In two weeks, my wife and I will be going on vacation to one of my favorite ski resorts: Whistler. Before this winter, my wife has never skied and over the past few weeks I have attempted to prepare her. This preparation has two aspects. First, the actual business of skiing. I have now taken the Mrs. skiing twice and she coming along faster than I had hoped. Her biggest problem is stopping. Thus far, she stops primarily by getting to flat bit at the bottom of the hill and running out of momentum. While this method is fairly successful on the small local hills, it is of far less practical on a mountain.
The second element that I have tried to prepare her for are the people we will encounter at Whistler. Skiing, particularly in the mountains, is an expensive activity and largely attracts individuals of great means. Now, we all know a few rich people, but the scale of difference between some skiers and the average american can still be quite surprising. A few years ago, I was skiing at Vail and while waiting in line to buy tickets was approached by a person doing market research for the resort. One of the questions on the survey asked for the subject's annual income. The available answers were: 0-$150k, 150k-250k, 250-500k, 500k-1MM, 1MM-2MM, or 2MM plus. More than 95% of American families would be in the first range; these families are rare at Vail.
Though my wife grew up on the Philippines, she wasn't poor. Her parents had white collar jobs and all of her older siblings went to college in the Philippines. But, I have still felt the need to prepare her for the people we will encounter at Whistler. I am not afraid that she will embarrass me. She is very social, well mannered and generally a good sport about everything. But, I love skiing and I am afraid that she will be so put off by the other families' priorities and perspective that she won't want to be around them ever again.
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