Ode to Winter

Well the season has finally come to an end and what an end it was! I stepped onto a podium surrounded by World Cup skiers and lowered my F.I.S point profile to the lowest it has ever been! Athletes talk a lot about “losing the fire” (for competition) and for skiers it usually always comes nearing the end of winter/early spring. I was surprised to realize that for me the fire was never extinguished this season and going into the spring races at Le Relais, Quebec I was still striving to accomplish one of my season end goals by dropping my points into the teens.

Those races did not go so well and neither did the ones that followed in Stowe, Vermont. Disappointed and preparing mentally to accept that if I didn’t accomplish one of the tasks I set for myself this season, there is always the next. Even though I accepted this I was still perturbed by it.

But fire still stoked hot I loaded my car and set out to drive cross country for the last two races of the season in Vail, Colorado.

Ski racing is a brutal sport, no way around that. But one thing I do love about skiing and a big reason as to why I am still racing is that even after two decades of running gates I still learn new things every single time I put on skis. In Le Ralais I figured out that even if you are skiing the rut it won’t make a difference if you are not pushing out of it aggressively every turn. At Stowe I learned that even if you make it down a run relatively mistake free, it won’t be fast if you are not skiing in the fall line.

I know, these are lessons you learn time and time again and it doesn’t sound like anything groundbreaking. But the difference is in experiencing it for yourself in original ways. Anyone can tell you the importance of something but rarely do you come to comprehension without having experienced it personally.

So, old lessons learned in a new way presented me with an opportunity to advance my skiing career at the Vail races and I am psyched to have capitalized on it by scoring a 17 and 19. That fire is still burning bright even though we are a week out. I wish I was still racing to be honest.

Instead I immediately left Vail for some R&R in the deserts of Utah with a crew of close friends. It was amazing to spend some time exploring and camping for 3 nights and four days. The sun and 80 degree weather didn’t hurt either. Below our some pictures of our adventures.

Besides that, ALL of my adventures are being compiled into one amazing season finale video so stay tuned for that.

Thanks for reading, stay happy.

Tucker