I say that it doesnt really matter what you do or how you get there. in the end, i say, its all about the skis on the snow. its all about the exploration and the beauty and the wild, the wind and the weather and the sky. it sucks when it takes a day of traveling, fighting crowds, and general urban assaulting to get there. it can even suck when you have to sit in line with the string of luxury vehicles and two wheel drive sedans to find a spot to park, but when you take your skis off to hike a ridge above one of canada's longest lift serviced ski-able glaciers with the afternoon light pouring through the clouds and the high peaks. that doesnt matter. that is why i like to ski i say. that is what its about.

the good life

Its been a long time since i've found a whole album that i really enjoy listening to, for the whole thing. Kid Cudi's Man on the Moon has been spinning in my head for the last weeks, and what a fine bit of lyrical artistry it is. Lots of energy in there, lots of feeling. Especially Heart of a Lion and Up Up and Away, two awesome songs.
Winter break is running its course, skied almost every day, rockin a new pair of fischer skate skis, like a flashy majik carpet to carry me through the snowy woods. so fast, i find myself anaerobic at the top of hills, head thrown down because these skis really fly, and my sorry carcass has a hard time keeping up.


great tracks up at eldo, almost sad to be leaving the country for a week, i will certainly miss the rails through the woods, the white magik flowing. antelope and zarlengos, deadmans and sawmill, breathing that energy of skiing that provides my light in the dark, i will miss you


third, i knit my own mittens, and its good stuff: satisfactory production. I'm not gloating about skills here, i'm saying that its damn cool to make your own shit. from a ball of string and a few pointy sticks. sure, these aren't no hestra guide mitts, they dont have any thinsulate, no gortex, no fleece, just straight up hand spun wool. and, while i would not take these on an everest expedition, they work just as well, if not better than the two pairs pairs of OR, and one pair of swix, nordic gloves that probably fetched over $40, and they are more comfortable, plus the half a ball of yarn that it took probably only cost around $8. If you are going to knit your own mittens, dont pay attention to books or the internet, have a friend teach you how to make the stitches, and figure it out on your own, thats the way to do it. Dont worry about stitch counts, kfbs or k3p3. fuck that noise. make your own shit. Its way more fun and way more satisfying, and then use it. go out and ski in it.

-24˚F when I woke up this morning. Even the heater going full boar in the room couldn't hold back the quarter inch of ice that built itself on the window the night before. Here, hats are a must for entering the world that everyone works so hard to isolate themselves from. Even when the sun shines, it approaches at such a low angle, solar radiation fails to provide enough energy to feel any real difference in temperatures between the sun and the shade. Steam billows out of mouths - breathing through your nose freezes boogers in a second - escaping bodies to return to the frozen world swirling around.

I take some pride in weather like this, I don't wrap my face and hands in a variety of thinsulated brand name accessories, I like sticking my face right out into the cold. Its good for the heart to walk out in this weather without an excess of material - wandering around all bundled up is just another way of decreasing your self reliance. A good jacket, sturdy pants, and a hat are all you really need. Gloves, for sure, if you need to do work, but it is good to feel the cold air on skin, its good to know and trust the heat that your body can produce.

Skiing in sub zero temperatures exposed to wind and snow is another good test for your relation to the elements. Rather than piling on every pair of long johns you own, try removing layers until only the basics are left. Focus on the movements that make warmth. How cold can you really get? When your face feels cold, don't cover it up right away. I am not advocating loosing appendages to frostbite, but see what its like to face the air as if there were no scarfs or neck gaiters. Two days in a row subjected to blowing winds and a windchill that made alaskans shiver was enough to give my chin and cheek a bit of frost nip. No big deal, just a bit that looks like a scab just came off, a little peeling, but no real harm done. The pain was really minimal looking back, but it just makes you stronger.

I encourage everyone to push themselves to see how far they can go by themselves. Take the world head on with what you've got.