In the winter of 1970-71 ski photographer Frank Davidson and I embarked on a joint book project featuring his photos of alpine ski racing along with free form words of mine attempting to capture the spirit of each photo. The book, unfortunately, never came to fruition but portions of it were printed in the 2nd edition of POWDER magazine. These words of 50 years ago are not the ones I would write today, but they do contain some of the spirit of the time. Here they are:
EXPRESSION
A man is what he does. He is also
the way it is done. He is the style of
his expression of who he is. He who wears
his colors and symbols for the world
to see, is something more than just
his actions. Every man finds his
own way to say to the world, “Look,
this is me. Look! See! See me,
and I won’t disappoint you.” Some
say it with a smile, others with
a sneer; some with a peace symbol,
others with a sword; some with
an open heart and some with a
closed hand. The style of
the expression is the individual’s
attempt to bring to the surface
from the deepest recesses of his human
soul, the fact that he is more
than how he spent his day.
SPEED
…blue red yellow blue red yellow blue red
and then just the powerful vision of color
and the poles and the white snow and speed, man,
speed. Not velocity—speed. That’s what racing is
all about. You know the course and you have run it many times
in your mind; if you make your body do it as well as
your mind, you will have a good result. You know
how fast you must go to win. The gap that must
be crossed is between your speed
and the other man’s. To cross
that space you focus your being
like an explosion into every
movement, every thought, every beat
of your heart. You must be agile,
but not too loose; strong but not
overpowering; courageous but not
foolishly so; and, most important
your mind must be all there and more—
so quick that no matter how fast the body
reacts, not how rapidly the skis move, it keeps
you slightly ahead, you must always be ahead of
your speed.
AGGRESSION
aggression is the trait which wins
fights, wars, ski races and other
games. It is sometimes confused
with initiative, pluck, courage and
being quite a fellow.
Aggression is part of everybody. It
can be seen in gossip, business,
sports, one upsmanship, government
and almost any human endeavor.
In ski racing, aggression can
be observed by the manner in
which a competitor goes through a
course. It can be seen in
his face at the same time.
No ski races are won without
aggression, and it is a good way
to express it. The world is
happier when aggression is restricted
to between the start and finish gates,
but not every man knows this.
STUDY
Sometimes it helps to
stop and study the course.
More can be learned in
two minutes of hard study
than by fifteen practice
runs, if you are practicing
a mistake.
It is good to stop
at times and study
every course in life.
FAILURE
The difficulty in accepting failure
is that there is nothing else to
be done about it. Failure is
hard because it is personal,
and because it betrays. Sometimes more
fate than failure—a ski breaks,
a binding opens—but fate and failure,
success and racer, are all one,
the same. Failure that does not
defeat leaves hope, and is a
great teacher. The other kind
of failure never forgives itself;
it is one of the saddest sights
on Earth. Every success is
made from a lot of failures.
VICTORY
…victory is the goal, the aim,
the reward. Yet, it arrives almost
as an afterthought, reminding
mortals that victory is the death
of the effort that achieved it.
Victory has unlimited disguises,
hiding nothing. The joy between
two friends who share the secrets of
success…the formal, sincere
congratulations of an admirer…the
inevitable winners circle victory
pose for the photographers; a little
sterile and impersonal, but
part of winning…
There are no final victories;
only tiny ones that never reach the surface,
giving strength and confidence for
the next race, not always on skis.
Winning is something, but to
learn the process of victory is more valuable;
that takes many victories and much luck.