"No Friends on Powder Days" Defined

If you've ever ventured to the slopes, or been around those that have, you've probably heard the phrase: there are "no friends on powder days." Now, there are probably a ton of different ways you could go with this phrase, but this is just my humble interpretation.

In order to lay out the guidelines encompassing the "no friends on powder days" rules, we will follow our fictional skier friend: Sarah the shredder.

Now, Sarah is a friendly fun loving girl, who happens to love skiing and shredding pow. She’s skied with a variety of skiers at many different levels over the course of her life. Sarah is taking an epic trip with friends to Whistler (or insert Alta, Telluride, or any other epic mountain) and is stoked out of her mind because there's supposed to be a ton of fresh powder. Sarah also lives by the "no friends on powder days" principles. Now what do these principles look like?

1. If you are Sarah's friend, don't be offended if she doesn't ski with you for part of, or the full duration of the day. This does not mean you and Sarah are no longer friends. The girl loves to pillage powder pillows and will take full advantage of this epic ski trip to do so.
2. Don't expect Sarah to wait at the bottom of the lift when the mountain opens if you're late. She’s cool riding up with you if you get there on time, but if the chairs are moving, and the mountain has opened, she’s probably already on her way to the top of the mountain. You wouldn't show up late to your flight would you? If you did, the plane would have no qualms taking off without you. In the same way, Sarah would wait around, until she couldn't wait around any longer.
3. Sarah actually enjoys skiing with others, even on powder days. But, if Sarah is having to wait every hundred yards or so while watching others shralp fresh tracks, she’s going to be sucked in like a tractor beam and will be fulfilling fantasies of freshies. She didn't spend hundreds of dollars on lift tickets, lodging, and travel to wait around when there's freshies to be had. She'll be more than happy to wait for you on another day.
4. Powder doesn't always stick around for the full duration of the day. Maybe Sarah and some of her friends will meet you up later in the day on the mountain, or at a lodge for lunch. If the snow is all skied out, she’s probably more than happy to ski with you and the rest of her friends for the afternoon. In fact, she actually enjoys this. But, if the steeps keep spitting out fresh snow like manna falling from the heavens, just plan on meeting Sarah in the hot tub once the mountain closes :)
5. Just because you aren't skiing with Sarah, doesn't mean you have to ski alone. Partner up with a buddy, or a few friends of similar ability level and have fun! The stories will be much better in the hot tub if everyone has a good time.

So, I hope this clears up what my interpretation of "no friends on powder days" actually looks like. You and Sarah are friends for 365 days per year, you can probably get by spending a few hours apart for a day. To some, "no friends on powder days" may look like a severance of relationships like Urban Dictionary defines it. But, to me, it's a civil way to ensure everyone takes full advantage of those blissfully perfect powder days.

*Exceptions

• If your family member, friend, or anyone else is taking you skiing on their dime and you haven't seen them in quite a long time, you should probably arrange to ski with them as much as you can. Take a few runs along adjacent powder slopes and meet them at the bottom of the lift. That's totally cool. But, remember that you wouldn't be enjoying this epic vacation if it wasn't for them in the first place.