Skiing: my personal escape

BY Natalie Manzo

I have been skiing for as long as I can remember. Since the age of six, I have braved the bitter winter weather and propelled myself down a snow-covered mountain on two pieces of metal bundled in plenty of layers.

Now I know what you may be thinking… ‘Do you really enjoy that?’ The answer is yes. Yes one hundred times over.

From the ages of six to ten my family would take both day and weekend day trips up the east coast. Whether that be my parents hauling my younger sisters and I to Camelback Mountain in Pennsylvania or going up to Okemo, the mountain I learned to ski at in Vermont, the sport always offered a way to bring excitement to a dreary winter.

Fast forward to fifth grade: From this age to the present, my family has rented a condo at a ski resort in upstate New York for the winter.  At the age of eleven I started ski racing. I was a part of the race team from 5th grade through 8th grade. During this time of changing friend groups and middle school drama, skiing offered me a way to make new friends and have fun.

When I realized ski racing was no longer something I could fully commit to, I decided to learn how to teach kids to ski. At a time when I was seeking more independence, skiing offered me a way to still continue the sport that I loved and also gain responsibility by having a job, something I had not yet experienced.

After two years of teaching, I knew I was ready to try something new. But, this time it really was not anything new at all. I simply wanted to ski. I wanted to have the freedom to hit the slopes whenever I wanted, with whoever I wanted, for however long I wanted.

For me this often meant with my younger sisters and parents or with friends on the mountain. In what could be considered the more stressful years of high school, junior and senior year, skiing offered me an escape I desperately needed. I skied away from my responsibilities, solely focusing on making strong turns, carving into the east coast ice, and beating my sisters in races down the mountain.

Additionally, skiing has offered my family time to spend together that we may not have normally had which I value more than I ever have, especially these past two years.

Now as I experience my last year of high school and, therefore, my last year of going upstate every weekend, I soak in every moment: I take in the views a little longer, I stay on my skis another run and I try to imprint into my mind the freedom I feel flying down the mountain these dwindling weekends of winter.