After looking at many ski resorts, I’ve noticed that many do not connect Downhill Ski Runs (pistes) to each other or to the chairlifts. This creates problems from a routing standpoint, as in, all routing tools I’ve used cannot route effectively between these disconnected ways. I’ve noticed this is so common, though, that it has caused me to wonder if there is a good reason for this practice of not connecting pistes and chairlifts. I suspect this is purely because of how pistes are often depicted on traditional ski maps as unconnected lines. I’ve included example screenshots below.
Ultimately, my questions is this: Is there any good reason downhill ski runs/pistes should not be connected to each other and to the chairlifts? Additionally, if the answer is no, what is the best practice for connecting pistes at the top or bottom of ski runs/pistes where chairlifts terminate or begin and there may be a large, flat open area that is not really a downhill run (not one-way) but is also not a nordic/cross country ski trail? An example can be seen in the image below around Marsh Hill.
Image showing disjointed pistes and chairlifts where routing does not work:
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=17/39.55042/-79.36736
Example of connected pistes and chairlifts where routing does work:
https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=16/38.3980/-78.7569
(image omitted due to only one allowable image per post)