John Crews

John Crews has spent his life pursuing four passions: high-intensity outdoor sports activities that test us physically and mentally; various oriental martial arts and meditative paths; exploring music both professionally and for personal enjoyment; and teaching many of these experiences to others.

The first of these passions began in the 1950s and 1960s as a successful young ski racer in the Pacific Northwest during the winters and as a slalom waterskier winning local events each summer. His ski career turned professional at the age of 19 after which he went on to win National level competitions in Freestyle Mogul and Aerial championships. After retiring from competition, he moved on to a 52 year career coaching high-level skiing at the world famous resort of Sun Valley, Idaho. This led to his being honored in 1995 as the featured instructor in ‘Skiing Magazine’s’ premier article on “America’s Best Instructors,” as well as being honored as ‘Member of the Year’ by the professional ski instructor’s association. His lifetime of skiing adventures has led to skiing across 8 states and 5 countries, and helicopter skiing in the remote mountain peaks of four countries in North America and Europe.

As well as his early days spent waterskiing, his summer watersports expanded to include 60 years of sailing, 50 years of exploring surfing up and down the coastlines of North and Central America before settling in the Hawaiian Islands, and 35 years of teaching windsurfing in the high winds and surf around the island of Maui.

John’s second passion of studying oriental philosophy and martial arts began at the age of 20 which led to earning multiple black belt certifications in the Japanese martial art of Karate. From there his martial art interest shifted to the Chinese martial art of Tàiji Quán which he has continued to practice over the past 30 years.

His time studying the Japanese arts grew to include being certified in the Japanese energy healing art of Jin Shin Jyutsu. His later focus on the Chinese arts grew to include certification in the meditative and healing art of Qigong which roughly translates to Universal Energy Cultivation. Other oriental interests included the study and practice of various esoteric schools of Yoga meditation.

John’s third passion began by being accepted at the age of six as the yearly private piano student by the head of the music department at the Western Washington University. His lifelong interest in music led to performing on piano and trombone professionally, studying classical guitar for enjoyment, and composing and performing a multi-instrument musical soundtrack for a commercial video.

John’s fourth passion became a primary thread running through all of his life’s pursuits. His primary rewards in life have come through sharing knowledge and experiences with others through various careers in teaching. He has taught snow skiing in Sun Valley for 52 winters, high-performance windsurfing in Hawaii for 35 summers, Karate in schools located in Sun Valley and on Maui, Rolf Movement Integration in private practice, and most recently the Chinese art of Qigong as certified by Qigong Master Robert Peng.

John’s enjoyment in communicating his joys in life expanded into writing magazine articles which appeared in ‘Ski Magazine’ and ‘Windsurf Magazine’, as well as writing, scoring, and producing ‘Tacking and Jibing Maui Style,’ an instructional video on windsurfing. More recently he publishing two books; ‘The Spirt of Icarus - Tales of Flying Close to the Sun’ in 2020, and ‘Discovering the Joys of High-performance Skiing’ in 2021. Both of these are available in print on Amazon, as an eBook at Apple, and in local bookstores. He is currently working on completing his third book titled, ‘A Path of Balance through Athletics and Meditation’ which explores the Japanese concept of ‘Dō’ meaning ‘Way’ or ‘Path’ as a format for bringing higher levels of mental and spiritual awareness to any chosen physical pursuit.

Over the years, John has also appeared in half a dozen ski and windsurf movies and video productions, as well as being featured in print publications such as ‘Skiing Magazine,’ ‘Northwest Skier,’ ‘Ski Trails,’ ‘Sun Valley Magazine,’ ‘Windsurf Magazine,’ and ‘Elle Magazine’.

John delights in spending his life with Janet, his wife of 36 years, who shares his passion for a lifestyle of wintering on the snowy mountains of Sun Valley and summering on the warm ocean waters surrounding the island of Maui. He can be reached at spiritoficarus@icloud.com.