AUSTRALIA – Australia might not be on your list of biggest skiing countries, but there are plenty of resorts throughout the southern nation. While they might not be as famous as ski resorts in South America, New Zealand, or the northern hemisphere, they’re there, and you can’t discount the Australian skier’s opinions or experiences. Travel and job website Ski Season Central commissioned a survey asking about the most common ski etiquette violations in Australia, and the results probably won’t surprise you.
The survey asked over 2,000 Australians who’ve skied at least twice in the country in the past five years what violations they’ve seen on the mountain. The number 1 most popular violation, unsurprisingly, is skipping lines or pushing in the lift line, with 72% of people having witnessed the behavior. The entire list is as follows:
- Skipping lines or pushing in lift queues – 72%
- Not keeping a safe distance from other skiers – 50%
- Not respecting the environment – 32%
- Not obeying signs and markings – 24%
- Not looking before merging – 20%
- Going too fast – 18%
- Not staying in control – 17%
- Stopping in the middle of a slope inappropriately – 16%
- Smoking / vaping on the chairlift – 16%
- Not utilizing available seats on chairlifts efficiently – 14%
Again, not all that surprising. They also asked the same group what they would do if they witnessed this behavior. That list is as follows:
- Ignore the behavior and focus on enjoying your time (38%)
- Approach the person and politely inform them of the rules (23%)
- Record the behavior and share it on social media (17%)
- Report the incident to ski patrol and/or resort staff (11%)
- Unsure (7%)
- Other (4%)
Not all that surprising there either. It is pretty funny to see that more people would record the behavior and share it to social media than would report the incident to ski patrol. At least ski patrol can actually do something in the moment…