skiers out number climbers

quote from Mike Gauthier blog
www.mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com/

"...The other interesting trend that is being noticed is the number of skiers vs. the number of climbers. Over the past couple of years, I've seen an increase in the number of ski mountaineers on the hill in May and June. There have been quite a few weekends where we've actually seen more skiers than climbers at the high camps! It's no surprise that skiers and boarders flock to Rainier when the conditions are good (April/May/June) but to actually observe fewer climbers is interesting"


???

The climbers have to go elsewhere to save face once all the routes have been skied.

The climbers have to go elsewhere to save face once all the routes have been skied.

If folks like you keep at it, there'll be nothing left to climb that hasn't been skiied

Liberty Ridge was skied in 1980.  That didn't reduce climber traffic much.

It's like saying that people will stop belaying a rock climb after somebody free-solos it. 

Nonsense.

Maybe climbers are learning to ski?

Eric at Marmot has told me that the run rate on ski gear has been pretty high the last bunch of years. Maybe people are learning it's more fun than walking down?

Down here in Oregon it appears to me there are just more skiers and boarders heading to the backcountry once the resorts close. There are so many people who ski and ride the resorts that even if 1% of them start venturing into the backcountry it would be a substantial increase.....