It’s almost ski season, and twenty-somethings everywhere are planning trips to Winter Park, Breckenridge, and Copper Mountain. Ski trips provide a wide range of opportunities not only for sport and fun but also for relationships to grow.
My friend, Joy, and I have performed an intensive case study on male behavior on ski trips over the past few years by skiing with a wide range of guys—from crushes to boyfriends to long-time buddies to friends of friends of friends. Our extensive research focused specifically on how these men interacted with us--average girls who, for each of them, fell somewhere on a continuum from “just friends” to “I want to marry this girl.”
We found that our level of romantic interest in each of these males and theirs in us had little bearing on how we wanted to be treated by them. So, Guys, whether you’d like to DTR (Define The Relationship) by the fire in the lodge or simply show her that you’re not a jerk, use our insider tips for how to treat a girl on a ski trip.
In the car—Long car rides are just part of the deal. Use it to your advantage.
1. She knows you’ve got skills; you could win a sleeping competition, and yet you’ve got supersonic hearing whenever the word “Chickfila” is spoken. Show her you’ve got some conversational skills; take the earbuds out, and talk to her.
2. If you’re driving on a snowy mountain road and your vehicle has four-wheel drive, use it. She’s not impressed that your pride and two-wheel drive are getting the job done, especially when the vehicle rolls backwards and narrowly misses a tree. She’d like to arrive alive.
3. If there’s a police officer walking towards your car and your buddy yells at you to put on your seatbelt, do it. If due to the fact that you are not wearing a seatbelt, the police officer tells you to “wait here” so he can get his citation book, don’t drive away. If you’ve chosen to disobey a police order by driving away, don’t return to the scene of the crime; take another route home. The police officer might still be staked out in the same spot hours later, and your girl likes to feel her heart race on a mogul run, not in the passenger seat of your car. She’s not accustomed to running from the law like you apparently are, and she doesn’t want to bail you out of jail.
At your place—Will the ladies on the ski trip be stopping at your place for any length of time? Be prepared.
4. If an overnight stay at your place is necessary, give her your bedroom, and sleep on the living room couch. You’ll get major points for this…but you’ll lose some of them if she finds crumbs in your bed.
5. Have at least a shred of toilet paper in your house…or a Kleenex…or a napkin… Anything!
On the slopes—Even if you’re a black diamond pro, the mountain offers many scenarios that can make you or break you.
6. Offer to help carry her equipment. Some girls like to pull their own weight, and others welcome the assistance of a strong man like you. You won’t know which kind of girl you’re dealing with until you ask, and no girl likes to be left in your dust—I mean powder—to figure it out herself.
7. If you have any interest in a romantic future with the girl on your trip, don’t get so excited about the awesome girl from your past who magically appears in the lift line. Weigh your options carefully because you’re sealing your fate, dude.
8. She knows you can smoke her in any kind of race because your sense of your own mortality is not as healthy as hers. Slow it down to her pace for at least one run per day.
9. Don’t talk about Lindsey Vonn. Your in-the-flesh girl doesn’t appreciate your fascination with her or any other beautiful athletes.
10. When she falls, take your cue from her as to how you should react. If she’s laughing about it, you can laugh too, but don’t you dare laugh harder than she’s laughing.
At the lodge—Relax those sore muscles in the hot tub at the lodge, but don’t relax those relational muscles.
11. Help with the dishes. When she says, “I think I’ll clean up these dishes now,” what she’s really saying is, “I think you should clean up these dishes now, and I’m giving you a golden opportunity to prove that you’re a gentleman. Wanna take it?”
12. You’ll always have Ninja Warrior on TV. You won’t always have the opportunity to interact with this girl…particularly if you keep watching Ninja Warrior. Turn it off.
Guys, I hope you see that with a little intentionality you can set yourself apart from the jokers on your ski trip. You might even win your girl’s heart—or at least five bucks towards your bail money.
This article is dedicated to my husband, with whom I have not yet had the pleasure of going on a ski trip. Now he’s prepared for when the time comes—as if he needed any help! He’s never failed to provide for my toilet paper needs.
