A long time practitioner of martial arts, I will nevertheless try to express, not with a martial vocabulary, but with my vocabulary as a " rider"!

To ride a virgin face alone on a sunny day, to trace a line without all the way without stopping is a great feeling… The skiers who begin to ski out of bounds (off track), are full of apprehension. They find themselves in a vast element, like a novice sailor upon the open sea. This is important in order to appreciate the mountain; to want to experience these particular moments, whether alone or with friends. The craving to ski in the superb places of the world, to rediscover oneself in sometimes difficult positions, obliges one to surpass themself, just as in the martial arts!

This discipline is "authentic", in relation with Nature. The rides in the powder are an "Active meditation". To ski is, at least at first, to beat oneself...

The backcountry skiing, with its jumps, is penetrating the full liberty of skiing:

When one simply starts off to "progress", one can easily become bored. It is necessary to go beyond! To become one with the mountain. To do that, his fleeting track must become more; like a human signature on the Divine, one writes calligraphy of value with the mountain, rather than a horrible scar on the white face of the Goddess.

This is the Eternal pleasure that is the motivation of the fully free skier. In the deep powder, one can go to try and attempt new things without taking too many risks.... It is more regular to be hurt on the packed snow.... This is rather rare in the "powder" (with its natural protection), unless you fall on boulders or rocky bars, or are taken in an avalanche. And there the backpack ABS can save your life!

To ski on the packed snow or set trail and to ride the powder is the difference between ice skating and water skiing. In Free skiing, it is necessary to have a more open spirit, than on the other types, as more is required. The fully free skiing is multilayered. There are a lot of different aspects. Every mountain is different. The manner of skiing each progresses year after year. These things change constantly and are never the same. This "wild" energy characterizes the skiing styles of Perret, Morrisson, Gavaggio, Niol, Raisson, Master, Chicherit, Gaidet, Ducros, Michaud, Coirier, Purgin, Allemoz, Meynet, Diet, Abma, Pollard, Burks, David, Falquet, etc and also this is a "martial" approach to skiing for certain! The Zen style of Dominique Perret, The style Zen of Dominique Perret, the flowing aerial style of Coirer, the line of waves of Gavaggio in TX3 are all almost "meditations"; in any case, their "lines" are true offerings to the Mountain. This is how I consider it to be the Grand Skiing! As said by the Dark Lord: "It is necessary to find your own clean style", for the mountain allows us to be creative.

Good and bad moments pass to create things... The mountain teaches us about permanence and all the non-fatal accidents are carrying a constructive message for the future.

The Great Lie which consists of finding a good job, thinking of the future, paying your taxes, partaking in the bazaar.. what the Corporation represents to society. Is seeing this lie what leads to the "Rebels" among fully free outback skiing as well as practitioners of the martial arts?

The first snowfall of the season brings the valley back to life
The mountains (as martial arts) yield more and more ground in reaction to the mercantile attitude… The mountain learns the respect. To mark a slope, is comparable to overlapping ones own spirit…

The skiing is an endless "Arthurian" quest, that takes us to the most incongruous places .... To turn carefully in the fresh powder; to give preference to the flexibility and beauty of the "run", has something magic... Of course, one can place there more "trick" techniques, to adopt a fluidity which invokes desire for skiing (in those that watch).

This style of skiing is my essential focus when facing the techniques of the jumps during fully free skiing.

As in the martial arts, where any exchange is positive, it is necessary in skiing, to listen to the seniors (even the snowboarders)! Something will always emerge that is positive. How choose a run with fast line, large curves, or a slower run, where one can try a natural jump. To ski with all possible fluidity and jump on natural terrain.

With ski's on the feet, to split the powder, is like splitting the air with a sword, full of vitality and flexibility, or to perform calligraphy well, with the ski's as brushes in the powder.

The skiing of full liberty allows a better neurological rehabilitation of the TC (brain injured), while developing the Theta & Alpha waves in the brain, if a meditative process is associated with it. (I am a good example of this).

A good skier of full liberty is an old skier, as in the martial arts where longevity is preferable to the short life of the feudal warrior...

To caress the soft soft bends, arrive to merge, in harmony, with the Mountain for no more than to be one with her; is the goal of All acts in love, of all tantric acts. Such is my "Inner Skiing".

Xtremerider.teamwolfpack@wanadoo.fr