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Dave Swanwick Awaits the Snow

	Dave Swanwick

When asked to write a column for MountainZone.com, I figured it would be easy — I'll just relate a few of the tales from my travels around the world. There are a million stories I could relay while I am at ski contests, on film shoots, enjoying an epic powder day or scaring the #$%! out of myself on some steep face.

But now the question is what to write about when there is little snow here in Colorado, or in the whole US for that matter. Right now the only skiing possible around here is on the two beginner/intermediate runs we have open in Crested Butte. Stories about getting yelled at by the patrol for speeding or jumping blind rollovers just aren't that exciting.

"I ski. That's right, I'm a skier and I'm passionate about it. I don't really know if it is learned or innate..."

I figure since this is my first "update" I should let you know who I am and why the hell I was asked to write a column for MountainZone.com. So, for starters, I am a pro skier; I compete on the Freeskiing World Tour, film with Teton Gravity Research (TGR), design clothes for my signature line with Hard Corps, help with design for Dynastar skis and give product reviews to Smith shades and goggles. With all of that aside, I can tell you what I really do.

I ski. That's right, I'm a skier and I'm passionate about it. I don't really know if it is learned or innate. My parents were weekend skiers (every weekend) so I learned to ski as I learned to walk. Do I ski because I love it or because I feel more comfortable with skis on than I do in street shoes? Is it because I love it, that I excel at it? Or is it something that has been passed down from generation to generation? My great grandfather taught my grandfather, my grandfather taught my father and so on. My mom is a ski bum, she skis about 150 days a year. Is it she who passed on the passion for the sport?

So, have I answered my own question or just introduced you to the conundrum of my existence?

I welcome you to join me each week this season for a winter of travel, powder, steep lines, near misses, and hopefully a few competition victories. We might even discern what skiing is all about and why some of us can't live without it.

Be well, get out there and charge it like a gold card. (I mean platinum... whatever, just get after it.)

— Dave Swanwick, MountainZone.com Correspondent

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