Okay rewind back to when I

was in grade 6, back to the kid I was with a pre-pubescent squawky voice.

Growing up in the big metropolis of Toronto, yes I was a born and bred city

slicker. It all began as a school trip, it was late January, the place-Horseshoe

Valley, a fine specimen of a hill with the ridiculous vertical rise of 95

metres, and the longest run being 671 metres. The condition in Southern Ontario are like no other, with

beautiful shiny ice strips and patches right around every corner of groomers,

it was easy to see myself as a bobsledder of skiies.

But I digress,

arriving with +100 gapers from my school, myself included, in grade 6, the

dilemma of properly fitting boots to a hundred plus kids caused chaos and

havoc, but I persevered as one of the first kids out the door with ski, poles

and all-goggles not included.

Now with the

TDSB (Toronto District School Board)- strict son of a guns- you have to get

stickers: red, blue, green being the final one to allow you to different part

of the hill.

I am not sure

how but I managed to slide my ass down the icy sloops to achieve my green

sticker, allowing full mountain (really?) privileges.

The rest of the

day consisted of races and yardsales, many, and the day that started my joy and

passion for skiing. Just out on the snow, having a great time with friends, and

isn’t that the whole point of skiing, let alone life. The seed was planted, in

a metaphorical sense, and from that day on I’ve been thinking, dreaming,

talking, watching and writing about skiing. I remember the nights before i would go skiing, i would be so pumped, and stoked just thinking about ripping lines, a long time before the park picture came into my head.

Just the feel

when you know you are the first one down a run, or a line, even if it is a

groomer. The fresh S’s are carved, imprinted into one of Mother Nature’s greats

gifts to mankind (fire is so overrated), soon to be washed out by others.

Aptly describing

what skiing is, and means to me, can only be done successfully by looking at

the smile that gleams across my face at the end of an epic line, or newly

learned trick.

Since that day

long ago in the 6th grade, I have skied everywhere in Southern Ontario,

including the private resorts. My first full year (a ski year in Ontario is

roughly 4.5 months) consisted of Sunday lessons. Lessons might sound lame, but

to me it meant guaranteed skiing at least once a week. And hey, lessons

were only half a day so I could spend the 2nd half, doing whatever

the hell my heart desired. My skiing has even led my family to Quebec to ski a

small portion of their great mountains, and out west to Colorado, a trip of a

lifetime. (If you ever find yourself in Copper with nothing do, hit up the free

cat skiing, as it will put the cherry atop almost all ski trips)

Although my pow

day can be counted on one hand, I still cringe( I’ve got therapy for the

cutting)  when the skies are full of

falling flakes and I’m stuck at the prison, the government officials like to

refer to as “school”. Maybe my time has come to just move out west and start my

dream as a ski bum.

About two years ago, and friend of mine introduced me to ravens ski club...i figured if i could get out of the house to ski 5 days in a row i could survive a camp to shred the park. Thats where Mr Gaudet (ontarioskiingsucks) is introduce into the picture. This man single handedly introduce me to the sport of freeskiing, sold me my first pair of twin sticks, and introduced me to NS (biggest claim ever) before i even met him. He turned out to be a legit coach...well at least he was chill. Cheers Tim, for all the time i've wasted on NS and my passion of Freesking can be accreditied to you.

Bonus: I was

writing this at work (its Saturday, I work at Booster Juice, who the hell would

want healthy juice on a Saturday, so I had lots of time on my hands).

My co-worker

asks what I was writing and I stated I was writing for a ski blog that I had

and it was for the “newschool” style of skiing. I asked her if she knew what

freeskiing was, and I kid you not, she says:

“Is that where

you ski without poles”

Trevor Boris from Video on Trial was one of our only customers today,

he just told us that he had finished his Just for Laughs in Montreal

the other day, and yeah, and the dude has a MAN PURSE.

Hope your having a great weekend NS!