Screenshot: Team Thirteen
What do I do next? That question kept popping up in my head over and over after that line went viral. And that question had popped up before in seasons past. But this time, in my gut, there was no immediate thought of, I got to go out there and top it… That fire wasn’t in there.
After 10 years of chasing this dream, there suddenly was a new dream plaguing my brain. I had spent season after season chasing high-action segments for video parts and edits. It was and will always be exciting to lay down gut-wrenching lines in the best snow around the world, but the year I dropped that line, I basically had about as good of a season as you could have asked for. I simply didn’t want to keep doing the same thing.
Additionally, I’m pretty of what skiers in the past have done, and saw what was successful and what was not. It felt like the time to break from whatever I had been doing. And aside from the personal motivation, there is also the exhaustion of pushing it every year. It doesn’t always lead to good. I’ve watched friends injure themselves out of the sport, or even die. To put it bluntly, shit is getting gnarly out there. You see most recent ski movie that comes out every year and there is this demand to one-up yourself. I began realizing that the 60 to 70 foot hucks in my last segment were not nearly as impressive as they once were because they were becoming normal. Ten years any one of those hucks would be the best shot in a ski movie. And don’t get me wrong, hucking your meat is beyond fun, but in a weird way, it’s getting old.
Screenshot: Team Thirteen
But that’s what’s so great about the mountains — there are so many different challenges to face and so many different ways to approach the mountain. This past season, I wanted to do it a little more on my own. Often when we were going out to get parts, it felt like a real production, occasionally distracting from how amazing merely being there was.
Screenshot: Team Thirteen
With that in mind, I planned trips to places you wouldn’t be able to access with helicopters, going places that people haven’t gone to before and really exploring — making more of an adventure out of it. And I definitely found a new fire for skiing because of it.
All that being said, I didn’t completely steer away from filming. I actually set out to do my own movie, which was entitled Conquering the Useless.
The reason I went to do it on my own was because, one, it seemed like a challenge without all the support, and, two, it was the only way I would be able to fit the style of skiing and storytelling that I wanted to in the movie.
Ultimately, this past season was a success. It almost it felt like I was 20 years old again, and in Alaska for the first time. That feeling of not ignorance, but, I don’t know exactly what’s going on, I need to put these pieces together on my own. It was like I was out there for the first time again in 10 years ago.
Screenshot: Team Thirteen
As for what’s next? I literally have no idea. I would love to go back and film with MSP. Then I would also love to continue going down this path of exploring, adventuring, and climbing. This past season opened my eyes to new realms of skiing and approaching the mountains as well as the endless mountains that I might access or learn to access through my own power. What it comes down to is that there is this whole new realm available to me, with a new mindset to go forward into it. In the end, I’ll see where that takes me. I don’t know yet, but I’m excited all the same.
For more on Conquering the Useless, available early October, head on over to the website. And for more from Cody Townsend, head on over to his website. Be sure to Like him on Facebook as well as follow him on Instagram and Twitter. Lastly, don’t forget to check out Arcade Belts.
