Recently I've been reading a lot of posts about kids bragging about skiing while high/drunk and to be honest it's really starting to irritate me.
Drugs and alcohol lower and impair your concentration and coordination.
Let me tell you a brief story about my friend's mum. She was on a skiing holiday in Tignes (France) and was just chilling on the side of the piste. She sees this guy suddenly hurtling down the mountain and he's heading straight for her. Before she has a chance to move they have a massive collision. This kid seems unhurt and seeing what he has done quickly gets up and skis off without even a word so he doesn't get in trouble. Meanwhile my friend's mum is left lying in the snow with several smashed bones in her body, including her leg and collarbone. Her leg was in plaster for a year and she has never been able to ski since. In fact she hasn't been able to play tennis or golf since either, and she probably never will be able to. What's this got to do with alcohol/drugs I hear you ask? Well, someone saw what happened and managed to catch up with this little shitbag. He managed to hold him for a couple of minutes before the kid managed to push him away and escape, but this guy said that the kid was clearly totally wasted and stank of alcohol. This kid probably thought it would be a bit of a giggle to get drunk at lunch and ski the afternoon but sadly it didn't turn out so well for my friend's mum and now she will never ski again.
Skiing "under the influence" is totally irresponsible and incredibly selfish. Next time you think about doing it just stop for a moment and think about the lives you are putting in danger, not just your own, but everyone else who is out there on the slopes too.
Skiing while drunk/high is like the people who think it's ok to drink drive if there are no other passengers in the car. What about the other innocent and responsible people using the roads, why should their lives be put at risk because you made a bad decision?
Leave the alcohol and drugs at home for when you get back from a hard day of riding. If you wouldn't drive a car drunk/high then you shouldn't ski that way either.