There are stories that live in the bright light. Records, titles, the clean, simple math of six buoys. And then there are the ones that happen off to the side, in the quiet, where no one is really watching.

This is one of those.

Aaron Larkin has always been one of the sport’s most natural stylists. A two-time Moomba Masters champion. A skier who made it look, if not easy, then at least possible. But as he says in Episode #43 of the FPM Podcast, the real battle didn’t happen at 41-off - It happened later.

There is a moment in the conversation where you realize this is not a comeback story in the way we usually tell them. There is no swelling music. No clean arc. Just a man, at one point, sitting in a place so dark he describes it as “a locked room with no door.” And then, slowly, finding a way out. Not through skiing at first. Not through results. But through something far more difficult. Honesty.

Larkin speaks openly about depression, about alcoholism, about losing almost everything that once defined his life. The kind of honesty that makes you shift in your seat a little, not because it is uncomfortable, but because it is real. And yet, what makes this conversation matter is not the fall. It is the decision.

At one point, faced with an impossible choice, Larkin chose a path that most people would not. Not because it was easier, but because it gave him a chance to still be here. To rebuild. To become someone his kids might one day understand.

This is not a ski story.

This is a life story.

And then, almost quietly, the water comes back into it. Not as pressure. Not as identity wrapped too tight around performance. But as something else entirely.

“It gave me purpose… it gave me something to get out of bed for.”  

Skiing did not save his career. It helped save his life. Now, at 48, Larkin is back. Not chasing what he once was, but building something new. Health. Clarity. Sobriety. A different kind of performance. A different reason to ski...And yes, still knocking on the door of 41-off....And yes, still knocking on the door of 41-off because some things do not leave you.

This episode is not about technique. It is about what happens when everything else falls away, and what you choose to hold onto. If you have ever struggled, felt stuck, or wondered how to find your way back to something that matters, this one is worth your time.

Episode #43 with Aaron Larkin is live now inside FPM.

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