, ask the obligatory Mind if I ride with you?
and give some stranger a few minutes of your life.
The groomed runs are still grassy at the resort but I miss it already.
You learn a lot about someone when you start heckling skiers from the chairlift.
Maybe Im just lucky, but Ive ridden the lifts with a horde of interesting people.
Its hard to recognize each other with ski gear on, but helmet stickers give them away.
Well chat, and Ill marvel at how far the youth have progressed.
Once I got to ride with three six-year-olds who had just learned what they thought was a dirty word.
And thats something thats sorely lacking in day-to-day ski life.
So yes, Ill miss the lodge beers and the apres tacos and the crammed bars.
Ill miss the hitchhiking and the always-available lift tickets and all the rest that COVID is taking away.
