Tom Gellie grew up in Australia with almost no snow, so he skied obsessively in every condition to get better fast. He's drawn to terrain that never stays the same: banks, rollers, moguls. As you improve, external noise fades and you feel each turn before you make it.
Skiing just brings such wonderful feelings. Everyone says that, it's so cliché, but it's so true. I think that's so cheesy to say that, like every time I get to get out on snow, it's just awesome. I'm just grateful. That was so much fun. Some people grew up ski racing. I didn't grow up ski racing, so what led me to get better fairly fast was obsession, I think, and skiing in really every single condition possible. The good days, the bad days, it doesn't matter. You have to make the most of every single day, especially in Australia. I grew up in Australia away from the snow. I didn't grow up with a family that went to the ski resort much. We did cross-country skiing maybe once a week. We couldn't afford lift tickets. I can even remember waiting in the car park at Perisher with my dad after a day of hiking around in the backcountry and asking people that had finished their day early for their lift ticket so we could go up in our cross-country skis and lap Front Valley. Like vividly, I just said like, one day this is what I want to do. Yeah, for my life. And so when you said like, what do I feel? I just feel so grateful that this is what I get to do. The most fun terrain I keep searching for is terrain that is changing in 3 dimensions. So banks of snow that you can almost surf up and feel like you're semi upside down on. Rollers that drop away or push up into you. Yeah, skiing way more in 3D. I think it's useful to work on very sort of simple terrain, but then you just want to go searching even like rough, bumpy stuff, moguls, looking for— yeah, to be constantly changing because you need that to keep finding the next thrill. Like, you know, base jumpers want to keep jumping off something more scary and scary. I think good skiers want to keep finding more and more interesting terrain to keep juicing up the adrenaline feeling. So I think you've got to really use every single tool available. You've got to know what you look like. So whether that's through video, through data, you've got to get some feedback. I think you've got to have people to aspire to ski like, and you've got to obsess over watching it. Yeah, you combine all those things together, and I think that's how you get really good at anything. But, you know, there's proof in that working, you know, outside of your comfort zone, really challenging things, is the way people really enhance their skills. So I think part of it's been fluke from the environment that I was, you know, skiing in, and the other part I think I just, I just do not take any single day for granted. That is fun, challenging but fun. And I maximize every single turn and sliding moment on the snow. Do you know what's interesting? I think I feel things much more simply than say probably you, because in skiing there's noises, there's vibrations, there's forces, there's so much stuff. And as you get better at skiing, a lot of that just disappears and you can just purely feel like just the force or just like the speed or the dropping over a roller or like leaning right over in a turn. Before I make the turn now, I pretty much have a prediction. I know what it's gonna feel like, and that's what is amazing. So you get to just switch off. There's not much thought. It is just pure thrill and enjoyment. That is the best feeling in the entire world. So good. You know, I wouldn't give my younger self any different advice because where I am, like, right now, I'm so happy. So happy.
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