This Valentine’s, we’re celebrating our solo time.
Skiing with friends is fun. No denying that. Whooping and hollering through the bumps, chasing each other down open bowls, and skiing all together for the biggest rope drop of the season creates special bonds. Some of my closest relationships have come from time spent exploring the mountains together over a shared love of sliding on snow.
That said, some of my favorite ski days have been solo. Not because they were super rad or I skied hard open to close, but because of what that solo experience gave me. That includes everything from a recharge from a hectic week, meeting new friends on the lift that I normally wouldn’t chat with, or just finding some peace from being a tiny human in these big mountains.
But it feels like not many people agree with me. It can be seen as lonely. Countless posts on forums with people looking for riding buddies and the occasional internet shaming for backcountry skiing by yourself. Without question, you should always dial up your risk assesssment when skiing by yourself (inbounds or out), but there’s a lot skiing by yourself can offer. This year, instead of celebrating skiing for lovers (as we do annually), I’d like to celebrate the folks in the singles line and explain why solo ski turns are just so good.
Doing your own thing, on your own time.
Have you ever been in a big crew, and upon arriving to the top of the lift ride all together, everyone looks at each other blankly? “Where do we want to ski?” someone will ask. “I’m down for whatever,” everyone responds. Then, the group proceeds to look at each other like deer in headlights. Waiting for someone else—certianly not themselves—to pick the locale.
It’s just a fact of group dynamics, it can be hard to get everyone on the same program. No one wants to drag someone down something they don’t want to ski. It can be intimidating to tell the group that you’re down for a cruiser groomer. With big crews that have varying terrain tastes and skill levels, it’s challenging to make everyone happy.
Skiing by yourself? None of that. You go where you want, at your own pace. Sometimes that might be ripping the steep bumps back-to-back for power hour. Sometimes that’s opening up your turns on the cruiser groomer. And other times, it might be lapping the terrain park and hiking the same rail for hours.
On miraculous occasions, the stars align (and what makes our favorite ski partners so amazing). You and your best buds can smash and grab the way you want, and those are special days. But for an erratic person like me, the independence to change my mind three times on the lift, then once again before I drop in, is the freedom I love to feel while skiing.
Not to mention, short lift lines in the singles lane!
Peace and quiet.
Skiing by yourself gives you much needed solitude to process and think. Long, quiet lift rides provide precious minutes to think about the stuff you might push off to the side during busy work weeks. Or you can choose to not think at all. No need to carry on a conversation, or be switched to “on” all day. We all deserve to be able to check out a little every now and then.
Not to mention, skiing provides an opportunity to be totally focused on the task in front of you. Just thinking about your movement and your line can be a relief from being in your head. Or, the conditions around you, which can be especially beneficial when backcountry skiing. We spend so much time in our heads these days with constant stimulation from social media, work emails on our phones, and being surrounded by people all the time. It’s rare to be able to tap out of that, and tap back into our bodies without any distractions.
And if peace and quiet isn’t as much of your thing as jamming to music, skiing alone lets you pump up the jams as loud as you want. No more yelling “what?!” from across the slope. Finding that perfect jam helps unlock the flow we look for so often when skiing.
(P.S. If you’re looking for the perfect powder day playlist, we just polled our staff on their favorite powder day song. Check it out here.)
Getting comfy with yourself.
This one is maybe the hardest on this list, but maybe the most important thing to take with you off the slopes. Spending time by yourself gives you the chance to get to know yourself better without any distractions. Even if you know yourself pretty well, there’s always room to dig a little deeper.
Even the experts say, spending some time in solitude is critical to sustaining a healthy emotional and social life. Alone time provides a bit of space for you to think for yourself and work through things from your own perspective. It’s always good to bounce your ideas off of folks to see if you are on the right track. But, it’s also important to know your own perspective on things without any outside influences. Whether it’s relationships, work problems, or dealing with your own mental hurdles, sometimes the best way to process that information is on your own.
For me, the best time to work through these things is skiing. I love the steady grind of an uphill skin track alone with my thoughts. I think more clearly when my body is cranking out in the mountains. Sometimes it works as a way to check out of the head and click into my body instead, and take a break from the constant thinking. Other times, it feels like the way I can finally get a cohesive thought out of my mind.
In a world where being alone is synonmous with lonely, it can feel challenging to carve out that time and space for yourself. But do it! Even if you don’t love it as much as I do, still try to add a couple hours to your ski week or month solo. Some folks find it can get boring after an hour or two, and that’s okay.
And if you’re involuntarily in the singles line this season, keep sticking with it. You never know who you might stumble into on a chair lift.
