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What does skiing mean to you ?

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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
Almost every time i talk with someone about my life and my goals it basically comes down to skiing and living a happy life in the mountains and i find it hard to explain to a 'normal' person how much it all means to me and how i don't (directly) care about how much money i'll be making or what kind of house i'll be living in or what kind of car i'll be driving, or even what job i'll need to be doing, as long as i can live a 'good' and honest life in the mountains and ski almost every day of the season.

When i try to tell them what it all means to me i can't really put it into words so i try to describe it to them but even then it's pretty damn hard to explain this to someone who maybe hasn't ever skied in their life or only skis a few days a year without ever experiencing what i experience on skis ...

In the end i feel like only 1 out of 10 people can somewhat understand how passionate i am about this and it makes me somewhat sad that i have such a hard time explaining it to people and sharing my stoke....

So NS, how would you guys answer this question ?

What does skiing mean to you ?
Sep 29 2012 11:25AM
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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
since this is NS you guys are obviously getting some +k for good answers ! ;)
Sep 29 2012 11:27AM
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steezyjibber
Posts: 15967 - Karma: 11,027
holy run on sentences, but honestly, to me it's just a big passion of mine. something i'll always love, and want to do as long as my body allows me to.
Sep 29 2012 11:29AM
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I_Am_Mod
Posts: 13214 - Karma: 3,753
hehe, i know i tend to do this....
Bame it on my Belgian/German roots!
Sep 29 2012 11:33AM
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steezyjibber
Posts: 15967 - Karma: 11,027
well you're better than me, only knowing one language, eh?
Sep 29 2012 11:34AM
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Cebra
Posts: 505 - Karma: 35

Happiness.

Sep 29 2012 11:41AM
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GrabsForFun
Posts: 1378 - Karma: 396
I´ve tried to explain this a lot of times to numerous people. It can´be done properly, or at least that´s my conclusion. People who have a huge passion in life probably have a lot easier o understand. But most people just can´t grasp that you can be so devoted to something like skiing. I find it impossibe to discribe what skiing is and means to me in just words, it has to be experienced.
Sep 29 2012 11:52AM
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GrabsForFun
Posts: 1378 - Karma: 396
And sorry for my shitty english
Sep 29 2012 11:53AM
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iSmokeweed
Posts: 4793 - Karma: 1,370
something that sparks a chemical reaction in my adrenal (sp?) glands and the moves through out my blood stream towards my frontal lobe. then i feel happy.
Sep 29 2012 11:56AM
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I.B
Posts: 8137 - Karma: 24,357
Skiing to me is an escape. Something that nothing else can give me. It's a sport that is centered around stoke and being with your friends. I played baseball and it was fun and all, but it gave me nothing the experience i have from skiing, nothing ever does.

You know, when you step in your bindings and skate to the lift, or strap your skins on. Everything is better. It doesn't matter how much stress is going on at home, what's going on at school. Everything is fucking better.

And skiing down mountains that i have only been blessed to visit and see for myself. It's just an escape for me.
Sep 29 2012 11:58AM
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freestyler540
Posts: 13122 - Karma: 19,197
What does skiing mean to me?
THIS
Click for larger image

1.I work all summer to ski all winter
2.I start my day at 6 am to ski
3.I finish my day at 6pm...or when it gets too dark
4.If im not skiing im editing
5.I self shoot, self edit and self direct when nobody is around
Sep 29 2012 12:03PM
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FLBP
Posts: 1794 - Karma: 310
Freedom.
Sep 29 2012 12:07PM
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Kebec
Posts: 627 - Karma: 74
it's my life, idc what other people think about it, everything i do is for skiing
Sep 29 2012 12:09PM
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.bo.
Posts: 448 - Karma: 133
This is pretty much what i was gonna say. And I feel like only a few of my friends who are dedicated to skiign can fully comprehend what i mean when i talk about skiing.
Sep 29 2012 12:24PM
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Kretzschmar
Posts: 6714 - Karma: 98,537
honestly this is exactly my reasoning as well. I find skiing to be something to look forward to after a shitty day at school, home or work. Since skiing is all about having fun, I dont have to put any pressure on myself to "Perform at my highest level" every time like I did when I played traveling baseball.

this quote I found on NS when I first joined pretty much sums up the sport.

"You put on your boots, click into your bindings, dust the snow off your skis, and head out for the chair, and it doesn't matter that you failed a test, didn't get the girl, or that your life is on a one way trip down the shitter, your world is right for the next couple of hour."

If I didnt have skiing, I think my life would be really shitty or at least really boring. I have met so many great people just in the last year of skiing alone, I wouldnt trade it for the world.

Like OP I sometimes find it hard to explain to people why I love this sport so much. My girlfriend, who doesn't ski, really does not understand why I am truly obsessed with this sport. I pretty much think about skiing all the time, whether thats watching skiing videos on NS, Vimeo or YT, even editing my own clips I guess it all tends to be skiing related. Hell, I try to relate most English papers to skiing if I can. Plus, I could sit down and talk all day about skiing with someone if I wanted too. Also like OP, I would rather have a less than stellar paying job to be able to live in the mountains or at least near them, than be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and live in a city in Florida or somewhere where there is no snow. I couldn't take it.


Sep 29 2012 2:26PM
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Finkle
Posts: 959 - Karma: 850
What does skiing mean to me? I have thought about this many of times over the past year. Skiing for me is an escape from reality. I wake up, stretch my tired limbs, focus my tired eyes and get up. I then go outside turn that defrost on pack the truck up and smoke a cigarette. I go back inside make my coffee then I am off. That 45min drive melting into music, getting stoked for the day to come. Nothing could be more great. I get there, strap on my boots, gear up and ready to go. I spend my day looking for the best snow, skiing with friends and enjoying a few beers. I finish my day off, the parking lot slowly becoming uncrowded. Pack my stuff back in the truck still in the trance of freedom and leave. As I am driving home, I think what does skiing mean to me? Am I happy? The answer is I couldn't be sure about anything else in my life. Skiing might not everything but it sure means everything to me.
Sep 29 2012 2:36PM
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Capurnicus
Posts: 9947 - Karma: 1,886
It's a lot of fun. More fun than pretty much everything else. I like golf and skating too, but skiing is definitely more fun. Drinking beers with your bros on the lift is a blast, and it's by far my favorite way to spend time.

But it's recreation for me. It's not my life, it's not the world to me, I wouldn't die if I never skied again. I like a lot of other shit too, music and art for example, and I try to keep a good balance of all that stuff, though it gets hard in the winter when skiing pretty much takes over all the available free time.

I think skiing is an excellent thing to build your life around, and will benefit in many ways beyond the actual skiing. At the same time, there's so much more to life than skiing and I think it's important to keep that in perspective.

So in short, skiing to me is the ultimate recreational and athletic aspect of my life. I love it more than anything. When I'm not skiing, I'm wishing I were. But I'll hold it at that. It's just for fun and nothing more serious than that, which is exactly what makes it so awesome to me. Sure, I try to push myself and ski the best I can, but it's all just for fun.
Sep 29 2012 3:00PM
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Snowtorious_BIG
Posts: 659 - Karma: 1,467
It means doing what I want to do instead of listening to what other people think. Everyone else says that I'm too obsessed with skiing and that I should spend more time playing basketball and studying, but I hate both of those things. When I ski I control my own life.
Sep 29 2012 3:02PM
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Karma_Police
Posts: 2655 - Karma: 1,628
Girlfriend through the months of June through Sept. whenever I drink- "Ya so last night you were getting really emotional about skiing"
Sep 29 2012 3:22PM
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SkiBum.
Posts: 3604 - Karma: 3,974
Paycheck.
Sep 29 2012 3:26PM
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SKIU4EA
Posts: 2387 - Karma: 2,072
How is it that every conversation i have, it always turns into skiing in some, way, shape, or form? My life revolves around skiing from the type of car i drive to the seasonal job that gives me the winter off.


So what skiing means to me is everything.
Sep 29 2012 3:35PM
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a_burger
Posts: 5240 - Karma: 20,807
It's my favourite thing to do. It's just so much fun. Just something about it, idk. The freedom to go wherever. Walking it takes too long and on a bike or in a car you are limited. But with skiing you can go just about anywhere you want (except for the rare occasion when trees are too thick). If you've got touring equipment you don't even need a downhill.
Sep 29 2012 3:40PM
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Aftleet
Posts: 135 - Karma: 16

Self exploration of your limits and reaching your potential and pushing it forward and progressing because if it wasn't a challenge there would not be any fun involved. It's pretty much having that freedom to justify whatever you like doing from choosing your run to what consequence is going to result from it(Happiness) etc.

Or just having the best time of your life with mates having a blast that what it usually consists of.

Sep 29 2012 4:11PM
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.ZT.
Posts: 5679 - Karma: 2,792
Skiing is my absolute passion. I tell my friends and family that and they understand. Many people have passions, my brother has a passion for photography and video, and I love skiing.

I also am passionate about Art and love to listen to music as well.

Tell them it is your passion, or the thing that pleases you more than anything else in the world.

pas·sion    [pash-uhn] Show IPA
noun
1.
any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.
2.
strong amorous feeling or desire; love; ardor.
Sep 29 2012 4:40PM
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gusestomp
Posts: 1377 - Karma: 746
Literally everything.
Sep 29 2012 4:54PM
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_Garagely_
Posts: 1948 - Karma: 3,249
An escape to nirvana.
Sep 29 2012 4:58PM
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One.3
Posts: 165 - Karma: 539
I get constant straight A's in school. I still would give it all up to live in the mountains and ski everyday. My family has moved to florida and it fucking kills me everyday.
Sep 29 2012 5:02PM
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Afterbang.no
Posts: 1105 - Karma: 4,297
It means that a 2 hour train ride + 3 hour car drive each way, for shredding this for 4 hours is completely worth it, since it's September!

Click for larger image
Sep 29 2012 5:02PM
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Crispy.
Posts: 6117 - Karma: 7,716
A way to get away from everything else in the world, have some fun!
Sep 29 2012 5:46PM
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gusestomp
Posts: 1377 - Karma: 746
where was this?
Sep 29 2012 6:15PM
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p-fo
Posts: 9372 - Karma: 6,155
You can't explain it. You have to have been there and experienced it. Everyone with a serious passion gets it. You tell them it's like _____ activity that they do and you can see it in their eyes.
Sep 29 2012 7:20PM
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Holte
Posts: 10742 - Karma: 7,819
Besides the obvious seasonal thing, skiing has a versatility that very few other sports have. The closest thing I can think of is skateboarding or rolling. And I love skating, but I've never skated for 8 straight hours in my life - the spot gets boring, or somebody gets hurt, or the park gets closed. I enjoy surfing, but the rides are just too short compared to the time spent sitting in the water.
At a good mountain, it's not hard to put in 10 or 12 hours of skiing. Even in the park sometimes. The coolest thing about skiing is that the terrain is always different from one moment to the next. You always have to be preparing for that next turn, the next pillow, the next jump, the next tree, the next rail. Skiing is a constant state of planning and executing. And if you can get it right, and even make it look stylish, that's a HELL of an accomplishment in the most beautiful and serene setting on earth.
Sep 29 2012 8:03PM
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PG_EDA
Posts: 474 - Karma: 830
Skiing means everything to me. Its my nirvana. I just couldnt get enough of it, ever. The way i explain it to people is that it is my life, and everything else i base around it. Skiing has saved my on numerous occasions, its what i have to live for and what i continue to breath for. Skiing, family, friends, are the only things i keep locked up right in my heart. Its what makes struggles worth struggling through, pain worth living with, happiness storm over me and swallow me whole. Everyday off snow is a blessing, its a blessing because I have had the pleasure of roaming through deep powder, because ive had incredible laps in the park, but most of all because I can dream about the next day I can feel free again, on snow.

This thread desperately needs this CR quote, because it explains it very well : "Only the things that you truly love will you pursue with that energy, and for me my family, my friends, and skiing, that's it for me, that's my life. The joy I get from skiing...that's worth dying for." - R.I.P. CR Johnson
Sep 29 2012 8:37PM
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Drew_ski.
Posts: 1310 - Karma: 1,858
So true, one of my favorite quotes ever.
Sep 29 2012 8:51PM
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Literature
Posts: 13673 - Karma: 3,085
A kid that loves baseball and plays baseball all the time will most likely never get to play on the same field with the players he admires. In skiing, it's fairly likely that, given enough time, you'll ride the chairlift or the same slopes as your idols.

Skiing has given me a family, a group of people I love and trust as much as the ones I'm related to by blood. There's nothing else that's been such a positive social force in my life.

Some people know me, but only the ones who ski truly understand me. I've never fit in, and though I could probably come up with a billion reasons why that's the case, clicking in to skis makes me loose the uncomfortable awareness and just be.

People might go to their jobs, engage in hobbies, or like passtimes, but skiing grabs people and defines their purpose and character.

Skiing is gratitude. Thankfulness for fresh snow, for good times, for friends who've died and showed me a bit about life. Those five or six months a year when it's hard to ski, the itch gets worse everyday, and that teaches patience and gratitude for when it's dumping and time to go crazy.

Skiing is about variety. Jibbing, skinning, booting up faces with crampons, playing in the park, maching groomers, throwing snowballs, dropping in on a slushy spring pipe, hitting urban. I love that it has so many flavors.

Fun.
Sep 29 2012 8:55PM
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Kretzschmar
Posts: 6714 - Karma: 98,537
this is so true. Especially the first paragraph. I played baseball for 11 years and never once met a pro 1 on 1. Last season, my 1st season skiing park 4th season skiing ever, when LTC was at my hill I got to ride up the lift with Will Wesson and talked to him for a few minutes. It really made my day.
Sep 29 2012 9:02PM
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p-fo
Posts: 9372 - Karma: 6,155
Ok maybe I was wrong. Leave it to the English major to put it this eloquently. This is about how I feel about the matter.
Sep 29 2012 10:02PM
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Smuffy
Posts: 4686 - Karma: 3,408
What is it to me? I'm not totally sure I can answer that question. It's my favorite sport, hobby, art or whatever you want to call it. It's my one true love, that never fails to disappoint. Things break, people lie, life gets shitty, but skiing is always there to pick me right back up. When I feel happiest is when I'm on skis, whether it's pow, park or just in some homies backyard hitting rails.

Because of the creative and open nature of skiing, I feel it attracts a certain kind of person, which is why I rarely, if ever, meet a dedicated skier I don't liked. I often wonder if skiing is my strongest skill because I love it, or I love because it's my strongest skill. I think it may a bit of both. In one word, skiing is awesome.
Sep 29 2012 10:38PM
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schu2122
Posts: 247 - Karma: 24
youre such a pussy please-k the shit out of me
Sep 29 2012 10:42PM
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SickJib_Brit
Posts: 824 - Karma: 151
It means being a part of a community that shares the same passion, love and thrill for the sport.

Only we can understand each other; about the way we feel about skiing. The trill sound and feel of the snow, packing beneath your skis as you make your way to the chair. The fresh, chill air on your face, in your lungs.

I could go on for hours but, this quote definitely sums up how skiing lets one feel at peace and escape:

"You put on your boots, click into your bindings, dust the snow off your skis, and head out for the chair, and it doesn't matter that you failed a test, didn't get the girl, or that your life is on a one way trip down the shitter, your world is right for the next couple of hours."


Sep 29 2012 10:52PM
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Forcillo
Posts: 3801 - Karma: 3,580
To me, skiing isn't a sport. Skiing is a god damn lifestyle. In the winter, it is my life. In the summer, thinking about it is my life. When I'm out on the hill, I don't care that I'm a complete loser, don't have friends, am a virgin, haven't had a girlfriend since 7th grade, whatever. I'm happy when I'm on the planks. I don't give a fuck about school, that paper that has to be done by tomorrow, or anything else for that matter. Nothing compares to the feeling you get when you stomp a trick for the first time. Money can't buy the stoke I get from that feeling. When my parents ask me where I want to go to college, the conversation that ensues always is about how close the school in question is to a ski mountain. I'm too obsessed for my own good. In short, skiing is why I get up in the morning. Cliche, I know, but it's true.
Sep 29 2012 11:20PM
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Clark_Griswold
Posts: 1283 - Karma: 49
Skiing to me means peace. I'll spare you the details but I've been through a lot of shit in my life. More than I could admit to anyone but the one thing that always brought me peace and happiness was skiing. No girl has ever made me smile the way I do when I get to the bottom of a fresh pow line. No birthday, holiday, or family vacation ever has made me and happy and excited as I am on opening day. My stoke level is always at 100 when anything skiing is involved.

I've always put skiing first. No girlfriend I had would ever get in the way of me missing a weekend of skiing. I had some that tired but those relationships never lasted. I gave up on trying to please them because the one thing that's always made me happy was skiing. I honestly dread summer because I don't do anything but get stoked on the next season and roller blade.

I've had family members ask me why at family Christmas I don't have this jovial look on my face and I always answer "Because as much as I love you all I'd rather be skiing". It's my happy place, my safe place. When I ski I'm on top of the world. No drug could get me higher than the adrenaline high I get from skiing (believe me I've tried, I had to break a 4 year addiction this last year and it was hell).

No matter what I was going through, how sick I was, how much stuff I had to get done that weekend, nothing stopped me from skiing. I was in an auto accident with dump truck 2 years back. My spine is permanently fucked. The doctors told me there was no use in giving me pain meds because I would become dependent on them since my pain will be life long (little did he know I was already addicted to pills). But I went to PT and that winter against my doctors warnings I went skiing and my back never once hurt while on the mountain. It's the thing that heals me. I don't know if any of you have a rotated spinal column or an off kilter neck but it's extremely painful from day to day. I've learned to live with it but when I'm skiing I truly don't feel a thing. It's as if I'm 100% healthy.

Skiing to me basically is everything. I'd give up everything I have (except the essential ski gear) to ski without any hesitation. I'll die before I stop skiing. If I break my spine I'll learn to sit ski, If I become a quadriplegic I'll ask my family or wife to take me. I refuse to live in a world where I cannot do that one thing that truly makes me happy
Sep 29 2012 11:30PM
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ripper_shredder
Posts: 243 - Karma: 45
quoting for emphasis
Sep 29 2012 11:40PM
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SuspiciousFish
Posts: 2794 - Karma: 16,908
Here is a poem I wrote a while back that sums it up for me pretty well:



Run In  

First comes an idea

And then a dare

A challenge to one’s self


Explore the possibility?

Decisions. Decisions

Beyond any skill is feasibility


“We are go…”

A commitment

Of everything I have


Creeps now the fear

Healthy fear

To keep me in check


Now only excitement

The adrenaline gripes

And sharpens my focus


The edge of the world

Time slows

Then only a rush of wind 

Sep 29 2012 11:41PM
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TimRiley
Posts: 1873 - Karma: 1,327
Skiing is a passion no one can take from me. I ski cause the joy I get from doing it. Now that I am teaching my 2 yr old to ski, it is my favorite time to share with my daughter... and that time skiing with my 2 yr old is priceless. 6" of fresh is knee deep pow to her.
Sep 29 2012 11:51PM
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Afterbang.no
Posts: 1105 - Karma: 4,297
Trysil, Norway
Sep 30 2012 7:00AM
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GayWolf420
Posts: 37670 - Karma: 123,398
It's something I can't really describe. Yeah people know I like to ski but they don't really understand what it means to me.
Sep 30 2012 11:03AM
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GayWolf420
Posts: 37670 - Karma: 123,398
It's also been there pretty much my whole life. I've been on skis since I was in diapers so it has a somewhat sentimental value. Explaining skiing from a skiers viewpoint to someone who doesn't ski never works. They never understand.
Sep 30 2012 11:06AM
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joshua
Posts: 5046 - Karma: 1,280
Careful, your family was there long before skiing was and will always be there if skiing ever leaves you, so don't take them for granted.
Sep 30 2012 12:16PM
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Drail
Posts: 14013 - Karma: 10,005
I've been pretty deep in this skiing thing for a while now, so I haven't had to deal with this situation for a while. I'll do my best.

There are a few different aspects of skiing that attract me to the sport so strongly. I guess the two key points is the amount of fun and fulfilment I get while on snow and the constant change and evolution of what and how I ski.

One of my main mentalities in life is to have fun. It's the only sure way I know that I'm not wasting my life away, and at this point I have found that skiing is the most fun 'thing' I do. The combination of the pure act of getting pulled down a mountain covered in snow by gravity is insanely fun.

Fun aside, the real hook is the options to explore. I think that this is where the non-skier gets lost in trying to understand our passion of the sport. See, in my 23 or so years of skiing, there has been a constant evolution as to how I ski, what kind of terrain I choose to ski, and my mentality behind how I attack it. From racing to moguls to park to all mountain to backcountry. The freedom to do one of seemingly endless options on snow - that is what keeps me skiing.

I actually fell into a rut about a decade ago where I wasn't fully enjoying myself out there and was regressing in my ability to a point. Combine that with a really bad snow year and it could have been the end of my skiing. But the next winter I moved hills, found some really amazing and fun terrain and wanted more - until a week into the winter I broke my ankle during a drinking accident. Spending most of that season on the couch playing video games made me realize how much I just wanted to ski. By the next season when I was at 100% I made a promise to myself. To insure that I never get bored of skiing and quit, I have to improve constantly. If I go out skiing for a day or an hour, there has to be some sort of goal to achieve. Anything from nailing that line, getting a better tweak on the grab in some trick, or working on my technique during turns on a groomer. If I go out and just fuck around for a few hours not really 'in it', I risk getting bored and falling out. This mentality has led me to amazing places, done things I never thought I would actually ever do, and kept my love of skiing stronger than ever before. So I guess, ultimately, skiing to me is my way of challenging myself physically and mentally, which in my mind is the most human of traits.
Sep 30 2012 12:54PM
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ski4fun420
Posts: 902 - Karma: 842
It means doing something that makes me smile every time I get to go.
So many city people try to bash the small resorts because they are too small. To them I say; "It beats the hell out of being bored and sitting on the couch all day during winter.
To the people who do not ski who cannot understand, ask them what it is they are most passionate about in life. When they answer, simply tell them, 'That is how much I love to ski times ten!!!"
Sep 30 2012 1:10PM
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