In fleeting moments where our feet leave the constant companion of the earth below, we venture into an strange intangible place. A conflicted state, where one is fiercely focused and intense, yet irrevocably set along simple trajectory controlled by only one force. Moments are available in surplus, yet they pursued as a finite resource reaching complete exploitation.

Winter is Coming

Published in Highline Magazine, Winter 2011/2012

Breath drawn in through your nose instantly freezes bristling hairs to each other, fastening in an icy grip. Extremities fall one by one in an uncomfortably familier progression, as cold chills give way to the complete absence of feeling. Beneath your skis snow makes uncharacteristically abrasive sounds as though writhing in pain, it cries out breaking and reshaping under the pressure. In frozen mountain air the voice of bullwheels and steel cable also cary a different voice in frigid weather, creaking and moaning with frighting clarity and amplification.

Winter is Coming

Flying through an endless maze of stoic trees, charging forward, onward, downward.
The last turn is a forgotten history, the next turn remains unseen.
The past and future disappear, every worry and anxiety of life falls away,
the moment at hand is the only thought occupying consciousness.
Sound, light, temperature, and wind melt into the background as a single state of being.

Winter is coming

Ryan Waddell at Revelstoke Mountain Resort