The education you get in college is of the utmost importance. But of
course, you can't learn everything in a college classroom. In fact, some
of life’s greatest lessons are not things you learn in class, but
things you learn on the mountain. Skiing is one of life's greatest
teachers (and the classroom isn’t half bad). From novice to veteran, the
mountain can teach you new lessons everyday:
1. To take the path less traveled
School is—even at its best—an exercise in following a predefined,
narrow path. You take the classes you need to graduate, and straying too
far from that path can spell disaster. Skiing teaches you the opposite.
It's fine to take the easiest way down, follow the groomers, and not
stray far from the center of the path. But taking the creative route can
be a lot of fun. Dip into the trees, ski the bowls, chase not only the
path less traveled, but the path not traveled at all. Learn to be the
first one there.
2. To wake up early and stay out late
Maybe the most often repeated advice heard when entering college is
to not, under any circumstances, take 8 a.m. classes. Many try, and
many—including myself—fail miserably to avoid early morning courses.
They provide nothing but terrible, terrible suffering. School teaches
you that it’s really not worth waking up early. But on the mountain,
even for a night owl like myself, there is maybe no wider-preached
lesson than to wake up and hit the slopes early. Although it's enticing
to sleep in and arrive at the mountain fully rested, it's far more worth
it to wake up early and enjoy the splendor of unspoiled snow. In
addition, staying out until the last chair, when the mountain is quiet
and the snow is soft, is one of the best ways to experience the slopes.
3. To question the curriculum
The classroom tends to be an authoritarian system where the professor
speaks and the students listen. Skiing teaches the opposite lesson. Go
against the grain, challenge everything before you. Skiing and
snowboarding are constantly evolving sports that have both elements of
innovation but also resistance. We would not have some of the wonderful
parts of skiing, like terrain parks, or twin-tip skis, or snowboarding
in its entirety, if it wasn’t for men and women who said “no” to the
status quo and forged their own path.
4. To disconnect
In my experience as a student, classes continually attempt to
implement more and more technology. In fact, it would be almost
impossible to go through college without a computer nowadays, and school
teaches us to stay constantly connected to emails, online assignments
and social media to advance ourselves academically and professionally.
Skiing gives us the opportunity to unplug. Like many skiers,
I enjoy listening to music while I ski, and taking pictures and videos
of the day. But beyond that, it can be hard to use technology on the
slopes, between the clumsy gloves, freezing temperatures that zap phone
batteries, and messes of pockets and layers. Skiing has taught me that
disconnecting is good and that I don't need technology to have a good
time.
5. To make space where there is none
As much as I wish there was a class in organizing the space in the
back of a 2014 Ford Focus to fit you, three of your friends and a
slightly absurd amount of gear (including multiple boards for each
person), alas there is not. In fact, a day trip up to the slopes, or an
even more educating weekend trip to the slopes, is probably one of the
best lessons in spatial organization in the entire world.
6. To build a new vocabulary
I’m sure that somewhere in the wide world of secondary education
there’s a university with a science class dedicated to the different
ways snow can form and land on our earth but, for most, this isn’t a
common lesson in school. However, ask a skier about different kinds of
snow and you’ll get an answer back that is at the same time surprisingly
scientific as it is full of insane lingo. Corn, pow, crud, crust,
corduroy, slush, mashed-potatoes and more. A couple days on the slopes
can supply you with an intensive knowledge of how different types of
snow feel, and what ridiculous name they’re called.
7. To socialize with complete strangers
Classes tend to involve far less socialization than college brochures
and movies tend to make you believe. In fact, it's pretty easy,
especially in large lecture hall classes, to show up to class and not
speak a single word. Luckily, the chairlift offers even the most
socially anxious or introverted among us the perfect opportunity to
socialize. Chairlift conversations are transient, anonymous
conversations. While you could meet the future love of your life, or a
skiing buddy for the day, it's more likely you’ll make nice small talk
and then both disappear from each others lives.
8. To see history first-hand
Skiing is old, like real old, 6000 BCE old. Because of that, taking
part in skiing is taking part in an ancient human activity. Of course,
skiing has been transformed incredibly in its long history, and the
hunters of prehistoric Scandinavia have little in common with the modern
day skiers of Colorado. Skiing is a first-hand experience in history,
one as fascinating as any lecture or textbook chapter you might find in a
class. And it's easy to appreciate history when you're having the time
of your life.
