When I ski, I take both of my legs off and get into a sit ski: a ski with a custom seat that has been molded for me. I use my core and arms to propel myself on snow with help from ski poles.
I ski very aggressively, and the angles that I create with my body are similar to some of the male racers.
The fact that the infrastructure is falling apart is not necessarily because it's built poorly. The New York City subways were built in 1903. The fact that they're still running at all is an enormous success. The fact that New York City's bridges have held up as long as they have is extraordinary, and the engineers didn't have computers to tell them about tolerance. They overbuilt these things - traffic on them is like an ant on an elephant.
In 2012, I was invited to a ski event called the Hartford Ski Spectacular to learn how to sit-ski for the first time. I loved it, but it was not pretty - I was not good. I didn't know how to stop, so I kept throwing myself on the ground.
I started going on ski trips at senior school. I can't remember exactly where but we skied in the Tirol in Austria a couple of times and also went to Val d'Isère in France. When I was 15, rugby took over and there wasn't time to ski any more. I didn't ski again until I was 33.
I had to think about ankle torsion, where the screws are on the ski, how that affects the forces going into the ski and how the ski bends, your leverage points. It was a challenge. I was having the greatest time, making the mistakes, crashing.
I've always had bigger legs and butt; it's just the way I'm built. Over time, I realized that they were blessings because that foundation - my legs and butt - is what helps me flip 12 feet above an icy halfpipe.
I was a driver and a racer. The difference between drivers, who can be great World Champions, and racers, who are also World Champions, is that racers don't wait for things to happen: they make things happen.
All my children ski now, they don't have a choice. They have to join mom and dad on the ski hill.
I learned to ski in the Dolomites at the age of five. Ski lifts didn't exist then, so I did everything on foot.
When I travel, I always have about 40 pairs of skis with me, plus a ski technician and a ski coach.
I had ordered long legs, but they never arrived. My eyes are weird too, one is gray and the other is green. I have a crooked smile and my nose looks like a ski slope. No, I would not win a Miss contest.
But then I hit my 20s and only made two albums, and now I live in a ski resort as a ski bum basically.
I had no money, no training facilities, no snow, no ski jumps, no trainer, but I still managed to ski jump for my country - and getting there was my gold medal.
I am not a big skier, but I love apres-ski wear and imagine I would look great in an all-white, fur-trimmed ski suit.
Having no legs doesn't mean you can't drive fast and I wasn't going to be happy scoring the odd point. I thought it was possible to win and went for it.