Ski Meals

Skiing can be an expensive sport. Lift tickets, equipment, locker rentals, and dining can add up for a single trip.

Equipment costs

Most equipment is a one-time cost with years of service. For example, a good pair of skis and boots can last years. We can depreciate that cost over seven years (durable goods), and the cost per visit to a ski resort is added along with the overall cost. After a depreciation period, we can remove the cost factor for skis each year. I have a pair of skis that are 38 years old. For a while, I was getting my money’s worth out of decades-old, fully depreciated skis. Recently I bought a pair of used rentals. Because I am tall, the rental was not beaten up by kids. I got a good pair of skis for $150. The skis cost $21.42 per year (using the seven-year depreciation timeframe). My boots (used) were $65.00 when I bought them. These boots cost me $9.29 per year. In my case, the boots are fully depreciated. So the fully depreciated boots cost me nothing. My point is that the equipment cost per day is $2.14 per visit (assuming ten ski trips per year). These equipment costs are negligible.

The high cost of lousy food

Ski tickets and the depreciated cost of equipment aside, food costs add up. Each weekend, Sheryl and I eat chilli and a soda for lunch. How much do you think this meal costs? $28.00! One can assert that the costs go into paying for the lodge, staff and food. This assertion is solid, and the ambience is excellent. This assertion breaks down when the high-cost results in a bowl of cold chilli. Often the staff is incapable of keeping up with the cooking tasks. A large container of chilli will run out before a new batch is properly heated. This chilli mismanagement issue results in long waits for chilli to heat (missed ski runs). In my recent two cases, the staff served lukewarm chilli. The staff acted like this was my problem. Being gluten-free is my problem since there is nothing else I can eat in the restaurant, and my energy levels are severely dropping due to the intense energy use from skiing. Once, I asked for a refund, and I received it. I ate the lukewarm chilli, but it was unsatisfying. It did meet the result – remediate the low energy issue. The chilli was cold!

A plan or dream or a complex nightmare

A few years ago, I skied by myself in 2021. I brought a thermos (vacuum bottle) full of sausage stew. It was great to eat. The food was warm enough, but I needed more food in my thermos and backpack. Can I cook a can of chilli with a portable backpack stove and a pot that can be used as a bowl?

What is needed to make this dream possible?

We can cook food at the ski resort with a backpacking camping stove. We need a fuel source. Alcohol and white gas are off of the list. No way will I risk a spill of flammable liquid in my backpack. We can rule out liquid fuel cooking stoves. Other options are solid fuel (toxic) and gas fuel. We are settling with gas fuel (Alkanes). Two gas fuels meet our objective. Butane and propane are the most reasonable.

Gas stoves manufacturers have miniaturised stoves. You can use a stove that will fit in a pocket. Let’s back up for a second. Two types of stoves can work for the alpine skier. We have two stove types that we can choose from for cooking. We can connect the stove to the top of a gas bottle (canister stove) or feed fuel to the stove with a hose (remote stove). Each type of stove has its pros and cons. The stoves attached to the top of a fuel canister are small and light, but they are easier to knock over, and you are limited on wind-blocking options. The remote stoves are heavier, but they are more stable, and they can be configured to block more wind. Before choosing the type of stove, we need to understand gas alkane fuels.

Butane

Butane can meet our objectives if we keep the fuel above -0.5° C. Butane does not perform well in the cold. Below -0.5° C, butane remains liquid and will not perform well in cold winter conditions. An isomer of butane (same chemical formula, but different structure) performs better in the cold. Isobutane will work well until the temperature reaches -11.7° C. Isobutane is a good option, but that performance comes at a cost. A butane (70%) propane (30%) blend works well at low temperatures (-13.3° C), but the propane eventually burns away, leaving behind liquid butane. The best-known benefit of butane, isobutane and butane/propane mixes is the vapour pressure of isobutane is low enough to allow for thinner fuel containers. The overall fuel weight in a backpack is kept to a manageable level when butane canisters are selected. Isobutane in small containers costs about $10 for 100 grams. Larger canisters cost less, but they are less portable. The market demand for smaller, more portable canisters ensures that the price for that 100 g container often be very close to a larger 700 g container. Often, people will buy a larger 700 g isobutane canister and refill the smaller 100 g canisters from the larger canister. Refilling used butane containers is undoubtedly an option, but it carries some risk of leakage.

Propane

Propane works exceptionally well in the cold. It does not liquefy until it reaches -42° C. At those uncomfortable temperatures, most people will not be skiing. Propane works exceptionally well in the cold, but vapour pressure requires a thick, sturdy cylinder. The smallest propane cylinder commonly found weighs 1072 g when full (a lot of weight for a backpack). Propane fuel is relatively inexpensive. Propane is far less expensive than butane because propane is available in bulk at filling stations. A 1072 g disposable bottle of propane costs about $12.00 in most stores. Carrying 1072 g of propane in a backpack rarely makes sense.

You can carry a smaller propane container. A small propane container can carry 50 g of liquid propane. The tank weighs 304 g when full. That is a lot of empty container weight, but the trade-off is fantastic reliability in cold temperatures. How much does it cost? Where I live, filling a 9 kg propane container costs $11.75. The actual weight is 8950 g of propane. That amount of propane will fill 179 bottles of propane that hold 50 g each. We expect to lose about 0.5 g per refilling of the 50 g propane bottles. That figure is 89.5 g of lost propane in total for refilling. Oddly enough, the 89.5 g of waste in the refill process represents 1% of the entire batch of propane in the 9 kg bottle. The cost of gas for a 50 g propane bottle is 6.6 cents per bottle. This cost is far lower than isobutane at $10 per 100 g container. Even if you refill a 100g container with more reasonably priced isobutane ($7 per 600 g), propane costs are much lower.

Putting it together

An Alternative

Skip the above and take a vacuum flask on your skiing trip. Save the stove for tea in the parking lot after an exhilarating day of skiing.