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For me Summer is a time to recuperate, work, and prepare for the upcoming season. While there is never really enough time to do everything you need, I found this summer to be a whole new experience with a lot less time. Last year after breaking my self off and spending nine weeks on the couch as a result, I had a lot of time to think and reflect. I thought about my opportunities and how I have experienced something special while traveling and interacting with special people all over the world. While it has all been amazing, I decided it was time to incorporating my experiences as a skier in the mountains into something else as well. After all the experiences I have had, the few that stick with me the most are those when a helicopter was involved. Now, to many, skiing out of a helicopter is what makes them giddy, but for me it was the helicopter. I knew I wanted to fly them when we landed at the top of a pristine face with nothing but untracked powder below, and I was more interested in staying in the helicopter to fly back down then I was about skiing. I never did stay in for the ride back down, because I knew the skiing was going to be good, but as we unloaded, I always took pictures of the aircraft coming and going. My infatuation was obvious, so this past summer I got back on the school train and started flight school in Slat Lake City, Utah.

Therefore, I apologize for the lapse in my communication and blog activity, but come to find out Flight School is very difficult and time consuming. I have spent the summer learning how to defy gravity and stay alive in the process, but as the snow starts to fall I am starting to grow an itch for winter yet again. However, as I spent time on the couch last winter after getting hurt, doing everything I could not to laugh, cough, or move in the wrong way so my ribs would not grind against each other inside my chest, I watched many of the newest ski movies for the previous season. While I watched kid after kid perform trick after trick that I could not fathom, I came to the conclusion that the new generation was taking over. It was clear they had learned everything my generation could teach them, and put a spin on it and made it “nasty.” I realized that the sport had changed and the new generation had taken skiing to a new level. While I sat on the couch observing greatness from the confines of my recovery, I came to the realization that my body was frail and not as resilient as it once was. When I was in high school I could spend the day at the park crashing and jumping, maybe more crashing then anything else, but I was able to get up and do it again the next day. Everyone always told me, “take care of my body because one day you are going to regret it.”
I was young and thought nothing could stop me. However, now, many years later and a few surgeries, many broken bones, a few concussions, and a major trauma to my pancreas, and another to my chest I feel older then I should. Despite the aches, pains, and anxiety of getting hurt again however, I am yet again excited about skiing as the snow starts to fall eager to do it all again this winter.

Skiing creates an allure that no other activity can recreate. Some of the coolest old men I know are skiers for life and despite knee replacements, back issues, and a myriad of health concerns, they still get excited for ski season each fall. Its hard to explain, but the people involved in the sport live for what they do. From the early season snow makers, to the lunch lady, to the ski patrol, and all the people working to create better products that make skiing more fun; there is a community created by the combination of snow and gravity. It is clear that I have caught the skiing bug, so when I am not up in a helicopter trying to defy gravity and learning how to fly, I will be out frolicking in the snow and learning my next move in the symbiotic dance with gravity we call skiing. The winter is long and there is a lot of adventures ahead.
Let it snow and I’ll be talking to you soon.
Muah!