The Best We Have Ever Skiied

After we posted the obnoxiously depressing post about being bad at skiing we were sitting around thinking about the exact opposite, the singular best moment we have ever had skiing.

Is that your mom down there?

The best is not a term that can be ascribed to a specific occasion, or result...it can simply be the best feeling, the best moment, the culmination of work, it can be 69'ing on a saucer.

Its really in the eye of the beholder.

So to speak.

If you were to thinking about it, say an Olympic figure skaters best performance was their gold medal skating routine, but, in their eyes, it could not be.  Maybe the most symbolic, but, not their best.  That could have been in a training round, in practice, etc.

Or think of it from your waterski perspective, you winning a tournament, or setting a record or whatever, its something big, but, is that the best you have skied?

So, we talking about it around the CRB office, and most of us came up with times that no one else had seen, or would even recognize as "the best"

When we were younger, we skied on a show ski team in a state that has a show ski team, and in and area that has boats and green grass and weed.

There were three times that we felt that we were at our best.

Quickly, here are the three times.

1) in a ski show, the boat was turning around, we were prepared to do our act in front of the people at the site, and we remember looking ahead and seeing all the people and realizing that this is awesome, and this is really fun and we (ourselves and the rest of the people with us) were totally in control and confident and ready to really do a good job.

And in truth, it was that good.  But the feeling coming in completely confident in everything was awesome.

2) Same ski show, we practiced the show once at a location, and it was bad.  So, we contacted some friends who had a different site and they said we could ski there for a 1/2 hour, and we were all angry with our performance and wanted to try it again.  And we were able to run through our trick jump act perfectly, it only took one try and it was as if we all got our heads out of our ass and did what needed to be done.

There was no one there to see it, but, the team vibe and the effort put forth was one of the best.

3) Finally, the best individual skiing we have ever done was at a 3-event tournament a 100 years ago, we had a sweet Kidder Redline slalom ski and, while it was a few years old, was still a better ski then we could properly ski.

Until that day, maybe it was the girls that were watching, or just the site or whatever, but, that poor ski couldn't keep up.  The feeling of being 100% in touch with your slalom ski, knowing that each move you do with your body provides a equal result on the water is phenomenal.

No idea what line length we were at when we fell, it wasn't some record breaking thing, maybe 21 off?  28?  Not sure, but, the lake we were on was just about as wide as the slalom course, we ended up skipping out at the three ball and ended up on the beach.

But, the result was irrelevant, it was the best feeling we have ever had on a ski ever, most confident, it was something that someone who doesn't ski or even compete in sports wouldn't know.  That absolute belief in yourself and your ability.  Whatever level that is.

The peak of your perfection may not mean anything to anyone else, but, it does to you and you should always be proud of that.  Thats why we do what we do, aiming to be better.

Sure, the next best moment may not be as great as what we did, or maybe better.  But, its the best that it is NOW!

Live that life!