The Truth About How Often Skiers Hit the Mountain, According to 10,000 Votes

It’s Sunday, and you know what that means: we’re back with the results of another POWDER Weekly Poll!

This time, we asked readers a classic question: how many days do you ski each season? The goal, hopefully, was to find out how skiing-obsessed (or not) the people who read POWDER are. The answer surprised us, given our predictions, and it might surprise you, too. 

Here’s what 10,402 skiers had to say.

POWDER Weekly Poll Results

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Poll Highlights

• Total Votes: 10,402
• Number of Votes on Instagram: 1,670
• Number of Votes on Website: 8,732
• Most Popular Number of Days Skied: 20-50 Days (3,761 votes, 36% of voters)
• Least Popular Number of Days Skied: 1-10 Days (1,793 votes, 17% of voters)
• Other results:
  11-20 Days: 2,675 votes, 26% of voters

  50-Plus Days: 2,173 votes, 21% of voters

Poll Observations

• You guys really like skiing! Twenty to 50 days on the mountain is no small feat. To approach or meet 50 days in a standard season, you have to be committed. We love and appreciate that this ended up being the largest group, but didn’t expect it. 
• Another surprise: 1 to 10 days was the smallest group. When we imagine the “average” skier, it’s someone who visits their local mountain a few times each year and maybe goes on one ski vacation, tallying 10 or fewer days. If this, indeed, is the “average” skier, they participated in our poll in lower numbers. 
• And a suspicion: We suspect that the kind of person who participates in an optional poll about skiing isn’t hitting the mountain once or twice a year. Instead, they fall closer to the diehard end of the spectrum, which may have upped the numbers in the categories with more days. In short, don’t let this poll get you down if you only hit the slopes a few times each year—you’re doing great.
• There was a comment on our Instagram poll that posed an interesting question: what if there was a poll about how much you used to ski each season? We hear you. Skiing tends to get harder the older you get. Creaky joints, injuries, and other obligations can sideline the good times. That’s okay, though. It sounds trite, but quality matters just as much as quantity.

What We Could’ve Done Better

• You might’ve noticed that two categories had an overlapping day number: 11 to 20 and 20 to 50. This was an error, and could’ve contributed to the latter category becoming the most popular in a poll. Skiers who eked out 20 days could, technically, make the same choice as someone who skied 47 days. We hope that those of you who fell into this category got an ego boost, and promise to do better next time.
• These were limited categories that don’t capture the full breadth of how much one could ski in a single season. People hit the mountains far more than 50 days each winter and, on Instagram, they let us know. Where was the 100-plus category, they wondered? For now, we’re limited by the fact that Instagram polls top out at four options. We tried to capture what we could in this poll, but it was a bit lacking for the hardcore, turns all year crowd. Don’t worry, though, you can still tell your friends that you skied more than 100 days.

About the POWDER Weekly Poll 

We launch our weekly polls at 3 p.m. EST every Monday. They remain open until 12:00 p.m. EST the following Friday, with the results dropping on Sunday at 9 a.m. EST. You can participate and see the results right here on our website or by visiting our Instagram page.

While you’re at it, drop us a line or leave an Instagram comment if there’s a poll you’d like to see next. Skiers have plenty of opinions and preferences, and we want to know which ones might land on top of the heap.

Related: The Best Ski Width for All Conditions According to 5,800 POWDER Readers