INSTANT KARMA: The Heart and Soul of a Ski Bum
Finally a novel that speaks to the soul of a true skier, Wayne Sheldrake describes his life of adventure, injury and the burning passion to ski at all costs in Instant Karma: the Heart and Soul of a Ski Bum. Not only does he describe killer snowstorms and epic powder days, but he talks about personal redemption and the will to survive. POWDER sat down with Wayne to discuss his latest book out now in bookstores.
What made you finally decide to give up life as a ski bum?
Sheldrake: The second time I hit a tree skiing, I was knocked unconscious and was paralyzed for five to ten minutes. I thought I might be paralyzed for the rest of my life. If I hit my head, I would have died. I looked over and saw the first tree I hit, only about 20 feet away, and I knew that I needed to get away from the mountains or I would die here.
What made you decide to finally write your memoirs?
Sheldrake: I wrote a lot when I was teaching English for high school and college students. I was not serious about it [writing novels] until about 10 years ago. I always wanted to write about skiing. I wanted to describe the feeling of skiing. I didn’t know how to do this until I read a book about a desert. It described the erosion patterns of the walls in the canyon and the characteristics of the water. This description reminded me of Wolf Creek powder days and, suddenly, I knew that the way he described water flowing down the canyon was the same free fall feeling while skiing at Wolf Creek. The micro-maneuvers and straight down idea of a powder day was the same as Craig Child’s in his book with the natural state of water down a steep hill. That description gave me a way to write about skiing. I always look for metaphors for skiing. I wanted to be able to describe skiing and the feeling of skiing to something people could relate to.
Why did you decide to write a ski novel?
Sheldrake: I was working on two books at the same time. I did a few things for the Mountain Gazette and had a collection of personal ski experiences. After two years, I had a good collection. I put the articles in what I thought was a logical order, chronologically, and started to write a cover letter. However, while writing the cover letter, I realized I was writing a really good description that wasn’t like the collection of articles I had compiled. I decided to rewrite the book so that it patterned my evolution of skiing from what it used to be and how I think about it now. I am a different person than I was 20 to 25 years ago. I put skiing in perspective with my own life and made it more readable for everyone.
What were your goals for the novel?
Sheldrake: I had two goals:
I wanted to describe the feeling of skiing 2. I wanted to write about skiing in a way that photographs wouldn’t be necessary. This was a great challenge, but a lot of skiing is hard to photograph like a blinding snowstorm. A photograph can’t show the feeling of skiing through that kind of snow.
Also, I hate the question, ‘What are you doing with your life?’ People don’t understand that skiing is my life. They respond by saying, ‘yeah, but what do you do,’ and I respond, ‘I ski.’ My life is just as real as any other. Doctors and lawyers might have a different life than mine, but that doesn’t make my life less real or insignificant. I wanted to show skeptics why people chose this lifestyle and the passion behind it.
