Starting and stopping skiing.

[Moonrocket]

I took 4 years off for college- maybe skied once or twice - but I was swimming D1 my first two years and it was against team rules. Then I finished my degree in a snowless place.

Then I moved to CO for grad school. My last year I got to ski 4 days a week which was awesome!

I did only get 2 days the year I had a C-Section in Dec.

Now we ski a fair deal as a family 20 something days a year. I keep hoping to break 30. My 6yo is a really good skier but isn't crazy in love with it - so I try and not push it too much.

 

[RuthB]

Wait, you're pregnant @Kimmyt ! Congratulations and how exciting.

 

[VickiK]

@Kimmyt , congratulations!

 

[mustski]

@Kimmyt , congratulations!

THIS!

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Congratulations @Kimmyt on your little one to be, that is so awesome. Sounds like you have a great husband.

I wasnt one of the ones that started skiing as a child, teen or young adult. I started snowboarding in California when i turned 30, switched to ski blades after 8 years and started skiing in longer skis in December of 2012 after i moved back to the northeast.

I wished i started skiing as a child. Our friends daughter Brianna is 9 and she's such a good little skier.

 

[vickie]

THIS!

+1!!!

 

[Kimmyt]

Thanks, guys. I'm pretty much done with being pregnant. Probably going to be induced due to health issues this weekend. After this one I look forward to never being pregnant again.

 

[volklgirl]

Congrats!!!!!

I started at 14, but only went, maybe 1-3 times a year. At 20, my BF at the time was from a whole family of skiers, so we went every other weekend. At 28 we separated and my next BF wasn't a skier so I went back to skiing maybe once or twice a year (or not at all). At 33, I met my DH, who totally hated winter and was dying to go back to Hawaii. I taught him to ski the next winter, and that was all it took.....now he gets 30+ days a year and I get at least 50. We live for winter!!

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Congrats!!!!!

I started at 14, but only went, maybe 1-3 times a year. At 20, my BF at the time was from a whole family of skiers, so we went every other weekend. At 28 we separated and my next BF wasn't a skier so I went back to skiing maybe once or twice a year (or not at all). At 33, I met my DH, who totally hated winter and was dying to go back to Hawaii. I taught him to ski the next winter, and that was all it took.....now he gets 30+ days a year and I get at least 50. We live for winter!!

I first moved to California in 1994. After living my youth in CT and 2 years in Minnesota i was done with winter when I landed in California. I never wanted to see snow again. Started dating someone in 2000 who snowboarded and that's all it took. 3 significant others later and I found someone who hates the heat like I do. We live for winter as well. I entertain myself in the summer but winter has my soul..............

 

[W8N2SKI]

I was conceived on a ski trip. But my folks were Navy and we were never stationed anywhere ski-friendly. I started skiing at age 14 when we finally got a "local" ski area (i.e., within a 4 hour drive), and probably had about 20 days per year until I went off to college. College was in New Hampshire but I was on a "skiing ist verboten" athletic scholarship and would've been shot if I'd been caught. Then I graduated and moved to Denver/Boulder where I worked for a pittance and couldn't really afford to ski. Fast forward through law school (even less money), career building (no time), and I finally got back to skiing in my 40's. My DH doesn't ski (that damn ski dating app should've been around 24 years ago) but I go every weekend anyway. DH is wonderfully tolerant. I make it up to him in the other months by playing first mate on the boat - his passion.

This thread has me thinking about tallying up the number of years I've actually seriously skied (more than 10 days). I think that comes out to fewer than 20 which is pretty sad since it coulda/woulda/shouda been more like 40. Time to make up for it!

 

[kiki]

I started at 8 when my grade 3 class had a program. I loved it. After that My family and I had season passes at two smaller local hills, and we skiid a lot over the nest 6 years or so. Then my parents split. Every season after that I looked at the ski ads in the paper every winter with yearning. It was the thing i aleays wanted but could never make happen. There was always a bigger priority and I didn't make it back up to a hill till my late 30's. It was harder than I remembered. After one season (when I went out about 10 times) I took 3 seasons off due to elder care, finances, and work. Now I'm back in my early 40's. Nice to see I'm not the only one with some hiatus's.

 

[CMCM]

Hmm...let me reconstruct my ski history if I can remember it. I first tried to ski during my last couple of high school years, had horrible equipment (boots were too small) from a ski swap, and I never got very good. This was 1966-67. Stopped until I was living in France in 1973-74 when I took a couple of ski trips to Le Sauze, still not very good. My next ski experience was when my husband and I were working in Iran in 1977-78, so we went to a couple of ski resorts there several times, and I still wasn't all that good. But I once went skiing on the same slopes with Empress Farah (wife of the Shah) and all her bodyguards, so that was interesting, she was a great skier. Fabulous powder there, I remember that about it. Primitive lifts. After Iran I didn't step on skis again until about 2004 in California, and that is when I set about becoming a skier at the age of 55. My husband and I had done some Nordic x-country skiing for a few years before that, but we both yearned for downhill skiing. I still wasn't very good when I started downhill again, but at that point, the kids were grown and was determined to finally learn to ski as well as I possibly could. I guess I'll never be as fast and good as I'd like to be, but I can finally ski fairly well and best of all, I'm still skiing at 68 with a goal of skiing until 90 or more! We have a pass at Squaw Valley each year and weather permitting this year, we really want to rack up some big numbers by the end of the season. Fifty times perhaps?

 

[kiki]

@CMCM that is very inspiring!
And great that your partner and you can do it together

 

[Skiing2BFreeInYYC]

Some great stories here! I just discovered this awesome site this morning. Excited to read all the wealth of info!

Long story short, returning to skiing in Jan 2016 helped me leave a very unhealthy marriage and grieve the death of my dad (my dad died and my marriage ended within 4 months of each other). It’s also given me something I can share as a family activity with my 9&4 year olds and helped all of us deal with the life changes. I am so grateful for rediscovering this sport and the wonderful people I have met over the last year . I had taken 10 years away while raising kids and focusing on building a career and trying to make my ex happy. I’m kicking myself now for all the “wasted” seasons :( I am fortunate enough to live near some amazing hills and am making the most of it now though!

 

[VickiK]

Welcome, @Skiing2BFreeInYYC , my condolences. Enjoy ski diva! When you get up to 25 posts, a "divas only" section will open up to you--more interesting fun stuff there.

 

[newboots]

Welcome, @Skiing2BFreeInYYC ! We are happy to have you here. Bad relationships need something as great as skiing to help you recover, so I'm sure you'll recover well. Hang out with us; it's a wonderful group of women.

 

[kiki]

So nice to see another new face and one in western canada too! Welcome! It takes grit to make changes, i like people with grit :-)

Cheers to a fresh season of skiing ahead!!!

 

[SquidWeaselYay]

I took an 6 year hiatus while I was in college and grad school. Simply too broke and was living like a monk carrying up to 18 credits while working too. When I finally got back into it, I couldn't believe how much like riding a bike it was. I figured I would be yard sale-ing my way down the greens for a few weeks, so that was a pleasant surprise! I think all of the lessons and years of ski school had imprinted on my DNA at that point. Also took a year off two years ago because I broke my foot running. Beware of pushing too hard and too fast when doing HIIT routines. It is hard to watch your crew gear up and go out for a pow day while you hobble around on crutches.

I love reading the posts from women that were able to still ski a little during pregnancy! We want to have a family at some point, but I have trouble imagining not skiing...or kayaking...or backpacking for almost a year. I can't even sit still for a movie, let alone months at a time. You ladies give me hope!

 

[echo_VT]

i learned to ski at age 3 by going to vermont with my dad - and i would ski but not often until i was aged 20. at that point all my friends were snowboarding so i switched - and i loved it! i snowboarded for the next 16 years. somewhere toward the tail end of that i met my husband and we had a LO. he's a skiier and so is she (most places teach learning to ski, not snowboard). so until she switches over (which will be this season), i have learned how to ski again - and to do so properly. i enjoy it, as i know how to XC ski now and i am starting to backcountry/AT/touring now.

i think it's hard to learn how to ski well, but much easier to learn how to snowboard well. i was wedging until aged 20 b/c i never learned proper form. now i have proper form - and much of what i learned in snowboarding translates back to skiing pretty easily. i find skiing much faster than snowboarding (an easy way to hurt myself on the at-times icy east coast), but i like good turns on skis. i would say snowboarding is more "fun" tho - both hubs and the LO tried snowboarding for the first time and they said it was really fun even when just learning. and i would say i definitely like snowboarding powder more, it's more "surf-like" which i prefer. both offer their pros and cons tho. i can get into tighter spaces (trees) on a snowboard - because it's shorter or i have more skill with it, i'm not sure. but i can go everywhere on skis bc they're more versatile - and thus, more convenient.

 

[Randi M.]

I love that this thread exists! I thought I was the only one. I skied regularly from the time I was a small child through my early teens. Loved it more than anything. Then my family stopped taking ski vacations because my father wanted to go to warm climates. In my 20's the opportunity never presented itself all that much -- I skied a day here and there with boyfriends. But then I married a man who had never skied a day in his life. Still, I sometimes dreamed I was skiing and occasionally watched YouTube videos of people skiing my old favorite trails at Park City and Alta.

A couple of years ago, about 14 days before President's weekend, friends invited us to tag along their President's week ski trip. My husband said he was game. In the space of a week, I borrowed ski clothes for a family of 4, found the last reasonably priced room in Manchester, VT and signed my family up for the only ski lessons available on the mountain. And everyone loved it.

Two years later, we are all-in -- season rentals for the kiddos, Max Passes and plans to ski as much as possible.