I love REI’s Pray 4 Snow campaign. We do pray for snow! And rejoice every time we see it coming down!
I LOVE to ski. It is something I did passionately as a child and young adult and something I put aside when I was a mother of very young children. When my oldest were 7 and 8 we picked it up again and have never looked back! As a rule I generally take a child out of school one day a week and rotate through the children so when Sam was here that meant they missed school about once a month to ski with me. Often we would miss other days too to ski as a family. I don’t ski on weekends or holidays because I hate waiting in lines.
This year, Sam is gone and I had surgery on my hip in September. In December my surgeon gave me the green light to ski but said, “no bumps, no jumps, no sharp turns and NO FALLING”. So far, I have skied four times and it has dampened my joy a little to have to be that cautious. Plus, it is a little bit of a head game I don’t enjoy being scared of falling. I never have been, so I have felt very comfortable hurling myself through trees and down steep terrain. Now, I can’t fall so I stick to blue, groomed runs and try not to go too fast. It is still a joy to be up there and I feel so grateful to be able to ski at all so soon after hip surgery!
So why do I love to ski? What is it that skiing gives me that no other activity does? Here is the list:
1) I love skiing because it turns winter into a joy, not drudgery. On years that I haven’t skied, the cold and grey and snow was depressing and inconvenient and something to be endured until spring. Now, if it snows we rejoice! On years when I didn’t have skiing to look forward to I also felt sad in the fall because the coming of winter meant the end of my garden, the death of my tomatoes. Without skiing, life without fresh garden tomatoes seemed a bleak place to be! (William, reading this over my shoulder reminded me that life isn’t bleak without skiing and tomatoes. He is right of course, but for the sake of this argument we will go with it!)
2) Skiing is a way to get out of the cold and grey of the valley. When the day is grey from inversion and the snow is dirty from cars and plows we can drive an hour and we will suddenly find ourselves in a world of pristine blue and white. Perfect snow and a blue, sunny day.
3) I love the feeling of being warm and bundled up while in the elements. I love snow swirling around me and feeling warm and comfortable in a situation that should be uncomfortable.
4) I love the stillness of a snow covered mountain. Everything is hushed and muted and all mine. Not only does the mountain speak to me in those times but I hear my own thoughts better in the stillness.
5) I have read no studies but I am pretty sure that regular doses of adrenaline help a person to be healthier and to live longer. I love trying something that I am pretty sure might be a little dangerous for me. It is at times like this that I am not simply living, but rather I feel alive all over, physically, mentally and emotionally. (Maybe it’s because I have just defied death a little!) I even get little tingles in my extremities after going down a challenging run!
6) I love watching my children get better and better every year. I love seeing them gain confidence. Last year Sam actually surpassed my skill for the first time. His jumping was delightful to watch. He would ask me to go first and look at a drop or jump from the bottom and then call up to him and tell him whether he should go off it. It took him several times of doing this to realize that I always told him he should do it no matter what he was trying to do.
7) I love the lessons my children are learning about how mental a sport can be and how much control we have over our skill and development. If they are scared while skiing, then it is unlikely that they will get better or push themselves to try new things. This is especially evident to Anna. There are some days that she is feeling really brave and others, when she feels nervous (usually when she hasn’t gotten enough sleep). Anna can lead the family down the mountain on her brave days and everything goes wrong on her nervous days, and everything is frustrating.
8) I love the smells while skiing. The air is so sharp and crisp smelling. The pine scent with the snow scent is the cleanest smell I can think of. It seems as though every receptor in my head is on overdrive. And the burger smell while skiing past a lodge? It is so alluring that even this vegetarian of 30 years feels a little tempted to take a juicy bite!
9) I love ski hunger. I love eating when I have worked hard for the food I am eating. I love being starving because I have just burned a million calories and then the joy of eating something warm to satiate that hunger. Food while recreating is the best. Food while recreating in the mountains on a cold day is even better. (William would like to add that Panda Express on the way home is heaven!)
10) I love knowing that while I am aging, I am still doing something that is hard. I love feeling like I have a level of fitness that I need to maintain in order to keep up with kids as they improve. It is very motivating. It is the whole reason I had surgery on my hip. I injured my hip 12 years ago while jogging too soon after delivering a baby. I put off taking care of it all of these years until last year, while skiing I noticed my knee was starting to bother me. I suspected that it had to do with my injured hip. I didn’t want anything to limit my ability to ski and so I had the surgery done. I haven’t regretted it for a minute!
11) I love meeting new people while skiing. Everyone is doing something they love so they are so happy and nice. There are so many different kinds of people that love the sport that we have many great conversations while riding the chairlift. Conversely, on non-busy days I love the chance to ride up with just my own kids. They feel chatty and communicative more when we are skiing than almost any other time!
Well, that about sums it up. In this household we pray for snow and rejoice every time the heavens comply!
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