Can we freely dispose of ourselves and choose a behavior under certain circumstances? What does it mean to be free to make our own decisions? And what is our responsibility when deciding, especially in difficult situations?
For some skiers, these issues may be considered a collection of fictitious questions and ramblings; however, for others, they constitute the very raison d’être and purpose of philosophical discourse.
We refer to free will as the capacity we have to choose an alternative among several possibilities. “Freedom,” in its most common sense, is the opposite of “restriction.” Now, are we truly free when the forces we generate in our skiing movements constrain us to a specific motor behavior? Is it liberating to choose a particular line of descent when it is determined by the obstacles inherent in nature? Are we truly liberated when we find ourselves forced to adopt a conduct that may even pose a threat to our well-being?
As skiers, we are conditioned by our minds, time and space constraints, the weather, other people, and slope conditions, but above all, by our own indecisions.
According to existential philosophy, the freedom to choose is a fundamental characteristic that allows us to discover our own way of being-on-the-mountain and give meaning to skiing. Within the concept of freedom on the mountain, we continuously generate variations in direction, speed, and movements. We are the architects of our own skiing reality, as we transform it based on our needs. However, true freedom is the absence of them.
We cannot consider ourselves free because we depend on the need for a mountain, snow, and gravity, or because we are limited by the present social context—that is, otherness. Nonetheless, is it true that our actions are governed by free will? Are they restricted by the laws of nature or by our physical, technical, or psychological limitations?
Our freedom also implies seizing the opportunities for action provided by the environment. It is not about skiing everything that presents itself to us, but what is possible and what is necessary, since both carry the same importance.
Our freedom as skiers resides in the commitment and the choice of how we want to manage the circumstances. Therefore, as skiers, we are free, but only within the established boundaries of the mountain.
