Sending hard is fun and all, but who doesn’t love a good wipeout? My body, that’s who. I had a couple of big (and somewhat dumb) falls while I was in Lake Tahoe for the holidays (I’m now back in Chile) and I can still see some of the bruises on my poor legs. I even made a fancy diagram of the one fall caught on camera:

It’s not an official yard sale because only one ski came off, but I would like to draw your attention to that specific ski which somehow ended up vertical, with the tip buried pretty deeply into the snow and facing backwards. How does that even happen?! I’m legitimately impressed with myself and also physics. All I remember is ripping down a slope, perhaps a little faster than normal but not out of control, and then being on the ground and sliding. It’s not like there’s an obvious tree root or anything where the ski got stuck either. Forever a mystery and also photo evidence that my ski technique could use some work.

I got a full 11 days of skiing in during Northern Hemisphere winter before heading back down south, which is kind of a lot but I felt like I was just getting back into it. Also I really sucked at backcountry skiing (mostly the walking up part) the first few times we went out. That happens to be when the wipeout photo was taken, so yeah. Good times all around.

Anyways, I missed the crazy snow that Tahoe had in December, but Canada was pretty powdery. Over New Years, Will and I along with our friend Nick did a couple of days at Whistler where my Chilean friend Coni is working. I met her all the way back in 2019, and I was pretty bummed when she moved to Canada in October 2021 for a yearlong working holiday so it was very exciting to get to see her for a week over the holidays. This was also the first time she met Will, which was nice because they’re two of my favorite people but also because for three years I kinda felt like that kid in fifth grade that says “I definitely have a boyfriend but he goes to a different school and you wouldn’t know him and no he can’t come over to play but he definitely exists.”

It’s a little depressing that ski season is over for me, but I am very much enjoying the sun here in the Southern Hemisphere and practicing pull-ups and plotting the next time I can escape down to Patagonia. Gotta plan around that pesky work thing.