Age is just a number. Right?

[ski diva]

Talk in the "What Qualifies As Steeps" thread, along with some discussions I've had lately, have started me thinking about age and how growing older affects our skiing. Perhaps this is on my mind because I lately turned 60 (gasp!) and I've been struggling with coming to terms about entering senior citizen-dom. On the upside, I'm healthy, I have the physical ability to keep skiing, and to be honest, I've reached the point where I don't feel like I have to ski to impress anymore, which is also kind of freeing (not that my skiing is all that impressive). What I mean is that if I don't want to ski something, I just don't (hey, I could break a hip! ). On the downside, I do notice that my stamina isn't what it used to be. Even though I ski a lot, I don't ski first chair to last. I'll ski maybe from 9 to 1/1:30/2 and then go home. Then again, that might also be because I ski nearly every day. I also have osteopenia, which is a little troubling. And I have a little arthritis creeping in. If I ski too hard, too long, or too many bumps, I feel it in my hips. Ugh.

As a weekday skier, I see a lot of older people out skiing every day, and they seem to do just fine. So I certainly plan to continue for a good, long time, as long as I am able.

One more thing: my Dad, who's nearly 92, is extremely healthy and does whatever he wants, including swimming half a mile every other day. So hopefully, I've inherited this from him.

Your thoughts?

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Reminds me of a story from 2 seasons ago - was doing a private/sign-up demo for a regional ski shop on a Friday in late March. Couple on lift asked me about skis I had at that point - told them I was doing this demo and, perhaps, giving some perspective from a “mature” skier’s point of view. They smiled. She looked at me and said, “I’m 79!” And he leaned forward, with big grin: “And I’m 85!”

(Note to self at that point: Okay. I'll shut up now.)

Upon exiting, they had decided on a very narrow, winding run from the summit, that it had been good “the last time.” Oh heck, I followed them. Problem was - I couldn’t keep up!

Mind over matter.
If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter!
Weekdays are senior days in this region also (this is the “oldest” state in the U.S.).

Frankly - I’m enjoying some of my discounts!

 

[Jenny]

I had a little "OMG I might be old" moment a couple of weeks ago. We went out to dinner before going to see Pretty Faces. The restaurant is in a part of town that we don't normally go. Looking around for awhile I said to DH "You know, we might not be the oldest people in the restaurant but we are really skewing the average." He then started to laugh and pointed out the only other couple in the place that were possible contemporaries. Honestly, everyone who came in the door looked too young to be out with their parents, although I know darn well they were probably really in their mid 20s. And I know we're not really old (barely in our 50s) but it did give me a moment's pause, that's for sure.

OTOH, the people we were booting up with last Friday were 90, 86, and somewhere in the lat 70s early 80s so there's that. We've seen them before, and out on the hill they are smoooooooooth . . .

 

[Kimmyt]

I don't get it. I mean, I live in a place where people are super active well into what would traditionally be considered 'old age'- I hesitate to even use that phrase. When I first moved out here I lived in Breck, which people used to call 'the most active retirement community in the US'. A bit tongue in cheek, but the fact was that I had the lesson pass and skied a few days a week with a certain group of level 9 skiers. They were all at least 20-30 years older than me, and I would say I was on the bottom third in the group in terms of skill. A lot of them spent their summers living in RVs in National Parks or sailing or whatever, and were like the opposite of snowbirds, where they'd come to the mountains for the winter (not a bad life eh!).

I suppose it's more in a matter of mindset. I go places (typically more conservative rural-suburban areas not near the mountains where fitness does not seem to be as ingrained in people) and some folks just have this mindset where they turn fifty and they're old and so they just stop doing things. I mean they will literally say, 'I'm old, I don't have to do that stuff anymore' which makes me sad because they shouldn't have felt like they 'had to' do physical stuff anyway, and they're not even that old in the scheme of things!

I'm almost mid-thirties and I feel like I have SO MUCH time to do stuff.

 

[vickie]

out on the hill they are smoooooooooth . . .

Skiers, like whiskey, get smoother with age!

 

[Jilly]

My DH consistently skied with 80 year olds at Tremblant during the week. I had a thought like Ski Diva earlier this year. Do I really want to keep trying for the level 3 CSIA? I ski well. I can teach at better than a level 2 current as I have the older course. Why do I need it? And I'm finding too that I don't go all day anymore. I'm really happy at 57! I'm in much better health than either of my parents were at this age. So, some food for thought over the summer. Why don't I just enjoy myself?

 

[Jenny]

Honestly, everyone who came in the door looked too young to be out with their parents, although I know darn well they were probably really in their mid 20s.

Oops - I meant without their parents.

 

[Perty]

Have the big "5 oh" coming up later this year. I can't get my head round it at all. I still plan and expect to be a better skier as each year passes. Id be utterly miserable if I couldn't ski into my 70s.

 

[Pequenita]

My mom is hilarious. She will be 70 this year, and this past fall, my parents hit up a few southwestern NPS sites. My mom said, "I'm so impressed, there were all these old people there hiking!" And she wasn't referring to herself.

 

[Serafina]

With ya. There's a band of guys I seen in the lodge on weekdays that have jackets with an "80+" badge. More power to them, I say. Mr. S. took up skiing at age 56, and while he's conservative on the mountain, he will launch down terrifyingly steep and ice black diamonds on a long, noodly pair of cross-country skis with no edge at all.

I took up skiing in my mid-40s, and don't feel that I have anything to prove at all. I stay away from bumps because they wear me out, and make my knees and hips ache. I cut off my ski days probably a little earlier than I need to because I know very well that if I stay out long enough to get tired, my chance of having a season-ending injury starts to skyrocket. I can't ski three days in a row because I get too tired, and my knees start to bother me if I don't give them a chance to rest up.

On the other hand, I just learned how to jump. Today, I actually had to knock off early because I WANTED TO JUMP and was getting really ticked off at the gapers that seemed to be hanging out at the top of every. single. roller. I wanted to launch from. I kept hearing a cranky old man snarling in the back of my mind, and what he was saying was "Hey! You kids! Get off my run!" Feeling curmudgeonly because someone keeps poaching my line and preventing me from hucking rollers leaves me conflicted over whether I'm old and cranky, or young, at heart.

 

[climbingbetty]

On the other hand, I just learned how to jump. Today, I actually had to knock off early because I WANTED TO JUMP and was getting really ticked off at the gapers that seemed to be hanging out at the top of every. single. roller. I wanted to launch from. I kept hearing a cranky old man snarling in the back of my mind, and what he was saying was "Hey! You kids! Get off my run!" Feeling curmudgeonly because someone keeps poaching my line and preventing me from hucking rollers leaves me conflicted over whether I'm old and cranky, or young, at heart.

AWESOME!

 

[abc]

My mom is hilarious. She will be 70 this year, and this past fall, my parents hit up a few southwestern NPS sites. My mom said, "I'm so impressed, there were all these old people there hiking!" And she wasn't referring to herself.

Your Mom and mine must be long lost twins! In mindset at least, that is.

Though my Mom isn't athletic at all, she's healthy at 75+. She does her "thing" which is a little bit of every kind of exercise. But she's constantly "forgotten" her age, doing stuff that 70+ folks don't "usually" do. And once in a while, she would find she's having trouble doing certain things and couldn't figure out why...well, you do get old whether you notice it or not.

Me? I've noticed my reflex had gotten a bit slower. So I have to slow down for situation I can't react fast enough. Don't want to meet a tree prematurely. I also find it a little harder to keep the muscle on. So my body is changing, albeit gradually.

So... I'm getting older each year. But I'm not getting old. Probably never will be.

 

[bounceswoosh]

My parents are in their 70s. They both go to the gym several days a week. They just bought kayaks for the water way behind their house. Dad bikes 7 miles a day in good weather. Mom does water aerobics on her own because the women in the class are too casual for her tastes.

I hope to grow up to be like them =)

 

[sibhusky]

I used to ski with a guy who was 31 years older and my goal was to be like him. However, in the last three years I've started feeling it, big time. I just don't have the stamina, it's like I fell off some cliff or something. I've been largely unwilling to ski with others because of it. In the first 30 days of skiing this year, there were THREE where I felt good. Fortunately, things are improving, but next year will it be 40 days before I'm feeling it? Scary. I'm hoping that a lot of this is due to conditions this year. The snow has been really really heavy, the few times we've had snow. Mostly it's groomer city.

 

[vickie]

Like rider ...

I WANTED TO JUMP and was getting really ticked off .

Like horse ...

I will tell you in case you did not know this: I am a jumping horse. I am a horse that is going over jumps that are big as me, and I am one huge horse! And I am not a being scared horse! I am a brave horse, and I am not being scared of those huge jumps, not like some horses I have known. Some of those horses are running away from jumps horses. I am a going right to that jump and going over it horse. That is Good.

But for a long time, I am a not jumping at all horse. I am not liking to do a lot of work, but I am not understanding why the work is not jumping anyway, because I am a jumping horse. It is not like people are not knowing that, too. They are saying to me Huey, you are a jumping horse, but you cannot jump. And I am saying I can too jump!!!! And they are saying You cannot jump because it will be hurting your leg. But I am saying My leg does not hurt now!

I do not understand why I cannot be a jumping horse still.

 

[Tvan]

I started skiing at 45. I'm 53 (the new 30!). We have not skied as much this season as we have in prior years. During the few times we've been out, we've both been ready to stop sooner than usual. It's hard to determine if this is due to age, physical condition, or mental stress of our work schedules. I still love to ski, but I've been less driven to accumulate days on the hill and more open to other activities…yoga, snowshoeing, cross-country, for example. I'm also noticing the cold this year…much more than I have before.

My mom is 77. She goes to the gym daily to lift weights and swim a mile. I want to be like her when I grow up.

 

[Serafina]

Like rider ...

That's too hilarious, Vickie!! I hadn't thought of that at all. Poor Huey, not getting to jump. It fits the thread too, because he may be pushing 21, but it's abundantly clear that in his own mind, he's about 10. Maybe 8. If he were a human, he'd be flirting with college girls, getting in bar fights, and wearing a t-shirt that says "Seventy and SEXY". He had to stop jumping because of accumulated damage, not because of age, but he still manages to launch. Been doing some truly magnificent Airs About The Ground on the lunge line all winter.

 

[bounceswoosh]

Reading "Huey's" quote makes me sad. At least someone can explain to us humans why we're not allowed to do certain things. Animals just have to take it on the chin. It's amazing they're so trusting and will let us do so many weird things to them ...

 

[maggie198]

I just turned 60 too, this month. Mentally I don't feel older, but honestly, it is physically harder to do a lot of things I did at, say, 40. I don't have the stamina. That could be my own fault because I don't really like exercise, besides skiing, and some biking. Every passing year it's taking me longer into the ski season to feel good about my skiing. I swear I'm going to working on conditioning off-season, but I just don't have the energy at the end of a work day. I'm more cautious when I ski, perhaps overly (and annoyingly to me) so. I have osteoporosis, bad vision, bunions and neuromas in my feet. I only ski half a day. But I AM skliing. I have friends at age 50 that tell me they used to ski but couldn't do that now. Why? My boyfriend was telling me that three seasons ago. He has a bad knee, he's too old, whine, whine, whine. But he decided to get back on skis, at age 60, to be with me. He's loving it now and skis much better than he ever did when he was young.

At the 60 milemark, I've been asking myself how many more years of skiing do I have left in me. Can I ski til 70? Beyond? It's an unknown, really, so we just have to enjoy what we can do now, strive to keep ourselves healthy and nimble, and keep trying to do the things we love as long as we can. Even if it means only skiing half a day.

 

[canski]

Hit 62 a few month ago - yea! NPS lifetime pass for $10 - boo! I'm 62! Am in my 40th year of skiing - but had my first big injury last season (fractured pelvis) - down and out for a long time and worried about coming back 'at my age', was the fracture because of osteowhatever? (no, according to surgeon - just trauma and surprised I did not fracture my hip - the good news, I guess)...... Got a new, softer flexing pair of boots (had been researching prior to accident last year), new exercises to keep some knee tendonitis at bay, and according to DH I am skiing better than the last few years! And I feel better, can ski longer with less pain, too! But worried about falling again, so was picking and choosing my days (because I am 'old' and we have more free time to ski midweek) - but got that out of the way yesterday when a snowboarder took me out (I was just standing there and he was: a. not a teenager, b. not going fast, just hit a patch of ice) - a slow takedown - fell on the same hip but onto a not pure ice surface this time and not as hard. I survived intact (might have a little bruise). Got to ski some powder and survived that, too - soooooo, good to go I guess! So relieved - I was really worried about getting back to previous levels after the fracture.

Yea, the age thing starts to mess with your mind - Although I am happy to feel that I am back to previous (or near previous so far) levels, there is some trepidation that was not there before....and my first few runs of the season - when I kind of forgot to bend my knees enough - scared me because I was skiing so poorly (if that was going to be as good as I could do, I was going to be VERY upset). But our mountain is multigenerational - so we see all ages out there. And we are in a dinner group where we are the 'youngsters'. Yes, I also seem to have the 9 - 1:30 or 2 ski schedule - but I prefer those conditions/fewer crowds - I feel satisfied at getting the best skiing in - quality, not quantity. And the being able to ski midweek is heaven (one of the perks of old age). I am sure hoping to ski for a LOT more years, and I also hope that any decline in ability will be gradual, so maybe I won't really notice it. As long as I have friends of whatever age to ski with, it will be good................