The Daily - February 1, 2019 - 38

How I Got Here
M A R C

P E R U Z Z I

Longtime ski writer Marc Pe-

ruzzi is still trying to figure out
the meaning of the term "hand."

There's plenty to poke fun of at the Snow
Show...but it sure beats being splattered with
dog scheisse. By Marc Peruzzi
I TOOK MY FIRST SKI INDUSTRY JOB AT AGE 12. MY PARENTS CONVINCED

the neighbors that I knew how to wax skis. I didn't. But I checked out a book
from the library, bought some canning paraffin from the grocery store, and
appropriated an old steam iron from "Mah." (This was Massachusetts.) I'd
lay the skis out over two metal trash cans, drip on the wax, and iron it in the
best I could given that it was well below freezing in the garage. Since the
neighbors' skis tended to have edges as rusty as a shipwreck, I was forced to
take a mill bastard file to them before waxing. A tune and a wax. In hindsight, I realize, it was shoddy work, but I only charged five bucks for my services-the same amount I charged for lawn mowing, shoveling, and raking.
All child labor was five bucks back then.
Later, my mother and a friend opened a second-hand sporting goods store
that turned into a full-service ski shop by my senior year of high school. I
worked in it, selling boots and skis-and waxing. At college in New Hamp-

/ SNOW SHOW 2019

trade shows carried more value
than I thought, and, armed with a
degree in journalism, I was hired
by Outside magazine in Santa Fe.
In the years since, I edited Skiing
magazine (RIP), launched Mountain magazine with a few partners,
and, more recently, achieved the
dream of living in Montana and
working remotely as a freelance
writer. In addition to reporting on
climate change, health care, adventure, politics, and murder, part of
my job involves running ski tests
and writing gear reviews for Mountain and Outside. Which means for
the past 20 years, I've been able to
attend the Outdoor Retailer show
twice a year. That's how I got here.
And while, yes, I've poked fun
at the shows for Outside magazine
in the past-what is "hand" anyway?-they're still of value to me.
It's not the venue or the booths
or the ever-updating gear that
matters, it's the people. I grew up in
retail. So for me, going to the show
is like going home. The gathering is
the event's most valuable attribute.
I don't know if my path from retail to writer means I'm a success.
The pay as a freelancer is about the
same as I'd make managing a large
shop, but nobody brings me beer
for ski tunes, I don't have co-workers to laugh with, and the owner
doesn't give me a box of venison
at the holidays. But a wiser person
than me once said that success is
like vodka: odorless and tasteless.
And, trust me, that's a huge step
up from weaponized dog shit.

"I GREW UP IN RETAIL. SO FOR ME,
GOING TO THE SHOW IS LIKE GOING
HOME. THE GATHERING IS THE
EVENT'S MOST VALUABLE ATTRIBUTE."

CO U R T E SY SA LO M O N

A Sort of
Homecoming

shire, ski bumming in Colorado,
graduate school in Montana, and
for an interim year in Vermont's
Northeast Kingdom, I helped
support myself by managing or just
working in ski shops.
I liked the work-a lot. It was
rewarding. I was helping people
pursue a healthy lifestyle. But in
summer, I'd get laid off and have to
pick up work. And in New Hampshire during a recession, that work
was often shitty-literally.
One summer, I got hired on at a
local campground. The job primarily involved mowing the field,
running chainsaws, and raking
campsites, which I was cool with.
But the job also entailed cleaning
the campground bathhouses. Call
it hubris, but I didn't like the idea of
me lingering around the opposite
gender's toilets with a soiled brush
in my hand. The low point, though,
came when I was running a weed
whacker near a road-and I hit a
fresh pile of dog feces. It was the
really pungent and soft variety that
invariably comes from small dogs
that eat canned food. The spinning monofilament line naturally
spattered me with excrement. One
piece hit my lower lip. It didn't get
in my mouth (I knew better than to
weed-whack with my mouth open),
but I could taste it. That's when I
decided to pursue graduate school,
thinking I could possibly write for
a trade magazine like Ski Tech and
avoid the summer layoffs.
But all those years of skiing,
working in shops, and going to

The Daily - February 1, 2019

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