Lost?

I don't really get lost. But then again, I'm usually not trying to get to a specific place. When I do one to get to one particular part of the mountain, I sometimes miss my turn, but I still know where I'm going and where things went wrong.

Once you get used to resorts with ~80 lifts or more (http://www.tignes.net/en/skiing-in-tignes/ski-run-map-28.html), everything else is fairly simple.

some big connected resorts in the Alps, the 3 valleys, espace killy, vialatta ive never been lost though,

Up to now, I've never lost my way either at the small places or at bigger ones (Dolomitisuperski as an example)

But occasionally I've found myself stranded far from the hotel and compelled to take a taxi to get back because of "too much lust" while skiing a particular run and, in the heat of the moment "forgetting" about lift closing time...

Also, at a very young age, managed to escape the instructor eye because he wanted our class to take the tram back to the base once the lesson was finished and I respectfully disagreed with him.

Couldn't understand why we couldn't ski down the open trail instead.

Waited until he was distracted, and slipped undetected out from the maze/crowd. Put on my ski and proceeded to happily ski solo the run down to the village.

It was in Canazei and I must have been oh,8 to 10 y.o.

Some time (I think one hour or so) later I arrived down to a stern lecture delivered by my parents and a very worried instructor (who kept me on a very short leash for the rest of the week)

In the Rockies, my ski buddies usually want to follow me because I don't get lost . . . most of the time.  Always like to take the free mountain tour on the first day at a new place when available.  Helped a lot at Big Sky but also useful at a smaller place like Brighton.

Have plenty of practice being the navigator.  My non-skiing hubby needs a GPS in the car even around home.

The one place I was not really lost, but felt like I was rambling a bit without getting anywhere was Powder Mountain, UT.  As you may know that place really sprawls! 

Normally, and my son can attest to this, when I'm visiting big, new ski areas I am constantly looking at trail maps on the lift, on the slopes, and in the lodge.  Since I like to write trip reports about our visits I pretty much want to know the name of every trail I ski.  This seems to reinforce my memory and prevents ever feeling lost at a ski area.  I can recall almost every run taken during a given ski day, at least for a few days until I can jot down some notes. 

Having said that, I can frequently get separated from friends/family when I am skiing because I'll make unexpected stops for photos, to yak with strangers, or because I'm just slow.  I don't generally carry a cell phone.  This can present some problems at a big ski area.  Not cool to get separated in a large glade like Casablanca at Saddleback, then have other members of the party waiting for the straggler at bottom of hill to make sure they aren't hurt.  Also this winter, at Steamboat I got separated from my son when we took different turns at a fork in a trail.  After a couple of hours of separation I finally caught up with him because we both had planned to join a Billy Kidd clinic at a certain time and place and that's where we reconnected.

The remarks in this thread from Europeans are interesting to me.  I made a ski trip Austria in 2003 and wrote a story about it.  We visited five different, large ski areas and had given them a heads-up that we were coming.  Each ski area provided a guide.  I thought it was simply a nice gesture, but now I suspect it was to make sure I didn't get lost. 

Funny thing, if I am led around a ski area by a friendly local or guide I don't remember nearly as many details, but probably have a better, more carefree time just enjoying the experience.

My first time to a big resort from small, NY/PA area resorts was Killington. I got stuck at the very bottom base area (forget the name now) at the end of the day. I didn't have a car, so I called the taxi to come pick me up. After over an hour of waiting, I started to walk back to the hotel. Luckily, a resort staffer drove by a few minutes into the walk and gave me a lift. I would have been walking all night!

More recently I got lost in Powder Mountain sidecountry. You can sample the terrain just outside of Powder Country and then connect back and ride down to the shuttle. But if you get too low, you end up in a drainage and can't get back to PC without hiking up the mountain. I didn't realize this at the time, and was quite surprised to see a river rather than a road when I got to the bottom.

Luckily, the cat skiing operation is down there and there was a groomed trail back. Still, it was snowing hard, it was the end of the day and we really didn't know where we were going or how far it was to get there. Once the darkness started setting in, we started digging out a snow cave and preparing for a cold, nasty night. We were able to get just enough cell phone signal to call my wife who called Pow Mow patrol to come grab us and guide us out. We were only like another 20 minutes from getting back to the resort, but probably wouldn't have found it in pitch dark. When we got back, my brothers who were out visiting awarded me the "JONG Award" of the week (of the year really). I paid dearly in mandatory dares and recompense. Oh yeah, and I left my wife waiting for us at work - on our anniversary. I paid dearly for that, too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jimmy 

I'm used to skiing the little places in the mid-atlantic. You don't really need a trailmap to find your way around, although last time I skied 7 Springs with Cirquerider i did make sure HE had a trail map in case we got separated  . I'm not very good about referring to a trailmap or remembering the names of lifts and trails and multiple base lodges when out west probably becasue I always find nice people willing to guide me around.

 

So anyways I got lost at Heavenly this year trying to get back to the Boulder Lodge. My Chicas left me to go back to the Stagecoach and who would've thought i couldn't find my way to Boulder from the Olympic Downhill? Well it really only took two tries but

 

You ever get lost?

 

 

Hey Jimmy, you should have been with my group that day at Heavenly.  We could have all gotten lost together trying to get to Boulder.  Somehow we ended up at the East Peak Lodge and there didn't seem a way to get to any of the parking lots from that lodge.  Luckily the Comet Express lift was still running even though it was after the time the lift was suppose to be closed and they let us get on and ride back up.  Once we got off the lift, we were able to find our way down to the Boulder lodge.  Skiing down the mountain that late, it was like we had the whole place to ourselves.
 

When it comes to new areas, I have the most difficulties actually reaching the parking lot in the morning.  GPS choosing a logging trail instead of interstate then sending me down some back road instead of the main lodge access is how I get lost.

Like the OP said, it's pretty hard to get "lost" at an Eastern ski area, although if you go out-of-bounds, all bets are off.  (It would be no problem at all to ski the wrong way off of Stowe's geographic summit and wind up a very, very long ways from anywhere.  Stowe is by no means alone in that department; I've just heard bunches of stories up there of people winding up miles from anywhere).

Usually when I've skied out west, I've been skiing with friends.  They sort of explain where we're going, I give them a blank look of "huh?" as none of their references / trail names / etc. mean anything to me, they say "keep up", and we go skiing. 

There have been many times that I've had no idea what trail I'm actually on, but I wouldn't say I was really "lost".

DEER VALLEY.

Parked at the Jordanelle Gondola base 5 times this season.  Never could get back there, ever, without asking.  Daley Chutes were just fine, but finding the bottom of lifts an issue.  

Technically not lost, just didn't know how to get where I was going.

Some Colorado resort.  I was skiing with my brother, who was much faster than I was back then.  He had the trail map.  He had just gotten back from living in Scotland and when pointing out some significant terrain feature where I had to make a turn used some Scottish term for the land feature which I clearly didn't interpret correctly.  Anyway, I turned at the wrong place, followed a trail down to a lift that was NO LONGER RUNNING.  No signage that the trails were closed or anything.  I was at some EMPTY parking lot, no one around.  No brother, of course, either.  This was pre-cell phone so I just started walking DOWN the road, hoping it led to the base area, in my ski boots.  Someone came by and picked me up.  I had no other ideas, so went in search of ski patrol HQ and eventually he turned up, acting like it was my fault.  

Now I make sure I have a trail map of any place I'm at.  And, thank goodness for cell phones, they usually are some help.  

Out skinning in the BC this season on a super foggy day, dense trees, and rolling terrain.  Saw a skin track up ahead and when I got to it I realized that it was mine and I had some how walked in a circle!

Ended up skiing back down to the bottom and retraced my steps home. 

I haven't been lost, but I have underestimated how much time it would take to get where I wanted to go.  It is sometimes much quicker to follow your tracks and climb back up the mountain than to go around it.

I thought this was a thread about that TV show.

"I've never been lost, but, I've been confused many times." - attributed to Daniel Boone

Sure does apply to me!