Hello! My name is Simon Zink and I am a recent graduate from the University of Denver now racing professionally for the BSF Pro Team. I relocated to Bozeman about a month ago, and will be living and training here full time pursuing my ski aspirations. I love training, and I love exploring the outdoors. Bozeman and Montana really encourage these passions with what seems like and endless supply of roller skiing roads and mountain ranges to run in. I haven’t finished a training session yet without having to take a pause to breathe in the stunning landscape, and a moment to appreciate what I get to do in my life and the incredible places I get to go explore and discover doing it.  

There is no better example than last Sunday when we got to run and “peak” Black Mountain in the Absaroka range. The run began on snaking single-track up past waterfalls and creek crossings, into an alpine basin at the base of the looming Black Mountain. The next 3000 feet of elevation gain were scrambling up through rock outcroppings and snow covered slopes up to the ridge of the summit. A couple of us continued up the ridge until about 300 feet from the peak, when we became socked in by fog and falling snow. These moments of pure exposure and vulnerability to mother nature, that I often feel when exploring mountains and when training in general, are very meditative and peaceful. It may sound cliché or farcical, but I feel I become part of something bigger, in a sense connecting my body and mind with the forces of the mountain to sort of transform into a physical part of the natural system myself. This deep and euphoric state of power and aliveness I find myself developing during training is highly addictive, and personally what I find meaningful and purposeful in my life and this ski journey. I’m blessed to have been given the opportunity to continue chasing these moments, like I had climbing up and glissading down Black Mountain, by training, racing and chasing my ski dreams with the BSF Pro Team and people who are driven by similar passions. I’m psyching and feeling more alive than ever.