“The mountains are calling and I must go.” — John Muir

This week I’m packing my jacket and goggles and heading to the mountains for the last time this season. While everyone I know is slathering on sunscreen in hopes of the perfect spring break, I’ll be applying the SPF and praying for blue-bird days. If history is any indicator, somewhere between Bozeman and Big Sky, Montana my stress will begin to fade away with the rising elevation and the occasional sighting of bighorn sheep. This is it, my happy place. And despite the cost, the distance and the eternal layovers it takes to get me strapped into my skis, it’s worth it all for the promise of some great powder.

Although I make my home in the Sunshine State, like many Floridians I can’t wait for the snow to fall so I can hit the slopes. And I’m not alone. In fact, Florida is the second most important ski market in the nation. That’s why chances are when you’re chatting up the guy next to you on the chairlift, the odds are just as good he’s from Tampa as Telluride or Taos. 

However, most Floridians are overlooked when it comes to ski and snowboard editorial copy. And why wouldn’t we be? We live on a peninsula, at sea level, without even a hill in sight. However, we are hot! Not just uncomfortably warm but hair frizzing, feet-burning-on-the-sidewalk, “I can’t take another night of this heat” hot as hell! And while everyone is turning their sights to beaches and tropical getaways, we are dreaming of downhill vistas and ski chalets, snowball fights and s’mores around the fire pit — and that makes for engaged ski/snowboard readers.

So while this mountain mama is anxious to carve it up one last time before the snow begins to melt, I’m equally as excited to return with stories in my pocket for next winter. As an amateur skier, I’ve seen most of the American peaks and I love to tell the tales of all that’s happening on the mountains. Here’s just one example of a ski article I’ve written. Keep coming back to look for more.