The Excuse I Hear Most Often From Seniors Who Stopped Skiing Is That Their Knees Are Bad. I can emphasize. At 74, I feel the occasional twinge forecasting a time when something medical is in my future. I know I’m not alone. Which brings me to the Ski-mojo ad on the SeniorsSkiing.com homepage. It’s a British product for skiers with[Read More…]
The Midget Was Brand-New And The Color Of Ballpark Mustard. No more than 200 miles on the odometer, when the idiot trying to pass me spun out of control and totaled my new MG Midget. That was 1970, and looking back, maybe I was the idiot for driving a brand new, tiny sports car onto a snow-slicked Vermont road. The[Read More…]
And Then, I’ll Take Off My Skis. That’s the punch line of a joke I heard in college. Many of you will know it. Two Russian soldiers are called home from their post in Siberia. They pack their belongings and start their long ski trek across the snowy steppe. They talk about what they’ll do when they arrive home. Boris[Read More…]
I’ve always believed in working with a competent car mechanic. The same applies to a well-trained bootfitter. Many older skiers experience boot issues, and a good fitter can help overcome them. Masterfit is in the business of training people to fit ski boots. Their instructors include pedorthists, professionals with specialized training to modify footwear and employ supportive devices to address[Read More…]
Finding a comfortable and good-fitting ski boot is an elusive goal for many older skiers. Finding a comfortable and good-fitting ski boot is an elusive goal for many older skiers. According to responses to our reader surveys, 25% of you plan to purchase new boots in any given season. Reading the comments is revealing: “Want to find a painfree pair.”[Read More…]
Many Readers Have Requested A Fabric Patch. It’s a good idea, and we’d like to make it available. The question is what to put on the patch. We’ve explored the vintage image of the skier that appears on the SeniorsSkiing.com sticker. Unfortunately, patch production technology makes him indecipherable. Whatever we do, we plan to include the SeniorsSkiing.com logo. You may[Read More…]
We’re pleased to announce that subscribers to SeniorsSkiing.com are eligible to receive a free subscription to the print version of SKI Magazine. SKI is the venerable publication that has been catering to snow sports enthusiasts for decades. It covers the full range of the sport from equipment and technique to personalities and destinations. It is published six times a year and[Read More…]
We’re still transitioning into the Information Age and, like a well-skied trail, the bumps are plentiful. Personal data is compromised. Weird account charges are difficult to get removed. Criminals and other rogue players are changing how we would normally communicate with each other. But there are some bright spots. Older skiers are pleased with purchasing lift tickets online. In fact,[Read More…]
One Might Say You Can Never Have Enough Skis. My wife disagrees. She skis on a relatively old pair that she loves. They’re relatively soft in shovel and heel. For her, one pair is enough. Mine is a completely different story; too long to get into at the moment. Jackson Hogen, publisher of the ski review site realskiers.com, has been[Read More…]
Other Than A Book, A Bottle, Or Some Meaningless Gewgaw, It’s Not Easy To Find A Reasonably Priced And Relevant Gift For The Older Skier. DeBooter solves that dilemma. It’s a clever ski boot jack that makes boot removal fast and easy. SeniorsSkiing.com readers can purchase DeBooter for less than $32, a 20% discount from the $39.95 retail. (Enter SeniorsSkiing[Read More…]
Bull Wheels At More Areas Have Started To Turn. Purgatory opened last weekend. People were lined up at 5:00AM, Saturday, Nov. 18. One report had hungry skiers cooking bacon and eggs as they waited in the dark. In what may have been a first, pass holders used Day 1 to ski and bike. Lookout Pass, about 90 minute drive from Spokane[Read More…]
Several years ago I did the unthinkable at Thanksgiving. I abandoned my wife and young daughters and went to Alta for a long weekend. I had my wife’s blessing, but she has a long memory, and I still get reminded of that mid-1980s lapse. But I also have sweet memories. It dumped 3′ and, except for the lack of a[Read More…]
Following Last Week’s Publication Of SeniorsSkiing.com’s List Of US Resorts Where Seniors Ski Free, We Received Numerous Corrections From Readers. Mad River Glen in Vermont and Hunter Mountain in New York don’t have freebies; Bear Valley in California and Gunstock in New Hampshire do. The list has been updated to reflect those and other changes. Some areas have[Read More…]
This will be my 64th consecutive year on skis, a factoid I should have mentioned at a recent ski industry event where each of the 50+ people gathered for lunch were asked to say something brief about what they do. I was the oldest in the room and spoke about older skiers and how we comprise 20% of the US[Read More…]
This Season, Free Skiing Will Be Available To Senior Skiers At 112 Resorts Across 26 States. The list of resorts is available to SeniorsSkiing.com subscribers. The annual SeniorsSkiing.com report was first issued for the 2015-16 season. The number of resorts reporting free skiing privileges for seniors increased slightly from last season. Most provide free skiing at age 70. According to recent[Read More…]
SeniorsSkiing.com Needs You! …especially if you’re willing to write articles that would be of interest to our readers. Articles can cover prepping for the season (exercising, nutrition, personal accounts, etc.); thoughts on equipment, gear, clothing; technique; profiles of older skiers (well-known or not), destinations, planned trips, nostalgia, ski/board/snowshoe history, skiing with kids and grandkids, etc. We prefer articles no longer[Read More…]
Responses To SeniorsSkiing.com Reader Surveys Indicate That Finding Boots That Fit And Perform Correctly Is A Challenge. And 25% Of Readers Plan To Purchase New Boots. Two of our advertisers can help. America’s Best Bootfitters.com has a host of useful boot-related information, including the names of ski shops where highly trained fitters are available to get you the best fitting boots.[Read More…]
Snow Has Arrived Around The West. Half-Price Subscription to realskiers.com: Jackson Hogen, publisher of realskiers.com, publishes short essays related to the the sport. The current one, about older skiers, is titled “Not Dead Yet.” You can sign up for the essays and receive them free. I recommend getting a paid subscription where, among other things, you’ll find intelligent and comprehensive ski[Read More…]
Many Readers May Remember Ski Ballet, The Graceful, Sometimes Amusing, Phenomenon From The 1980s. Costumed performers on skis took skiing to new levels as they executed freestyle moves to a variety of musical themes. It was the snow equivalent of free style figure skating with individual and pair performances. Some observers saw ski ballet as liberation from the restricted forms[Read More…]
Something Old. Something New. I just read two books about trails. The old one is American Skiing, published in 1939. It’s author, Otto Schniebs, was one of the Arlberg Technique pioneers in New England and contributed to the development of several areas. He founded the American Ski School of Boston and coached at Dartmouth College and later at St. Lawrence University.[Read More…]
Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. It is the end of summer, and we’ll soon be back to our weekly schedule. Mike and I want to take this moment to thank our readers, contributors, and advertisers for keeping SeniorsSkiing.com active and relevant. Our combined efforts seem to be working. All summer long, the number of new SeniorsSkiing.com subscribers kept increasing.[Read More…]
According to NSAA (National Ski Areas Association) last season there were 8.4 million active U.S. skiers and boarders: 6.5 million skiers; 2 million boarders. The number is significantly lower than reported by SIA (Snowsports Industries America), which, for 2015-16 reported 11.6 million skiers and 7.6 million boarders. NSAA collects its information from a sample of resort skiers. SIA uses other[Read More…]
A forced march may be my most effective pre-season training. While it wasn’t really forced, our hilly, eight day walk in the Dordogne region of France was a delightful, though at times strenuous, way to get in better shape. After a few days in the 90s, temps dropped to the 60s; perfect for our daily 6-8 hours on narrow roads and[Read More…]
I Hate Sue. That’s the name we gave the voice on the rental car’s navigation system. We programmed her to direct us about 500 kilometers across France. Instead of doing as instructed, Sue gave us a Tour de France, all the way to the Mediterranean at the end of a major holiday. We were stuck, bumper-to-bumper, for hours. At one[Read More…]
