If they only knew.....

[Huckwheat]

hah...yeah, I can't bring myself to show photos of hospital air to my mom & dad. I just told them I jumped off a pretty big cliff.

I have wondered about that, but forgot to ask you last weekend. Would they freak or think it is cool? My dad used to put my huck picks up in his office at IBM, he loved it. My folks did in all seriousness ask me never to do a road gap again (after seeing a Donner pass pic)......but only after my dad made me send him 8x10 copies.

Great thread, and a topic I have thought of often. My favorite ski movie quote ever, Scott G: "just remember that the milkman and toll booth guy may have other lives too". (or something close to that)

I show my pics to family, just because I want them to at least TRY to understand my obsession. Coworkers is a bad idea......better that they think you are just boring (the other choice is crazy, which isnt good).

[P_McPoser]

My dad says, "THATS FUCKING AWSOME"

My mom says, "you are giving my gray hair"

AKA sometimes doesn't watch and calls me retarded when I fall of large things..........

Have they seen the pics of HA?? How did they react?

[snowfire]

My parents haven't actually seen me ski since I was probably 16, but they've seen pictures of the things I do. Aside from the fact that I'm still gaping it up after all these years, apparently my dad was concerned enough about my mountain obsession to take out a life insurance policy on me when I moved to NZ to ski, so they could repatriate my remains.

[tomw_n]

Double true.

Thirded. My number one hated question from co-workers/non-skiing friends:

"Do you go off-piste?"

[fiddler]

I just about gave my mother and father-in-law from Wisconsin heart attacks one summer when we drove up to Baker. The road goes through Pan and Snaggle and in summer all you see is a steep slope with trees and lots of rock. As we drove through there I pointed up what looked like a cliff to them and said that was one of my favorite runs. Also that it was much better with 15 feet of snow on it. I tried to assure them that it wasn't all that difficult but it was all just a little more info than they needed. In May and June when I tell them I'm going skiing up at Whistler or down to Timberline later in summer they just can't quite comprehend. I don't but if I did huck myself off cliffs I don't think I'd tell them.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I have wondered about that, but forgot to ask you last weekend. Would they freak or think it is cool? My dad used to put my huck picks up in his office at IBM, he loved it. My folks did in all seriousness ask me never to do a road gap again (after seeing a Donner pass pic)......but only after my dad made me send him 8x10 copies.

eh....my dad would probably think it's cool, but my mom would freak I think. I'll probably show it to them eventually. My sister has seen and think's its rad, but she's a skier. But everyone else in her office thinks I'm (we're) crazy.

Great thread, and a topic I have thought of often. My favorite ski movie quote ever, Scott G: "just remember that the milkman and toll booth guy may have other lives too". (or something close to that)

forgot about that quote...pretty true.

[ill-advised strategy]

Endless:

I guarantee if I knew you out in the real world I would have zero idea you were capable of the high-speed ass-hauling fury that you unleashed on Solitude the one time we skied together. They'll never know.

[bigtrubs]

My dad is probably now regretting dragging me out to the mountain every weekend growing up- because as of age 8 or so I became hooked for life. He's realized that now not only my bro gets catskiing adventures, and that I indeed ski backcountry too.

My mum is a warm weather creature who never liked skiing (except xc) all that much. It wasn't until she saw some photos I sent to her of me that she discovered that I'm better than she thought I was. She always cringes when I tell her I'm going backcountry or that I've been skiing off cliffs.

[cultvo]

Endless:
the high-speed ass-hauling furyyou unleashed

ha. Endless is FAST. My eyes watered inside my goggs the one time I tried to keep up with him.

Well, my lady and our kids ski together a lot so they know the story.

My mom would tsk-tsk and say something about my son needing his father. Dad would chew on his toothpick, grunt, then tell me an F-4 Phantom story.

[ill-advised strategy]

ha. Endless is FAST.

oh yeah. I was hyper-stoked!

my kind of skier all the way! Charger... like a living CR500

[kush1]

My folks did in all seriousness ask me never to do a road gap again (after seeing a Donner pass pic).......

Any chance of you heading out some weekend with us to help/show us where to build them in donner? never hit a road gap, I think I am about due.......(so are brooks and TY )

[subtle plague]

hehe, my parents are kinda proud when they show my homemade DVD to their friends. although mostly they get comments like "they're insane" or "his girlfriend does that stuff too ? i thought girls were smarter than that"...morons.

sadly my parents cannot sepperate the GNAR(ok wannabe gnar ) from the nice looking but tame things. and when i show them something which im really stoked of, they usually say "well that other jump/line looked better."

[ex-groomer]

My regular ski partner IS my wife,and she doesn't see much of me because she's in the lead and haulin' ass. The vigor of youth! I'm in my forties with wasted knees so I don't do too much crazy stuff anymore. The Chutes at Rose are about the edge of the envelope for me. I've lost too many friends and heroes to the mountains. There are old skiers,there are bold skiers.there are no old,bold skiers. I want to be an old skier.

[Arty50]

My dad says, "THATS FUCKING AWSOME"

My mom says, "you are giving my gray hair"

AKA sometimes doesn't watch and calls me retarded when I fall of large things..........

My family is coming up to ski this weekend. My sister can hang. My bro thinks he's good. I should take him up to Once...

Of course, now that I'm talking shit I know I'm going to beater down something.

[solstice]

...... You had more snow that one day then we have had this winter . They only thing we beat you in is gloomy cloudy days.. Right now it is 31 degrees, cloudy with 25-30 out of the northwest. .

Where are your parents from? Hum, I'm guessing ..........Minnesota.

[Endlessseason]

oh yeah. I was hyper-stoked!
my kind of skier all the way! Charger... like a living CR500

Heh. I was only being a good guest and following the lead of the host.
Hey, are you finally going to join us and start using your bird pass as soon as Solly closes?

[Shepherd Wong]

How many times have I tomahawked it down something risky and told those who care about me that the day was just ok and nothing really happened. Ughhhh probably 73 times.
And if anyone asks, I don't really crash anymore.

[bad_roo]

My parents delivered me to casualty so many times as a kid I think they're glad I'm skiing and not BASE jumping or racing motorbikes.

My coworkers know me well enough to realise I have some faulty wiring. My wife just eggs me on but she refuses to get in a car on the Nurburgring.

[Arno]

I went to see a physio before my most recent trip. My knee had wobbled a bit and I wanted to check I hadn't damaged it. No damage done but she told me to "take it easy and stick to blue runs". I thought it best not to mention that La Grave doesn't really have blue runs.

Standing at the top of a steep chute, I found myself laughing to myself and thinking, "she would shit if she saw me doing this"

[Franz Klammer]

My parents often take some of the photos that I post up here so they know what my brother and I are up to.

From my colleagues I routinely just get a weird look accompanied by "You're crazy."

[crashnburn'd]

My mom gets angry when I don't send her pictures and video of the things I'm doing. Sometimes, I leave certain parts out of conversations, but for the most part I tell her everything I do. Granted, I don't go very big or very fast. My dad on the otherhand, doesn't appear to care unless it's something about cars. Occasionally he'll say something about it, but not usually.

My coworkers, for the most part, think I'm nuts, but they're all old.

[Lumpy]

Ever chuckle to yourself and wonder what your spouse, sister, brother, roommate, grandma, co-workers, would think or say if they really knew (or better yet actually saw) you ski?

Yep, I know what your relatives would say...

"Why doesn't someone buy him a pair of goggles?"

[Mofro261]

I was very fortunate to grow up in a pretty hard core ski family with parents who were instructors and started us very early down the road of compulsion.

My father is in his 60's and still rips. He still talks about jumping the mine dump at Alta, where he was a ski bum working at the Peruvian in the mid 60's and met my mom. He still did backflips into his 50's, and tried to teach me at 8, but I never liked the sensation of going over backwards and never learned. I'd like to thank him here for going into hock to make sure we always went skiing, and for taking me on Heli trips in my late teens-early twenties.

My mom has broken her leg and ankle 3X while skiing, the last time severely so while she still goes, she pretty much has mellowed to the point where my 5and 7yr kids outpace her -but they both are skiing FAST now ~30mph+. We just got back from 4 days at WB where the kiddies logged 100K+ vert and definitely wore the grandparents out.

My wife has been the only one who consistantly nags me to be careful, usually with statements like "remember you are a father, your kids need you"
so I'm more guarded about telling her what the avy conditions were like, etc and it does get in my head a bit.

I never discuss skiing with any co-workers or non-skier friends- this is pointless.

[yooper]

My mom LOVES to watch skiing. She's never seen my wife or me ski out west, but she still (at age 71) comes and watches our race league on Thursday nights.
After watching our 2 kids (3, and 20 months) ski this last weekend, she said, "y'know.... I may just try skiing next year."
I'm not sure if its really a good idea, but in a way, I think it would be really cool.

[lemon boy]

My wife is like the military and gays,

don't ask, don't tell

She sees me craning around to look at stuff while driving though and actually has a decent idea of what is and is not in play and likes the thought of none of it.