The first day

Today was my first day at Mons Royale.

And leaving the house this morning, I couldn’t help but feel like I did in junior high as I headed off for the first day of school. Backpack on, lunch packed, nervous for what the new school year might bring.

But just like back in those days, the first day at work brought excitement and anticipation and the promise of good things to come. It’s incredible to feel passion for what I’m doing again.

I could regale you with tales of HR monotony and retail manufacturing processes, but instead, I want to talk about a particular moment in the day that struck me.

It was when the Mons CEO, Hamish, was telling us about how he started his company. It was born out of his passion for skiing. And it was at that moment that I realized my whole life is built on that same foundation.

To bring you back to junior high again for a second, I remember being told by a particularly petulant friend that skiing wasn’t a real sport. That the weekends upon weekends that I had spent on-mountain wasn’t “training”.

At the time, I was furious. But today, I realized she was right. It’s not a sport – it’s so much more than that.

Skiing is where I made some of my best friends. It’s where I learned about failure and disappointment and ultimately, that unbeatable feeling of success. It’s camaraderie, discipline and commitment – because you need all three of those things to sit on a chairlift in a downhill suit in minus fucking 30 degrees.

It’s chaos before you get into the start gate of a race and calming quietude as you wait for the go-ahead, looking down at the course. The same quietude I’ve encountered on a powder day in Whistler, as I’ve huddled amongst hundreds of others in a chilly gondola line, dreaming of the first surf in the snow.

It’s that high you get when you float on newly-fallen powder. That beautiful snap in the apex of your skis when you hit a turn just right and launch into the next arc. It’s that wash of snow that curves into a wave over you when you begrudgingly come to a stop.

Without skiing, I wouldn’t have gone to Mount Allison University – a decision I made because I wanted to be close to my home hill.

I wouldn’t have ended up in Whistler.

I wouldn’t now be in New Zealand.

I wouldn’t be working for Mons.

How many people can say that a sport they participated in when they were a kid shaped their whole life?

She was right, that friend from way back when; it’s not a sport. It’s a way of life – an unstoppable magnetic force that pulls us to the mountains. And the beautiful thing about Whistler and Wanaka is, that that force unites us all.

Today was the first day and I’m so happy to feel like I’m amongst people who get it. People who know that skiing isn’t just a sport. It’s a gift.

• JB