It’s almost the most wonderful time of the year. No, I’m not talking about the capitalist holidays. I’m talking about ski season. And again, no, I’m not talking about the early season when each ski area only has a run or two open for thousands of snow sliders to share, and marketing teams use strategic content to make it look much better than it actually is.
I’m talking about the heart of ski season when the mountains have a healthy base. Every chairlift is spinning, every run is open and most ropes are dropped. There’s little to no concern about hitting rocks and the landings of your favorite hits are filled in to perfection. That part of ski season is what I’m talking about, but it’s easy to forget that it takes time to get to that point when the anticipation for linking turns is at an all-time high.
In this day and age, with all of the different social media platforms, it’s almost impossible not to get caught up in the comparison game. At all hours of the day, we see Gardy Gohard playing human slalom on the ribbon of death and our favorite pros throwing double backflips on day one from the computers in our pockets. It’s too easy to feel like we’re constantly missing out on the next best thing but the team at FREESKIER wanted to lend a helpful reminder this time of year: It’s still very early, and we’ve got a lot of season still ahead of us.
Last year’s unbelievably early and consistent snowfall is certainly skewing our brains this season, as we’re able to look back at our phones at this time last year and see the epic powder days already had. But it’s also only the first day of December, and most seasons last well into May and even June due to climate change’s shift in the timing of seasons. All that to say, the lower we keep our expectations now, the better chance we’ll have of keeping the stoke high for the rest—and best parts—of the season.
So get out there if you can, enjoy a few groomer laps with your friends or set up a backyard jib garden. But if you’re not able to get out there just yet, whether that’s due to work, injuries or anything else, you’re not really missing out on any good skiing. You’ve got time and the base will be there when you’re ready.
