Skiing is—without a doubt—an action sport, and in its very nature there lies the possibility of injury. If you’re a skier, you have surely experienced this risk—be it a minor fall that you can laugh off with your friends or something much more serious. The latter is often too easy to overlook, but it only takes one second, one moment gone wrong, for a crash to be completely life-changing.
The High Fives Foundation just released the latest installment of its BASICS (Being Aware Safe In Critical Situations) documentary series, titled Five Critical Mistakes, which focuses on these situations. JT Holmes, a professional skier who aided in the production of the series, explains that, “BASICS was created as a way to catch young mountain sports athletes before they crash and suffer a life-altering injury.”
The documentary features High Fives athletes Eric Zerrenner, Lyndsay Slocumb, Jack Trottier, Jeff Andrews and Josh Dueck, who each share their story about a life-altering accident. These Five Critical Mistakes are discussed in chapters titled Speed (2:23), Shooting In The Dark (6:10), Dropping Your Guard (10:28), Know Your Line (14:15) and Ego vs. Intuition (18:00). Each chapter provides valuable insight into the importance of smart decision-making and is worth a watch, be it all in one go or segment by segment.
Noteworthy quotes from the documentary:
“Most accidents happen when you’re in your comfort zone.” – Cody Laplante
“I’ve been given all the tools internally to recognize danger, and I’d become so good at just ignoring that… Anytime I feel that something’s just a little bit off, I stop and I take a moment to evaluate the risk and reward. What is the risk that I’m about to take?” – Josh Dueck
“There’s a huge difference between taking risks and being reckless.” – Jeremy Jones
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