Snow skiing

[omni550]

Like to ski (the snow kind)? Enjoy it while it lasts....

https://www.economist.com/news/inte...orse-winter-sports-face-double-threat-climate

In the rich world, ageing skiers are gradually giving up the sport, although those who keep going tend to have lots of time and money to enjoy the snow. In America, over-55s make up about a fifth of skiers; the most avid are aged 72 and older. Still, their numbers are not being made up fast enough by younger skiers, for several reasons. In many places ticket prices have risen faster than inflation, although resorts offer discounts for season passes and early booking. In America, there is a trend for richer people to ski more than they used to, and poorer ones to ski less. Non-whites, a growing slice of the population, are less keen on skiing. In Europe, school trips to the slopes are less common, even in countries such as Austria and Switzerland that think of themselves as nations on skis. With global travel, those with money can just as easily fly to a beach in winter.

omni

 

[gauss]

Preference for snowboarding over skiing for GenX/GenY perhaps?

 

[Danmar]

I’m skiing less (I’m 67). Still love it but DW less so since she injured her ACL. DD and DSIL still ski and I go with them. Our house in Canmore is close to 4 pretty good ski resorts. Great activity with kids in the 5-15 age group. Agree it’s usually quite expensive.

 

[Jerry1]

I think you could replace the word skiing with golfing and have about the same story. The thing that sticks out to me is that what use to be fun recreation, gets taken over and monetized and it's not affordable to the average person any longer. Same thing is happening in sports. It's just too costly to go to a game, take in a round or jump on the slopes - especially if you want to take your family.

 

[HillCountry]

The article is mostly about global warming.

We ski twice every year, one Christmas, the other spring break. The ski lifts are always crowded. And definitely only a small number of old geezers.

 

[Jeffman52]

Love to Ski. My wife and I are heading out to Keystone for a week in the middle of February. Bought some new K2 Pinnacles to try out. We go with a group of 12 to 20 (some years more, and some less) and try to go somewhere different every year. By doing that we have seen some beautiful country.

I have toned it down a bit on the aggressive runs and try to stick to the blues. However I went to Jackson Hole last year and many of the blues were bluer than most LOL.

 

[MuirWannabe]

I don’t buy their premise in the article. Slopes seem well attended to me.

 

[Bamaman]

The better the skier, the more efficient they are. I have seen skiers in their late 70's on the s!opes. I stopped after breaking 2 legs at age 57.

My sister had a house in Aspen, and her ski instructor/close friend worked with many Olympians. She has had hundreds of days skiing with him on AJAX. But those bumps caught up with her finally at age 69, and she just had back fusion. Her husband hung up his ski's after 2/back surgeries caused by changing his golf swing.

Remember that every skier just has so many moguls in those legs. When those bumps are up, it is time to hang up the boots.

 

[NYEXPAT]

I was an avid skier (ski house at Killington) and 4 trips a year out west until age 50 when I moved to Peru. Have not skied in 14 years now. My DD & DSIL live in Denver and ski every weekend! I started her at 3 years old. My two sons 12 & 2 have never expressed an interest and my young wife does not swim,ski,skate,bike,drive but is a helluva cook/mother/wife and some other things I can't mention.

 

[skipro33]

Last season was the best snow in a decade. Over 600 inches fell. A season pass is under $300 where I go; Sierra At Tahoe, if you buy it at the end of the current season for next year. I ski 2 or 3 times a week. I avoid weekends as the lines are too long with wait times about 15 minutes to get on the chair. Yesterday, I never had a line or shared a chair, just no one there week days usually.

 

[gerntz]

About to hit the big 70. Till the last 3 years, took 1-2 week long trips to western resorts for 25 years or so. I was late to the sport. But my bum knee - nothing to do with skiing - now gets sore for extended periods, months even, if I ski more than a few hours on the groomed for 2-3 hr. So now I limit myself to a local 400' hill 1-2x/wk. I greatly miss the big trips. Funny thing is, skiing is the worst thing I do for knee pain. W/o it, little problem. At times I've wished it hurt all the time so I could get a replacement & go to the big mountains again. Oh well.

Do agree with those who note the sky-high lift rate increases & the income stratification it's increased for skiing. A shame

 

[marko]

Lifetime skier since 6 years old. Annuals to Utah and the Alps. Must admit that my ACL (or is it LCL) is acting up this year (age 65.5) and a bit fearful. Have given up on bumps and real steeps. Try to stay on the groomed runs now.

Many years ago I commented to my ski buddy that "someday we won't even bring our skis; we'll just sit on the deck drinking beer and watch the girls in ski suits" That day seems to be coming.

IMO the article is just another agenda article where the author sees what he wants to see.

 

[gerntz]

Many years ago I commented to my ski buddy that "someday we won't even bring our skis; we'll just sit on the deck drinking beer and watch the girls in ski suits" That day seems to be coming.

I preferred the low cut bibs.

 

[RunningBum]

I'm in the Colorado Rockies right now and conditions are fair to poor. Lots of brown spots and rocks and stumps sticking up where there would normally be 3' of snow by now. I understand that the northern Rockies are having at least an average year, but most resorts in Colorado and Utah are really suffering.

 

[braumeister]

I'll be 72 this year and I still love to ski. the problem is that my joints don't love it as much as I do. I've mostly given up mogul runs, and rarely do blacks. I can still handle many of the harder blues OK, but I can see the day coming when I'll be down to just easy runs.

OTOH, the cost of lift tickets went down substantially when I qualified for senior rates, so that's a nice perk. I run into other 70+ skiers on the lifts all the time so I think us oldsters are helping to keep the sport alive. So the line about us being the most avid participants certainly seems likely, but if we're the mainstay, then where are all these young snowboarders coming from?

 

[MuirWannabe]

Last season was the best snow in a decade. Over 600 inches fell. A season pass is under $300 where I go; Sierra At Tahoe, if you buy it at the end of the current season for next year. I ski 2 or 3 times a week. I avoid weekends as the lines are too long with wait times about 15 minutes to get on the chair. Yesterday, I never had a line or shared a chair, just no one there week days usually.

I can’t imagine. 2-3 times per week. How awesome would that be. Tahoe must be a great place to live.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I can’t imagine. 2-3 times per week. How awesome would that be. Tahoe must be a great place to live.

same with Boise - our passes are about $300 a year. Free if you are over 70.

 

[MuirWannabe]

same with Boise - our passes are about $300 a year. Free if you are over 70.

Sweet. I’ve driven only briefly through the sawtooth area and it was beautiful. I’m sure most of Idaho is very nice.

 

[6miths]

Agree that it is going to be a struggle for the sport. Demographics, cost, potentially shorter or less predictable seasons. We spent a week at Killington in December and DW and three of the kids going to Lake Louise and Fernie for 10 days mid-February. When all factors are considered it is a very expensive sport. Lift tickets are very expensive and half-day tickets for afternoons are usually 80-90% of the full day ticket price. As well, most resorts seem to close at 4 or 430 even when days get longer in the spring.

 

[skipro33]

I can’t imagine. 2-3 times per week. How awesome would that be. Tahoe must be a great place to live.

I started out during a business trip. VISA credit card company had a promo; learn-to-ski package for $15. A few of us on business were getting bored so we took the package. It was like taking a really good hit of some drug and getting addicted almost instantly. I told myself I gotta quit my job and move here! Fortunately, I found a job working for the electric company. By the third season, I was getting bored with it; just not enough Adrenalin rush. An ad in the local newspaper was the resort posting a 'learn-to-be-a-ski-instructor' clinic. 3 days for $100. I signed up and was offered a job. For the next 10 years I worked 7 days a week from around Thanksgiving to Easter; 4 days a week (10 hours days) for the electric company and 3 days a week for the resort. Since I had a full time job, I was only used to teach when they were short instructors. I quickly got certified as a level 3 instructor and taught the 'hard' stuff; bumps, powder, trees, etc.
Instructors were invited to 'Pro Night' in October. All the vendors would display their equipment, selling to 'Pros' for next to nothing just so we would wear their gear and students, wanting to ski like instructors, would notice. Besides ski instructors, ski patrol and sports athletes would be invited to pro-nite. At the end of the season, I'd sell my gear to a lift operator for what I paid for it, knowing the next season, I'd have all new stuff.
Every day I was working started 1 hour before the resort opened for guests where we would clinic with the top instructors. I learned more than I could imagine how to ski just about anything. The terms, techniques, avalanche control, etc. Steep and deep is what I live for. Bottomless powder in the trees.
Employees also were able to get their family season passes as well. That cinched the deal for me as there would have been no way I could afford season passes and equipment for the whole family.
Now everyone skis; me, DW, my kids and all my grand kids. It's amazing that a business trip and a bored evening turned into such a life changing event.
Monday I was riding the chair up with one other guy. We talked a bit and turned out he's Maddie Bowman's father. (She won gold at Sochi 2014) I've given private family lessons to many pro football players after Super Bowl. So fun to motivate the kids by showing them they can be better at a sport than their dad. The physique of a football player doesn't work well for skiing. Especially when teaching how to get up after a fall. I'd have the kids throw snow balls at dad until he got up. Ha! Every lesson I'd have the students tell me who they are and what they do for a living. Then I introduce myself and ask, "So, how do you like MY office view?" Ha!

 

[Danmar]

I'll be 72 this year and I still love to ski. the problem is that my joints don't love it as much as I do. I've mostly given up mogul runs, and rarely do blacks. I can still handle many of the harder blues OK, but I can see the day coming when I'll be down to just easy runs.

OTOH, the cost of lift tickets went down substantially when I qualified for senior rates, so that's a nice perk. I run into other 70+ skiers on the lifts all the time so I think us oldsters are helping to keep the sport alive. So the line about us being the most avid participants certainly seems likely, but if we're the mainstay, then where are all these young snowboarders coming from?

I’m in a similar position. Physically I’m still fine, but when I look down a black run, it seems a lot steeper than when I remembered. So pretty much stick to greens and blues. The snowboarders are a real pain. Been hit from behind a couple of times. Agree that some of the best skiers are older guys.

 

[pb4uski]

There was a small ski area in my hometown in Vermont when I was growing up... right across the valley from our house... we used to use binoculars to watch people coming down the slopes to see if we recognized anyone.

Mom would drop us and our gear off with a little money for the afternoon and then pick us up after the lift closed. There was one lift... a poma lift. There was a dip near the top of the lift that sometimes would lift me off of the ground since my legs were so short and spin me around and I would fall off the poma... it was a shallow victory to make it to the top... or sometimes I would take take the poma out from between my legs just before I got to that dip and just hold on to it until I got to the top.

Later, my aunt would take me to Stowe or I would go with some family friends to Glen Ellen (now Sugarbush). Later as adults we had season passes at Bolton Valley, Stowe and Burke. DW was an instructor at Sugarbush for a few years and got run into twice while teaching classes.

Last year was the first season since I was 6 years old that I had not skiied at least one day.

While I still enjoy the little bumps, I gave up the big bumps a long time ago.... I know what I need to do and the mind says go and the legs say.... "what you thinking!"... I still like the steep pitches though and still love spring skiing when you can strip down to light clothes and everything softens up enough to easily set an edge in (as long as it doesn't get too soft like mashed potatoes.... that is too much work!).

 

[Ronstar]

I used to ski a lot when I was young. But I hit a tree 40 years ago on a black run at Vail that resulted in some internal injuries. I quit skiing after that. I’d like to ski again - I think I’m mature enough now to avoid doing something stupid.

 

[UtahSkier]

I used to ski a lot when I was young. But I hit a tree 40 years ago on a black run at Vail that resulted in some internal injuries. I quit skiing after that. I’d like to ski again - I think I’m mature enough now to avoid doing something stupid.

Getting hurt while enjoying my activities is very much a concern. This year, the ski conditions are not ideal; icy and fast out here in the Utah Mountains.

The icy conditions this year has me generally skiing faster, that an I am skiing a much steeper mountain (50 MPH max speed yesterday). The powder skis I purchased last year just are not giving me the carving control I need.

So, in the interest of health and safety, I just ordered new skis (and bindings) better suited to this year's conditions.

Same thing happened a few years ago while mountain biking. I had a perfectly fine bike with a 2 inch front shock. I have a favorite trail and I challenge myself on the various rocks and roots and interesting features. I found a certain rock that caused me to go over the handle bars. On my next ride I sought out that rock and sure enough I went over the handle bars.

The next day, I purchased a new mtn bike with 5 inch travel. You know, in the interest of health and safety!

 

[RunningBum]

I hit 56 mph today at Keystone. Not quite my season high, back home in VA. I like speed, but I still felt in control.