It was a beautiful day during that part of winter when it is clear that spring is almost here, but not quite yet. Like every other weekend during the winter, my family and I were in Vermont. When I woke up, I looked out the window at a world of bright white and deep blue skies. I knew it would be a great day.
After getting my ski stuff and driving to the mountain, I walked into the lodge to find chaos. I fought my way to the registration table and signed up for the competition. After a few more minutes I found my team. They were in their usual place by the cubbies. I walked over and started talking to Sam, another kid who would be competing in my age group. This would be our 8th competition this year. After talking for a few minutes we headed up to the lift. The ride up was quiet, as we were both thinking our separate thoughts. After getting off at the top we rode down to the park and met up with one of our coaches. I soon dropped in for my first warm-up run and felt that familiar sensation of blasting up to a jump, with it looming over me, and then floating through the air, as though I was weightless.
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About 5 minutes before the competition started everyone gathered under the giant Red Bull gate. The competition director told us the format and who was going first. My group (skiers 13 and under at the time) would be going third, right after the 14-18 snowboarders. I walked over to the couch Red Bull provided (in case you were wondering they sponsored the event) and sat down. For the first time since the morning I appreciated how nice the day was. The sun was glinting off the snow like crystals. The weather had seemed to put everyone in a good mood. Soon my mind turned back to the competition. I already had a run planned, but I wasn’t sure if anyone was going to do anything that was better. Unfortunately, I was slotted 4th in our group so I couldn’t watch anyone else’s run. When I clipped into my skis and watched the person before me go, I focused. I heard my name over the megaphone and pushed off. All the noise went into the background as soon as I was heading down. I popped a quick 180 to set myself up switch, which is moving backwards in skiing. I heard my skis carve off the lip of the jump and started to spin. I came back down with a STOMP! and immediately set myself up for my next jump. This was my big trick, I was planning on doing a rodeo, which is an off axis backflip 180. Again I carved up to the jump and just threw my arms sideways and back at the same time. I was upside down 35 feet above the ground. It felt awesome knowing I could be doing this crazy thing, but also being able to control it at the same time. I spotted my landing and pulled my legs around and forced myself to try to compress with the snow without falling. Since there was a 180 degree spin involved in this, I was landing switch. The moment I hit the ground I knew I had it. I kept my run going by hitting the rails at the end of the park and doing some good tricks, but it was really that one jump that did it.
I skied down to the lodge while pulsing with adrenaline. Some people might not be able to understand this, but after you do something crazy your body is actually affected by it and is able to do things its normally not. I tried to ignore it and just ski down to the lodge but couldn’t get down without doing a few fun little tricks on the tips of my skis. Soon I got inside and bought some candy. The taste of Sour Patches on a cold winter day is something that can not be explained with actually trying it.
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Fast forward to the top of the park. I was about to take my second run. Since I did really well earlier I wasn’t really going to do anything harder, but I was going to try to back up my first score. I landed my set-up trick and went into the rodeo, but when I landed one of my skis popped off so that was it for me. I really didn’t care but I hoped that my first run would hold up. I skied down across the mountain to the transfer lift. I got to the other mountain and started waiting around the awards to start. A van pulled up and they set up a tent with a bunch of stuff in it. Soon the awards started. Our age group was last. When I heard Sam’s name for second place I knew that I would be in first, and sure enough, I was called for first next. I won a backpack, but it was the end of the year so they had depleted their cache of good prizes, but I didn’t mind. It was more the feeling that I had accomplished something I had been striving towards the whole year. I left Vermont that weekend happy, and wanting to ski more than I ever had before.
