What the World Needs Now: Pow, Sweet Pow

September 27, 2013 Katie Burrell

Heartbreak, meditating, set ups, insecurity, online dating, singles trips, awkwardness, matchmakers, blind dates, boredom, pick-up lines, bars, cocktails, poor lighting, bad decisions: the road to everlasting love ain’t easy. You can’t date someone you work with, you can’t date your friends, you can’t date your friends’ exes, you can’t date someone you meet in a bar…who the heck are you supposed to date?And on top of that, do runners have to date runners, dancers with dancers, skiers with skiers? 

.....Just Sayin'....Photo: Caton Garvie
…..just sayin’….Photo: Caton Garvie

It’s hard to argue that doing things that you like to do, with somebody that likes to do those same things, is a real way to survive in love.  Therefore; an “active date” like hiking, biking, running, surfing – pick your poison – can be the first step in finding real companionship. The ultimate date for any skier or snowboarder is the notorious “ski date” – the date where you meet up in a parking lot or at the base of a chairlift to crush a few laps together and (only have to) make sporadic five minute conversations on the chairlift. The ski date model is great because it allows you to be in an environment that you are already comfortable in, and see if there is potential to share that cherished environment with somebody else. It also means you can SHOW OFF. 

Like This. Photo: Randy Lincks
Like this. Photo: Randy Lincks

So why not go on an extended ski date to Last Frontier Heliskiing and really test the waters? I’ve heard tales of couples breaking up three months before their heli ski vacation together and still both going on the vacation because neither of them wanted to miss the skiing. I’ve heard stories of people meeting on heli-ski vacations and realizing that they could be “ski buddies” for life. I mean, realistically, if you try it out at Last Frontier Heliskiing, the worst case scenario is that the relationship fails while a helicopter flies you to remote powder zones to ski.  In other words: the worst case scenario is awesome. 

Chasin' Each Other Around The Playground...photo: Dave Silver
Chasin’ each other around the playground…Photo: Dave Silver

There are lots of skiing-borne love stories: from chairlift meetings to apres-ski. Skiers love to be with each other. Chasing each other around the mountain can be reminiscent of the hair-pulling, playground chasing that used to happen in grade school.  Skiing has been described as a lot of things, but romantic? There may be a case for it. 

As we wind down biking season into ski season, here is a video that captures the back and forth that can occur during “couples” activities…does anyone relate to this?