Helping you find your happy place
There are so many reasons to get out and ski or ride. There’s the fresh air and the view. There’s the exercise. There’s the escape from your everyday routine.
But there’s one reason to ski and ride that overlaps all of those: Happiness.
It’s true. Skiing just plain makes me – and everyone – happy.
That is why while I’m sad to still be waiting to ski at some of my favorite spots because of the pandemic logistics, I know, too, that I can find that essence – that happiness – at any ski area in any town.
When I talk to friends this season and they say “I cannot swing the quarantine time and the testing,” to head to one ski region or another, I’m quick to point out that while I, too, cannot wait to do just that, we can savor it all at spots closer to home in the meantime.
While in a regular ski year a list of the “happy places” I find while out skiing would be destination-driven (the snack shack at the top of the Thunderhead quad at Jackson Hole and Highland Bowl at Aspen Highlands would be two of a nearly endless list of happy places I’ve been lucky enough to savor), this year, I’m going to share in a more general way.
To be clear, I’ve always loved skiing everywhere: East, West, mega mountain, local hill; each led me to their own unique brand of lovely.
That’s because the essence of skiing exists wherever you can get out there.
Consider the happy places I’ll find at easy-to-access-for-me resorts this winter, and then consider doing the same. Better yet, share your happy place so we all can discover them this unique season.
The Gentle Tree Run
Skiing in the trees is a magical experience. Be it a sunny day when the light rays filter in that unique way, a snowy day when the fresh snow and the stark trees stand in contrast as you cut through, or the stormy day when in the trees, you find quiet and protection from the wind; the trees are the place to be.
You don’t have to be a pro or be at a resort with acres and acres of glade skiing to experience it yourself. I remember a day at Nashoba Valley Ski area in Westford (www. skinashoba.com). It was sunny and cold, that kind of day when the sky is just this azure that makes you smile. We were lapping trails (easy to do there on a weekday!) and we’d just jump off the side of the trail and play a bit on the edge of the woods. Truly, it had all the same happy feels I get on a back country run. And the bonus? You can jump back in and out as you please.
Don’t know how to start? Look for the ski tracks off the edge of wherever you are skiing next, or ask a lift operator or local to suggest which run to try it in. Tree magic happiness is at every ski area.
The Double Chair and T-Bar
I know, I know: a fast and modern lift zips you uphill with more speed and comfort that you ever imagined years ago. (I confess to having claimed to be a hard-core ski gal through and through until I experienced the perfection of Okemo’s (www.okemo.com) Sunburst Six pack (heated seats? A bubble for extra stormy days? Yes, please).
That said, there will never be a time I don’t want to take at least one run on the classic lift.
What does a slow ride up on a double chair or a T-bar bring you? Time to breathe. Time to look around more. Time to meditate, sing out loud or laugh. High up there, you linger above it all; taking in the trails you’ll carve; slowly pondering past and future runs.
They can be kind of romantic, too. We ’70s ski teens were always trying to ride the T-bar with that cute ski guy. On a T-bar or a double chair, you’re in it together.
Some smaller areas rely on doubles on certain parts of the hill. Rather that roll your eyes, give them a try. It should be law that every ski area has at least one, just so we can have that place to go a little slower for a bit and soak it all in.