I got better

[badmigraine 0]

I know my limits and I will never be throwing big spins in the pipe or doing Big Airs. You'll never see me tricking on a rail or putting down a "sick" slopestyle line...

 

In fact that seems almost like circus performance to me--like the Chinese Acrobats or the guy who rides the motorcycle in the Cage of Death.

 

No offense to those who do it or aspire to--I'll watch till the cows come home and even buy you beers... but I'll never do it.

 

That leaves me steeps, powder, trees, moguls, high-speed carving, and backcountry. And cat/heli-skiing if I can get rich.

 

So I am all about improving my skill set in other ways...like how IM said he got good at reading precip maps and predicting the weather.

 

I don't see my skills having improved markedly this year. I don't see myself doing things I couldn't do before.

 

But I do go faster and more comfortably down the lines I choose, and, more than before, when I remember my runs of the day while lying in bed, I don't see the slope and my tracks. I see the trees, the broad slope and trees everywhere, sitting white and peaceful under a giant endless sky.

 

I like to think that Mogs and I are drawn to scary places because we need to improve our mental game. I think we already have all the skills needed to handle the places we go, but we just need to practice the mental part.

 

When you start out something new--a language, a new trick, a musical instrument--any small advance seems huge because you may be doubling your skills every week...but at some point you are working on mental stuff.

 

I think I got better at mental stuff this year.

 

Not smarter! Just another year of alarming, exciting, and variegated runs under my belt.

 

And I got the feeling I am not the only one, right guys?

[Ocean11 0]

I used to think that, but then I got better...

 

At some point though, there's got to be a point where reaching another level can only come at the price of injury, and that's where I stop.