Jack Frost Senior Day: A Model For Other Resorts
A Get Together Of Senior Skiers Combines Fun, Learning and Friends.
A healthy lunch and presentation on fitness, diet were just a part of Jack Frost’s Senior Day.
Credit: Bill Runner
Our mission at SeniorsSkiing.com is to promote the value of senior snow sport enthusiasts to the ski and snow sports industry. This year, we’ve discovered that some ski resorts are, in fact, focusing on their older demographic through “Senior Days”, a variety of no-cost, low-cost events that are seniors-only activities.
For example, Dodge Ridge, CA, has a twice-a-week Master’s Clinic in February, focusing on day-long instruction for seniors who were returning to skiing after a hiatus or injury, or who just wanted to get rid of bad habits. The idea came to Dodge Ridge’s ski school director John Mahanna when he realized seniors need some help adjusting to shaped skis. San Francisco correspondent Rose Marie Cleese attended a Thursday clinic in February and observed, “I learned to ski with more ease and efficiency and not be exhausted after a full day of skiing.”
Senior Day at Jack Frost included instruction and demonstrations.
Credit: Bill Runner
Ski instruction like the Master’s Clinic is only part of what ski resorts can do for its seniors. Waterville Valley Resort, NH, supports the Silver Streaks, the oldest senior ski club in the country. In addition to senior instruction, Waterville also has racing, amenities like close-in parking, social events and awards ceremonies. The result is a tight, friendly and upbeat senior community at the resort.
All season long, seniors can take a free, one-hour clinic on Wednesdays.
Credit: Bill Runner
Jack Frost, PA, also pays attention to its seniors. Famous for its Jack Frost Geezers ski club, the area also supports all its seniors big-time. In addition to a weekly special free, one-hour clinics for seniors, this year Jack Frost held a Senior Day in early Feb. A group of 40 regulars participated in demonstrations of telemark skiing and snowboarding, presentations on resort history, diet, exercise, and how to prepare for the ski season.
Held with the support of the local Area Agency on Agency, the event is a positive example of how a ski resort can take some simple steps to provide added value to its seniors.
So the question is: Why shouldn’t other ski resorts support these kinds of low-cost, no-cost activities for its loyal seniors?
From Socks to Scarves in Sixty Minutes
A Terrific DIY Gift Idea!
Ski season is winding down, and some of us may be returning to other activities. Suzy Z.* will be doing needlework. Suzy, a seniorsskiing.com subscriber, had this terrific idea for sock-scarves while shopping last fall for ski hose. It uses ski or knee socks to create a scarf for your winter jacket or turtleneck.
Relatives, grandkids, and friends will be receiving a different gift this Holiday Season.
Photo 1. You’ll need two pairs of socks, matching, if possible, or with compatible colors and prints.
Photos 2, 3 and 4. Join each pair of socks by sewing the tops of the socks to each other.
Photo 5. Cut the foot off one sock in each pair.
Photos 6 and 7. Turn the just-cut ends under, and sew them to each other.
Photo 8. Now you should have four socks, end to end, with a foot on each end. (If you want to be really funky, you could stop here.)
Photo 9. Cut the foot off each end of the scarf.
Photo 10. Turn the just-cut ends under, and sew them shut.
Photo 11. Here’s your scarf!
Suzy Z., the Alta sock stitcher.
*Sue Z., born in Brooklyn, is now a senior skier who likes to spend her time at Alta. When she is not skiing, she likes to paint in acrylics, plays the piano, and has taken several years of drum lessons. The “sock to scarf” idea came about while she was looking for a scarf for her new ski jacket; she came across knee socks in fun colors, and thought she could sew them together to create just what she was looking for.
This Week In SeniorsSkiing.com (Mar.11)
Resort and Product Reviews, Another Jackson Hole, Snowless Skiing, Skiing With Life-Long Friends, and An Artist On The Ski Slopes.
Credit: Waterville Valley Resort
Well, it was 77 official degrees when we left Boston Wednesday this week to go a-skiing in Vermont. This is the season of strange to be sure, at least in the East. Out West, we are learning of 6o” snowfalls in Tahoe and more to come. We have to give kudos to the ingenious snow farmers of New England who have managed to make do with what nature has provided. Thanks for keeping the lifts spinning.
Credit: Sugar Bowl
Speaking of Tahoe, San Francisco correspondent Rose Marie Cleese offers a view of Sugar Bowl and Royal Gorge, the biggest snow catchers in the Sierra. Like Bretton Woods in NH, Sugar Bowl is a double value resort with legendary Alpine skiing and the largest Nordic area in the country.
Tamsin Venn tells us about the most super-senior friendly resort in the Northeast: Waterville Valley Resort which goes out of its way to make senior skiers feel welcome. Incidentally, Waterville Valley has been twice awarded SeniorsSkiing.com’s Senior-Friendly Ski Resort Award.
Northeast correspondent Pat McCloskey reflects on skiing with the same bunch of guys for decades. We count him lucky to have life long friends like that.
Home, home on the range? Not really. This Jackson Hole is not where you think.
We have some fun with a clip from Stockholm showing a bunch of young fellas skiing in a snowless city. Hey, take notes, we might have to deal with this one day. Also, we ask you to identify the “other” Jackson Hole. There is one, can you guess where?
Finally, we profile Judy Calhoun, the en plein air artist that some of you have reported seeing with her brush, canvas and easel on the slopes of Alta or Snowbird.
Oil-on-canvas by Judy Calhoun captures the Wasatch.
Preview
Next week we’ll be looking at more resorts in the Northwest, product reviews, and other thoughts about the ending of the season in the Northeast and the ongoing-ness of the season out West.
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