Then I dropped in. My mind went blank, and muscle memory took over. Thud!  I caught my edge when I landed and I slammed into the ground.

I couldn’t let this end in failure, so I tried a few more times and then landed the 360, just as I’d envisioned it.

Soon after that I did a 360 on a park jump for the first time. I didn’t know then, but that 360 would be the last time I would 360 on park jump for two years.

During the 2020-21 season, the mountain didn’t build jumps. I had no opportunities to improve my jumping skills on snow. I could only practice my tricks on the trampoline where my coach taught me to use the horizon to track where I was in the air. 

When I came back this year and there were jumps I wanted to try crazy tricks including a front flip. It was way easier than I expected. Before I did the front flip I had a mental vision of how to land it perfectly from the trampoline so I did, but this was not the case with a backflip.

one day during March break, after pondering for weeks, I decided tomorrow will be the day. I envisioned the backflip.

I finally understood the whole thing. 

During one run the next morning, my friend Joe said to me: “Pete,how about that backflip.” I thought I wasn’t ready, but I decided I should send it.

I got jacked up on adrenaline standing above the jump and envisioned myself backflipping perfectly. 

I dropped in and my mind went blank but I had practiced so many times that when I went off the jump I subconsciously threw my body into a backflip.

My thoughts returned as I slammed into the ground and realized I over rotated my first backflip. When I tried again, I repeated the same process except now I knew where I was—I found the horizon while in the air and I stomped it perfectly. 

From this experience on the mountain, I didn’t only learn to backflip—I also taught myself to truly envision a trick before trying it on snow. 

What I want everyone to take away from this is to envision who you want to be. 

Realize what needs to change and then act upon it. Just as I did with the backflip and I now try to do this in all other aspects of my life.