This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (May 27)
Indoor Skiing, Inspiration From A Senior Swimmer, Update On Free Senior Skiing In NH, College Course On Mountains And Art.
In 2013, Diana Nyad swam the Florida Straits, 110 miles, without a shark cage in 53 hours. She was 64 years old.
Credit: Steven Lippman
The response rate to SeniorsSkiing.com’s Spring Subscriber Survey 2016 is, frankly, astonishing. We’re at 29%, a number that reflects how engaged our readers are. Thank you so very much. Next week, we’ll start reporting the results, at least the big insights we see in the data. These fascinating and surprising results will help us steer how we manage our content and our relationships with our readers.
This week, we look at yet another indoor skiing facility, this one in the Toronto, ONT, area. There are many indoor ski areas around the globe, but most have man-made snow. This new one has “dryslope”, that is, faux snow. Very interesting development.
We report an update about the threat to free skiing for senior NH residents. There have been some developments on the positive side, but the final outcome is still up in the air.
Diana Nyad is a senior marathon swimmer who swam from Cuba to Key West at 64 years old. We discovered some words of advice and inspiration for all seniors. Let us know what you think.
Finally, what promises to be an ongoing feature on SeniorsSkiing.com is an account of a Wesleyan University course on Mountains and Art by professor Peter Mark. Professor Mark is an inspired teacher and outdoor enthusiast who combined his expertise to produce a unique view of mountains and their place in the history of art. His students have written essays on various topics that may become articles of interest for our readers. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, to our very engaged readers, remember: “There are more of us every day, and we aren’t going away.
Indoor Skiing Tries Again: Toronto Next
Experts And Beginners Can Ski All Year On Faux Snow.
Many years ago, we remember when the town of Etobicoke, ONT, a suburb of Toronto, used its municipal trash collection to build a ski hill. That’s a clue to how geographically feature-less the terrain around Toronto is. While the greater Toronto area has at least 10 ski areas in driving range of the city and reasonable ski ticket prices, the dimensions are modest.
Shredding is possible on
“dryslope” faux snow.
Into this mileau comes a bold idea: Indoor Skiing. We’ve seen how indoor skiing has been tried in other parts of the world, most notably at Tokyo’s Lalaporte Skidome SSWAS. There’s also one in the Middle East called Ski Dubai which features real snow and penguins.
Now, a company is building a 20,000 square foot indoor facility in Vaughan, ONT, just north of Toronto. Axis Freestyle Academy is billed as “Canada’s Indoor Ski and Snowboard Progression Park”, a year-round dry snow, aka, dryslope, training facility. There is also a 4,000 square-foot trampoline area for fitness and fun. The ski hill is divided between open slope for beginners and terrain filled with rails and jumps for experts or wannabes.
SkiDubai’s indoor ski area has real snow, interesting features, and cold temps.
In any case, Torontonians—especially young ones—will have another option to practice and prepare for winter. On second thought, we’re curious if some folks find the faux snow appealing enough to stick with the indoor facility all year round. Oh, no lifts, by the way. It’s a walk-up; that won’t be too bad because the elevation is 17 feet.
The facility is scheduled for opening in June 2016.
Here’s an artsy two-minute view of what snowboarding can be like on a “dryslope”.
Update: Free Senior Skiing at Reinstated In NH House Bill
Now The State Senate Must Approve.
Cannon Mountain is a state-owned area, famous for its aerial tram and free skiing for 65+ seniors.
Credit: Cannon Mountain
A bill that would have eliminated free skiing for NH seniors has been amended to reinstate the senior benefit and is being sent back to the Senate for approval. The bill would have charged seniors different rates for weekday and weekend skiing and was an attempt to cover the large deficit at state-owned Cannon Mountain. NH residents over 65 had skied for free at the resort for years. According to New England Ski Industry, projections show Cannon nearly $2-million in the red for 2016. Charging seniors was viewed as a way to partially fill the gap.
The challenge to free senior skiing isn’t over. The State Senate has to approve the amended bill.
The change came when senior skiers meet in a forum with state representatives and ski area management. A coalition of Republican and Democratic representatives worked together to strike the provision.
Apparently, senior skiers have a loud voice in New Hampshire.
Representative Leon Rideout raised the elephant-in-the-room question that has hung over Cannon Mountain for years: “Why is the state in the ski business?” So, the spotlight from this controversy is back on the whole concept of state management. Add to that the operational deficit and a tramway evacuation incident last winter that hit the national news, and you have an opportunity for big changes.
We’ll keep you posted on events as they occur.
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