The First Chair

On Killington’s opening weekend I rode my first chair alone. As I headed up the front of the snow-less slope on the old triple chair I thought back to all the past seasons. It’s hard for me to take my mind off of my everyday chores. Life seems so rushed. Skiing is my time. It’s my time to detach from the noise of society. As skiers, we are individuals who live for a challenge and for personal achievement. In freeskiing there are no losers. There are no teams. It’s every man for himself, its us versus the mountain in a never-ending battle. At the end of the day, the mountain always wins. There is always a line we could have skied faster, or a trick we should have stomped cleaner. Somewhere in the midst of this daily defeat is a bit of success and a taste of personal achievement. This is what drives us all as skiers. Whenever we push our limits or learn something new we win our own personal battles. We gain a little more confidence, and leave the mountain ecstatic, fueled by personal achievement and eager for the next day on the mountain, for next challenge in life.

We move through life lured by thoughts of success as we search for our own self-actualization. To achieve self-actualization one needs to live life at their fullest potential, many may never achieve this. When I think of living life at the highest potential, I think of my brother Jim.

For Jim, achievements were his great journeys, his adventures, his crazy stunts, and his skiing. Jim had a craving for adventure and an unstoppable desire to push the limits He had incredible talent and unbridled confidence in everything he did. He lived outside the boundaries set by society, the boundaries that keep us from our fullest potential. He walked through life on a path less traveled, a path that he created. With personal achievement as his fuel Jim set his own limits and carved his own tracks not only on the mountain, but also in life. Jim loved life everyday and he helped us all realize that life can be whatever we want and that true success is to love the lives we live. During his 21 years Jim touched the lives of many people and left his mark on this earth. I do not feel sorry for the life Jim lived. I do not look back in regret; instead I look forward to each day I get to live on this earth that was Jim’s playground. He lived with the heart, the soul, and the confidence to lead the life he loved. The life Jim lived is a lesson to us all that we carve our own tracks in life. I realize now that Jim lived in the realm of self-actualization.

The passing of 2 seasons have erased Jim’s last ski tracks from the snow. A granite plaque secured in the rocks near where Jim had laid is all that remains, however Jim lives on in my mind and in the minds of the ones who knew him. When I ride up the mountain in that lonely first chair at the dawn of another personal battle I now see the life I want to live. I now know that I will never really ride a chair lift alone again. I will ride with Jim this day and forever.

In Honor of Jim Franklin… 1983-2004