Ski Food - Pro or Con?

For someone who has only skied five times in her life, I really really REALLY love it.  So I know the connotations of skiing - rich snobby white people, who can afford their own skis and a season lift pass to the fanciest ski resorts in Colorado and the Alps.  But in my limited experience, these stereotypes have been busted.  In smaller, intimate, kind of slobby ski resorts in Montana, Utah, and California, the focus was on the slopes and the quality of snow, rather than the extra facilities and the gourmet dining and the yearly film festival.  

So I agree, the gourmet dining might( (ie. certainly) would be delicious.  But every ski resort I've been to has some requisite food choices; namely, soup, fries, chili, and hot chocolate.  And honestly, what more does one need?

This weekend, I went to Greek Peak for the first time in my undergraduate career at Cornell.  And it was the epitome of smaller, more intimate resorts, bestowed with ancient chairlifts and rundown lodges.  But the weather was fabulous, the snow was groomed, and the chili was beany and cheesy.  Honestly, the only food I can even think of eating after a morning of skiing is steaming, chunky clam chowder, tasty thick-cut fries, and meaty chili in a paper bowl - you know, healthy, nutritious, energy-providing food. 

I hope no one thinks I'm bashing the smaller, cheaper ski resorts - I love them, and therefore I associate certain foods with them.  Food that you'd never willingly eat except after being frozen on slopes for four hours.  Food that is greasy and of ambiguous origin, but is warm and liquidy and comforting.  So before you blow big bucks on expensive fine-dining resorts, remember the littler, friendlier, slightly scruffier resorts; that are cheaper and closer, but just a satisfying.  

Yum.