A Soul of Snow Interview: Ed Koren, The New Yorker Magazine

We talked to Ed Koren the noted cartoonist for the New Yorker Magazine about his experiences in the Vermont woods. 

What do you remember about your first time Nordic skiing?

I obviously liked it because it was much more freewheeling and it was a whole different part of Vermont that I could access. That was a kind of pleasure, an unexpected joy that you could be off on skis in the middle of the winter. For me, it was just a wonderful freedom that sort of presented itself.

Why have you continued to ski?

Because I love it. I’m passionately addicted to it. I go out every day in the winter. I have my trails around here. I can range across the whole landscape and it’s just a wonderful part of the day. There’s a reflection and a thinking about human life that comes along when trucking through the woods.

Is skiing an escape from your studio?

I wouldn’t think of it as an escape; it’s more positive than that. It’s really an important part of my life – to be out in this winter world. Also for an artist, the world of the woods and fields and winter is just a delight, an endless discovery of things to observe. So no, it’s not an escape at all. It’s almost a nourishment. If it wasn’t so transcendently wonderful, I wouldn’t do it.