Replying to Audio

So lately I've been really interested in the audio side of film; sound setups can be pretty cool and i've started to suck in as much knowledge as I possibly can about it. I thought that because I shoot a ton of skiing, it would be best to get your guys' opinions on audio and how important it is in skiing/what sounds should be heard/what mic setups to use etc. So a couple of questions to spark some good debate:

What kind of mic's do you use in certain situations? Are you a shotgun mic user? hyper-cardioid? lav? stationary?
How important is audio to you in skiing footage?
What would be your ideal audio setup?
Audio outside of skiing?