I've been doing a ton of thinking while out here in Colorado. I've been out here for just about a month now, without a doubt, the skiing is 10x better here. The mountains are higher, the snow is deeper, the crowds are thinner and it is all together a completely different sport. However, I wouldn't change a single thing on how I got out here. I'm very proud of my east coast upbringing, the resorts I frequented, the skiing friends I've made, the resorts I've worked for, the countless hours of driving spent in my Subaru during college and the zillions of hours I've spent in premiere, photoshop or dreamweaver making pages to inform everyone to the movement that everyone has worked so hard to create.

What makes this even sweeter is that I did this all on my own accord. Nobody helped me. My (higher) education and my upbringing had nothing to do with my success. This (new) life is 100% as a result of my actions in the ski industry. Sure, the college education helps, but at the end of the day Assumption did absolutely nothing to get me where I am today... Other than the school's convenient geographic location to skiing. I taught myself html, css, php, mysql, photoshop, dreamweaver and photography. I'm the one that was checking out books from the library on subjects that weren't in my current "curriculum", I was experimenting with my own personal websites and getting internships at ski resorts. I'm sure that the concepts I absorbed in the 4.5 year's I attended Assumption helped, but in the end... I made this happen and it is a great feeling. It just sucks that our society pretty much mandates a college education and that my parents had to endure the economic hardship of putting me through some sort of institutionalized education system for 4+ years. I'll always be super grateful for all they have done to further my education. I just hope they one day understand all the work that I've invested into getting where I am today.

Well, back to the nostalgia... I'd pretty much kill to ride Mount Snow, Wachusett or Sunday River right now. Not because the parks are that sick, or that they've got the best stuff around... I'd like to go back because that's where I'm from. I can ride those parks, look around and know at least a dozen other regulars there. It is where I feel at home. Everyone has their "home turf", and for me, that place is back east... Probably at the River. No place will, or has been as ever been so good to me as Sunday River will ever be.

Sure, I'm in a "better" place now. Just know that every time I hike to some sick bowl, drop a pow-filled tree line or hit an x-games jump, I'll know that I owe everything to the east coast and the people that helped me get to where I am right now.

photo: ryan amirault | skier: dave amirault

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 at Tuesday, February 28, 2006. You can skip to the end and leave a response.