It is possible to distinguish between those skiers who advocate for skiing perfection and those who oppose it. We shall commence with the latter.
The inquiries that arise here are, what is the purpose of pursuing a skiing form that we are not going to achieve? And, what if, instead of achieving technical perfection, we pursue a wisely perfect skiing?
We will never achieve technically perfect skiing since it is impossible, as well as meaningless, but it allows us something fundamental, which is to keep trying, even if this attempt is a paradox, since we are looking for something we know is impossible to find.
For Sartre, sliding on the snow is an act of appropriation of the snow mantle. Sartre’s perfect skiing results from sliding without leaving tracks. Therefore, skiing is not perfect, since we do not achieve perfect skiing as we are always leaving tracks.
We go in search of the perfect skiing which we know we cannot reach, however, we cannot stop looking for it. Is it accurate to state that we are unable to attain it? Wouldn’t achieving the state of flow be equivalent to reaching skiing perfection?
Consequently, for the detractors, perfect skiing is not a human possibility, but a desideratum, an ideal that expresses the goal to which we all aspire and to which all knowledge should tend, but which we do not reach.
On the contrary, for those who advocate perfect skiing, perfection is found within each one of us, since we have our own level of perfection, our own perfect turn. The ultimate goal of skiing is not to achieve perfection, but to experience its permanent transformation. If we despise perfection just for the sake of sliding downhill, we will get nowhere.
Why not then seek perfection in a turn, a movement, or a sensation? Why just settle for repeatedly going up and down the mountain again and again? As avid skiers, we should be constantly seeking for the optimal run. Every day we engage in practice to reach its attainment, and as our expectations rise, our objectives become increasingly ambitious. It is this persistent pursuit of perfection, which is simultaneously within reach and, at the same time, unattainable, that enables us to continuously progress with delight.
If we begin by comprehending that the objective of skiing, as well as other pursuits, is to attain perfection and embody it, we will commence to experience skiing from the moment we encounter our ‘perfect’ turn.
It is not our speed or the steepness of the slope that determines perfection, because any number is a limit and perfection has no limits; rather, it is the state of being-there that defines perfection.
When a learner or an athlete inquires what is perfection for, as it seems to move away every time they approach it, the instructor or coach should respond that it is for marking the path to follow.
Once again, what is the purpose of the utopian ideal of perfect skiing? We insist that it serves as a way of persevering and moving forward, serving as a source of motivation and inspiration.
And when is perfect skiing possible? It is possible when everything comes together in moments of perfection of movements, actions, and sensations; in harmony as a perfect agreement between the parts of a whole, then it appears, but this perfection always depends on the parameters that we impose on ourselves.
