Why Skiing Is So Important in the Age of AI

What a vocation it is.

The staccato cracks of avalanche bombs in the glowing dusk are irreplaceable. A tight carve on an expertly manicured groomer will produce enough feel-good brain chemicals to last an entire week, as will the cascading flow of ice crystals as they pass overhead.

These are, perhaps, silly indulgences, but with the arrival of AI, society is perched above a convex slope, and we can’t see the bottom. And skiing, trite as it might sound, is starting to become more important than ever.

AI promises to make everything easier. It erodes the fitful, slow-going process of mastery. With an image generator or chatbot at their fingertips, everyone’s an author, a painter, or a graphic designer.

We still need the things that challenge us, though. The next time you find yourself in a tight chute, the temptation to default to AI will be fruitless—you’ll have to get out of the pickle without help. If the winds are howling and your nose is cold, you can’t type “Warmer, more sun,” hoping that Chat GPT will produce more desirable weather conditions.

In these moments, discomfort teaches us how resilient we can be if we try.

Skiing is far more than an exercise in punishment, though. It roots us and surrounds us with real people. The longer you spend at one ski resort, the more it becomes your “place.” You start to recognize the lift operators, the rhythms of the crowds, and the usual cast of characters. Arriving alone at the hill with the assumption that you’ll find someone to ski with becomes a safe bet. The mountains offer a salve to the ever-alluring and isolating pull of technology.

When I asked ChatGPT to create a monstrous hybrid of a horse and shark, I’d done so for the same reason I’ve kept skiing after all these years: to feel an emotion computers can’t, joy.

No matter what the uncertain, AI-driven future holds, we’ll always have that—and we should cling to it as best we can.