Interview with Will
Will is one of my oldest friends from Anchorage. Ever since I have known him I always saw him as a skiier. In fact, his entire family skis in Girdwood. They own a very cozy cabin complete with a fireplace and a bridge to get to the front door.
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Will and I have been friends since 7th grade. When I saw him we automatically started catching up about college and friends. After a while I said, “Okay! So! How long have you been skiing?”
“Since I was two years old.” “That’s the same as Mac!” I said. “Did you guys ski together?” “Yeah our family is close.” “Did you always have your cabin? What’s the story behind that?” “Well, in the mid 80s, my dad had just moved to Alaska. He hadn’t married my mom, yet… I don’t think. So it must have been… some roommates he had at the time really wanted a ski cabin because they had all grown up skiing. That’s partially why they love Alaska, you know? So my dad and Steve Shropshire, one of our good family friends, split the bill and bought it. Mr. Shropshire didn’t ski as much as my dad, and once my dad had us we went out a lot more. Eventually my dad bought up Mr. Shropshire’s share of the condo.” “Oh, that’s sweet. So you still go down there frequently?” “Yeah I would say in the winter about close to every weekend.” “What makes Girdwood special to you?” “Girdwood is one of the biggest reasons why I love the outdoors and love to get around. Also, its something I would always look forward to during the school week, just wanting to get out to Girdwood to ski and smoke and hang out with friends. Girdwood is a ski town so it was also my first introduction to my social life.” “What do you think about the community there?” “As far as the community goes, it’s a very tight knit community. You’ve got a couple different groups of people living there like… pot head lifties, like that lifty culture—“ “Lifty?” “Ski operator.” “Oh!” I started laughing. “That’s a really funny category of people.” “Yeah,” Will smiled. “So you got all the lifties, you got your well-off parents who have a cabin down there who suck at skiing, and only go for a two our run. Then there’s the pothead kids who grow up in Girdwood and they have nothing to do, I guess. They’re usually crazy… and then you’ve got the hippies.” I laughed. “It’s interesting everyone’s variation in categories of Girdwood people,” I said. “Did I miss any of them?” Will asked, curiously. “No, you even added that lifty one,” I said laughing. “So skiing and partying. Is there anything else to do in Girdwood?” “I mean the Bake Shop is another big part of Girdwood culture. The Forest Fair and Slush Cup are awesome because that weekend is when Girdwood really blows up. New Years is an absolute party! You wouldn’t think this little ski town could hold that many people. Because it’s like the only place for people to ski in Alaska because it’s so easy to take a truck up, other than Eagle Crest,” “I’ve never heard of Eagle Crest, that is so weird.” “It’s in the Southeast. It’s a lot of fun, though.” “So, Alyeska just attracts so many people who just love the sport of skiing. So events like Slush Cup or whatever just bring so many people and it’s awesome. You’ll go to these massive festivals and you’ll look around and you see a ton of people you know and just a ton of Alaska people.” “If you could, would you move to Girdwood?” “No way.” Will said with a brisk shake of his head. “Why?” “There’s nothing to do. Maybe for like a year, but 45 minutes to get pretty much to any store, other than the Merc which is really expensive. It would just be a hassle. People I talk to that live in Girdwood are always so bored. Also it’s just so close to Anchorage, there is just no point to live in Girdwood.” “Yeah, I gotcha. Knowing that Will had finals, I let him go. "Thanks for the talk, Will!" "No problem. See you at home, soon!" |