Rachel Tompkins was 42 when she first strapped on skis at a Swedish resort, frozen by fear on the mountain. Now 46, she says learning to ski has been about more than mastering slopes. It became a way to confront the self-doubt and risk-aversion that motherhood had instilled in her.
Tompkins describes her first day on the mountain as paralysing. She had rented equipment, stepped onto the snow, and immediately felt unable to move. The doubt returned repeatedly. Yet she persisted, and found that skiing gave her a sense of freedom and exhilaration she had not expected to feel.
Her children adapted to skiing quickly, while she fought through her initial panic to build confidence on the slopes. For Tompkins, the real achievement was not technical skill but psychological. Learning to ski meant permitting herself to take risks again, to push past the "what-ifs" that parenthood had made automatic.
Tompkins told Guardian Lifestyle that the sport has empowered her. At an age when many people assume they cannot learn physically demanding new skills, she chose to try anyway. The result was a rediscovery of her own nerve.