Just a few years ago, this famous, yet almost unknown French ski champion was the topic of this blog.
At age 17, Bonlieu won a Silver Medal just behind Stein Eriksen at the Åre Olympics in 1956, a Bronze at the Bad Gastein World Championships of 1958 and an Olympic Gold in Innsbruck in 1964. All medals won in Giant Slalom.
He was a natural-born skier and could ski anything on almost anything. The last time I skied with him was in 1973 (a few months before he passed) on the “Crozats de la Chaux” in Avoriaz, France. He skied the untracked slope straight down on one ski (he had at the time a pair of Fischer with the toe mounted at half-chord length).
He could have been on two-by-fours, it wouldn't have bothered him a bit. Morale of the story: What counts first and foremost is the guy or gal on top; the boards are just secondary...
During the early winter months, I usually ski in the afternoon.
I show up at the ski resort parking lot and get lucky 98% of the time by sliding into an empty spot just left by a morning practitioner that will afford me a short walk to the lift. In some rare instances, I spot returning skiers, ask them if they're leaving and then wait for them to get rid of their gear and leave.
Some people do that quickly and efficiently. Others are desperately slow as if they took special pleasure in making me wait for as long as they possibly can.
When that burden falls on me, I may not rush, but I won't waste a second and vacate the place in the shortest amount of time possible.
I guess we all behave differently and in life like on this parking lot, there's always a palette of wonderful and nasty folks!
Yesterday, I rode on chair with two guys in their late 30s who didn't know where to ski in order to avoid the big Saturday crowds. I told them where I thought the best spots were and they asked me if they could tag along and follow me.
It's true that Park City was particularly crowded and that ahead of a big snowstorm announced for today, many lifts were stopped because of a strong wind.
I took the pair down into the shaft, a steep bumpy run that is served by the Crescent chair and both managed well. We then rode Crescent up and picked up a man my age, who sat next to me. He was from Lucerne, Switzerland, and had worked for both Swissair and Jack Meader Air Cargo, for many years at JFK airport in New York.
I noticed that he had a nice pair of skis, unknown to me, with a Swiss cross at the tip and I asked him if they were Stöcklis; he said “No they're 'Five Star' skis handmade in Engelberg and I paid $3,000 for them...”
Without missing a beat, I sprang my skis forward to show them for all to see and exclaimed “$250 at this year's Park City ski swap!”
Many years ago, if someone had asked me that very question, I would have had this short answer: “Because skiing frees me from gravity and makes me believe I fly...”
Sure there are many more reasons than that cursory reply of mine. Finding oneself in an enchanted and totally magical setting, for many, in a totally different weather environment, for even more finding a form of easy, yet full form of physical exercise.
Today, I would say that skiing is all of the above, but is best at bringing escape from the cares and tension of daily life.
Yes, a form of relaxation in motion or an active mediation are the largest and most potent benefits that skiing brings to me these days!
My daughter picked a short week to escape the big city and come ski with her Dad.
Boy, was it a lucky break! It snowed most of the time, the temperatures stayed low, the snow light and dry, no crowds whatsoever and only one day of sunshine but we didn't mind it at all.
During this action-packed short week, we did the best skiing Park City had to offer and enjoyed each others company. I was very mindful of my ailing knee, that somehow held up under all the powder we plowed through and since in the end no one got hurt, this was picture-perfect skiing!
A few days ago, I came across an old Jacques Brel interview from 1971 in which the Belgian pop singer was sharing some interesting insights about life in general. Some of it was excellent, some misogynist (the piece was 45 years old!) and some just a bit weird. I just wanted to share some of his best views with you.
First, Brel talked about success; to him, success was the mere realization of one's dreams. He asserted that talent didn't exist per se, but was the result of wanting to accomplish something badly... To him wanting to turn a dream into reality was where talent was at.
He continued by saying that generally, we're all just telling stories about dreams that we fail to realize. He also contented that at the end of one's teenage years, a person has been exposed to all of their possible dreams; perhaps unknowingly but that it was sure that at that stage in live, anyone would knows what they wanted in life, be it glory, security or adventure.
Later in life, when one reminisces, their unfulfilled dreams resurface and like the frustrated novelist who threatens to write a book someday, too many of us never seize the opportunity to turn their dreams into reality...
That propensity to dream make males nomads, always antsy to discover what's going on onto the other side, until a female stops them in their track, wants a baby and retain them in place in spite of the fact that they remains wandering nomads all their life, if not in action, definitely in dreams...
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