What makes YOU a skier?

the sensation of skiing has no equal. 

As the poet T.S. Eliot said,

"In the mountains, there you feel free."

and there's nothing quite as fun as playing with gravity.

It is an adrenaline rush that isn't duplicated.Think of it,you are traveling down the side of a mountain on two boards(some on one) at speeds that you shouldn't. If you make it down safely then you ride up on a chairlift and do it all over again.Nuts ,however a blast!!!!!!

Ok to be honest what really keeps me skiing.........
Edited by slider - 4/26/10 at 5:06pm

"There's nothing really can touch skiing, is there?" Nick said.  

"The way it feels when you first drop off on a long run."

"Huh," said George.  "It's too swell to talk about."

- Ernest Hemingway

Its the freedom...the escape from the stress and anxiety of the modern world.  The solitude of a quiet, pow choked meadow as your skis slice through it like butter.  Its just so, so sweet!

Speed, nothing like letting gravity push you to 50 mph.

I love the feeling of sliding on snow, and that I have complete control of my sliding while wearing skis make skiing that much more pleasurable!

The freedom...there my brain is quiet...the open space, the views...and at the end, the endorphins.

    I second that. BTW here's a cool quote for all yous.

"In no other sport/activity does a human being have so much control over so much energy without being attached to an engine, that feeling hooked me." 

cant remember were I got this, hopefully I will find the article again...

Every sport I do during non skiing months is geared towards keeping me in skiing shape.  The biking, skateboarding, surfing, soccer, hiking, etc is just a ruse to pass the time until the snow falls in the mountains again next November.  Also, there is nothing like the feel of being on top of a mountain on a cool, crisp day.  The way the sound travels you hear people talking across the valley like they are standing next to you, and that softened, muffled version when it is covered with fresh snow.  The way the thin air accelerates your adrenaline delivery.  Finally just pushing off and doing it second nature with little or no conscious thought required,  There's nothing like it and it defies explanation.

I could live the rest of my live without getting to experience these again and stil be somewhat happy.  But, as long as I'm alive and kicking it is always very near the top of my wanna do-gotta do list.

What makes me a skier is, that my thoughts are always with the snow, even while I am enduring the misery of warm summer nights. When I see a steep hillside, I imagine what it would ski like. When people comment on warm weather being "nice" I cringe, and my some sour comment about how I wish it was cold and snowing.

The mental rush, the physical sensation of movement, the shared experience with others.

Putting oneself in the moment and presence at hand creates a kind of illusion of being one with the world (or maybe that's just me?).

Yes, reading a book is nice, watching a movie and playing other games is a nice way to pass the time but skiing takes me to a convergence of place, time, and mental alertness, and well being that nothing else seems to match.

Maybe it is all just an illusion but it is one worth believing in. I guess that makes me a skier...plus ya know I try to ski as often as I can which is never often enough.

Anybody else look at houses and cabins perched on top of a nice pitch with enormous envy then think how sweet it would be to live there and install a rope tow?

Aside from the actual sliding down the hill:

Being in the high country.

The resort scene (people watching-meeting folk on the lift)

Socializing (a lot of my friends ski)

Something my wife and I can do together

The feeling of a day well spent.

I love the total kinesthetic focus that skiers achieve in which the whole universe contracts down to two feet, a pelvis, and a torso.  I revel in the delicate interplay between balance and precise, subtle movements and in the connection between finesse and raw power.  I live to pull G's and experience weightlessness and ski upside-down.

I totally get what you're driving at here, but the imagery leaves something to be desired.

I can't dance ... on the floor. Really. At all. But on a good run on a good day I recognize that actually I can dance. Lots of different dances, with lots of different partners. Sometimes they are cirrus clouds, or fir trees, or paper birch, or ravens. Even humans, which is especially nice. And I love the fact that I never have to step out to get some fresh air.

Can't even choose which one of these makes me wait for the beginning of the season:
The beauty of the snow covered slopes and fur trees
The family - all four of us - skiing together (well, the 4YO is plowing down and grabs my poles but it is FAMILY ON THE SLOPE)
The feeling of standing at the top with your gear on looking at the layers of clouds below and thinking that you made it out of that gray drizzling mess to the white pristine world and getting ready to feel the air rushing in the vents of the helmet
The turns you take on the way up on the snowy and icy roads and anticipation of that special one which reveals the majesty of the sleeping volcano covered by the fresh blanket of snow
The anticipation of that feeling in your legs after the whole day
The shot of snow in your face coming out of the tips of your skis
The pop of the stiff ones and the soft push of the wide ones
FREEDOM! 

The challenge! It is impossible to "master" the sport. Even the best can get better.

 some quotes from the best

"there is nothing better than sliding on snow, flying though the air"

Shane McConkey

"skiing is the best way to waste a day that has ever been invented"

Glenn Plake

"When I go out I become more alive, its probably the endorphins that everyone talks about, I guess the more your produce, the more you want and so I think I have been producing alot of along time. I just love skiing. I love the gravitional pull."

Doug Coombs

I ski, therefore I am.

I thought about this topic while skiing this year, and it hit me that when I ski I feel like a kid again (I'm 56).  It's the only activity that I still engage in that provides the rush from being on danger's edge.  As a child I did lots of adrenaline producing stunts, now I just ski.

I'm 67 and skiing keeps me young. Pow, the steeps, chutes and just plain cruzin' at mach1 doing big ole carvey lean-overs. Oh, and spring skiing; to die for. Plus my passions are based on mountain tops that have to be nearby.

I'm not sure I am a "skier" by Epic standards:

I don't.

In general, I don't actually "brave the frigid temperature". I only go out when it's above zero because that's the temperature my clothings can handle, without my feeling cold and having to "brave" the "frigid temperature".

My knees might be a tiny bit sore on some days but most days, I end the day before that actually happens.

And the crowd at the lift. I hate it and I try to avoid it as much as I can by NOT skiing on holidays and not even in the busy east coast mega-resorts on weekends. Single's line is my best defense if I got caught with a crowded day. But I mostly got away without having to queue for more than a minute.

The only thing I can't avoid and somehow managed to justify is the high cost: lift tickets, flights/gas and hotels. Does THAT make me a "skier"??? 

[EDIT]
Oh, as to why I come out to ski? 

I just like to be outside!

Skiing is ONE of the excuses to STAY outside for more than the 30 seconds it takes to get from the parking lot to the office/supermarket door! Before I learned to ski, I used to take the long way around getting in the door, or go around the building once or twice, which was unusual enough that I worry about friends might think I've gone mental!    Now, I can stay out for the whole day and no one would find it too strange! 

 

Edited by at_nyc - 4/28/10 at 7:19pm

 Skiing is a way of complete self-forgetfulness. It is freedom of the now. And happiness arises in that freedom.

 

In the moments of skiing, I forget myself. And there are very few ways of forgetting myself.  Everything else I do in life gives emphasis to the `me', to the self. My career,  my beliefs, my political and economic actions, my escapes, my social activities, my joining one group and rejecting another, etc. - all that is emphasizing and giving strength to the `me'. Skiing is an avenue to complete forgetfulness of myself if only for a few moments.

Mmmm, this. The rest is just bonus.

Though I do love those bonuses. I love how much there is to learn, and the feeling of learning it. I love the views, the locations it takes me to. I love how it takes winter from something to be dreaded and turns it into something I can't wait for. But what drives all of this is how it feels. Simply closing my eyes and imagining something as simple as stepping into my bindings will bring a goofy grin to my face. Every "last" run is followed by another "last" run (usually until the lifties turn me away).

It really is a sensation with no equal.

If you have slid on a hill with skis on, you are one.  If you look forward to doing it again, you are an avid one.  If you  follow skiing websites just after your season ends, you are probably an addicted one. 

What feeds my personal obsession is the zen like aspect of the sport.  Commune in spectacular natural settings that is ever changing, yet unchanging.  Release the mind and body to exist in pools of gravity and resistance.  Age is gone, society is gone; there are others but we are all in our own spheres of existence. 

We come together with others to share this plain, and the gear is pretty cool too  .

Seeing
Feeling
Being
The annihilation of ego in the beauty of it all .

Spinoza