In 2022 I had a simple idea: take my daughter skiing.
It sounds innocent until you add two constraints:
- skiing is an expensive trip (so you either learn fast, or you burn money slowly),
- I wasn’t a skier — not in any meaningful sense.
I was 42. Two months before the trip I looked at the problem and concluded: if I want to be a parent who can actually ski with a child (not just stand near the slope like a decorative pine tree), I need a baseline level of fitness and coordination.
So I did what an engineer does when the system is underpowered: I increased capacity. Daily micro-sessions. Push-ups, squats, sit-ups. Nothing fancy. Just building the “don’t die on day one” foundation.
2022: the first day that rewired the whole plan
We went to Białka Tatrzańska. Day one: I booked a 1-hour lesson with an instructor for my daughter. She was six and didn’t want to go alone, so I joined.
After the lesson we asked the instructors when we’d be able to ride the bigger slopes. Their answer was realistic: you’ll need practice, it takes time.
I was ready to go back to the hotel. My daughter wasn’t.
“Where are you going?” she asked. “Lesson is over.” “Let’s stay.”
So we stayed.
We spent about two more hours on the bunny hill, then moved to a steeper one. Break. Then another session. Another hill. And by evening we were riding the longest and highest slope — the one we didn’t even consider in the morning as “possible for us.”
No elegance. No feeling of flow yet. But we were skiing.
Garmin numbers for 2022 are not the whole story — I simply wasn’t logging everything back then. Same for 2023. The point isn’t that those winters were “low volume”; the point is that we were already putting in serious time on snow — and the results compounded.
2023: from “we survive” to “we ski”
In 2023 everything was smoother. We were skiing “as skiers”: most slopes, excluding the hardest red runs. Multiple sessions per day, every day. Not heroic. Just consistent.
Again: Garmin data from that period is incomplete, but the experience is clear — more time on snow, more confidence, more control.
2024: the season that didn’t happen
Then 2024 failed completely. My daughter got sick on arrival — very high fever — and after three days we went home. The season was basically zero.
It’s a good reminder that training cycles are not linear progression. Reality still exists, unfortunately.
2025: return and volume
In 2025 we came back hard.
Garmin captured 23.7 hours and 122.0 km of skiing. This is where it started to look like a real program, not a hobby.
Top speed that season: 58.0 km/h.
January 2026: next level — and actual fun
January 2026 is where the experience flipped.
We skied everywhere with full control. And we started doing the things that force progress:
- mornings in the snow park (small jumps, obstacles — beginner freestyle territory),
- playing on steep red runs, looping them for reps,
- skiing backwards,
- skiing in a tuck,
- and yes, hitting 70+ km/h (Garmin shows a peak 73.0 km/h).
This season I noticed something very specific: I wasn’t sweating from effort — not from hiking uphill with skis, not from braking, not from “fighting the slope”. If anything, I was colder at times because I wasn’t overheating.
That’s not “my fear went away”. That’s being in objectively ridiculous shape for a ski trip:
- aerobic base from running,
- strength from gym and calisthenics,
- mobility and durability from consistent work,
- plus technique improvements that make braking less of a leg-burning war.
Garmin summary for 2026: 28.3 hours, 137.4 km, peak speed 73.0 km/h.
And the core lesson is boring — which is why it works: training makes the master. Not motivation. Not talent. Not one heroic week. Consistency across winters.
The hidden coach: a child’s curiosity
The funniest part is that the real driver was not my motivation. It was my daughter’s curiosity.
She pulled me into the snow park. She pulled me into “try it” moments. I often didn’t want to do it — adult risk calculus kicks in — but I did it anyway because the training partner was small, persistent, and immune to my excuses.
Closing
This started as “I want to take my kid skiing.” It turned into a four-winter apprenticeship in deliberate practice.
And it’s one of the best trades I’ve ever made: time + reps + health, converted into shared fun.
Because being fit is not about abs. It’s about being able to say “yes” when your child wants to do something alive.