CMH Questionnaire: Skier Ability Ratings

Several of your have asked about the "Skier Ability" rating on the CMH questionnaire. Here's my comment:

The bottom line is that they only use the self-ratings as one input into the initial group formations. CMH uses a number of factors to form the groups - self-ratings, weights for each skier and thus total group weight that impacts heli lift capacity, group requests for people to group together, and no doubt some other magic I don't know. Plus, they watch each skier on the first runs and then adjust the groups if necessary.

They already have us down as a ski patrollers, and thus good skiers. They'll also try to keep our group together as much as possible. So, frankly, I don't think the self-rating matters that much. I always put down "strong & steady", and it works out fine. I don't think you'd go wrong with either of the top 2 ratings.