Silvia Moser, how to “train” awareness to practice extreme sports

There was a time when Silvia MoserFreerider and athlete of Team Arc’Teryx, he would not have felt herself without skiing in off -pistoner down for valleys and channels at the limit. But life, as often happens, puts you in front of what you had not planned, to painful situations that end, however, to reveal the best journey of discovery and acceptance of themselves. Silvia was at the apex of his career when he suffered the loss of some friends and colleagues. And it is precisely from that descent into the abyss that its ascent to the top began with a completely new awareness, which allows her today to give her personal sense to extreme sport.

Born in 1990, with Mother’s South American blood, she was born and raised in Cortina d’Ampezzo, in the heart of the Dolomites. The passion for freeride came a little for play after years of races on the track and a degree in sociology. In her the silence of the immaculate valleys that put you in the presence of nature and the power that skiing has to unite people, find the perfect balance. And it was precisely the feeling of sisterhood lived with a group of women who have become a TURNING POINT In its found serenity, to face the mountains again both uphill and downhill. We meet it during the opening of the New store that Arc’Teryx, Canadian brand specialized in clothing and technical mountain equipment, has inaugurated in Milan.

From a game to profession, how did it arrive on the second highest step of the Freeride World Tour podium?
«It all started a bit for fun, I was doing the master course and for the first time I went out in fresh snow with a group of friends. From that moment a world opened up, and the desire to explore has joined that of the races. So within two years I qualified for the official circuit, let’s say that I threw myself but I never imagined I would get second to my first freeride world tour in 2015 ».

And then what happened?
«Then I got injured and at the end of that year he missed a dear friend with whom I did Highline in the mountains (a practice that consists in walking in balance on a tape suspended in the void insured with rope and harness, editor’s note). That period was black, they happened one after the other. Shortly after I lost three other people who were part of my life. Two Freerider girls with whom I competed and a boy who at that moment was the strongest in the world with the wing suit and had recently decided to leave his ordinary work in order to become a professional. Everyone died while they were making extreme videos for the sponsors ».

How did you react in the face of all this pain?
«It was difficult to process because basically I was experiencing their own life: I practiced an extreme sport in a world made of sponsors and I risked exactly like them. For a long time I couldn’t talk about what had happened, I went into crisis, I didn’t know what to do anymore and everything was afraid of me. I began to ask myself why, what was the meaning of my choices, if it were not the result of a selfish vision. My body also began to send me some signs, alopecia came to me, I had a big hole just close to the attachment, it was another blow to face ».

Did you stop competing?
«In 2017 I started again a little with the idea of ​​going to the first race and seeing how I felt. But that year, if it wants there was no snow and the date was postponed. In the meantime, Arc’Teryx, who was my sponsor since the beginning, invited me to take part in an all -female trip to Canada. So, I started and it was the experience that put me back in the world ».

Thanks to the support between women?
«The journey itself, in a place that represents the freeride paradise, was certainly stimulating, but what made me feel good was the solidarity between women. We slept in a curtain in the cold, and this allowed to hear even more the sense of belonging to the group. On that occasion I had to prove anything, perform a backflip Or skip a rock to make a video. When I returned I felt the desire to return to skiing, that experience represented a new beginning and unlocked something within me ».

Did you reconcile with the real Silvia Moser?
«That painful phase allowed me to understand that we cannot always have everything under control. He helped me do a job on myself, to become more aware of what I do and who I am. It is obvious that there are situation in which you are most exposed to the danger, but I try to do it with more awareness and obviously also with adequate security measures. This is my story, which has demolished me and at the same time refreshment ».

So is awareness the real ability required to practice extreme sports?
«I think it is the magical word because the head must be trained as much as the physique. Not always to manage fear, but also to accept certain emotions that must be crossed ».

Practice again Highline?
«Yes, it is a great mental and presence of mental training. It is a feeling of lightness very close to what I feel when I do an off -track descent, I would say that it is a state attributable to meditation because it brings clarity ».

What is being dedicated to right now?
“I’m doing a counseling course that I will finish in November. I started to do a job on me, but I would like to continue helping athletes, precisely because I understood the importance of awareness ».

Do you have other future projects in the mountains?
«I broke a foot, but as soon as I recover I would like to go to Alaska. I feel the desire to take away some whims on a sporting level and then I would like to be able to create a support platform for younger athletes. In France, for example, there are freeride and freestyle clubs, a reality that is not yet there, I would like to create it, perhaps with a female cut “.