In this episode parodying teen ski films from the 1980s, the boy's families all take them to Aspen for two days after getting a great deal on the hotel room and Stan gets into a fight with a skier who challenges him to a race. Meanwhile, the parents attend a time-share presentation only to be pursued and harassed by the persistent advertisers.
This work includes examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming: Thumper mishears Ike saying his name and refers to him as "Mike."
- Amusing Injuries: Ike slamming into a cabin while skiing.
- Betty and Veronica: Played straight twice over. The dorky-but-hot girl as the Betty and Heather as the Veronica to Stan's Archie.
- Stan himself is the (unwilling) Betty to Tad's Veronica and Heather's Archie.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Tad and Heather (blonds), Stan and Thumper (brunettes), Kyle and the dorky-but-hot girl (redheads).
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Subverted; after the adults are told about the vast timeshare conspiracy, it sounds like it's going to lead into this, but it only leads into yet another sales pitch.
- The Cat Came Back: The adults' subplot has them trying to get away from the timeshare salesmen several times only to end up in a similar conference room with the same salesmen who continue their pitch relentlessly.
- Defied Trope: The main plot of the episode (the homage to Eighties extreme sports comedies) notably has Stan trying repeatedly to get out of it. He makes clear that he doesn't cares about anybody else's plights, points out that he's an inexperienced skier and after the first time he and Tad race he even says, "You are the better skier, this is all the proof you needed, leave me the hell alone." The only reason Stan decides to agree to race at the climax is because Tad is just that relentless of a bully.
- Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Played for Laughs. Tad is an excellent skier, and Stan is about as good as you'd expect a nine-year-old who's been skiing for a single weekend to be (that is, he isn't). So naturally, after he gets a commanding lead in the race to the bottom, Tad stops multiple times to try and hinder Stan, including cutting down a tree with a handsaw, throwing sawdust in the path, and releasing a bunch of hamsters. Stan's top speed is already so slow that all he does is walk over the obstacles, barely being slowed down at all. Had Tad tried to ski fairly (as he did the first time), it would have been an easy blowout.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Subverted. We are led to think this is how Tad lost when a girl distracts him by flashing her breasts, but it is soon revealed that the girl's breasts are two Kuato-esque monstrosities.
- Early-Bird Cameo: During the credits, Trey Parker sings an 80's pop song in Mr. Slave's voice.
- Excuse Plot: Stan at first doesn't care about the bully, his girlfriend, or even the fact that the youth center is being demolished. Once he is challenged to a ski run down the most dangerous mountain in Aspen, however, he suddenly and inexplicably starts caring about them for no discernable reason (which he even vocalizes to Kyle!).
- Face Doodling: One of Cartman's pranks on Butters is giving Butters a Hitler (which involves Cartman sticking his finger up his butt and wiping it on Butters' upper lip to give him a Hitler mustache).
- Failure Is the Only Option: The adults try escaping the timeshare salespeople only to fail every time.
- Fan Disservice: We do get to see the dorky-but-hot girl's breasts...and they're revealed to be hideous Kuato mutants straight out of Total Recall.
- Fat and Skinny: The two police officers summoned by the parents when they get completely fed up with the timeshare meeting.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Part of the reason Kyle is so concerned about Stan racing on the K-13 is that, if Stan dies, Kyle will be forced to hang out with just Cartman and Butters.
- Government Conspiracy: When the adults call the police to try to get out of buying a timeshare, the police hold them at gunpoint as they find out the timeshares are a conspiracy that goes all the way up to the US president.
- Graceful Loser: Stan didn't give two fucks about losing the race to Tad, though that more has to do with the fact he never wanted to race in the first place.
- Indian Burial Ground: The K-13 mountain was used as a burial ground by a tribe of vampire Wichita Indians who ate the flesh of children with no eyes. Stan winning the race to save the youth center somehow causes the Indian spirits to finally rest in peace.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: The Stotches happily tell the other parents they are so happy Butters is becoming close friends with Stan, Kyle and Cartman. Cut to the living room, where Stan calls a sleeping Butters a douche bag and Cartman pisses on him while the other two indifferently let him.
- It's Personal: Stan is ultimately willing to risk his life to beat Tad all because Tad won't stop following him around and bothering him.
- Jerk Jock: Tad. He constantly mocks Stan and rubs his superior skiing skills in his face for no apparent reason other than to be an ass.
- Lampshade Hanging: Stan defends facing Tad on the K-13 by saying the guy has Heather. Kyle points out that Stan doesn't even know Heather.
- Let Me Get This Straight...: One of the cops says this while meeting with the parents and the timeshare salesmen.
- Lighter and Softer: In terms of pure content, anyway: this is one of the few episodes of the series to be rated TV-14 on its original airing, instead of the usual TV-MA.
- Malicious Misnaming: Tad calls Stan "(Stan) Darsh" throughout the episode.
- Milkman Conspiracy: The timeshare people have connections all the way up to the president of the United States himself and essentially own all of the authorities that would care about the complaints the adults have about their pestering. They use this immense power... to force people to sit down, listen to their entire timeshare pitch, and buy it.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Tad very easily had won Heather's hand and upstaged Stan in the first race, and his rich father was set to tear down the Aspen Youth Center with impunity (all of which Stan didn't care about), but because he continued to harass Stan for no reason and then pulled a Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat instead of easily skiing to victory in the second race, he ends up losing everything. Completed self-inflicted faceplant on his part.
- No Name Given: The redheadded girl that coaches Stan is never given a specified name.
- Outside-Genre Foe: Tad is very much your standard Jerk Jock villain of an Eighties film, an unrelenting bully that constantly wants to show off. He not only is from outside the genre, but he also constantly tries to force the plot to be his genre.
- Parodies for Dummies: During the training montage, the dorky but hot girl reads Stan a book called "Skiing for Dumbasses".
- Police Are Useless: The police, the government, and even the president is in on the timeshare scam. The boys' parents call in the police to escape the timeshare scammers, only to find that the police are really The Dragon to the scammers and point guns at the parents to sit down, listen and buy the scam!
- Rule of Funny: The Reveal at the very end, which not only occurs without any foreshadowing, but also conflicts with the episode's otherwise mundane tone (by South Park standards). Viewers that haven't seen Total Recall (1990) aren't going to get the Shout-Out, either. However, it's precisely because of this that it works so well as a subversion to Distracted by the Sexy, and not knowing the reference makes the punchline that much more startling and impactful.
- Saving the Orphanage: The "saving the youth center" subversion appears in the kids' subplot. Interestingly enough, Stan really doesn't care about saving it, but he's been forced into the role anyway.
- Selective Obliviousness: Everything Stan said, Tad intentionally interpreted as a challenge for the sake of showing off.
- Shout-Out: "Quaid, start the reactor!"
- Ski-Resort Episode: The episode has boys go skiing while their parents are trapped in a timeshare meeting.
- Stupid Evil: In the climactic race of the episode, Tad is definitely the better skier and manages to make it halfway down the mountain before Stan has even made it out of the starting lane. He then decides to make sure of his victory by utterly overkilling it with stuff to slow Stan down (including cutting down several trees), which does nothing to actually slow Stan when he reaches that spot (he would have wiped out if he had been skiing, but as he is just walking with his skis, he is capable of climbing over all of the obstacles) and then stand around to watch. The result: Stan catches up, and when Tad tries to rush to the finish line, he gets distracted and loses.
- Title Drop: Cartman makes a pun on Aspen calling it Asspen when Butters smells the shit Cartman smeared under his nose.
- Training Montage: Notable for featuring the "Montage" song, which is more famously known for being in Team America: World Police.
Okay, you see what he did? He troped when he should have pizzaed! You trope when you pizza, you're gonna have a bad time!
