Somehow ski season always parallels my life.  I mean I guess it should but the way it goes, it does always parallel what’s going on in my life.  I had a few very turbulent months in regular world, so skiing world was also affected.

The season started with me skiing three times on unwaxed skis which made movement on them kind of difficult.  A lesson for next year, when I will definitely take my skis to get waxed before I get started with the season.

The early part of the season featured a few injuries.  I got hit by a guy so hard that I saw stars and hit the ground.  The guy was on a kind of an easy, but icy trail in Killington called Great Northern.  He was obviously skiing above his ability because he didn’t know what he was doing and was on some crappy loaners.  I woke up the next morning pretty sore and bruised up but fine.

The season did feature a couple of absolutely perfect days and one day when I thought the cold was actually going to kill me.  I was actually knocked down by a gust of wind.  Insane.

This season also brought back something that I hadn’t done for a while — falling.  This season though, I decided to record my falls proudly.  Usually though they came when I was trying to get into a lift line or at the very bottom of a ski trail.  I kind of became proud of my falls.

It was also a good season because I skied a World Cup trail and a Nor-am trail.  The World Cup of skiing passed through fair Killington in November and the race took place on Superstar, a trail I skied in a straight line in 2014.  This year I turned a lot more.  I made a wonderful new discovery this season at Stowe, when I started skiing the Main Street race course on the Sensation quad.  That’s a Nor-am trail, a skiing circuit that is one step below the World Cup.  I had long wanted to ski that trail and I finally got the chance to do it this season.  I zoomed up and down in, usually at 3pm a bunch of times and loved every minute of it.  Its groomed and steep, a black diamond of the best kind.  My favorite.

At one point during ski season, I saw a photo taken by a high school nemesis of mine at a ski resort on Instagram.  She said she was a beginner at best.  I nearly wanted to write to her about how many runs I had done on that Nor-am trail that past weekend but I didn’t do it.  Maturity.  Nah, a friend talked me out of it and told me to “Let it Go.”  Well, she told me to listen to that song, but yeah basically, let it go.  Oh well.  Next time!!!!

As usual I learned a bunch of things during this season.  People always asked me what I do on the weekends and I say I go skiing and they assume its kind of a fun activity, which it is, but I started to approach it more like a professional athlete.  I’d keep track of my times, see how many runs I did, how many turns I had taken.  I got more analytical about it.

Soon after I started skiing I realized it was something I could do relentlessly and get good at.  I did gymnastics as a kid and I thought nothing would ever make me as happy as gymnastics had, but skiing fills that spot and then some.  I knew I’d have to have a goal when I started skiing and I decided to become a really good technical skier.  I wanted to go fast but I also wanted to have good form and technique while I was doing it.  I like the fact that this is something that has to be worked at, perfected over time and is never really perfected.  There’s always next season.

Ski season, goes out softly at Wachusett or as a friend of mine once called “Watch-you-tits.”

Watch-your-own-tits!!!!!!!: