Editor's Note: This January, Sarah Burke passed away from injuries sustained during a fall while training in the superpipe in Utah. We were devastated to hear about Sarah's passing, and feel lucky to have been able to share her incredible story with you. Our thoughts and warmest wishes are with her family. If you'd like to help with Sarah's medical bills, please visit her family's donation website.

Right now, I'm in Colorado at Copper Mountain, doing the Grand Prix World Cup and trying to figure out what to write about me as a teen, in between competition breaks.

I'd say, at 16 years-old I was a happy teen; I was close with my parents, in love with a boy, I was doing fine in school (great when it was something I was really interested in it), and I had a great group of best friends who were always down to have a fun adventure. Personality wise, I was shy when first meeting people but loved to laugh and have a good time once I felt comfortable. In general though, I would describe myself as a pretty fearless person, always up for a challenge. Part of this was getting a kick out of being able to surprise people - mainly the boys - when I showed them that I could keep up, especially when it came to my athletic ability. I loved sports and being outside and was already on the competitive scene: Ontario Team for moguls. I had big dreams. I may have been becoming more headstrong at 16, but I was also getting better at making my own decisions.


As for following or straying from the "crowd," I think I did a bit of both. I loved to go to the all the parties on the weekends with my friends, and I played on the schools teams, but being that I was on the Provincial Ski Team I was gone off doing my own things a lot of the time during the winter. That said, all of my closest friends were in the grade ahead of me so I probably looked up to them, and so ya...I did a little following.

My group of friends were a mix of everything. From the outside we seemed like a "cool" group of girls: we played sports, were the head of student council and were friends with everyone, but I didn't want to be categorized as a certain type. I liked everyone for different reasons. Luckily all my friends were like that too - there wasn't much teen girl snarkiness within my group. Cliques a part of high school for sure - that just seems to be the way things go, especially in highschool. I just hope that they are not bullying cliques - that's when you get into bad situations.

Bad friends weren't a problem I had in school, I think my issue was more about giving up the typical high school events. I was always going away for ski competitions and felt like I was missing out on things, when actually, I was getting the opportunity of a lifetime. I think in the end, it made me a little wiser about drinking and drugs, and kept me focused on a single goal and what I wanted to do with my life. Good thing I didn't quit skiing for that old ex boyfriend eh!!

Wise for my age though I like to think I was, in retrospect, parents know everything - Oh man definitely! To think that you are sneaking something past them is a joke. What's cool to know now is the things they let you get away with. It makes you realize they are human too and once got up to the crazy antics as kid that you are now. Though I'm past my teen years and technically an adult, I only feel like an adult when I have to do paper work, file taxes and pay bills. The other 90% of the time I cannot believe that I am as old as I am. I remember being 14 and thinking 21 was over the hill. I would say I enjoy being young and feeling about 2...and am nowhere near ready to be a parent myself. And thats totally okay, everybody follows their own schedule. We don't all need to grow up the exact same way or time. If we all did that, the world would be a boring place!
When I was a kid, I would always say that I wanted to go to the Olympics when I grew up. I am still really hoping that comes true. But I never thought in my wildest dreams I would be where I am today and have accomplished what I have. I feel so fortunate that I had a family that always supported me in my choices and had an imagination to dream of what I wanted to do. Looking back now, I would want my teen self to just know that everything was going to be ok. At 16, everything is so heightened: drama, emotions, etc. I would let myself know that it was ok to miss that dance to go on a ski trip, and that it would all pay off in the end. It may seem like high school is the end all be all, but there is so much more to come in your life. Dream big and try your very hardest to make all of those dreams a reality. You only live once!