Biting the... powder!

Yesterday was powder day and video time. We were shooting a video at Deer Valley Resort to celebrate the first January snowfall and switching back into true Utah winter mode.

I was filming the 44 year old Heidi Voelker, former US Ski Team member, who now serves at the Ambassador of Skiing at that ski resort. The snow was beautiful but blown in the most open areas, which with low visibility made skiing tricky, if not treacherous.

Filming a fast skier like Heidi on bumpy terrain with a helmet cam isn't easy either as the main objective is to keep the head (hence the camera) steady, aimed at the skier evolving ahead and of course, remain in control. Suffice to say that I took at least two spills that did cost me tons of energy. I discovered that, at my age, getting back on my feet is much harder than when I was in my twenties.

Powder snow and its inherent fleeting support makes the exercise that much more difficult and I've heard that older skiers who used to helicopter ski a lot, finally give it up because they simply can't get back up on their own and this would hold up the rest of the group.

I'm not quite there yet and will fight that curse with all my might. Last night, I was already practicing getting back up on the family room rug. My wife thought watching me struggling on the floor was highly entertaining!