The 8 Best Feelings in Skiing—and 5 of the Absolute Worst

There are plenty of reasons we ski: the mountains, the snow, the exercise, the views, the après. But if we’re being honest, skiing is really a never-ending pursuit of a handful of perfect moments. You recognize them immediately when they happen. Waking up to an unexpected powder day. The sweet schuss of fresh corduroy under your skis. Taking off your ski boots after a long day on the slopes.

Of course, skiing has a way of balancing every high with a spectacularly specific low. For every bottomless powder turn, there’s the sound of your skis scraping over something that definitely wasn’t snow. So we ranked the best feelings in skiing—and threw in five of the worst, because suffering is apparently part of the sport.

The Top 8 Moments Skiers Live For

8. First Glimpse of the Slopes at the Start of the Season

Ah, sweet anticipation. There’s nothing like that first view of the snow-covered trails from the car window after a seemingly endless off season. It takes your breath away every single time, and simply never gets old.

7. First Tracks on Freshly Groomed Corduroy

Slicing across a perfectly groomed run that no one else has yet had the pleasure of skiing is just divine. Want to carve World Cup GS turns and pretend you’re Mikaela Shiffrin? Have at it. It’s a blank canvas prepped just for you.

6. That One Perfect Turn

It doesn’t matter whether you’re skiing powder, carving a groomer, or threading through trees. Every skier occasionally makes a turn so good that they think they could potentially go pro—or at least get a cameo in the next Warren Miller flick.

5. Stumbling Across a Rope Drop

It doesn’t occur often, but when ski patrol is about to open new terrain after a storm, and you just happen to be skiing by, thank the ski gods and patiently wait for the nod. Consider it good karma for years of schlepping, liftlines, and $25 burgers.

4. Waking Up to a Powder Day

Whether a forecasted storm actually delivered or you cracked the shades to find everything unexpectedly covered in white, this is a Top 5 feeling, to be sure. It’s time to wake everyone up and get moving. Who needs breakfast? It’s a powder day!

3. Finding a Secret Afternoon Stash

This is skiing’s version of finding money in an old jacket (although that’s pretty cool, too). The powder is skied out, everyone is heading in for après. Then you duck into a pocket of trees, cut across the side of a run, or take a line nobody else noticed, and there it is: Untouched snow, hours—maybe days—after the storm. Time to buy a lottery ticket.

2. Taking Your Ski Boots Off

You thought this would be number 1? It’s up there for sure. Even if your boots are well-fitting and (relatively) comfortable, there’s nothing like freeing  your dogs from their plastic-and-foam prisons. Until the following morning, that is.

1. Floating Through Deep, Untracked Powder

There is a reason powder skiing is an obsession for most of us. The first turn is a little wobbly. Muscle memory kicks in for the second. Then, suddenly, the skis rise, the snow parts, and you’re floating. For a few turns, skiing feels totally effortless—which is impressive considering how much effort it took to get there.

The 5 Worst Feelings in Skiing

Because every skier knows that the lows are almost as specific as the highs.

5. Realizing You Forgot Your Goggles

You can improvise a lot of things on a ski day. This is not one of them. Get ready to drop $250 in the resort gear shop while lamenting the fact that you removed them from your skim bag to clean the lenses.

4. Finding Out Your Pass is Blacked Out on the Way to the Slopes

Skiing over Christmas or President’s Day weekend? Read the fine print or find out the hard way that window rates are absolutely obscene.

3. Hearing Your Skis Hit a Rock

There are few sounds capable of immediately transporting a skier through all five stages of grief. This is one of them.

2. Feeling Your Phone—or Car Keys—Leave Your Pocket

You thought you zipped it. You did not, in fact, zip it.

1. Hearing That Tell-Tale “Pop”

It happens almost in slow-motion: You ski goes one way and your knee doesn’t follow suit. You think you can right the ship before there’s any damage, and then, pop. You’re a goner. Or rather, your season is a goner.

This one is a terrible feeling both physically and mentally. If it’s any consolation, you’re now the newest member of the most exclusive club that no one wants to join. Welcome. We hope your stay is brief and forgettable.