Finding Good Snow at a Busy Resort

Earlier this week I was riding up the Sheer Bliss chair lift at Snowmass with my friend Windy after getting a few inches of snow the night before.  I look down at the herds and herds of skiers heading down the run Sheer Bliss.  I shake my head and look over to my friend Windy who is a sports pyschologist and ask sarcastically 'Why does everyone love skiing on the main runs after a little fresh snow and why do they keep skiing it after it's all skied out?' Windy responds and says a lot of people are like squirrels, squirrels go to cross the road, get to the middle, see a car coming, PANIC then attempt to go back to what is familiar (the side of the road they originally came from, in case you couldn't follow ;)).... They usually get hit by the car, if they would just keep going they'd be ok.  People ski what is familiar, what can be seen from the chairlift is the most familiar.

The majority of people (squirrels) that were at Snowmass earlier this week would have said there wasn't much fresh pow to be had.  I beg to differ... Eric and I pride ourselves in finding fresh snow all the time, and all we do when we're venturing down is look for areas groups of trees that most people would ski by and say 'ohhhhhhh that looks like it could be sketchy'.  Sure there might be a few hairy turns a little hike or some weird tight trees to get through but after that OHHHHWEEEEE the snow is good.  Instead of skiing in someones tracks when you're in the glades make your own tracks and see where you end up.

'I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference' - Robert Frost