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The cool thing about skiing is that there are a thousand ways to approach spending time on the snow. Sure, you can charge double blacks in your Euro mountain pants. You can turn up the eighties tunes and tele your heart out. You can shimmy into a Spandex suit and bust out a 40-mile workout. Or, you know, you could put on your Snow-Gs, shoot yourself some finger guns in the mirror, and do whatever the hell you want.
While there’s nothing wrong with type-2 sufferfests, the world could benefit from a bit more type-1 fun. No matter what kind of skier you are, these ideas are guaranteed to help you loosen up and laugh more this season.
1. Enter a Pond-Skimming Contest
There are all manner of eccentric things you can do on skis, and we love most of them. Skijoring? Yes. Snowkiting? Hey, we’ll try anything once. But pond skimming—i.e. trying to pick up enough speed to cross a pond with powder skis on—gets major points for both its ridiculosity value and its limited ability to break your neck.
Pond skimming is also super accessible. Most ski areas have a lifeguard-attended contest in the spring when the weather’s warm enough to support liquid water (and limit hypothermia). Must-have gear: No-slip goggles, floaties, Hawaiian shirt. And, unless you’re really confident, a towel.
And if getting soaked isn’t your thing? No worries, there’s always barstool racing and cardboard sledding.
2. Sign Up for Chairlift Speed Dating
These days, a number of ski resorts host chairlift speed-dating events, which can be a great way to meet new friends and mountain-loving hotties. (Or at least people you think are hotties.) Sweater-swaddled and zippered up as skiers are, pretty much every date is a blind date on a chair lift. (Not that it matters; you already know your date likes skiing.)
Still, just because chairlift dating is blind, that doesn’t mean you have to be. Put your best face forward by wearing goggles that both look cool and cut through glare. Standout example: goodr’s new Snow-Gs, which offer UV400 protection and a smooth, sexy aesthetic at an affordable price. Just be sure to take it in stride when your date says, “Hello, gorgeous,” right off the bat; they might just be talking to the goggles.
3. Shoot a Shot Ski
There’s no faster way to put fun on a ski than to set four shots on the topsheet. The secret to successfully using the resulting beverage-delivery tool—the aptly named shot ski—is to work as a team, lifting and tipping the ski in sync so that all four shots find their targets at the same time—rather than dumping schnapps down shirts or into beanies.
Pro tip: try to make sure your teammates are all about the same height as you. If you’re the shortest in the lineup, well, let’s just say you’d best keep your goggles on. For that purpose, we recommend the ever-stylish Here for the Hot Toddies goggle; it’s always up for a party.
4. Throw a Backcountry Ski Dance Party
You never see people dancing in ski boots—not because it’s not fun, but because it’s generally frowned upon for what it does to hardwood floors. The fix? Take it outside.
Step one: identify your favorite low-angle glade (we’ll do without the avalanche risk, thank you). Then buy a couple of sixers, slap some new batteries in your headlamp, and grab your favorite low-light goggles (perhaps a pair like goodr’s Snow-Gs, which have antifog tech and a second swappable magnetic lens for low light conditions). Now call up your backcountry ski friends. Text ’em some GPS coordinates and the date of the next full moon. BYOB.
5. Join a Mass Costume Ski
Looking for camaraderie? Dudes in jorts? A front-row seat to wardrobe-malfunction-induced wipeouts? Consider this an invitation to the dozens of mass costumed skiing events that pop up across the U.S. each season. At pretty much every one, you’ll find parking-lot tailgating, summit beers, and other varieties of celebratory excitement. If you live out west, join the crowd that spends every Mother’s Day skiing Mount St. Helens in dresses. If you’re in the Rockies, don some trunks for Arapahoe Basin’s annual May Swimwear Day.
To find upcoming events near you, ask your local ski area, join a local ski club or outing club, or peruse Facebook for public event pages. Then start devising your costumes. If you plan to do multiple events, just make sure you have a pair of goggles that can accessorize effortlessly with all those different outfits. The obvious pick: Snow-Gs, of course.
Winter fun doesn’t have to break the bank.
Since launching in 2015, goodr’s fun, fashionable, functional, ’ffordable sunnies have won awards from GQ Fitness, Women’s Fitness, Runner’s World, and Bicycling Magazine. And goodr sunnies have been featured by The Today Show, NBC News, Rolling Stone, PGA Buyer’s Guide, Men’s Health, and Oprah’s O Summer Quarterly 2021 issue.