So, I was out in Deer Valley, Utah last week and while riding the chairlift with my friend Tom Birsic, who is a resident of Park City, I remarked that the Wasatch chairlift and the Sultan chairlift were not crowded. They both service some black diamond slopes including the famous Stein’s Way. Tom remarked with his wry sense of humor that Stein’s Way self selects it’s skiers and that is why the chairlifts were not crowded. I kind of laughed at that and asked about his statement of self selection. He then went on to explain, that with the limited snowfall that Deer Valley had experienced in the last couple of weeks, the terrain over on that side of the mountain tended to get scraped and icy as we had found out. People tended to try Stein’s and then quickly found out that the icy, narrow entrance had probably weeded out return runs. Tom remarked that he had even seen a guy crawling back up the trail looking for an easier way down. Steins’ had self selected there and that guy probably would not be coming back. We were still skiing over there but that is just us.

Sometimes slopes like Stein’s can self select just from reputation. There are those who hear of the icy conditions and decide not to ski it. Take my wife for instance. Janet is a good skier but didn’t have to have the icy, narrow entrance and opted not to ski over on that side of the mountain. Sometimes maturity and consideration win out over ego and the right decision is made long before one enters the danger zone of a slope on which they maybe don’t belong. I am convinced Janet could ski Stein’s because she has good technique. She finishes her turns well but just didn’t have to have the stress to navigate the narrow entrance with the icy conditions. So, Stein’s self selected her without even seeing her skis. LOL!!

There are many other slopes and trails that self select as well. Take our local Laurel Mountain with it’s famous Wildcat. It is the steepest slope in these parts and often I remark to my friend Jaime that the crowd seems to be getting sparse on Lower Wildcat. Jaime laughs and says- ” Pat- have you noticed how it is getting scraped and icy?” Not many people want to ski that and opt out for the rest of the day. The slope becomes empty and only the diehards tend to continue to battle the ice with no one else in sight. Some even do it in the rain – like yours truly. But that is another story.

Tom and I continued to discuss self selection on the chairlifts as the day went on and what I got out of his humorous discussion was that discretion is often the better part of valor. Even his friend Jamie who was visiting from DC, and was a good skier, remarked that he had slowed down a little as he has aged and decided that it was not worth it to ski too fast or go to slopes that would test his skill beyond which he felt comfortable. One can have a great time without being self selected from a place of no return.

I like to ski the Daly Chutes at Deer Valley. But they even self selected me this year because of the thin condition of the snow pack there. Riding the chair, I noticed that no one was skiing over there and with the thin conditions, the rocks and stumps were showing through along with the fact that it seemed rock hard. As much as I like to ski there I opted out or perhaps in Tom’s theory- the Daly Chutes had self selected me out this year.

So Tom, the barrister, had a valid theory and although certain slopes and trails in his words can self select, we all know that we should really analyze where we want to ski and leave the bravado for another day or another slope or trail if necessary. Enjoy the skiing, and ski to ski another day. Thanks Tom. Thanks for reading.