We all know the feeling. You ski or ride around the corner, stoked to get back on the lift and head up for another run. As the liftline comes into view, your shoulders droop and all your energy seems to immediately swoop away. You quickly calculate the odds. Would it be better to wait in this liftline or take your chances and ski down to the next lift. With a sigh of reluctance, you make your choice and … queue up with the rest of them. And wait.
As the commercial season has finally commenced and the weather has been running havoc on our lift system, the lines have grown measurably. I know our lift team has been working extra hard, climbing frozen cables as they work to hammer off the ice and all other dangerous measures just so we can ski or ride. I am certainly not going to complain that so many people want to be at Killington; I want to be here, too. So I certainly cannot fault anyone for that.
What I can get frustrated at is the missed opportunity these liftline screate. So many people just stand in line, getting crankier and crazier because they could have taken another run if the line wasn’t so long — I remember hour-long liftlines at the Needle’s Eye Double as a kid — where we had a blast!
When we were kids, my dad played all kinds of games with us in the liftline, so much so that we would actually ask to ride the NE Double just so we could stand on the line with him. Unbeknownst to us, my dad had my sister and I doing classic stationary drills with a purpose — to make our skis become extensions of our feet. Our poles were just longer arms. Over these liftlines, our equipment became part of us, of who we are.
Try and lift the tip of your ski with only your toes — are your shin and ankle strong enough to actually lift the tip off the ground? Now that you have that lifted, hold it there for as long as possible. Take a quick break, lift the tip back up and now use your small twitch muscles to slowly twist the ski left and right. Think about engaging your big and little toes to move the ski side to side with only the tail on the snow. You just became a better skier.
Now try the same thing, but lifting the entire ski off the ground. Start by using your poles for balance but eventually try to sink into your boots and step relying on your poles. They won’t be there when you’re skiing, so don’t rely too much on them now. Next, work on rotating your entire leg left to right, slowly twisting the ski in the air. Can you actually feel your femur rotating in the hip socket? You just became a better skier.
These are just two of a million different stationary exercises you can practice in the liftline instead of just standing there being cranky. If you think about how much time you spend in the liftline not becoming a better skier, think about how much better you could be if you practiced instead of simply standing and pouting. You don’t even need your skis — you can do these on the gondola line with just your boots. You won’t get stronger, but your muscles will get smarter. You just became a better skier.
When we were kids, we rode the Poma for hours. Over and over again, up the Poma to run gates on Upper Bunny Buster. And we did those exercises while being pulled up the hill. We thought we were playing games. But you know what? I know exactly where my skis are at all times, how long they are, how they move whether on snow or in the air. My skis are a part of me, not just something that I strap onto my feet for a few hours a day.
Redirect your thinking and contemplate how you can use the waiting period to become a better skier. Strike up a conversation with the person in line next to you and work on becoming a better person. Skiing and riding present us with so many opportunities to be greedy and selfish and powder hungry that we forget that it also brings us moments where we can choose to be grateful for the opportunity to elevate our existence (pun totally intended).
If you see Team PomPom doing crazy weird things in the liftline, I dare you to join us on a challenge. I bet my kids can hold their ski in the air longer than you can!
Merisa Sherman is a long time Killington resident, local realtor, bartender and ski bum. She can be reached at Merisa.Sherman@FourSeasonsSIR.com.
