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The End of the Ski Trail Map - The New York Times

Chuyi

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
May be paying for the maps is a solution. After 2018 +a dry year last year and dry jan+Feb this year, I gladly give up maps to save trees & water for more snow.i know no maps don't fix the problem but anything little bit helps. When I get to a new resort part of the fun is discovering the mountain. I ski down the blues which go to chairs.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
When I get to a new resort part of the fun is discovering the mountain. I ski down the blues which go to chairs.
That can work for a small mountain. The ones that I call a 1/2 day or perhaps even a 1 day ski area/resort. Meaning that it's possible to ride all the lifts and enough trails to get a feel for the entire place, assuming decent snow, good visibility, and the ability to at least ski easier black terrain. Helps to have a good natural sense of direction and navigation.

However, for a large destination resort like Snowbird that takes 2-3 days to fully understand, it can help most people to be able to review a decent size trail map before, during, or after a ski day. Trail maps on the mountain are good, but only for making a decision at that particular spot. Unless someone has a photographic memory.

I've skied enough places even in the last few years where cell service is spotty. That's another reason not to depend on a smartphone. Plus on really cold days, quite possible for a cell phone to lose battery power.

A bonus for a trail map for a traveler is being able to have a little fun marking up the map with the trails that were skied on a particular day.

Solitude trail map marked - 1.jpeg
 

NewEnglandSkier

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Plus, I think if you made skiing into a bell curve, the vast majority of people would fall into the intermediate range (also since that encompasses a very broad skill set). It can be intimidating at a new mountain if you ski at a lower intermediate level or a beginner level to not have easy access to a map whenever you need it.
I know when I skied at a lower level, I was constantly checking maps to be sure I was going where I thought.
Now that my skills are better, it is less critical but still important to know where you're going at a new mountain.
 

sevensaes

Certified Ski Diva
I skied solo at Gore for the first time this week. It's a complex mountain with a lot of different "pods" and I definitely wanted to be sure I knew where I was going at all times! I grabbed a paper trail map but have such a hard time reading the small print without readers that I ended up taking photos of each pod I planned to ski. I could then enlarge the photos to read the print. Maybe resorts could have some hi-res images of their maps posted all over the mountain for everyone to do likewise? No need for cell service, wouldn't run down a phone battery super quick, and for me, required about as much de-gloving, fumbling, etc. as it would've to get the actual paper map open and refolded. :smile:
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Maybe resorts could have some hi-res images of their maps posted all over the mountain for everyone to do likewise?
I seem to remember that a destination resort that had a few trail maps at the top of popular lifts that were focused on the area served by those lifts. I think it was Steamboat. I know Steamboat often has a mountain host standing at a trail map who could answer questions on a busy weekend. Have seen that at a few other destination resorts on a busy day.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Powder Mountain doesn't have a paper trail map. They have the QR code for a digital trail map posted on every trail map sign on the slopes.

PowMow 30Mar2022 - 2.jpeg
 

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