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NewsCut
Bob Collins

Love on the chairlift

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A growing trend on the slopes makes so much sense, it's surprising nobody thought of it before: chairlift speed dating.

Afton Alps is planning the event in February in conjunction with a matchmaking service. It's done it before.

Two love-seekers jump on the chairlift and if there's a connection, they can ski down the mountain together to whatever comes next. Or, they don't and get back in line. Simple. Beats getting drunk in a bar.

As near as we can tell, the trend started about six years ago in New Hampshire. Observe the technique.

It can be awkward, Julie Ellison of Outdoors Magazine found when she tried it in 2017. She got stuck with a snowboarder.

Back at the bottom, I clicked out of my skis for a quick break when a guy walked past me, then abruptly turned around and asked me to ski. I’d like to say it was my ravishing good looks that made him do a double take, but I could feel his eyes ogling something lower than my face.

I know my tech bindings and AT boots are sexy, I thought, but, dude, my eyes are up here. Earlier in the day, I had seen this same guy checking out my ski setup, and as we chatted in the lift line, I noticed we had the same boots.

Date Number Four and I talked about everything from living in a van to his plans to climb and ski Denali. He was bubbly and very interested in asking about my life. He was a dedicated skimo racer, ultrarunner, and musician, clearly ambitious and accomplished.

About 40 minutes in, he admitted that he had been on the way to the bathroom when he decided he had to stop and ask me to ski. I was flattered. In the annals of first dates, especially ones that happen on a chairlift, this one was top-notch.

He hinted at continuing our time together, which I would have been glad to do, but part of me was having so much fun changing it up that I decided to get another match. Five minutes later, I regretted this decision when I got paired with another snowboarder.