op...I have the same prob. My best friend and my ski partner passed away about 4-5 years ago. All of my other friends are gapers and do the exact same things you described. My new solution to the problem is I don't wait anymore. I end up skiing by my self half the time, and usually end up taking a chair up with my buddies a few runs later, which is as long as it takes them to get down one run. At first my buddy asked me to wait for him at the bottom, that's when I looked around and it was snowing and there was no one in the lift line. I called him, told him that I will meet up with him in an hour at a certain lift. Works good.