Fall Reflection – A Skier’s Ritual

There is a lot going on in Canada these days. There’s a federal election next week, the Toronto Blue Jays Baseball Team are in the playoffs (no, I’m not lying), hockey season is in full swing, the new season of the CBC’s political satire This Hour Has 22 Minutes has started and in some parts of the country, like the mountains of northern BC, it’s snowing.

That’s a lot to take in. But what’s most exciting is that last part. It’s almost ski season! Soon, so soon, we’ll be lining up on opening day, ready to head up for the year’s first turns. For some of you, those first turns will be had well away from any ski lifts. There are always keeners, and I was once one of them, heading into the hills when there’s barely enough coverage for skinning and trying to get the season’s first laps in.

I love to ski. It’s one of the few things in life, next to reading fiction, that I have never gotten bored with. It doesn’t matter what the conditions are, skiing is always fun. More than that, skiing involves ritual. Some of that is our everyday habits during the season; drinking coffee while checking the weather at 5 am or always going to the same spot on a powder day. Other rituals exist in a longer time span.

Autumn is a time for preseason rituals. As skiers, that involves a bunch of different things: pouring over the various buying guides in print and online. Spending a smidge of my interweb time each day on the ski world. Making the effort to read my favourite ski magazines. Trying to keep a little money from the summer to make sure I’m fully setup for the winter. Spending a little time each week pouring over maps; it’s nice to plan out a few of the season’s objectives. Going to see the latest ski film premieres. Talking about the weather.

All of those things are what make skiing so special. The fall brings anticipation and excitement, which builds into an almost frenzied need for the snow to fall. And soon it will. The day is coming when the dreaming will stop and the doing will start. Our lives will become dedicated to the snow. We’ll start booking our touring trips and heli trips and resort trips. We’ll make sure our tyres are studded, our skis are tuned, our skins are trimmed and our boots are fitted.

Fall is a time for reflection, anticipation and the excitement of the winter to come. I love to ski. It’s never gotten old. This will be my 35th season skiing and it still excites me as much as it did when I was a kid. I’m looking at which skis to buy, which lines to ski and what my goals for the coming season are. It’s a gift, really, to be a skier. So get ready. Winter approaches and soon it will be time to shred.

Be safe, ski hard.