Frustrated by Crowds? Try These 7 Tips Before Your Next Ski Day

You’ve certainly heard it or experienced it firsthand: skiing’s blown out. Skiing’s too busy. Skiing’s been loved to death. All those statements, in one way or another, are true. Well, kind of. 

Droves of skiers descend on ski resorts at peak times—we can’t deny that. But there are ways to weave in and out of the masses, like skipping lunch or being selective about which mountain you visit. While avoiding crowds altogether is a dream best reserved for a past generation, these general tips can help reduce the amount of time you spend standing around—and, hopefully, increase the amount of time you spend skiing.

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Visit in the Afternoon

Ski resorts, particularly on powder days, tend to be most packed in the morning. This is the time when eager skiers are adamant about scoring fresh snow. As the day progresses, crowds typically peter out. Only the diehards have the energy and wherewithal to keep going. If you show up around 1 p.m., you might even have a chairlift to yourself by 3 p.m. As a general rule, the hours between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. are the busiest at major ski resorts.

Skip Lunchtime

What if you’re already on the mountain by 9:30 a.m. and dealing with crowd-choked slopes? Skip lunch. Lunch hour can be a dead zone that pays dividends to those who keep skiing. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat, though. Instead, get creative. Throw some substantial snacks in your pocket, and while everyone else is sucking down lodge chili and missing out on the fresh snow, chow down on the gondola. 

Choose Lesser-Known Resorts

The North American ski resort headliners get plenty of well-deserved attention. These resorts house the biggest mountains, the fastest lifts, and—if enjoying a bit of luxury is your thing—the swankiest hotels. But that means they also draw the biggest crowds. Add a major airport and highway to the mix, and you have the perfect recipe for heaps of skier traffic.

One of the best ways to avoid the crowds, then, is to venture off the beaten path. The U.S. alone has hundreds of ski areas, but only 50 or so are nationally known. Your goal should be to find the places that you haven’t heard of.

Try Hoodoo Ski Area in Oregon or Brundage Mountain in Idaho. Getting to mountains like this might involve more time in the car, but the payoff is worth it. And you’ll be surprised how good the skiing is on lesser-known slopes, even if the lifts are a little slower. 

Related: The 10 Best Uncrowded Ski Resorts in the U.S.

Skip the Headliners

A similar, if slightly more complicated, version of the previous tip applies to ski resorts themselves. Most mountains have a chairlift—or two or three—that are famous. At Whistler, for instance, that’s Peak Express Chair. On powder days, the place becomes a madhouse, which, given how good the terrain is, makes sense.

But just because everyone else is lining up for that one chairlift doesn’t mean you have to. Look at the trail map. Explore. Try a part of the mountain that isn’t seeing as much love. While there, see if you can find some nooks or crannies that the crowds haven’t descended on yet. At most mountains, there’s untapped potential available to those who break from conventional wisdom.

Avoid the Holidays

When the end of December arrives, ski resorts go into overdrive. Interest in skiing peaks around this time, parents and kids alike have time off, and the snow, oftentimes, is pretty good. Should you have the flexibility, don’t plan a ski trip between Christmas and New Year’s, unless you’re fine waiting in lift lines. Other holiday periods, like MLK Jr. Day weekend and Presidents’ Day weekend, tend to get busy, too.

Another tip on timing: weekdays are far quieter than weekends at ski resorts.

Wait for Spring

For powder chasing, the mid-winter months of December, January, and February are your best bet. Spring, though, doesn’t get the shine it deserves. For one, in April, May, or June, you might be able to ski soft, slushy snow in a t-shirt, depending on the weather. Two, by this time of year, most people fall out of love with skiing, turning to more seasonally appropriate activities like biking, golfing, or gardening.

Their loss is your gain. The longer you keep the ski season going, the less you’ll face lines and crowded parking lots. Plus, May storms aren’t unheard of. Persistent skiers are sometimes rewarded with the best of both worlds: deep snow and quieter slopes.

Get a Backcountry Setup

It might sound obvious, but the best way to avoid crowds is to leave the ski resort altogether. While some backcountry skiing zones can get crowded, per se, even the buzziest spots aren’t the same as a Front Range resort on a December weekend. As an added benefit, powder sticks around for much longer in the backcountry.

Making this jump, of course, involves doing your homework. You’ll need (usually expensive) gear and training. Wandering into the backcountry unprepared is a bad, potentially lethal idea because of avalanches. Once you’ve surmounted the initial learning curve, though, you might grow tired of ski resorts altogether.

Related: The Best Accessories For Off-Season E-MTB Riding