Why I Like Skiing

Whether you are a skier or a snowboarder, you'll probably know what I'm talking about when I say how much fun it is to be out on the mountain. First of all, let's talk about chairlifts. What an amazing thing!! Seriously, some guy thought to himself, "I'd really like to be on top of that tall mountain so I can slide down the snow on these slippery planks on my feets, but I hate hiking." Boom, the chairlift is born. They do in minutes what it would take the average person hours to do. I think chairlifts are half the reason I like skiing as much as I do. 

Moving on, the riding itself. Yesterday was a powder day, so much fun, so free, like cutting through the clouds, floating on air. It is hard to get that feeling anywhere else. 

When it comes to shredding, I like the trees. One of the best things about being out there is getting into nature. There are times when you can be in the middle of a patch of trees, snow falling all around you and there is this mute tranquility that completely surrounds you. The trees and snow muffle everything, and for me, it is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world. Yesterday I was carving my way through some trees, enjoying the serenity of it all, when a little mink ran across my path. I don't know why, but I really liked that little guy. Sadly I couldn't get a picture of him but this is what he looked like.

Pretty adorable, right?

Lastly, the people. I ride alone. So almost every time I get on a lift it is with people that I have never met and will probably never meet again. Yesterday I was doing laps on one of the older lifts, it's just a two seater and it doesn't move very fast, but it is worth the ride. So I was lapping thing lift and I got paired up with a skier. We sit down, as usual we do some small talk and like many people I ride with, he is on vacation. A pretty cool guy, from Virginia, fifty-two years old, only his second time to Park City. So he asks where the good snow is and I do my best to point it out to him, after pointing out a few different areas he asks if he can just follow me. I say sure, we get to the top and he follows me as I traverse over a ways to get to the untouched pockets of powder. After seeing a spot that looks good I dip off and carve my way to the bottom, laughing and loving every second of that mystical ride down. I get to the lift line and here comes my skier buddy, a huge smile on his face. We get on the lift together again and he is raving about how good that run was. He starts telling me all about the first time he ever rode powder when he was seventeen and how he felt so free and he had been trying to get that feeling back ever since then. Apparently he had just found it again, thanks to me and he couldn't have been happier. I ended up doing two more laps with this guy, each time we hit the pow he was like a kid in a candy store and when we were on the lift you could tell he was having a wonderful time. Interactions like this act as a reminder to me, every single person out there has a life of their own, their own stories, thoughts, feelings and adventures. And for a moment in time two complete strangers shared in an experience like we were two old friends.