Ski guides and explainers

Plain explanations of the things behind a ski day. Learn how each type of lift runs and how to ride it, how resorts make snow and when it is cold enough, how to read a snow forecast by elevation and when resorts plan to open for the season.

Tools

Interactive pages that answer one question each.

  • Which lifts keep running in wind?

    Move the slider to see, for each lift type, the wind at which operators commonly slow and then stop it. These are indicative ranges, not rules.

  • How big is each lift?

    Every carrier at one scale, next to a 1.8 m person, with how many people it carries and how many the lift moves per hour.

  • Snowmaking weather tonight

    Choose a resort to see tonight’s suitable weather hours by forecast elevation.