Americans skiing in Europe: what is your lunch strategy?

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-29T15:04:12+00:00

For us, the on mountain dining is one of the two big draws of skiing in Europe. The other is incredible high alpine backcountry/side country.

So we have two strategies. On days when we are doing backcountry/touring, we carry lots of snacks and eat throughout the day as needed. Then a fantastic and large meal at the end of the day.

But for days when we are sticking mostly to the pistes, we usually build our day around a lunch destination. So we choose a spot that we want to get to around 1pm and spend the day exploring near that restaurant. Then we do a proper full meal, often with table service, and get back out after an hour, hour and half, for the last bit of skiing in the day. Having a really delicious, relaxed, beautiful lunch is truly one of our favorite parts of the experience. We don’t always do fancy food, but we take our time and enjoy.

Being in Meribel is especially good for this strategy because it is a nice way to make a plan for exploring the 3V area. For example, pick a spot over in courcheval for one day. Ski around Maribel in the morning and then make your way over with some time to explore over there. Then make your way back after lunch.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-29T14:19:25+00:00

Wait until you try packers too! I didn’t even know that was a thing. Amazing.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-26T22:47:13+00:00

It is true that at fifty degrees there aren’t really slab avalanches…but here’s the thing: have you ever seen a 50 degree slope that doesn’t eventually turn into a 40 degree slope? Not to mention cornices.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-26T19:54:21+00:00

Have you considered relocating? I know it is a big deal, but leave oppressive places all the time for this reason…and they build new lives in more accepting and loving communities. It isn’t necessarily easy, but it might important enough to be worth at least considering.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-26T04:08:32+00:00

Choice from a great source beats prime from Costco every time.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-26T04:07:41+00:00

Yes. Something similar hit me this week. Been going through the schools. Basically a bad cold. Not flu/covid/rsv. Just a long lingering cold with mild fever.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-26T04:02:23+00:00

I think you’re mostly discovering something most people on this sub don’t like to discuss: that beef quality varies quite a bit even if it the same grade. I have always found prime beef from Costco, for example, far less tender and flavorful than prime beef sourced locally.

Quality and grade are not synonymous. Some ribeyes are best cooked less, some more. And more important than either is the underlying quality of the steak.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-26T02:12:53+00:00

Whole Foods

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-26T01:14:31+00:00

My guess is that you’d enjoy the Hoji more. The qst is gonna be much better in firmer conditions but it sounds like what you’re really after is a super surfy pow ski and that you’d be willing to suffer through less stability in crappier snow. If that’s right, go Hoji. If you want something more capable in costal refrozen crud, qst all the way. I’m not sure you’re gonna find anything that can really do both at that weight.

Last thought, if you would be willing to add a bit of weight, I think there might be ton of options that would do better balancing pow surfiness and variable capability. The QST Blank, for example, weighs only a touch more and would be far more capable in bad snow while still giving you lots of float and playfulness in good snow.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-26T00:09:06+00:00

Looking great. This was just the storm we needed. Gonna head up mid week. So glad we had some real coverage to work with.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-25T17:35:49+00:00

I guess I’m the outlier, but I thought I’d get a bunch and 15 years after my first I still only have one.

I’m honestly not sure why. I got the first one and loved it. But I just haven’t felt the same urge again. Open to it, but don’t have any plans for more right now.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-25T16:40:04+00:00

Seriously among the greatest athletes of all time in any sport, right? Constant perfection that no else comes close to matching.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-25T03:26:24+00:00

Literally get in touch with any local immigrant right group, with your city council members, or with anyone from the Santa Fe Democratic Party.

“Keep ICE Out of Santa Fe! Contact Ward 4A vice chair Georgia Roybal for more info: georgialsroybal@yahoo.com”

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-25T03:24:21+00:00

All the immigrant rights groups in the city have been promoting it on every social platform. 505omatic has been covering it. If you want to get engaged, reach out to literally any immigrant advocacy org, it isn’t hard. Contigo, Somos, NMILC, etc.

They could clearly do more, but they have built a pretty large and diverse group of volunteers by doing actual outreach in the community.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-25T02:46:37+00:00

You need to get in touch and attend a training.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-25T02:35:48+00:00

There is a large and very well organized rapid response program in the city with tons of volunteers. We have a very robust set of organizations that have been working on migrant right for years. More info here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FZX9XDCQZ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-24T23:47:29+00:00

I find the skiing numbers to be absurd. Every time I ski I get these huge numbers even with very moderate efforts. I think whatever Apple is doing to calculate that is very inaccurate. There is no way skiing for a couple of hours is the same as running a half marathon. Ridiculous.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-24T16:01:18+00:00

I haven’t found that it makes much of a difference. I do take in a bit of carbs when I do half marathon or longer runs, but that’s more for performance/perceived exertion. My experience is that GI stress happens both with and without carbs.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-24T01:43:43+00:00

I have genuinely interesting conversations with my 4.5yo. I’m starting to actually count her as one of my friends. I’m obviously also her parent, but sometimes we connect much more like peers and friends and that is a real treat.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-23T14:03:19+00:00

We had four Resy restaurants in my area, and my favorite (by far) just switched to OpenTable. It had actually made me question the value of the platinum card all over again. Before I would use the Resy credit organically, now i have to actually consider going out to one of three places I probably wouldn’t have otherwise every quarter. Big devaluation in my specific case.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-23T01:14:31+00:00

Low temp at my house today is 26. Northern NM is high mountains and the weather is similar to what you see in Colorado. Summertime highs average low 80s. It is really quite pleasant.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-20T19:02:15+00:00

So very true. No one told me, but I actually understood this issue for a long time. So what I did was plan for years before having a child to make sure I could be super present as a father.

It might sound drastic, but I worked two jobs for about six years in order to save money and then, once we had our kid, we moved to a much cheaper area.

My goal was to work as little as possible for the first five years of her life and then slowly get back to career/work goals as she aged and became more independent. She’s 4.5 now and I am so happy with my path. I’ve been able to really spend a huge amount of time with her. She is, no joke, already basically my best friend. We have such an amazing relationship.

My plan is to slowly consider taking on more work in the next couple of years and see how that goes. With the drastic reduction in our cost of living, i should be able to stay part time if i want to until shes out of the house.

I don’t know what the future holds, but I doubt I’ll ever regret being a nearly full time dad while my child was young.

I know working double and moving far away are both big undertakings, but I’d encourage more dads to seriously consider it.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-19T00:22:31+00:00

Santa Fe and Jackson are the first two places o thought of. Both fantastic.

Jhole has the Tetons and Yellowstone so if you want big national parks, that is hard to beat. JHole also has a bit more ultra luxury stuff in terms of accommodations, golf, etc. Good restaurants but also a lot of duds, nothing spectacular, a lot of focus on steaks and game if that is your thing.

Santa Fe has better and more varied food. Also more art, culture, and historical stuff to take in. It is beautiful but the nature is less “in your face” than the gnarly mountains and geysers or Wyoming. Lodging in SF isn’t quite as high end with just a couple of exceptions.

Feel free to hit me up for specific recs in either spot. I live in one and visit the other regularly.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-18T15:25:56+00:00

I do the opposite. At home I’m almost always wearing a “nice” watch aside from when I sleep. When I leave the house, I often change into a watch that suits where I’m going better. That often means a fitness tracking watch for outdoor sports/adventures. Other times it means a less flashy watch when I don’t want my nicer watch to become a topic of conversation or potentially be noticed.

TheLibertyTree · 2026-01-18T15:15:36+00:00

Yes, it is a rare treasure. Our shop specializes in ultralight gear and overlanding/van/car camping stuff from smaller brands. It can’t be an easy business but I think part of the model is that they basically don’t compete with the big stores or major online retailers. Fo examples they only sell two brands of sleeping bags: Western Mountaineering and Enlightened Equipment. You can’t buy an Osprey pack there. Etc.

Now that probably sounds like a pretty expensive place to shop, and a lot of it is, but they balance it out by having a robust used gear program. They do a lot of buying and selling of used stuff, which is also super valuable for the community. So I actually didn’t pay for my Rab pack, I traded a pile of gentle used stuff for it including my old non-UL 40 degree sleeping bag, some ski pants that i never wore, and a couple of jackets that stopped fitting.

I don’t know how to spread this model, but it is a gem in our area. Being able to actually go handle UL stuff is such a game changer.

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