For the modern-day standards, skiing in my childhood was quite a horrendous affair.
The skis were literally just planks of wood. The factory-fitted bolt-on metal edges turned toothless in no time. Heel-free, clamp-style bindings with no release functionality. Leather boots. At least higher up the leg the situation got stiffer thanks to the frozen cotton “ski” pants.
Our first slopes were short, the length and altitude gain we were able to step up sideways. Human-powered, state-of-the-art slope grooming technology. And arguably this is when we were having the greatest of the times.
Then came better ski equipment, and the longer ski slopes, serviced by shabby rope ways. After one hour of queuing, and 15 minutes of freezing on a wooden chair, squeezing the maximum out of the two-minutes descent was a must. Getting down fast, with little to no turns, was just a waste of hard earned downhill time.
Nowadays the slopes are long and wide, thoroughly groomed every day. The cable cars are fast and comfortable. A plastic card offers you access to a world of wonders. Still, squeezing as many turns per square meter of slope remains my default approach to any descent, and more often than not I find myself skiing on a thin line at the edge of the piste. There’s also the physical side, as the more turns you make, the more your legs will hurt. And I am at this point conditioned to feel the muscles burning in order to really feel like skiing.
Probably this is why I now prefer ski touring. Skinning up the slope, or the mountain, provides precisely that amount of earn required to properly enjoy (and deserve) the turn. Eyeing the skin tracks and the S-turns left on a pristine mountain side is the sweet finale of a good day of backcountry skiing.
It’s not just skiing. It’s also trekking, mountaineering, and mountain biking. There needs to be sweat dripping on the uphill in order to fully enjoy the downhill. And knowing that you’ve done it all just with your own power – no cable cars, no batteries – makes it even more special.
Earn your turns, earn your trails.
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