Everybody’s working for the weekend. What? That’s a terrible sentiment. That’s only two days out of seven — an awful ratio. And it’s not even Loverboy’s best song. Well, it probably is, but the point remains. What about working for the weekdays, or any day we want for that matter? We can’t let the man dictate how infrequently we should be skiing and snowboarding! It’s time for a weekday skiing renaissance. Let's take back our midweek shred sessions.
Midweek skiing and riding isn’t just for ski bums anymore, not that I would deign to disparage the group to which I still ostensibly belong. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the work-at-home revolution, it’s that Peter Gibbons was right and we really do spend about 15 minutes per week doing actual work and the remainder of the time pantomiming labor. So fill up that Google Calendar with fake calls to fake people so coworkers plausibly think you’re being productive.
I don’t know how you still need convincing to go ski more often, but I’m going give you some reasons. Let’s cut to the chase, COVID-19 is doing its best to chuck monkey wrenches into our skiing and riding plans. Resorts throughout Utah are doing a bang-up job finding solutions to make sure we can safely shred powder, but that means many have implemented skier caps to facilitate social distancing on the hill.
The simple fact is the weekends are more crowded to begin with, owing to the aforementioned 40-hour workweek we’ve allowed to dictate our schedules, and that means Saturdays and Sundays are going to be the most difficult secure a spot on the hill. You’re already working from home. Grab a few hours on a Saturday afternoon to get a little work done and steal a few hours on a Tuesday to spend on the mountain with a fraction of the skiers and snowboarders competing for face shots. There will also to be a lot less traffic and a lot more available parking, important items when the oft-derided single occupancy vehicle suddenly—if temporarily—seems like the responsible choice.
Need more reasons? Schools. There’s a reason for you. I realize I sound like a real scrooge, but with most local schools being in session means fewer young’uns on the hill. Look, I have a kid. She’s awesome. Kids are awesome. But I also really enjoy skiing while being relieved of childcare duties for a few hours. Some of you are shaking your heads while possessing a deity-like grace I do not share, but I know a lot of you are out there nodding in agreement. Weekday skiing while the kids are in school or daycare is a chance for the parents out there to live it up a little and enjoy the fleeting freedom that comes with cutting school like Ferris Buehler. Leave it to the kids to soak up the responsibilities for once while you we get to live it up.
One more nugget to chew on: it snows more during the week. My friend Wes says so, and he studied atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah. It’s not like he works as a meteorologist or anything, but he spends a lot of time looking at the weather modeling. He’s like that person you know who went to law school but never took the bar exam: probably not the best person to call if you’re really in trouble, but they get kind of flattered when you ask for “expert advice.” This paragraph is obviously shenanigans, but with fewer people, weekdays give you more snow per capita per inch of The Greatest Snow on Earth. Can’t argue with that. It’s math.
So, there it is. An empirically sourced argument in favor of weekday skiing and riding. It’s more important than ever this year to sneak in as many weekday powder days as possible. I’ll see you on the slopes.
