2012-13

I've been mentioning it for awhile, but Monday marks the official end to ski season here. My season ended on Cinco de Mayo since I won't be able to make it up this weekend for a few last spring turns, but as of end of day Memorial Day Snowbird's final lifts will stop running. What a year it's been. . .

Every time I ski a new hill I get scared since I have no idea where I'm going. This has never been so true as my first few times at Snowbird. I knew it was a world-class resort with tons of advanced and expert terrain, so I knew that there were bound to be a fair number of hidden obstacles for a newbie to the area. My second day there I ended up finding myself marooned on top of a cliff that was a good 25-35 feet tall. Boot-packing back out through fairly deep, soft snow was so much fun (sense the sarcasm). As the season progressed though I found some of the sweet spots. I learned that Rasta was fun even on a slushy day, that lower cirque was a good zone to hit on a powder day because it stayed fairly neglected and I could lap Little Cloud, I learned that Chip's run was a great place to let it go on a groomer day.

What's more important is I learned a lot about myself; I learned how far I could push myself, where my real ski ability was, and how much I was willing to sacrifice for this sport. I decided to sell my car before moving to UT to afford my pass and new skis. That was a hard decision, because on top of the ability to be incredibly mobile I just love driving; but I knew it was the right choice for me because I knew I needed new gear and I wanted a pass to one of the greatest resorts on Earth. I'd skied Moonlight Basin consistently for the prior 8 seasons so I was used to skiing a mountain I knew better than the back of my hand. I'd skied Big Sky resort as well while I was instructing during the 2011-12 season, but I'd been shown that mountain so much during training (and it's open enough so it's difficult to get lost) that I knew that resort really well too. Snowbird was simply a completely different beast and I was going in blind. Hence getting stuck on a cliff.

This year marked a lot of firsts/bests. Deepest couple days of my life. Most days skied saving the season I was paid to be on snow. Upped my resort count to 8 different resorts (9 if you count Boreal which I don't). First time skiing in WY. First ski vacation. First time boot-packing to a line. Steepest terrain. Fastest line. All of these are marks of personal growth. My dad, the man who taught me how to ski, admitted to me that he believes I'm now a better skier than he is. Wow. I can't put in words how proud and honored I felt when he told me that. It was a spectacular feeling. While my technical ability was good enough at the end of last season for me to qualify as an expert skier, this season I proved to myself that I am in fact an expert skier. If I can get on top of something then I can get down it. That's a pretty amazing feeling and it's one of those things that just propels me forward to keep growing, to keep charging hard, and to share this sport with everyone I can.

I'm a passionate person; it's probably the thing I like most about myself. I'm passionate about music, art, pretty much all aspects of my life. I have an all in mentality; if I value something then I value it with my whole being. My love of skiing is the most apparent example of this. I never get bored of doing it, talking about it, watching it, reading about it, thinking about it. It's something that has touched me at my very soul and I will die with powder on the brain and winter in my veins. Though I'm sad this season is over, I am so blessed by what I've gained from it. So bring it on 2013-14; I'm training so that I can throw myself in head first and not look back.