Let’s begin by noting what was all over the news in recent days: the lift lines at Vail were appalling last weekend. Does it feel a little good to see a horde of wealth-signaling skiers at America’s most wealth-signaling resort being forced to line up like refugees fleeing a war zone? No, no, it shouldn’t. But maybe it does a little.  

Also appalling: no explanation from Vail, or parent company Vail Resorts, on what happened or what they plan to do about it. Just a website and Twitter feed full of happy talk. “A legendary weekend” and “nearly four feet of snow!” (In fact, one account claims it was among the top-five snow events ever recorded at Vail.) Intuition says that the masses who came out to ski fell afoul of some closed terrain and closed lifts due to that amazing snowfall.

That all seems unavoidable, but it would be helpful to know what happened…and to get a heads up when it could happen again. That lack of communication is absolutely avoidable. With communication…including a ballpark number of visitors who have already gone through the gates (which Vail doesn’t disclose)…you could change your plans. There are a lot of hills in Colorado.

One assumes that a lot of the extended conversations in these grim lines had to do with the pernicious effects of ski passes, in this case Vail Resorts Epic Pass. The problem with ski passes, which are designed to make skiing more affordable and more attractive to the masses, is that they have made skiing more affordable and more attractive to the masses. Instead of paying over $200 a day to ski at Vail, for example, or almost $150 at Whistler and many other resorts, you get a pass and ski your brains out. Pay the cost to be the boss and never think about it again that entire season. It’s still not really cheap, compared to many other human activities, but it makes a huge difference. And it encourages you to get out and ski, because everyone has an interior monologue in which they divide the pass price by the number of days skiing to get the average day cost because that’s how we are made. All of us.

Understandably, those of us who are taking advantage of a ski pass hate that so many other people are also doing so. Here, hatred is human: Long lift lines combine small talk and soul-crushing stasis with the only time you are likely to feel claustrophobia while outdoors on a mountain. All that stands in painful contrast to the exhilaration that awaits as soon as you are beyond the lift. And certainly, if you live in a once quiet mountain town and don’t profit—directly or indirectly—from the influx of skiers brought to you by the Ikon, Mountain Collective or Epic passes, you are understandably discomforted by the hordes and by the transformation of your once charming if a little twee village.

But we must dispense with this hand-wringing. For most of us, what was once an abiding fantasy of days or weeks on a sizeable mountain with good lifts and decent accommodations nearby is now a genuine possibility. Or more: once you have that pass, and a full tank of gas and a little space between your current balance and your credit card limit, the pass is a bracing challenge. You’ve dreamed about this, you’ve plotted out a plausible time and route…so are you going to do it or not?  

The passes have certainly rewritten the rules for how you, the pass-holder, might approach your trip. As the New York Times pointed out at the beginning of this season, you are no longer tethered to your expensive slopeside condo. You can target a cluster of ski hills, find a cheap motel that’s centrally located, and branch out.

The risk, of course, is that you might have trouble getting to the hill if there’s a massive snow dump overnight. Your fellow skiers will be jamming roads that may be only partially passable. Once you get there, you need to park, grab the shuttle, grab the gondola or lift, and by the time you plant your first pole all the powder has been skied off by the old-school trippers who stay on the hill. In the swankier places, the concierge would have set out your skis so you can count on something like the first tracks while the pass-holders are still trying to decide if they can jam that rented Toyota into a corner slot that’s half asphalt, half slush-pile. Fair warning: It is possible that you will not be able to park, at all, and will drive on past Northstar to ski at Boreal, which is not on your pass, because you had that extra cup of coffee at breakfast.

So tip #1: Don’t dawdle, especially on a weekend. Get up, get out, get parked. Consider using public transport that will circumvent parking problems and reduce your stress.

Tip 2: Use the pass to ski yourself into shape. All your squats and roadwork are for naught and you know it. Skiing uses a weird collection of muscles that is mimicked by no other activity. I have no source for this but I believe it to be so. So get out there, go easy for the first ten days, then go nuts. And yes, I said the first ten days because with a pass it is all free after that first hefty downstroke. So use it.

Other tips from the Times, most of them fairly obvious:

  • Think in groups of resorts: as noted above, you can hit a handful of different mountains on a single trip. Say Breckenridge, Keystone and (after a short drive) Vail and Beaver Creek—all on the Epic Pass. The Ikon Base Pass will give you access to Copper Mountain, Arapahoe Basin and Winter Park. On an alternate Epic Pass trip to Tahoe, sample Kirkwood, Heavenly and Northstar. You can do the same in Park City, Utah (on Epic) or Cottonwood Canyons (on the Ikon Base Pass).
  • Be nimble: Ultimate flexibility may be the most under-appreciated benefit of a multi-mountain season pass. You were thinking of Park City, but with two weeks before your departure you realize the snow cover is thin. Like gauzy. And there will still be many, many locals out there scraping that sad gray matter into a gruel of sadness and despair. No problem for you, though. You cancel your nights at the Salt Lake City Ramada and dash off to Tahoe, or Whistler, wherever the powder is whipping in happy skiers’ faces, because you have a pass.
  • Get the right vehicle. You’re going to be driving a bit, so pay a bit more for that S.U.V. Sure you hate the mileage, but you want a vehicle that will have room for your gear and have the best chance to plow through the 10 inches of fresh snow you’re hoping to see. Be aware that rental car agencies will not guarantee four-wheel drive. Mostly they offer two-wheel drive S.U.V.s, which are better on clearance alone, but not really what you want going over a mountain pass where you are supposed to have chains, snow tires, four-wheel drive and a team of oxen. (If the weather is that bad, turn around. You can go another day. You have a pass.) Also, and this is a personal gripe, not all S.U.V.s are right-sized for your condo lot. My last trip to Tahoe I was “upgraded” to a two-wheel drive Nissan Armada, which is approximately the size of an M1 Abrams tank. Plenty of room for gear and it was a very comfy ride on California interstates, but it was a big, floppy sissy boy on a thin layer of parking lot ice. After some sliding and swearing I got it moved under its own power, which was good because our carload of buff dudes would have been unable to push that beast if it came to that. It doesn’t hurt to have some form of roadside assistance, because conditions. And you are driving an unfamiliar vehicle.

Another thought: don’t be stingy. You have enjoyed lots of skiing…or you will by season’s end. You’re going to get your money’s worth. So if it turns out after skiing Park City your buddies have a hankering to sample Powder Mountain, go ahead. No, it’s not on your Epic Pass. But it’s an awesome ski hill with more skiable acreage than any U.S. resort and an annual average 500 inches of snow. It won’t be crowded because daily tickets are capped at 1,500.  It’s close to Salt Lake City (a bit over an hour) and not overly expensive (full days are $72 for 65-74 year-olds and free for 75+; 3-9pm night skiing is just $29). So go ahead and have fun, you cheap bastard.

(The Powder Mountain website also has a very clever and oddly immersive 3D trail map. Check it out.)

Image: Vail lift lines, Ski Town All-Stars via Unofficial Networks