I started at 53.
1) What made you start skiing? At what age?
My husband and I moved to New England in 2003. I was 53. I wanted to learn to ski, so joined a "ski bus." It loaded us up at 6:30 on Wednesday mornings, drove to a mountain somewhere within 3 hours drive north of here (north shore of Boston), and dropped up back around 7:00 pm. We never knew where we were going until we were on our way and the bus boss told us. We skied mountains in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. There was a reasonable annual fee for membership in the ski bus (the Hickory Dickory Docs), plus we had to pay for the day's lift ticket at the mountain of the day. Our bus boss worked out a group rate every time.
2) Why didn't you start skiing earlier?
I lived in flatland most of my life until 2003. Mississippi, Florida, central North Carolina, Missouri don't have much skiing. When I was a child my family did not have much money, so we didn't take vacations that involved travel, and we knew no one who did.
3) What's been the biggest obstacle (if there is one) to your skiing?
My home in New England is 2.5 to 3 hours from good skiing north of me. Day trips are OK, but two-day weekends are better, and three-four day trips are better yet. As I got more and more into skiing, I was not satisfied with one ski day a week. I now try to ski 60 days a season since I no longer work in the "real world." The obstacle to doing this is financial, because I need to have lodging up north to do the overnights.
Oh, this is a big one. Boots that are too big has been a big obstacle to my gaining skills. I bought boot after boot, on a minimal budget I spent waay too much trying to get the right boot. I followed all the helpful advice about finding a good bootfitter and trusting him, but these guys kept putting me in the wrong boot. SO FRUSTRATING! Not all old ladies want a comfort fit, and I told them my goals. They profiled me as what they wanted to see and gave me the wrong boot year after year. I have finally found a wonderful bootfitter who respects me and put me in the right boot.
4) What's helped you the most?
If you are asking about what has helpedme get better skill-wise, then becoming a ski instructor helped me a lot. There's on-the-job training for ski instructors. I became a ski instructor because I was obsessed with getting better and wanted that training.
The occasional group lessons that I took before starting to teach were mostly worthless, and I didn't have the financial resources to purchase private lessons.
I also bought all the how-to books I could find, took notes, and worked on snow from those notes. I have my favorite books on technique, and still refer back to them.
Equal to the ski school training and the book-learning has been my participation in online ski forums. I may have learned more from online discussion about technique that from any other source.
What helped with the financial issue was joining a ski club in North Conway so I could have overnight lodging and ski two days a week. This introduced me to ski culture, gave me people to ski with, and allowed me to learn from seasoned skiers in the club. I now rent a condo for the season, and my husband comes up with me although he doesn't ski. This is better at this point in my life, but much more costly. We may buy a place one day.
5) What's been the biggest surprise to you?
Interesting question. I've been skiing obsessively for 16 seasons now with an intense focus on technique. One surprise was how hard it was to advance. Trainers contradict each other. Or seem to. Personal feedback has been hard to get from knowledgeable people. In a lesson, if the trainer doesn't tell each person whether they are getting it right or not, how are they to know? Many trainers don't do personal feedback. That was a surprise to me.
And then there's the body. It does things I tell it not to do, and it doesn't do things I do tell it to do. It is stealthy, and keeps these mutinies secret from my controlling mind. Video is helpful for realizing when the body is doing no-nos. Personal feedback from trainers is just as good. Both are harder to get than expected.
Maintaining a technial focus while skiing is difficult. When working to embed a new movement pattern while heading down a trail, there are so many distractions that the focus is often lost. I've realized this is not going to change, and have found ways to work with it.
All in all, my learning curve has been constant, but the gains have come at a slower rate than I expected given my determination and work habit. I'm OK with that now, but earlier in my 16 years I got quite frustrated.
6) How have your friends and/or family reacted to your skiing?
Oh. No one I know is a skier. I'm alone with this passion. They tolerate my skiing, but don't join.
7) What are your skiing goals? And what do you see in your future as a skier?
I've always loved school and learning. I became a teacher in "real life." Now I'm a ski instructor. The transition was seamless. Instructors get certified at different levels. Currently I am a PSIA Level II instructor. For no reason than just because, I'd like to get my Level III. It's the highest level of certification. This will be difficult since the "skiing exam" for Level III candidates asks them to do, among other things, somepretty athletic moves, and my 69 year old body so far has refused to do them. So I am working towards Level III. Is it in my future?? Well, if I get it next year at age 70, I will be one of the few who has successfully done that.
