Sunday, March 9, 2014

Inspiration and Mountain Goats

Google defines inspiration as, "The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something." Most people look toward professional athletes, actors, and motivational speakers for inspiration. Skiing has given me an incredible opportunity to meet so many people that inspire me every day. People like Jim Norm Jack, Zeke Pierce, and Tim Luczkow. Whenever I'm down, disappointed, sad, butthurt, or angry, I look to Zeke, Jim Jack, and Tim for inspiration.

Jim Jack was the head judge of the Junior Freeride Tour from 2005-2011. I had a lot of chances to ski and hangout with Jim Jack in some of the coolest places around the world. Whenever I was with Jim Jack I noticed one unique thing about him, he made the best of every day. He often used the phrase  "live every day like it's your last". He didn't mean live every day as your last so go do something stupid.  No, Jim Jack meant it like, be as happy and content as possible, as much as you possibly can. Instead of saying YOLO and jumping off a fifty foot cliff, he was meeting new friends, and always making the best out of a bad situation. For instance, at Crystal Mountain Washington, the Junior Freeride Competition was cancelled due to high wind and snow. All athletes and coaches were in the lodge bored, annoyed, and complaining. Jim Jack on the other hand, took this time to learn a cart-wheel. It was pretty funny to watch a grown man try to teach himself how to do a cart-wheel. But eventually he did it and said, "Well look at that, I just did something that I've never done before!" Jim Jack inspires me to try something new everyday and to make the best out of any situation.

Another person that inspires me is Zeke Pierce. I met Zeke three years ago when he first joined the Vail Big Mountain Team. I had never met Zeke before, but the more I got to know Zeke, the more I liked him. Zeke was outgoing, funny, fun to be around, and he knew how to shred. But it wasn't until Zeke's first Big Mountain competition that I saw his best quality. Zeke's first competition was in Red Mountain, Canada in British, Columbia. He was nervous. Zeke and I inspected together and just by looking at him you could see how nervous he was. Zeke and I had different start orders so we had to separate after inspection. It wasn't until later that day that I met up with him again. He was skiing with his little brother Max and couldn't have been happier. I said to him, "Man you must have done well if you are this happy, huh?" He said,"No, I fell. I'm probably in last place." That's when I realized that Zeke had this crazy ability to be happy regardless of his situation. He wasn't going to let anything or anyone ruin his day. From then on at competitions I could never tell if Zeke was in first place or last place because he was always just so stoked to be shredding with his friends! Zeke inspires me to be grateful and to not let negative emotions ruin a good day.

Tim Luczkow is the man. Tim is one of my coaches on the Vail Big mountain team. I am fortunate to spend almost every weekend skiing with Tim. As much as I love skiing with Tim, most of the time its the chairlift rides with Tim that make my weekend great. Tim is happily married, a proud father of two, and has done just about anything and everything a human could do. But most importantly, Tim feels so blessed and content with who he is, what he has done, and who he is with. For instance, a few weeks ago while riding the chair with Tim he just randomly says, "You know, I'm happy I'm not some crazy genius guy sitting in an office somewhere because then I wouldn't be able to be here skiing and watching you guys do all these crazy things." To me, this just shows how much Tim values his life and how he chooses to live it. Tim inspires me to take advantage of every opportunity that is given to me, to never look back in life, and to always be content.

I strongly believe that if I continue to live my life by the inspiration that Jim Jack, Zeke and Tim have given me, that I will be a Mountain Goat (metaphorically speaking of course). I think the Mounatin Goat is a great representation of me and who I want to be. The Mountain Goat has an exceptional drive to climb to the top of some of the gnarliest mountains in the world. No matter how steep, rocky, or sketchy, the mountain goat always finds a way to get to the top. I want to live my life like the mountain goat. No matter how bad, scary, sketchy any obstacle is in my life, I will work as hard as I possible can to get to the top. I am no down-climber. I am a Mountain Goat.