“I ski for three reasons: fun, fitness, and friendship. They’re the same three reasons I bring to mountain biking. I do a lot of mountain biking, even though I’m 81. Those are primary ingredients in our FlyinRyan Foundation work. Our primary message to competitors is to go back to your roots and ski for the reasons you came to it: for love, joy, passion, and respect. Ski with what I call a clean mind when you’re coming down the mountain. One of our core values is to improve behavior on the slopes. Not all, but some people don’t behave as well as they should. Some people bump into each other. It’s a little perilous out there. . . . I’m a powderhound. I still feel like skiing steeps in deep powder. My goal is to get buried in the snow five or six times a winter. Do a turn with enough snow coming up in your face that you’re not able to see for a little bit. You have to have the right conditions for that to happen. You have to have enough powder and it has to be steep enough so you can get the speed. And it’s always a goal to lay down a track and look back and see the signature you put on a hill.”
Peter Hawks, President of the Flyin Ryan Hawks Foundation, was given the opportunity to amplify the Flyin Ryan message this past week.
The article entitled Resolutions for This Ski Season from Some of New England’s Most Avid Skiers was printed on November 7th, 2019 and featured the resolutions of ten New England ski enthusiasts. In his section Peter is quoted: