Everyone forgets how to ski sometimes
Submited By smallwoo On 2007-12-12
Opening day at Baker: Pinch me, is this really my life? Remembering how to ski and why I'll continue to do it for the rest of my days...

Nervously, I think to myself…“Wait for it…wait for it…someone else might say it first…”


Sunny busts in: “I’m afraid I won’t remember how to ski!”


We were all piled into the sweet, sweet Rossi van (thanks to Shane!) on our way to ski opening day powder at Baker. The level of excitement in the car was high to say the least. Really really high! We had all met at 5 a.m. in some random Seattle Starbucks parking lot (no use in trying to describe, there are more Starbucks than stop signs in that city!) in order to rally to Mount Baker for opening day. They had received 19” of new snow that was completely untouched on top of Lord-knows-how-much-below, I don’t pay attention to numbers past double-digits…It was going to be deep and our faithful duty as skiers was to make sure that we skied as much powder as possible between the hours that the lifts were running.



I had never skied Baker before except one Thanksgiving (pre-season dump) with the late Teddy Knape and fellow gonzo journalist Ethan Stone. It had been a long time but the one photo I walked away with that day has scored me more “oohs and ahhs” than I would have ever hoped (here’s to you Teddy, wherever you are!). But this time around I was miles away from even thinking about skiing, mostly because I, too, had thought I might have forgotten how to ski. Such a silly notion, I know, but we all know the sinking (or does your heart rise to your throat?) excitement/nerves coursing your body before your toes make that first descent into your ski boot. The whole reason I was even in Washington was stressing me out and I had needed this epic deep wonderful delicious powder day to remind me of why I do what I do! Lynsey Dyer and I were in Seattle for a party we were throwing to benefit our new nonprofit, SheJumps. SheJumps is dedicated to the logistical and philosophical support of women that are trying to reach their potential, whatever that might be. Well the jump for me turns out that I am learning the ropes of a business and trying to decide five-year business plans and the like—I think in this process I had forgotten that I’ve still got big plans for my potential as a skier…



So here I am before our Baker trip, weary-eyed and sleep deprived from countless hours trying to plan this wicked event, Lyns and I working hard to get print outs with no typos deep inside the suburban Kinkos (printing off flyers and whatnot) when I read the report: Thursday is gonna be epic! (translation from numbers)



And epic it was! We had a rowdy crew of skiers and boarders (the Rossi reps Joe, Chad, and our faithful captain, Shane), myself, Lynsey Dyer, and Sunny Fenton (you might know this Roxy chic from Evogear?). Cloud one million from the start. We heard the hoops and hollers as we rolled into the parking lot and I honestly don’t even remember putting my boots on. Wham, bam, and out of the van (VIP parking—SWEET!) Before I knew it I ran into one of my all-time favorite skiing photographers Grant Gunderson and got to ski deep powder with a legend watching me from behind the lens.



The day was beautiful. I give thanks that I could have been revitalized into the season with no groomers. I am grateful to all the people that established the bar as being VERY HIGH in terms of radness and skiing this season, and of course, to the whole community of skiers and snowboarders and no boarders and teleboarders and monoboarders that whoop and holler every time they are stoked. I did so many Tobias yells on the chair lift that I saw stars and I can only hope that everyone reading this at some point gets to experience that really, really awesome feeling of knowing you are doing EXACTLY what you should be doing—following your passion. No matter where I am, Kinkos, Alta, Africa, or the big Babylon cities, I hear those yells and they make everything all worth the while!