Risk Vs Reward - Matty discovers the avalanche rating for the day.
What’s a snowboarder’s biggest fear? That you’ll get injured and won’t be able to snowboard.
That fear is healthy and that fear will always be there. Injuries can and will change your life. But does that mean the risk isn’t worth it?
About 5 years ago I was sitting in the hospital, in Whistler, after a serious injury to my knee and I asked one of the scariest questions of my life:
“Will I be able to snowboard again?”
Thankfully, the doctor answered yes, but what if he answered no?
Would I regret snowboarding? No.
Would I regret leaving Uni to go on a crazy snowboarding trip, halfway around the world? No.
Why?
Maybe it’s just me, but I’d like to look back at my life and know that I had the courage to go for what I wanted. Snowboarding makes me happy and I’d rather have tried and failed, then spent the rest of my life wondering what if.
Regret is worse than knowing you tried and failed. At least if you failed, you can learn from it. You can be satisfied that you gave it a go and it didn’t work out. There’s nothing you can do about regret, except keep wishing you had done something in the past.
I’m not going to tell you that injuries won’t change your life or that you’ll never get injured. If you snowboard/ski long enough, you will get injured. That’s just part of our sport. You have to manage your risk. Take precautions when you’re taking risks, take calculated risks and prepare accordingly before taking risks, but don’t avoid all risks.
Remember, I’m not saying go out there and take stupid risks, rather, don’t shy away from the right risks. Look at the risk vs reward and whether you’ve prepared for that risk. Risk is sometimes necessary to get what you want.