Bring the Stoke

Recently @Warp daddy said that, in his book, skiers are a cut above. I’ve been thinking a lot about that since then and what that means. I like to think of us as a hardy bunch that embraces the cold on the darkest days. When others shut themselves in because the weather turns nasty, we are out there playing like we are kids again. Instead of having idle minds and bodies we move and dance and stretch our souls. We don’t fear things. I also like to think we can have a positive effect on others. Maybe some people are seasonally down and out. Maybe they are disadvantaged in some way. I believe we can help them with our optimistic attitudes. We can help with our physical strength that skiing provides. We can help with the mental clarity that a life of adventure in the mountains can bring. At least this is what I hope we do. We are not just out there skiing are we?

The other day at work I greeted a passerby and made a comment about the rapidly incoming fog. The gentleman responded that he wished it was snow and we quickly struck up a conversation about skiing. I mentioned I had been a ski bum. He told me how he had just gotten back into it. His eyes lit up as he described the 20 days he’s already skied this season. In fact he was on his way up north right then for yet another trip. This guy was stoked. He went on to say how he’s in much better shape from bike riding and how he’s caught the ski bug and goes every chance he gets. He couldn’t get enough. Amidst the fog and dirt and grass his enthusiasm was illuminating. I wished him good luck on his journey and got back to work. Later that night I put two and two together and after a PM, confirmed I had been talking to none other than @not2brite.

Right now our season looks grim, but fear not my snow sliding friends, there will be snow at some point and we will be back to hooting and hollering. For now and especially when it happens, I want to ski with that guy.
 
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I started skiing because I had SAD (seasonal depression). After Christmas and then my b-day in early Jan I always got bummed.

I had this super upbeat girlfriend. She was adventurous and very optimistic. From what she told me, before I met her, she was kind of superficial. She was a total hotty with a beautiful head of hair. Then she got alopecia which makes you lose all of your hair. She got very sad but then transformed herself into an energetic, giving and loving person. Apparently that happens to people who get alopecia. She taught me a lot.

She had a wig, and looked very cute in it. Some girls come home and take their bra off to unwind, but she would take her wig off and wear a bandana. When she did that I would call her baldy and she always smiled when I did that. Every morning she would draw her eyebrows on with a makeup pencil.

I kind of forgot she was bald sometimes. One time I was at her place in the shower and found myself yelling at the top of my lungs "where the fuck is the shampoo in this place!"

I digress. She knew I got bummed in the winter and started to pressure me to go to Garnet Hill Lodge to learn to cross country ski and embrace the winter. She was RELENTLESS about it.

The first time we went, it snowed like crazy and conditions were great. It was pure luck, I had no clue about weather watching or storm chasing. We had so much fun.

I fell in love with North River. We kept going back every winter. We got beyond the groomed trails and started to go deep into the backcountry. At the lodge we got kind of a reputation for being adventurous and a bit nuts, often coming back at or after dark. Many times Dick (a noted local nordic character, still an anchor in North River) would wait until we showed up to close the ski shop, just to make sure we were still alive.

We started winter camping. She was up for anything. We had good gear and slept out several times well below zero. We often adventured with another character named Rand, who was a waiter at the lodge, and a carpenter. He could find his way in the woods with a compass, better than anyone I've ever known. She was a nurse, they were both great partners to have in the BC.

After several years we grew apart and she moved to Washington, just north of the California border. She married a guy who is great for her, and we are still friends.

I credit her with totally turning me around on winter, teaching me to embrace the positive, and write my own life story. James sees it as "rose colored glasses" but for me it's a matter of survival. Find joy and revel in it.

I fucking love to ski.

Thanks to all for being a part of it here.
 
This guy headed down in fresh snow at Wolf Creek a few weeks ago is a big part of why I started skiing a lot more out west after 2010. Another New York City kid who went to North Country School in Lake Placid for middle school in the 1960s. He ended up going to college in Albuquerque and stayed for the red/green chili, among other things he liked about New Mexico. He almost skied his age last season, not quite 69 days. Since he was an expert skier playing on Bell Mountain bumps at Aspen Mountain in high school, it's taken a lot of days and lessons for me to get good enough to keep up with him. Has been well worth the time and money for lessons and more time on snow for me to become a solid advanced skier after age 55. Now it's lots of fun to go hunting with him and other friends for bumps or powder in trees, or deep snow at places a bit farther away from the crowds.

Feather Duster (blue) at Wolf Creek, a few days after the Dec. 12-13 storm that dropped a foot of powder
WCSA terrain Dec2022 - 3.jpeg
 
Ripitz said:
Recently @Warp daddy said that, in his book, skiers are a cut above. I’ve been thinking a lot about that since then and what that means. I like to think of us as a hardy bunch that embraces the cold on the darkest days. When others shut themselves in because the weather turns nasty, we are out there playing like we are kids again. Instead of having idle minds and bodies we move and dance and stretch our souls. We don’t fear things. I also like to think we can have a positive effect on others. Maybe some people are seasonally down and out. Maybe they are disadvantaged in some way. I believe we can help them with our optimistic attitudes. We can help with our physical strength that skiing provides. We can help with the mental clarity that a life of adventure in the mountains can bring. At least this is what I hope we do. We are not just out there skiing are we?

The other day at work I greeted a passerby and made a comment about the rapidly incoming fog. The gentleman responded that he wished it was snow and we quickly struck up a conversation about skiing. I mentioned I had been a ski bum. He told me how he had just gotten back into it. His eyes lit up as he described the 20 days he’s already skied this season. In fact he was on his way up north right then for yet another trip. This guy was stoked. He went on to say how he’s in much better shape from bike riding and how he’s caught the ski bug and goes every chance he gets. He couldn’t get enough. Amidst the fog and dirt and grass his enthusiasm was illuminating. I wished him good luck on his journey and got back to work. Later that night I put two and two together and after a PM, confirmed I had been talking to none other than @not2brite.

Right now our season looks grim, but fear not my snow sliding friends, there will be snow at some point and we will be back to hooting and hollering. For now and especially when it happens, I want to ski with that guy.
Click to expand...
'Tude IS Everything ....a great life lesson. Has gotten many through difficult circumstances both professionally and in health or behavioral challenges.

Skiers Are by nature attuned to accepting challenges and in sometimes daunting or less than ideal circumstances........Yet WE seem to Thrive and stretch and grow in this amazing sport.

It's core to our being that is a major part of who We Are.

Be well friends and take a run for me
 
blockbuster.jpg

Plattekill Opening Day 2019

This was my third run, second on block. One of those tracks in the pic is mine.

When I took this shot my heart was pounding. So amazing to pull up for a picture and no one is behind you.

That was rippy snow, but the sun was shining and it was time to ski.
 
Let’s go people! Where’s the stoke?

 
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