The Year of Jess

Time shows no mercy. Winters come and go on our infinite journey around the sun. But for each lap we capsule small pieces of time, preserved for future, connected to the past, steppingstones in our collective memory that help us understand the bigger picture and open the doors to all the underlaying events leading up to this specific point.

 

 

Even though there’s no argue around the concept of time we might find it hard to grasp the present. The full-grown human still has the little girl inside, her look on the world remains. The wide-eyed child’s perspective on the titans that inhabits this unreachable parallel universe that exists only on flickering screens and glossy magazines pages is not washing off with age. 

Still, you lived it all. Your first turn, first jump, first cliff, first trip abroad, first competition, first win, first sponsor contract, first full season as a professional skier, first start on a venue which name you read a million times, feared and desired, and when you look around, these half gods that used to be characters in your daydreams have materialized and apparently, you’re now considered part of this crowd. How did that happen? 

 

Well, let us tell you something Jess Hotter, you made that happen. Your determination, your influence on your surroundings, the situations you put yourself in, the fear you overcome, the hits you took and the way you got back up again. 

When the pandemic came, you were forced to make a though decision. You didn’t leave New Zealand, and even though the isolation kept you physically healthy, it must have been an oppressive mental struggle. You came back to the tour after one year’s absence and took a massive hit in your comeback run in Baqueira Beret. 

 

Once again you pulled yourself together and took the win in the following stop in Andorra. Were there doubts left in your mind after that? Sure, one time is no time, but you travelled west, climbed a new mountain in Golden BC and came down as second-best skier in the field.

 

You were now the overall leader, owner of the yellow bib, and in your characteristic humble way, you said you couldn’t believe it. In the first of the two final rounds, in Fieberbrunn, Austria, you won again – and scared us all again with a tomahawk tumble of epic proportions.

 

Coming in to the finals in Verbier you anyway promised to not hold back, to give the audience what they wanted. We followed you with our hearts in our mouths and you gave it your all one last time. You struggled and you fell but you got back on your skis, made your way down and completed your destiny.

This was your year. You made this happen – and the little girl inside should be very proud!