Words of wisdom from Uncle Yuri

1. "Money is like dirt. If you look hard enough, you can find it anywhere."

2. "Anything that has any real value, you can't buy with money."

3. "Always keep your eyes open and your head thinking - watch everyone, and learn from their mistakes. If you can learn from someone else's mistakes, you won't have to make them yourself."

4. "There are no stupid questions. If you think of it, it needs asked."

5. "When you're learning something new, you should never be silent - always, always, always ask questions. If you aren't asking questions, you're not thinking, and if you're not thinking, you're not learning."

6. "Callouses should be in your head. You can't get good at things unless they become reactions; and your muscles only react to your brain's signals, so the most important place to build up callouses is in your head."

7. "Ice is stronger than iron." (there's a story behind that one)

8. "The very first thing you do, every single time you're on the mountain, is 'turn on your head'.

9. "As sportsmen our greatest enemies are adrenaline and euphoria. Both of them can be used to our advantage, but we must we wary at all times of their effect on us."

10. "Snow is the best instructor on the mountain."

11. "Snow is your comrade, your best friend; but you must battle the slope - it is against you, and you must conquer it."

12. "Even a boulder can go straight down a mountain, but nobody will notice its beauty or style as it does so. Why do people love to watch avalanches? Because they're beautiful, even in the midst of being terrifying. We're not boulders; we follow the pattern of avalanches as we go down the mountain."

13. "If you aren't planning on learning to ski everywhere, on any skis, in any kind of snow, and aren't willing to learn how to deal with every kind of weather condition nature will throw at you, why are you here?" (said to me when I declared rather irritatedly that it 'didn't work for me' to ski on an ungroomed, icy slope - he, uh, has a way of shutting you up when you think you've got a right to complain.)

14. "Stop thinking and SKI!" (said 3 seconds after ordering me to 'think, think, think, never stop thinking, turn your head on and think some more')

and the MOST important (to him) - the one thing you NEVER forget:

15. "The only proper answer to any and every question is 'yes, sir'." :o)

Yes, sir, Uncle Yuri. You're a great guy!