There are structural components of ski vacation destinations you can do without. Recreational facilities like swimming pools, open hockey courts and indoor boxing rings are optional aspects, like cherry and strawberries on a cake. Important amenities like outdoor restroom, cabins, concession stalls, and basic first aid structures also composes the core services of a ski resort. But what really sets ski resorts unmistakable and apart from other types of tourist spots are basic utilities that directly involves its namesake activity – skiing. These are the types of functional components that made the concrete definition of ski resorts possible:
Ski trails
Ski trails are the most basic infrastructure of skiing activities. One can understand it in the same way as comprehending the invaluable use of runways in an airport. Although freestyle skiing often makes use of rugged untrimmed snow descent, a popular and overwhelming percentage of skiing activities depend on smooth and enjoyable trails. Besides, not all ski vacationers have the sufficient prowess or durable equipment to undertake the extreme freestyle skiing genre. Needless to say, there wouldn’t be any ski resorts without gentle-rolling pistes and ski trails.
Chair lifts
Chair lifts are more than just the stuff of romance for couples on a ski outing. This slow-moving mobile love seat is meant for a more utilitarian purpose. Common knowledge dictates that all skiing activities follow an obliquely vertical downward path. Logically, it would take climbing up the high frosted ground to begin skiing. Chair lifts are invented as a basic means of transportation so that vacationers can get all the fun they can get and avoiding the laborious hike on foot. Besides conserving energy, it is also meant to extend the fun duration in a limited day window (especially on hard winter times).
Rope tows
Another means of ascending the ski launching high ground are made possible by ski rope tows. Like chair lifts, they help skiers get to the apex with relatively zero effort. But what made this ride interesting is that it appeals to a more rugged and extreme type of ski vacation customer. One can think of this as a reverse or counterpart of mountain resort ziplines. Skiers are transported by a rotating cable, sliding up the slopes with straps fastened around their gear segments.
Aerial trams
Chair lifts provide rudimentary comfort while moving up the edge of the ski ramp. Rope tows transport skiers up the trail in a more exciting manner. However, the most convenient type of lift are called aerial trams. One might compare these to cable cars, where passengers enjoy being seated in a closed-door vehicle on the way to the ascent. In terms of traversing extremely lengthy trips across virtually impassable terrain, aerial trams provide fool-proof security that short-distance ski tows and open-air chair lifts lack. Aerial trams are the most luxurious key utility in ski vacation destinations.
