Q Have you ever seen a ski resort map in the style of a transit map? I was thinking about attempting it, not sure if it is even feasible.

A I thought it was pretty much compulsory for every ski resort in the world to have a James Niehues panoramic painting for their resort map, so it’s no surprise that I haven’t actually come across a transit map-styled one yet.

The closest I’ve seen are these maps by Frozen Underground, but they just link ski resorts together using arbitrary “routes” and the well-worn iconography of the Tube Map, so that’s not quite what you’re after.

If it’s something you want to attempt, then go ahead and be the first – though I personally wonder about the usefulness of it. The big advantage of the painted panorama style that dominates this particular market is that it allows riders to visualise how the trails and the mountain interact with each other. Wide open slopes versus narrow cat track through dense trees; gentle bunny hill versus double-black diamond dropping down into a sheer bowl… the painted map makes this instantly understandable. It gives instant scale and dimension to the mountain, which any stylised diagram is going to find difficult.

Has anyone out there seen a diagrammatic ski resort map? I’d love to see it if you have!

Update: And of course – almost instantly – Craig Williams tells me that Kenneth Field made one for Breckenridge, Colorado back in 2009.