Getting Lost at Ski Area's

[hardline]

So the vast majority of people that come riding with me have little to no sense of direction. this is on the trails not even out in the woods. i am containing this to eastern areas. i would guess that 90% of the areas in the east funnel down to the base lodge or lift. i dont understand how people become so disorientated. just go down the hill. you started at the top and need to get to the bottom. in a given day on the hill i must answer the question how do i get to the bottom at least 4 or 5 times. not sure why im writing this but i am amazed at how unaware people are of the enviroment they are currently in.

 

[drjeff]

So the vast majority of people that come riding with me have little to no sense of direction. this is on the trails not even out in the woods. i am containing this to eastern areas. i would guess that 90% of the areas in the east funnel down to the base lodge or lift. i dont understand how people become so disorientated. just go down the hill. you started at the top and need to get to the bottom. in a given day on the hill i must answer the question how do i get to the bottom at least 4 or 5 times. not sure why im writing this but i am amazed at how unaware people are of the enviroment they are currently in.

I hear you! Personally, if I've never been to a place, I look at a map 1st and I'm good. If I've been there before, no issues at all. On the flipside, I am married to a "directionally challenged" person so this is a concept that I am forced to deal with on a regular basis (and not just while on the hill either)

 

[hardline]

I hear you! Personally, if I've never been to a place, I look at a map 1st and I'm good. If I've been there before, no issues at all. On the flipside, I am married to a "directionally challenged" person so this is a concept that I am forced to deal with on a regular basis (and not just while on the hill either)

i was using the hill as the most common example but i just seem to draw directionaly chalenged people to me sorta like ying and yang but way out of balance.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Alot of people have a really bad sense of direction..At Jackson Hole it sometimes seems like 80% of the tourists are lost because they ski on the same couple groomed runs..lol..Sometimes for ***** and giggles, I'll walk up to an Ambassador and ask where Outer Limits is...The guy at Grand Targhee thought I was referring to a tree run..I can see getting lost at an unfamiliar ski area..I get lost in large malls..I need to use the Spencers gifts as a point of reference to catch my bearings and buy fake dogpoop

 

[ripzillia]

Alot of people have a really bad sense of direction..At Jackson Hole it sometimes seems like 80% of the tourists are lost because they ski on the same couple groomed runs..lol..Sometimes for ***** and giggles, I'll walk up to an Ambassador and ask where Outer Limits is...The guy at Grand Targhee thought I was referring to a tree run..I can see getting lost at an unfamiliar ski area..I get lost in large malls..I need to use the Spencers gifts as a point of reference to catch my bearings and buy fake dogpoop

Just leave a trail of fake dog poop to follow.....problem solved.;-) Growing up in a small logging town our playground were the Woods, you learned quickly which way was home.

 

[hardline]

Just leave a trail of fake dog poop to follow.....problem solved.;-) Growing up in a small logging town our playground were the Woods, you learned quickly which way was home.

ya know i think playing in th woods and camping as a child really made difference.

 

[ripzillia]

Nature has a way of teaching you where NOT stick your nose.
Bee hives,Poison Oak/Ivy,Slick rocks,rotten limbs,Blackberry Vines,Stinging Nettles,ect. Seems like there was always something to get into...........:dunce: I might be a hick from the sticks but I wouldn't trade the lessons for anything.

 

[Mapnut]

I also grew up in the sticks of Maine and almost never get lost. But I think some people really do have a genetic deficiency, lacking some gene that goes with a sense of direction. The giveaway is that those lacking the gene sometimes confuse left and right. We should be sorry for them and glad to help them.

 

[RichH]

The worrying thing is the growing number of people with skiing GPS's. It's really not that hard people!

 

[millerm277]

Nope. I have been lost exactly once at a ski area, and it was of my own doing. (Off in the woods on the backside of Bear at Killington, and I expected to, I was exploring.).

On the trails, I have NO idea how anyone gets lost, even at Killington, the king of confusing trail intersections and bad maps. Look at the map, pick a route, and follow it if you're the easily lost type. Personally, I've never had to look at a map for any place I've been to before.

 

[speden]

When I took my kids to Killington earlier this season it was our first time there and we started out at Ramshead. My sons (ages 10 and 12) had only been to ski resorts where every trail funnels to one base area. I'd told them to stick to certain trails, but after a couple runs my cellphone rings and the 10 year old said he was at a different lift and didn't know how to get back to us. Seems he just started hitting random side trails. I figured he was one lift over from Ramshead so told him to wait and I'd come find him. When I got down there he was no where to be found, so rang him up and finally figured out he was over at the K-1 base area. So I talked him down to my position and belatedly decided maybe I should go over the trail map with him a little bit. Kind wonder about his sense of direction after that. Anyway glad we had cellphones that day or I'd still be looking for him.

 

[BigJay]

The only good thing about people who don't know how to figure where they are and where they've been is that you can bring them out in the backcountry and they'll just follow... After that, they can't go back by themselves! Same goes on a bike... They'll never find the trail if they can't link it on a map!

 

[ripzillia]

Don't you just hate it......when you can't find your car in a parking lot.:roll: It all starts with situation awareness. I pity those that are that far removed from their environment.
speden I wouldn't worry about your son. He is young and inexperienced. Sounds like a level headed boy.

 

[billski]

I have always been very connected with my environment. I am aware of the sun, shadows, tree growth, moss, which way the trees have accumulated snow or ice.

they say that people are either verbally or spatially oriented. I'm the spatial / spacy type

Most importantly, I always have to have a map in my mind of where I am. For hiking, for driving. I even have topos of my own towns. For me, the GPS, with the turn by announcements are the bane of my life. If I start using them... go left, go right, go left, I eventually lose track of things.

However, even when I'm lost in a city, I am aware of the major objects, their relationship to each other. I always know which direction to head in to get to a stream, a major road, etc.

I've done an extensive amount of hiking and backpacking. I use a GPS just for fun, or when I'm exploring new terrain, such as cliffs. Usually I have a map with me. I've been only "lost" entirely twice. First time I found my way out by following a creek bed, second time with a map and compass.

What I am most concerned with with is being on alpine gear on the the side or backside of a ski mountain, and not coming out onto something civilized path. What I mean, is getting to the bottom of a slope and finding entirely flat, pehaps 3-4 feed of snow on alpine gears. If I had tele gear, (and maybe I should) I would not be concerned. Since I'm much more advanced in my age, getting out is a lot more work on alpine gear than it used to be.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

When I ski with my friend Tom..he's in his own world..if I tell him to turn left to get to a different lift..he just keeps going which is a pain..

 

[billski]

When I first learned to ski, I was stopping at every intersection and checking the map. Now, I'm much more free spirit i just go if it looks interesting, hope for the best. Some of that is because I ski at so many damn areas I can never keep them straight, and because I can't see a map without my reading glasses! That's always true of marked trails. I do more planning for off trail network.

 

[hardline]

The only good thing about people who don't know how to figure where they are and where they've been is that you can bring them out in the backcountry and they'll just follow... After that, they can't go back by themselves! Same goes on a bike... They'll never find the trail if they can't link it on a map!

true but they are also the ones that eventually need to be rescued because they got lost.

 

[hardline]

When I ski with my friend Tom..he's in his own world..if I tell him to turn left to get to a different lift..he just keeps going which is a pain..

i have the same problem with my friends i have to stop at every junction so they go the right way. kills my flow.

 

[BigJay]

true but they are also the ones that eventually need to be rescued because they got lost.

That's why you can bring only people who are dependent on guidance... and are scared... tip it to make them scare by telling them how far from any road they are... and how dangerous it would be to venture out by themselves!

All joking aside, i'm almost as reliable as a GPS... and my gf gets losts if you spin her one full turn! So she follows and just doesn't bother... I'd prefer if she'd be more self-oriented...

 

[hardline]

That's why you can bring only people who are dependent on guidance... and are scared... tip it to make them scare by telling them how far from any road they are... and how dangerous it would be to venture out by themselves!

All joking aside, i'm almost as reliable as a GPS... and my gf gets losts if you spin her one full turn! So she follows and just doesn't bother... I'd prefer if she'd be more self-oriented...

i hear ya a girl i ride with is the same way she always jokes that im her map. i am a little affraid for here when she goes to zermatt at the end of the month.trying to get her to get gps and a sat phone.