The Art of Whoop! and how to be 110% in the Moment

If you’ve ever been to a ski resort after a huge dump of snow, you’ll be familiar with something I call “powder whoops.”

This “Whoop!” or “Whoo!” is a sound not heard on an average day on the mountain, but comes only when experiencing the joy associated with descending into a deep plume of soft powder.

A similar sound can be heard when dropping into a steep decline on a mountain bike, swooping back up an incline, and around banked turns.

The whoop also makes an appearance amongst cliff jumpers who can’t help but let out a whoo or whoop as they leap from a cliff and descend into the water below.

And of course, the whoop’s extended cousin whaaaaah! is present when descending down the drop of a roller coaster.

What is the Whoop/Whoo phenomenon? And why do we do it?

I love adventure sports because the experiences force me to be present. When doing sports that require 100% of my attention, I have no choice but to not be in my head, thus focusing completely on what I’m doing.

My Whoop hypothesis is that :

When I whoop, I’m living 110% in that moment. I’m so in the moment that my body needs to expel some of this momentous experience in the form of a sound — the whoop!

So here’s to the pursuit of more whoops in our lives.

I whooped this morning on a mountain bike trail in Baja, Mexico :)