Known as the “Daredevil of the Tatras,” St. John Paul II once quipped that "It’s unbecoming for a cardinal to ski badly."
One of the most widely known hobbies of St. John Paul II was his love of skiing. He developed a love of skiing in his 30s and kept skiing as a priest, bishop, cardinal, and even pope.
John Paul II would often "escape" from the Vatican to go skiing and in his early years was known as the "Daredevil of the Tatras," referring to his skill skiing on the Tatra mountains in Poland.
