It appears that in this phenomenon of acceleration we experience apprehension of ‘losing something‘, a compulsion to adapt, and a belief that the immediate issue is of paramount importance, thereby feeling overwhelmed by the immediacy. Since everything seems to us to be accelerated, everything is also fast and disposable, because behind it comes another fast and disposable experience, thus, everything becomes a disposable skiing experience.
We try to ski more and more quickly because, as we have mentioned, we are afraid of ‘missing‘ something, of ‘wasting‘ time. The postmodern skiing experience is not based on its duration but on the number of times we descend a slope.
Time defined as “the present” is being reduced, and we can perceive this as everything is being adjusted to the logic of acceleration, including the opening and closing times of lifts, equipment rental shops, restaurants, ski schools, and lesson times.
As postmodern skiers we are operationally anxious, and we only enjoy skiing more runs because we are accustomed to the imperative to ‘produce more’. When we hit the snow, we unconsciously apply the same logic: we ski more, which does not mean skiing better.
We believe that by producing more, communicating quicker, and using faster means of going up the mountain we can also ski more, jump higher, and have more time to ski down more slopes; in other words: ‘producing more skiing‘. Feeling trapped in those ‘more‘, time is not enough for us, therefore, we must accelerate our pace and our temporal appetite to do more things in less time so as not to stay behind, or even worse, not to be left behind.
According to the acceleration dynamics hypothesis, acceleration not only alters the way we ski but also transforms us in the way we relate to our own actions and to others. This chronic time pressure is the cause of the acceleration phenomenon that we perceive.
Although we all experience physical acceleration when skiing, we also experience it due to the temporal intensity we feel around it. Others even perceive it as exhilarating in the sense of individually accomplishing more in a shorter amount of time. Furthermore, this individuality is present in that we no longer need to relate to each other physically due to the advancements in technology in digital communications. This also has repercussions in the social skiing environment as we are losing the habit of skiing together.
It is more than clear that, in this accelerated society, it seems that the phenomenon of acceleration is a form of social domination that imposes on us a temporal regime in terms of deadlines and regulations that we must comply with, as if there were no long-term objectives or that the requirements of a ski descent were above the pleasure of enjoying it. As in our daily lifetime is socially and rigorously regulated by these temporal deadlines, we obviously transfer this behavior to the ski resort in all the activities offered there.
Moving on in postmodern skiing, the concept of acceleration is also reflected in technological acceleration, wherein lifts are required to operate at a faster rate to accommodate an increasing number of skiers in a shorter period of time. The present paradox indicates that we have reached a significant level of technological advancement, supposedly aimed at ‘saving‘ time. However, we feel that time is not enough for us, since we have to hurry to reach the longed-for ‘optimization‘ of the snow vacation. This, of course, leads to not being able to enjoy our personal leisure and pleasure activities in the mountains. Despite the technological advancements, we perceive time as increasingly scarce and the pace of our skiing is getting faster and faster.
Continuing with the subject, social acceleration makes us feel pressured by the fear of running out of reservations for lodging, lift tickets, ski lessons, or equipment rentals. This generates the apprehension of being excluded, alienated and unable to keep up with the imposed pace. Nonetheless, not all processes can be expedited as there are instances of imposed deceleration, such as the time we spend in the lines when boarding the lifts, during gastronomic breaks, or when returning to our lodging, which are all forced occasions to slow down.
