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What Avalanches Can Tell Me About My Own Weakness
How I Try to Pretend Weak layers in the snowpack are like fragile layers in our psyche. We can cover over them with slabs of bravado, carefully sintered together and work-hardened. We can pretend they don’t exist, or that subsequent snow has masked the flaw. As a diabetic and a rescuer, I prefer to [Read More]
Expectancy: A Skier’s Lament
October is a difficult month for a skier. The ski season is just around the corner. That first snowfall of the season, that will cover over the dark clumps of grass and sharp rocks, is almost upon us. Winter is hanging in the air. Or, more precisely for a skier living in the Pacific Northwest, [Read More]
So This is Diabetic Shock
In certain, life-threatening situations, opposing instincts fight for top billing. Not always does the will to live—to survive against all odds—always win. An instinctual drive to just give up, to see what happens when we die, to simply cease the grueling struggle, often presses just as hard against our psyche. Several years ago, alone one [Read More]
My Tender Side is Not a Weakness
It used to be that an outdoorsy skiing woman had to make a choice: she could either be strong and tough, basically a smaller version of a man, or she could be sensitive and girly, concerned more with how she looked in her stretch pants than how well she skied. She couldn’t be both. Suzy [Read More]
Finding the Pocket
I spend my winters in the mountains, working at a ski area. Whenever I meet someone new, whether on the chairlift or in the bar, they eventually ask the same question: so what do you do in the summer? My answer is usually vague. I write, I travel; I let my feet breathe in flip-flops [Read More]