Skiing solo, and enjoying it
Skiing alone has a bad reputation it does not deserve. Once you are on the mountain, a lift ticket is a lift ticket, and some of the best days come from turning up on your own and letting the day unfold. Here is how to make solo skiing work, from booking to the last run.
Booking a trip on your own
The part that puts people off is rarely the skiing. It is the logistics, and mostly the cost of lodging. On packages and tours it shows up as a single supplement, since prices are quoted per person on double occupancy; at ordinary hotels there is no supplement as such, you simply pay the whole room rate on your own. There are several ways around it. You can book a hosted singles trip, where the operator arranges shared rooms and the cost is split. You can pick a resort with hostels or lodges that sell beds rather than rooms. Or you can simply pay for the room and treat the privacy as part of the trip. Which one fits depends on your budget and how social you want the trip to be, and the clubs and trips directory lists operators that handle the shared-room side for you.
Lessons and the singles line
A group lesson is one of the most underrated ways to ski solo. You get coaching, you ski with people at your level for a couple of hours, and by lunch you often have someone to take a few more runs with. Even strong skiers book the occasional clinic for exactly this reason. The other trick is the singles line, the separate queue most busy lifts run to fill the odd empty seat on a chair, which puts you next to a different stranger every ride.
Meeting people on the mountain
Most people on a chairlift do not mind a bit of conversation, and many are glad of it. Ask what run someone just came off, whether the far side is worth the traverse, or where the good coffee is. If you want more than passing chat, a club or a hosted trip does the introducing for you. The mountain is a friendly place once you accept that everyone else is a little unsure at first too.
Solo safety habits
- Tell someone your rough plan for the day and when you expect to be down
- Keep your phone charged and carry it somewhere warm
- Stay in-bounds unless you are with a guide
- Look up the resort's emergency procedure and save the number it gives
- Take a real lunch break before tired legs make mistakes
- Ski well within yourself late in the day when the light flattens
Before you go
A good solo day starts with being warm and comfortable, because there is no one to borrow a spare glove from. Sort your layers and your boot fit before you travel, and you remove most of what goes wrong. Our gear page walks through what to rent, what to own, and how to get your sizing right, and if you would rather check the numbers yourself first, these ski gear sizing calculators keep boot, ski, and pole sizing in one place.
Go deeper
Each part of skiing solo has its own guide:
- Is it safe to ski alone? The in-bounds line, tree wells, and the safety checklist.
- How to plan a solo ski trip, in the order the decisions come.
- Your first solo ski trip, what the days actually look like once you are there.
- How to meet people on the slopes, the joiner and planner routes.
- How to beat the single supplement, the four ways round paying for an empty bed.
- Solo ski trips in Europe, where the social side needs planning in advance.
- Solo skiing as a woman, including verified women-only camps.