What Skiing Really Means in San Francisco

[leans in, lowers voice to a conspiratorial whisper]

"New Yorkers read books to feel cultured. They go to jazz basements and arguments. The 19-year-old YC transplants? Culture is a cold plunge, lion’s mane, and some AI-generated haiku about 'resonance.'

But us? Real San Franciscans? Culture is skiing.

Not vacation skiing. Not 'family trip to Breck' skiing.

I mean: disappear Thursday, Slack from the gondola, return Monday with windburn and a story about 'Timmy from Dropbox' eating shit on a backcountry run called "Death Angel Bowl".

They won’t say they're better than you.

They’ll just ski more.

Five different shell layers. A $900 pass.

Slightly haunted from a whiteout in Jackson Hole.

Closed a deal in ski boots and a headlamp.

Said, completely deadpan: 'I'm splitting time between Mammoth and Utah.'

Vail. Telluride. Aspen. Jackson Hole. Tahoe.

These are not just places—they’re rites of passage. Class markers with chairlifts.

You don’t go to ski. You go to belong.

They track snow like it’s earnings season.

They hate Vail out loud and still buy the pass.

They have avalanche stories and opinions about snow density.

This isn’t a hobby.

It’s the last socially acceptable form of class warfare."

[pauses, sips $8 espresso]

"I’ll be in Tahoe this weekend. You?"