Skiing is the Bestest

Not to get all meta on y’all, but this was easily the most concise, yet open-ended assignment letter an editor has ever sent me.

- Rob Story

In a recent email, Powder Editor John Clary Davies asked me: Why is skiing important? And why do we ski?

Holy cow, that’s beautiful. Spare as Hemingway, philosophical as Kant. So: Skiing is important because it’s in the Olympics, which means America gives a shit about it every four years. America: Fuck yeah.

OK, that’s why skiing is important to nonskiers. For skiers, it’s important because it gives us a reason to go on living. Seriously. Humans possess an innate need for joy, and skiing is the method with which we achieve said joy—never mind the homicidal wind slabs, exorbitant costs, finger-lopping bouts of frostbite, and loobies who snowplow to a halt on top of my tails in the lift maze. Back off, man.

Skiing is important because it gets us outside where everyone except the zinc-oxide-slathered freakazoids absorb beneficial Vitamin D. Another major benefit: exercise. Yes, it’s a gravity sport with a close relationship to fondue, leading skiers like the one I see in the mirror to gain belly fat every winter. So what? My thighs sure as heck get a workout. If yours don’t, ski more moguls.