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Chapter 1
The Life I Thought I Always Wanted

     “Anaiah, are you ready?” said the announcer from the U.S. Free Skier Open.
     “Yeah.” I was ready but nervous as I took slow deep breaths.
     “OK. Up next is The Anaiahlator from Mammoth Lakes, California. Three, two, one, go.”
     As I left the start gate and headed down the mountain toward the jumps, I did my best to soak in every moment. Just three years prior, I could barley ski, let alone do tricks. Now here I was, in my first major competition, the US Open in Vail, Colorado, competing against some of the best freestyle skiers in the world. People who’d inspired me to ski.
     I readied myself for the first jump. I had a good start, but at this level of competition, I had to do everything perfectly.
     As I gained speed I heard a whistling sound as air blew through my helmet. The noise got louder and louder until I was air borne. As I flew, every sound disappeared.
My body went upside down and sideways. I saw the white snow turn into blue sky. I grabbed my skis and continued to float through the air. My body felt weightless. My skis came back to the earth. I landed backward as though I’d never left the ground—so far so good.
     I continued to ski backward toward the next jump. My speed increased. Usually I slowed down to make sure I didn’t overshoot the landing, but this was the U.S. Open and I wanted to go as high and far as I could. As I shot up into the air backward, I dropped my shoulder, sending me into a sideways flip. While spinning in midair I saw the crowd on the sidelines disappear and reappear over and over.
I landed the jump backward, just as planned. Immediately I turned around to prepare myself for the biggest jump of the competition. I’d saved my best trick for last.
     As I approached the jump I saw Red Bull banners waving in the wind. The crowd got louder. Two large TV screens were focused on me.
     I threw myself parallel to the ground and pulled my body in tight to spin three full rotations while holding on to my skis. As I came out of my third rotation, I saw the landing come to my feet. Doing a cork 1080 wasn’t easy, but this jump was huge, which gave me plenty of air time to complete the trick.
     After landing, I threw my arms up in excitement. I’d completed a perfect run.
That day I ranked twenty-ninth out of more than two hundred, which qualified me for a Big Air competition the next evening. I was excited over my success, but I didn’t want to just qualify; I wanted to win. I’d won most of my competitions back in California.
     The next day I placed thirteenth out of 170 by completing another cork 1080. My performance caught the attention of a couple of major ski companies who offered to sponsor me. They agreed to pay for all my product and travel expenses. If they liked what they saw, both on and off the slopes, I would be offered a position on the freestyle skiing team.
     That would be a dream come true. I’d travel the world, ski the best parks and powder, party, appear in films, and ski in all the major competitions. And if things didn’t work out with my girlfriend, Lauren, there would be plenty of other women to meet.
     Thrilled about my success, my new ski sponsors, and my potential future as a professional skier, I went back home to Mammoth Lakes, fired up to train hard and compete again. While flying over the mountains of Utah, I realized I was finally living the life I always wanted.
     Or so I thought.
     Little did I know, I was about to lose everything that meant the most to me.