Tag Archive for: older skiers

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seniorsskiing

This Issue

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Welcome back, fellow Senior Skiers!!! This is the first issue of SeniorsSkiing.com for the 2021-22 season. As usual, there’s a lot of original content.

Ski instructor and contributor John Gelb offers excellent advice about taking lessons at the beginning of the season. Day 1: ski around and take notes on what you want to strengthen or improve. Day 2: Have your instructor focus on what you observed in Day 1.

Planning a X-C ski holiday? Jonathan Weisel, longtime writer, X-C area designer, and area operator, explains what to look for and where to go for the best X-C skiing vacation.

Gary Henderson

If you’re looking for an exotic Alpine skiing experience, consider the skifields of New Zealand. New contributor, Gary Henderson is a member of the Tukino Ski Club on Mt Ruapehu, where prices are reasonable, getting there takes some effort, and everyone pitches in with the chores. It sounds delightfully anachronistic.

 

 

In the August Reader Survey, 37%+ of the 3000+ respondents, indicated they intended to purchase skis in the next two years. There are some great choices for older skiers and some excellent information on what to look for in a ski that will perform well without tiring the skier.

Credit: Don Burch

Many of you have commented on Don Burch’s ski art and artistic ski videos. Don’s delightful video recap of his 2020-21 season may whet your appetite for the coming season.

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Test Your Skiing Knowledge sources images and objects from ski museums and asks readers to submit their best guesses. It’s our way of promoting membership and visitation to ski museums. We’ll purchase a one-year membership to the New England Ski Museum for the first person to identify the man pictured in the feature.

Skiing History magazine: Sept-Oct 2021

The Fall issue of Skiing History magazine is summarized by contributor and SeniorsSkiing.com Advisory Council member, Seth Masia. Skiing History is a must-read for anyone interested in the subject. The new issue features an article on ski songs going back to the 19th Century, complete with YouTube links to actual performances!

As usual, Jon’s Short Swings! column is filled with interesting tidbits from around the industry. There’s a weird video compilation of modern individual flying machines – maybe they’ll eventually replace ski lifts.

Signs of hope for a productive season: It’s been snowing at higher elevations in the West, and ice has formed at the top of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington.

Jon Weisberg

2018-19 Trail Masters Now Online

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A total of 195 readers qualified as Trail Masters, reporting that the number of days they skied, boarded or snow shoed last season equaled or surpassed their number of years. 

Their ages average 67.6, and their number of days skied average 89.9. One-hundred-fifty-five respondents provided their names and contact details. Of those, 37 are women. Six are octagenarians.

At the end of each season, SeniorsSkiing.com asks readers if their number of skiing days equals or surpasses their number of years. Respondents fitting that requirement are named Trail Masters and receive an embroidered patch. 

The oldest Trail Master for the 2018-19 season is Fredi Jakob, 85. He lives in Carmichael, California and skied 87 days. Gerald Rehkugler, 84, Cortland, NY, skied 90 days. Gary Clarkson, 81, Pittsfield, Massachusetts skied 100 days. Bill Belk, 81, Driggs, Idaho skied 130 days. Roger Bourke, 80, Alta, Utah, skied 91 days. Michael Sharkey, 80, Waitsfield, Vermont, skied 84 days.

Sixty skiers in their 70s were named Trail Masters, as were 118 in their 60s, and 21 in their 50s. 

Reflecting SeniorsSkiing.com’s reader demographics, the majority of respondents are from the US, followed by Canada, Australia, and several European countries.

While SeniorsSkiing.com is oriented to the 50+ skier, boarder and snow shoer, the average reader age is 67. 

All Trail Masters since 2015-16 can be found by clicking “Features” on the menu bar.

Trail Master patches are expected to be mailed in October.

Jon Weisberg

Short Swings!

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I keep a list of the places I’ve skied since I was 10. In a few weeks, I’ll be 75. The list totals 85 areas, mostly the US and Canada. The others are in the French and Swiss Alps. One, an indoor area that no longer exists, was in Japan.

Photo: Rylo

That, and the recent addition of Canada to our annual list of paces where seniors can ski free, got me thinking about just how many areas there are. Note that I used the term “areas,” not “resorts.” Some of the places I found are indoor ski centers. Others are quite small and have few amenities. I don’t want to give the term, “resort” a bad name.

According to one Google reference, as of last season, Europe had 3,478 ski areas. That’s a lot more than the 472 in the US. When you add Canada’s 219 areas, and Mexico’s one little ski resort, North America totals 692.

By comparison, Australia and New Zealand, combined, have 62. And all of South America has 30.

Africa has seven areas: two in Algeria, one in Lesotho (I once travelled there on non-ski-related business and met the king), three in Morocco, and one in South Africa.

I counted a total of 728 areas across Asia; most of them in Japan. The list of Japanese areas I used was a bit confusing, so my count may be off. There certainly are more than 500 Japanese areas. Currently China has 7 areas, but as reported here last year, there are plans to build 500 more by 2022, when China hosts the Winter Olympics.

India has 11 areas; Pakistan 9. A few years ago, I wrote a piece about North Korea’s newest resort. The country has two. South Korea has 20. And, in case you didn’t already know this, there are areas in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Even Mongolia has a ski area. And in the Middle East, there’s skiing in Lebanon, Iran, Israel, Syria, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates (indoor, of course).

Add them up and they total 4997 ski areas. I’ve only been to 85! If any of you have skied unusual or out of the way places, tell us about them in “Comments,” or drop me a line at jon@seniorsskiing.com.

Pass the Bucks

Last season Vail sold 750,000 Epic Pases. This season, Alterra expects it will sell 250,000 Ikon Passes in this, the first full season for the Ikon Pass. These passes come with a cost for senior skiers – the elimination of local area passes and the senior discounts they offered. While on the subject, Valle Nevado in Chile, just became part of the Ikon Pass.

LGBTQ Skiing

ELEVATION is a series of annual gay ski and snowboard weeks. It started 16 years ago at Mammoth and has been a presence in Park City for the past eight years. This season, the event will also be held at Mont Tremblant.

Colorado Has the Goods

Breckenridge and Keystone received 5’ since mid October. Both open this week.

Skiing With Grandkids

This article from the Ski Utah website gives practical advice for parents of young skiers. If you’re a grandparent, taking young ones out on the hill for the first time, it will helpful.

Maine Ski Hall of Fame Inducts Seven

The Maine Ski Hall of Fame recognizes Maine skiers who have brought distinction to Maine skiing or made significant contributions to the sport. This year’s inductees are US Freestyle Champions, Karen Colburn and Anne Dowling; Leon Akers, cross country coach and ski shop owner; David Stonebraker, prep school ski coach; Warren Cook, Sugarloaf ski executive; Kristina Sabasteanski, biathlete; and (posthumously) Norman Libby, Bridgton winter adventurer who was the first to ski Pleasant Mountain (Shawnee Peak) in the 1890’s.

The Hall of Fame is a program of Ski Museum of Maine.

SeniorsSkiing.com Readers Get Free Subscriptions to SKI Magazine and Skiing History Magazine

Go to the top of the page. Click “Community.” Scroll down to the two offers.

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Huff Post: Essential Gear Senior Skiers Need To Carry

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Huffington Post Features SeniorsSkiing.com’s Co-Founder Jon Weisberg On Necessary Accessories

SeniorsSkiing.com’s co-founder Jon Weisberg has been skiing for 60 years and clearly gotten his equipment kit down pat.  In this Huffington Post Post-50 Blog entry, Jon describes the eight vital pieces of gear seniors will find most useful to put in their cars, packs, or pockets.  What do you think?  Tell us what you find indispensable to carry along and how that became essential for you.

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Jon Weisberg

Huff Post: What Senior Skiers Must Remember

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Huffington Post Highlight’s SeniorSkiing’s Co-Founder: Is there something outdated about your equipment?

SeniorsSkiing.com’s Co-Founder Jon Weisberg has a new article on Huffington Post’s Post 50 blog, this time about the potential risks of skiing with old equipment and a lack of reasonable fitness in senior skiers.  Click here for the Huffington Post blog about what seniors should think about before heading downhill with those long, skinny skis, rear-entry boots and untoned muscles. 

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Huff Post: Second Thoughts On Returning To The Hill?

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Huffington Post features SeniorsSkiing.com’s Co-Founder encouraging seniors to come back to skiing.

We get around.  SeniorsSkiing.com’s Co-Founder Jon Weisberg has posted an article on Huffington Post’s Post 50 blog about the concerns seniors have about either continuing to ski or returning to skiing and how the sport has changed to help accommodate them.  Click the Huffington Post Post 50 Blog to read more.  What are your thoughts?  What advice do you have for seniors who are thinking of leaving the wonderful world of winter sports?

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Watch for more Huffington Post Post 50 comments from Jon on senior snow enthusiasts.

Susan Winthrop

When Going Up Was Half The Fun

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Early New England Tows We Still Miss.

Susan, second left, with her family in the late 50s. Note chic attire. Dad has spats; Susan's in a loden coat and white jeans.

Susan, second left, with her family in the late 50s. Note chic attire. Dad has spats; Susan’s in a loden coat and white jeans.

I’ve been skiing for 65 years, grown and raised in Concord MA.  I made my first turns on Punkatasset Hill, a no-lift neighborhood ski hill. That’s where I side-stepped to the top to pack the snow before picking my way down through the labyrinth of slalom poles my dad had set for me and many other local kids.  In the late 1920s, the Norwegian National Team used the jump at the short, steep hill for practice.

When I was seven or eight, Dad took me to Suicide Six in Woodstock, VT, where going up meant tackling a big, ferocious rope tow. Standing in line, I prayed that no one tall would step in behind me; I hoped that the person in front would hold on tight, lift the rope off the snow and stay in the track. Garnering all my courage, I’d try to grab the rope quickly, one hand in front and the other wrapped behind my back – ski poles dangling from each wrist. When I first caught hold of the tow, clutching hard with my leading hand, my arm felt as if it had been jerked out of its socket. If no one was in front of me, I was dragged along the snow, squatting in order to keep my body over my skis. If, as I had

Rope Tow at Woodstock, VT. Credit: New England Ski Museum

Rope Tow at Woodstock, VT. Credit: New England Ski Museum

dreaded, a taller person loaded on the tow behind me, I was lifted off the track into the air, hanging from the rope all the way to the top. When a skier in front lifted the weight of the monstrous rope for me, I was happy until that person unloaded and dropped the rope to ski off, leaving me again dragging along the track, hands soaking in my leather mittens and determined to make it to the top.

But the worst menace of all were the teenage boys. I quivered when one of them was up front for I knew what they did for fun. When dismounting, those boys deliberately snapped the tow as hard as they could, sending rippling waves of rope down the track. Yanked up and down, I was soon dislodged. Skiing down the hill covered in snow and disgrace, I slid to the bottom to get in line and start the ascent all over again.

I miss the old T-bar which took me to the top of Cannon Mountain in Franconia, NH. It was magically quiet gliding up through the hoar-frosted evergreens with the sun shimmering off the clear ice which encased the very tops of the

T-Bar at Black Mountain, NH. Credit: New England Ski Museum

T-Bar at Black Mountain, NH.
Credit: New England Ski Museum

trees. Of course, it was uncomfortable when my side of the T-bar was in the middle of my back with my father riding beside me, struggling to help me, leaning down to hold his side of the bar behind his knees. What a relief when I was old enough to ride the lift with kids my own height or go up on my own holding the T-bar out in front of me, making “S turns” in and out of the track. I danced the whole way to the top.

And then there was Burke, in the “Northeast Kingdom” of Vermont that had a Poma lift running from the bottom to the very top of the Mountain. Here, I bumped off the growing mounds of snow which got larger with every run until I catapulted right to the top of the spring, hurled high into the air – boing, boing, boing.  Going up was half the fun.

For more about Suicide Six’s 75th Anniversary.

For more about Gunstock’s old Rope Tow, another favorite.

 

 

Susan Winthrop is a long-time skier with memories of the sport extending back more than seven decades.  A contributor to SeniorsSkiing.com, she currently lives in Ipswich, MA, enthusiastically skiing in and around New England whenever she can.

Suicide Six also had a Poma lift Credit: New England Ski Museum

Suicide Six also had a Poma lift
Credit: New England Ski Museum

 

Special Thanks to the New England Ski Museum, Franconia, NH.

 

 

 

 

Snowbird’s Pipeline Conquered By Junior Bounous at 80 (Taken March 8, 2014)

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Snowbird’s Pipeline (the top to bottom ravine in center of picture) : One of North America’s toughest ski routes, descends from Twin peaks above Snowbird. First skied by Junior Bounous in the early 70s. He skied it again during his 80th year. Junior is an inspiration to senior skiers everywhere.
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