Skiing Binds Friends Together; Don’t Skip A Trip.

Great friends, great memories. At the top of Mammoth Mountain.  Credit: Pat McCloskey

One of the great things about the sport of skiing is that it is a conduit for friendships.  There is nothing like the anticipation of the weekly get together with friends or the ski trip with pals that you have skied with for over 40 years.  There’s a buzz: the excitement, the snow reports, who has new equipment, and when and where will we all meet.  The guys that I ski with every year on a March ski trip go hard.  They are ex-ski racers and coaches and keep themselves in good shape and we all look forward to the annual trip together coming in to Tahoe from all over the country.

They are cherished friends, and we lost one this summer to an unexpected heart attack.

Proctor Reid was a Dartmouth ski racer back in the day and a highly educated head of a government engineering think tank in DC.  Proctor always impressed me with his big strong GS turns as well as his intellect, and great sense of humor.  It will be a hole for sure in our group this coming March as we toast and ski a run or two for our pal Proctor.  He is pictured on the right in the blue and black jacket with all of us at the top of Mammoth with the great backdrop of the Minarets.  God bless him.  We miss him terribly.

Another guy in this group pictured in the back with the blue jacket is our ring leader and host Eric Durfee from Incline Village, NV.  He recently cut short a trek in Nepal with his wife because of an unfortunate accident.  While spreading the ashes of his in-law at the base camp at Everest, he blacked out and fell eight feet into rocks off the side of the trail.  He was helicoptered to Kathmandu where he and his wife spent a week during extensive tests to determine when and if he could fly home.  Fortunately, everything checked out, and they are on their way back to the states flying first class to Reno from Kathmandu.  He tells us all not to worry.  He will be skiing Mammoth next week.  Tough old bugger.

Not being morose here and hoping to spark a little thought, life is precious.  There are no guarantees and that is why it is so important to get together with friends and no better way than on a ski trip.  Sure, things come up and there are always a million excuses for why we are too busy, it is a bad time, had a flat tire, or some other lame excuse.  But when you make it a priority, skiing binds you all together for memories that last a lifetime.  Same with the groups at your local areas.  Yes, it is cold, the weather might not be optimal here in the East, but drag yourself out and be held accountable to your local group and expect the same results of laughs, great turns together and that cold IPA at the end of the day in the ski lodge.

I just had another birthday and I still ride mountain bikes at night with lights and ski as much as I can during the winter.  I have to keep it going.  I asked Scott Nicol of Ibis Bike fame how long he thought we would be riding and skiing at this level.  He said, “ Pat, don’t even think of it. Don’t let anyone say that you are too old to do anything.”  Like the saying goes, “You don’t quit skiing because you get old.  You get old because you quit skiing.”

Treasure your friends.  Go ski with them.  And always remember—no friends on a powder day.