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Skiing down pristine, untouched powder runs is a joy words struggle to capture. I feel incredibly grateful every day that I get to share this passion as a backcountry skiing guide. The people I meet on these adventures are remarkable—adventurous, kind, and excited for life. If you love skiing and hiking in nature, backcountry skiing might be your thing—it's an absolute blast! My son is hooked on powder skiing this year. Skiing together as a family is exhilarating, especially when we take a weekday powder day and let him skip school to join us. We cherish moments like these and hope to make powder skiing a lifelong passion we can share. In the backcountry, I often witness the beauty of familial bonds. Recently, I skied with a father and daughter whom I've guided for over a decade, and just the other day, a mother and son shared a ski tour. These experiences provide ample time for deep conversations, where we share our dreams, challenges, and wisdom. I strive to uncover the unique wisdom each person has to offer. One memorable parenting tip I learned from a client, Jenn, is to give children a choice between helping with cooking or cleaning every night. This simple choice has empowered her son, now in his 20s, to become a great cook and a responsible young man, building a cabin off the grid with friends. It's impressive. I also have the privilege of coaching clients who often start as adventure companions in the mountains. If you're passionate about backcountry skiing and seeking an adventure, we have a few spots left on our Valdez, AK, and Svalbard, Norway ski trips. Check out our websites in the comments below. And if you're a skilled skier looking to venture into the backcountry, feel free to reach out—I'd love to help you experience this phenomenal sport safely and enjoyably. Conditions are excellent right now, with long days and fantastic skiing awaiting you. #backcountryskiing #wasatchmountainguides #inthecompanyofguides #powderskiing #skiadventure

Celebrating 50 Years of Water Skiing: A Story of Passion, Perseverance, and Positivity I’m excited to announce that in 2025, I will be celebrating my 50th anniversary in water skiing! This journey began on June 21, 1975, and has been marked by dedication, passion, and countless memorable experiences. From making the conscious decision as a young teenager never to drink alcohol, use drugs, or smoke, to drastically reducing my sugar intake in my 40s, these lifestyle choices shaped my success both on and off the water. Winning two national championships in the Open division in my late 50s and the World Masters Barefoot Championship at 60 are testaments to what can be achieved with perseverance and a healthy lifestyle. Over the years, I’ve had the honor of having the following experiences: 1) Winning nine USA Barefoot Water Ski Championship titles 2) Coaching and inspiring water skiing enthusiasts globally 3) Contributing magazine articles to renowned publications worldwide 4) Sharing my journey and strategies as a professional speaker 5) Being inducted into the Ukrainian Sports Hall of Fame (2020) My journey has also been highlighted in over 200 media outlets across six continents. Other memorable media stints include playing the part of “Tony the Tiger” in a Kellogg’s TV commercial and a coast-to-coast tour with Ford and Nautique Boats. As I approach this significant milestone, I am excited to connect with corporations and media outlets interested in partnering to celebrate this journey. Whether it’s through speaking engagements, media features, or collaborative marketing opportunities, I’m eager to share my story and inspire others. Let’s make the next chapter of this journey as remarkable as the past five decades. Reach out to discuss how we can work together to create a more successful future for everyone! About Zenon Bilas: Zenon Bilas is a celebrated athlete, professional speaker, journalist, and coach with a career spanning five decades in water skiing. He is known for his exceptional achievements in barefoot water skiing and his commitment to healthy living. For partnership or media inquiries and more information, please contact Zenon Bilas at zenbilas@bellsouth.net or 561.319.7852. #WaterSkiing #Anniversary #Motivation #HealthyLiving #CorporatePartnerships #Inspiration

🎿🌟 Embracing the Slopes: Skiing Skills for Success in Life 🌟🎿 Hey LinkedIn fam! Let's hit the slopes of life and carve out some wisdom from the world of skiing! 🏔️❄️ Got back from a week long trip to the slopes with my son and here's a few ideas I think are worth sharing. 🔍 Courage and Risk Management: Just like conquering a black diamond run (which I've never done, keeping it at red runs for now), living purposefully means taking calculated risks and pushing beyond our comfort zones. It's about assessing the terrain, making bold decisions, and daring to chase our dreams fearlessly. You assess risk and take the courage to go for it. 💪 Resilience and Perseverance: From face-planting in the powder to mastering those tricky moguls, skiing teaches us the power of resilience. Life throws curveballs, but it's how we bounce back that truly defines us. Keep pushing, keep persevering, and know that every wipeout is just a stepping stone to success. 🔄 Adaptability and Flexibility**: Mother Nature can be unpredictable, and so can life. Whether it's navigating through changing weather conditions or pivoting our career paths, skiing teaches us to roll with the punches and adapt on the fly. Stay nimble, stay flexible, and always be ready to adjust your game plan! 🧘 Mindfulness and Presence**: Amidst the breathtaking vistas and adrenaline rushes, skiing reminds us to stay present in the moment. For me, there's nothing quite like it. "Focused", "in the moment", whatever we want to call it... if you focus on the run and where you need to go, you are a-okay. If you focus on the ground or on the trees, that's where you'll end up. Fo-sure. So, fellow adventurers, let's strap on our boots, grab our poles, and embrace the slopes of life with courage, resilience, and a whole lot of fun! Together, we'll carve out our own path to success and make every moment on the journey count! 🚀 #SkiingSkills #LifeLessons #EmbraceTheJourney

🎿 Lessons from Cross-Country Skiing: Perseverance and Resilience 🏔️ As we navigate life's slopes, we encounter many falls. But falling isn't failing; staying down is. Cross-country skiing taught me that setbacks are part of the journey. The path to success is strewn with snowdrifts and icy patches. ❄️ Picture this: I'm gliding along the pristine snow, the crisp air filling my lungs, and then—bam! Gravity asserts its dominance, and I find myself sprawled on the ground, skis akimbo. My ego bruised, I glance around. Fellow skiers glide past, their gazes a mix of pity and amusement. But I refuse to stay down. ⛷️ Getting up on skis is akin to solving a complex puzzle. Each limb has a mind of its own, and coordination becomes a distant dream. As I flail about, I notice two types of people: those who ski gracefully by, offering encouraging smiles, and those who trudge on, indifferent to my plight. Life mirrors this duality. 🤝 My family, extend their hands. They've seen their fair share of falls—both literal and metaphorical. Their unwavering support reminds me that we're not meant to navigate life's slopes alone. It's okay to lean on others, to accept their help without shame. 🌟 As I regain my footing, I ponder the judgmental glances. People will always have opinions—some uplifting, others dismissive. But it's our resilience that defines us. We can choose to rise, dust off the snow, and continue our journey. Or we can let their stares weigh us down. 🌞 Life's peaks are rarely reached without a tumble or two. Whether it's a failed project, a broken relationship, or a missed opportunity, we all experience setbacks but it is how we respond that matters most. #mindset #keepgrowing #helpinghand

The Art of Wake Shaping If you love to wake surf, water ski, wakeboard, or barefoot water ski, check out my latest column, "The Art of Wake Shaping," featured in the April 2024 issue of Boating magazine. Discover why the shape of your wake matters when it comes to maximizing your tow sports success and fun and learn how to utilize the features found on today's specialized ski and wake boats, as well as family boats, to create the perfect wake for your maximum enjoyment in your favorite tow sport.

🎿 Stepping Out of My Comfort Zone: Embracing New Heights 🏔️ This past weekend, I challenged myself to break free from the comfort of the bunny slopes and dive headfirst into the exhilarating world of skiing. For a few years, I stuck to one or two trips a season, cautiously and slowly navigating the icy snow. But this season has been different—five times so far on the slopes, embracing speed, sharper turns, and conquering new runs. A special shoutout to the person who became my personal skiing instructor for hours at Stratton mountain. With their patience and expertise, I found myself gliding from one side of the mountain to the other, a feat unimaginable just a year ago. Their guidance was a game-changer, and I'm grateful for the support they generously offered. Life is about pushing boundaries, taking on new challenges—even if they're more of a blue run than a black diamond. The experience served as a poignant reminder that growth often lies just beyond our comfort zones. Speaking of stepping into the unknown, I'm gearing up for some significant changes in the coming months. I'm excited (and a tad nervous) to announce that I'll be starting a master's program in a field that's completely new to me. Additionally, there's an upcoming surgery that will test me physically and emotionally. It's a journey filled with unknowns, but I'm ready to face it head-on. So here's my takeaway: Take the jump, embrace the unknown, and challenge yourself—unless, of course, it involves a ski run that launches you into the sky. I'm not quite ready for that yet! 😄⛷️ #pushyourlimits #newbeginnings #comfortzonechallenge #FacingTheUnknown

Know your audience. Don't assume you know what they need. Ask them what their pain point is. Then Listen. For example, I don't like skiing, but my husband loved it, so I gave it a try. I took a lesson and reached the bottom of the bunny slope. By then, I had realized two things. One, I don't like being out in the cold at all. Two, with my fear of heights, I would never get past the bunny slope because I would never get on a ski lift. I packed it in and went to the lodge, where I enjoyed a nice hot drink by the fire. Fast-forward a few years. My mother-in-law, who also loved skiing, decided to give me a pep talk so I'd come to love skiing like they did. We had previously discussed my fear of heights, so you'd think that her pep talk would be about the safety of the lifts or the ease of getting on and off them. But, no, that wasn't her focus at all. She told me about avalanches...AVALANCHES! No thank you, I will stay in the lodge. So find your client's pain point whether it be location, price, square-footage, etc., and address how you can help them solve it. #cremarketinglife

How a potentially bad experience turned into a day highlight - CX IRL Gondola edition 🚠 Picture this, you are skiing on a beautiful sunny afternoon in the Swiss alps, you have to take a gondola up and it’s packed to the brim. Full of people who, just as you, need to go up the mountain at that very same moment. People pushing, ski boots clonking, kids screaming and shoving to be at the front, more pushing, uncomfortable sport smells and invasion of your personal space. A situation with all the ingredients of a potential bad (customer) experience. You tell yourself you’ll be at the top very soon, patience. Yet at that very same moment, the guy managing the gondola does something unexpected and unrequired of his position. He presses play on his phone, and sure enough, upbeat music - some called it aprés ski music - was booming through the cabin speakers (at a reasonable volume). He then proceeds to inform us, that if we are grumpy, we’d have to change gondola because this one, this was the fun gondola! Mid-way up, when we went over the pole, he hypes everybody up and people let their inner child out, doing the “oooooooh” when the gondola goes over the post. You know what cheer I mean, we’ve all been kids. Not long after, quizzed about the singer of the last song, a full grown adult cheers on winning some gummy bears. Needless to say, that gondola ride was shorter than everybody expected and fun even if the cabin was packed 😊 Everybody left with a smile just because of that one person who decided to cheer us up even if he did not need to 💪 Thanks to Dany (?) of the Rothorn II for the smiles on Gondola 2 aka the “fun gondola” 😊 🚠 That’s why I loved skiing in📍 Lenzerheide Bergbahnen AG ⛷️ #customerexperience #skiing #swissalps #lenzerheide #cx #human2human #switzerland #hospitality #travelandtourism #makingadifference

We love this article from The Points Guy sharing ways to enjoy a ski resort vacation without actually skiing! Whether you snow shoe, go tubing, or enjoy apres ski on the deck, you'll be getting to spend more time outdoors exploring the world. The mountains are a wonderful way to experience nature, and there are more ways than just skiing or boarding to play in the snow ❄️ #optoutside #explore #snowday https://hubs.ly/Q02mjrxz0

🎿 Took on the Slopes for the First Time! 🏔️ I did something I never thought I'd do: I went skiing for the very first time! As someone who's not particularly adept at sports involving speed or balance, this was a huge step out of my comfort zone. But you know what? It taught me some valuable lessons that I believe are applicable far beyond the slopes. Here are a few takeaways from my skiing adventure: Conquering Fear: Stepping onto those skis, I had to confront my fear head-on. I realized that sometimes, the biggest obstacle to trying something new is our own fear. Once I pushed past that initial hesitation, I found a whole new world of possibilities waiting for me. The Power of Focus: When you're zooming down a mountain, every ounce of your concentration is focused on the task at hand. I discovered that when I committed myself fully and concentrated like my life depended on it, the level of focus I achieved was truly remarkable. It's amazing what we can accomplish when we give our full attention to the task in front of us. Starting Small, Moving Forward: Skiing taught me the importance of starting small and gradually building up. Just like on the slopes, in life, it's okay to take things one step at a time. By starting with manageable challenges and steadily progressing, we can achieve things we never thought possible. Resilience and Perseverance: Let's face it: learning to ski involves a fair amount of falling down. But each time I stumbled, I learned to take a deep breath, gather my strength, and pick myself up again. It's okay to stumble and even rest for a moment before embarking on the next leg of the journey. The important thing is to keep moving forward, no matter how many times you fall. Overall, my first skiing experience was not just a thrilling adventure on the slopes, but also a valuable lesson in overcoming fear, staying focused, taking things one step at a time, and embracing resilience. #Skiing #LifeLessons #PersonalGrowth