Left, Lindsay Kildow of Vail, blazing to a silver medal in the downhill at Are, Sweden, in a U.S. Ski Team photograph. At right, Claire Walter, your faithful blogger, carving down a groomed run at Tamarack, ID, in a photo taken 10 days ago by resort photographer Sherri Harkin.
I am amazed when people ask whether I ski -- or worse, whether I still ski. I always reply that writing about skiing is not like covering, say, Major League Baseball, NHL hockey, NBA basketball or NFL football. While skiing can be a spectator sport (the World Alpine Champsionships, for instance, are taking place right now in Are, Sweden), skiing is mostly a participant activity like golf or tennis. The people who most enjoy watching it also ski.
I am amazed when people ask whether I ski -- or worse, whether I still ski. I always reply that writing about skiing is not like covering, say, Major League Baseball, NHL hockey, NBA basketball or NFL football. While skiing can be a spectator sport (the World Alpine Champsionships, for instance, are taking place right now in Are, Sweden), skiing is mostly a participant activity like golf or tennis. The people who most enjoy watching it also ski.
Early in my career I was a magazine editor, including two years as managing editor of Ski Business and Ski Area Management, trade publications put out by the company that then owned Ski magazine. Then, I was managing editor of Ski for another two years, before veering off into the realm of public relations (handling ski accounts for a small New York agency) and then as a sales promotion writer for one of my clients, Swissair. When I left the airline and started freelancing, I think during the administration of Calvin Coolidge, it was only natural that I started writing about skiing. It continues to be a major topic of my writing as well as one of my gret pleasures.
As a skier and a ski journalist, I have chased snow around the world. I have skied all over the US snowbelt from Maine to Alaska, Canada, South America, New Zealand and even China. But my beat is mostly the Rocky Mountains, whose mountains I've explored from southern New Mexico to northern Alberta. Most recently, I visited Tamarack, ID, and posted a report and a few images on this blog. The small black-clad figure standing next to the large snowcat is me, but I'm just standing.
As a skier and a ski journalist, I have chased snow around the world. I have skied all over the US snowbelt from Maine to Alaska, Canada, South America, New Zealand and even China. But my beat is mostly the Rocky Mountains, whose mountains I've explored from southern New Mexico to northern Alberta. Most recently, I visited Tamarack, ID, and posted a report and a few images on this blog. The small black-clad figure standing next to the large snowcat is me, but I'm just standing.
For my ski writer colleagues, quitting skiing until very old age, infirmity or illness make it impossible is unthinkable. When I was living in New York and working for Ski, I joined the Eastern Ski Writers Association, a regional component of the North American SnowSports Journalists Association, and I was "the kid." Among some members of ESWA who are on the far side of 80 and still tearing up the slopes, and when I'm with them, I'm still a kid. I love it!
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When I read a ski article it seems that the author skis (and doesn't do anything esle) or doesn't ski and does everything else. Go to the spa. Eat. Go for a snowmobile ride. Eat. Stay in a very fancy hotel. Eat. Drink and party. Etc. I hhave been reading all of your blogs and I think you do everything. Thank you.
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