Ever missed years of skiing?

[dlague]

This questions came to mine from a hijack that started in another thread so I thought why not a new thread! I copied quotes from the other thread to start the dialog.

I went through a weird phase in life I guess. More concerned about seeing Phish and other jam bands than doing anything athletic at the time. I don't think I ever even researched surrounding areas or even brought my skis out to college.

. I had one ski trip in 4 years with college buddies - in one guy's 1970s huge boat - all our skis fit crossways in the trunk (back in the 200cm+ days). His car broke on way so we dealt with that all day and never skied. I did once usually over Xmas break. But at that point in my life skiing was nearly impossible when you slept til 1pm weekends lol. It just wasnt part of the culture of my U. Hlike it is at others (ie UVM). Didn't miss it at all. Then after college I made so little $ I got a second job at liquor store to pay for new equip and ski passes. Turned out my future husband I met at college started skiing before elem school like me - when we finally went together it was like "wow, this is fun" lol.

Well those are a better excuses than mine! Started skiing around 15 years old - skied a lot up to and including my first year of college (grades showed). Took a break from college and worked at Jay Peak making snow. Went into the military and skied a lot in Europe. Got married to a non skier that I skied a few times with in hopes that she would go with it, however, it did not stick! Returned to college and I skied a few times without her, with friends instead where she did not like the wildness of the group which lead to me eventually not skiing for about 12 years. Our son hit three and that was my excuse to start up again (man I had missed it) which worked out perfectly and I never looked back! Then divorce blah blah blah, remarried blah blah blah, taught wife to ski and we have no plans to stop ever again!

 

[shwilly]

Ms. Shwilly and I took a few years mostly off when we had babies. (Not 100% off, but only a handful of days in like 5 seasons.) Now that the kids are bigger, we've gotten them into it. Thankfully, our biggest memory from this year will be skiing so much with the kids, not the poor conditions.

College would have been time off; I was not super organized in those days. But I lived in the South and had never gone at all at that point.

 

[mbedle]

Skied a lot back in the late 80's and early 90's. Bought a house in 1997 and it all came to a screeching halt. All of the money I earned went into restoring the farmhouse on the property, building a new barn and adding an addition onto the old stone bank barn. Finally reach closure on most of those project 6 years ago. Have spent more time skiing this past 6 years, then back in the day.

 

[bdfreetuna]

Already quoted up there, but started skiing at age 3. Grew up skiing Berkshire East and occasional places in NH/VT. Race team in high school but I liked skiing bumps and woods better (at least it was skiing).

Enter college through about 6 years ago and a series of bad and stupid lifestyle choices and also all-consuming relationships with the wrong ladies who were not skiers and I don't think I skied at all during that time.

That's about a 9 year break and I'm only 33 years old. Thank God once I finally broke off a prior relationship and started to get my house in order one of the first things that occurred to me was to start skiing again. Fortunately it's like riding a bike, I guess, but I do feel like I'm making up for lost time. My bucket list would probably be shorter and I wonder how much better I'd ski if I didn't take off my peak years.

Hindsight is 20/20 and I'm very grateful to have to opportunity to ski with my wife now and some of the places I haven't been to since childhood feel new to me again. Other places I never got a chance to ski until recently, like last year first time at Sugarloaf and Saddleback for example. Hope for a long life and lots more of this.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

I definitely prioritized jambanding for a few years, and went to college in the midatlantic (dc) which is my all time life regret. but I never straight up missed a season. A few years of 5 or less days. I got back into it hardcore on a trip to Jackson my first year of law school -2008- and it's been 25 day seasons ever since.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I missed 4 winters by going to college in the south, probably only skied 5 times total in those 4 years. The beach was great though, as were girls in bikinis 9 months of the year.

I missed 5 winters by being a slave of a large bank on Wall Street, probably only skied 2 times total in those 5 years. Realized no matter how much money you make, it's not what makes you happy.

 

[gmcunni]

took off about 6 years after birth of first child. in that time "new" shaped skis were introduced.

 

[mbedle]

Already quoted up there, but started skiing at age 3. Grew up skiing Berkshire East and occasional places in NH/VT. Race team in high school but I liked skiing bumps and woods better (at least it was skiing).

Enter college through about 6 years ago and a series of bad and stupid lifestyle choices and also all-consuming relationships with the wrong ladies who were not skiers and I don't think I skied at all during that time.

That's about a 9 year break and I'm only 33 years old. Thank God once I finally broke off a prior relationship and started to get my house in order one of the first things that occurred to me was to start skiing again. Fortunately it's like riding a bike, I guess, but I do feel like I'm making up for lost time. My bucket list would probably be shorter and I wonder how much better I'd ski if I didn't take off my peak years.

Hindsight is 20/20 and I'm very grateful to have to opportunity to ski with my wife now and some of the places I haven't been to since childhood feel new to me again. Other places I never got a chance to ski until recently, like last year first time at Sugarloaf and Saddleback for example. Hope for a long life and lots more of this.

You make a really good point about places being sort of new to you after being away for so long. I use to spend a lot of time at Killington, Jay, Stowe, Sugarbush and Pico back in the 80's and 90's. When I came back up to Stowe 6 years ago and walked into the Den, I actually recalled being their on Saturday afternoons listening to the band and drinking beer. However, I couldn't remember any of the trails from back then. The same thing at Sugarbush and Jay, didn't remember any of the trails, except at Sugarbush with the casstlerock area and a couple over on Mount Ellan.

 

[NYDB]

I was a 30 day a year boarder through college years (20 years ago, went to school in Troy, NY and had great access and took advantage to Skiing in VT). After college, did a few 100+ day seasons working for ASC corporate. After I quit I lost the desire. Probably burnt out a bit

Probably went 6 years without even thinking about it. Its crazy looking back at it that I had no, like zero, interest in it. I was into fitness, Bike riding and TRI's at the time. training, training, training.

Anyway, met the wife, she liked to go, and got back into it. I still don't need too many days a year to make me happy. Now that my oldest is 7 and starting to rip it a bit, I have a whole nother level of interest, which is fun for both of us and great family time.

 

[prsboogie]

I have a similar story to Dave. Learned to ski in High School sophomore year. I was able to ski a lot until two years after HS, not really a college guy at the time. Then the days got fewer until my last trip in 2001. My now wife then gf didnt ski and hated ( well still kinda hates) the cold. I didn't Ski again until 2011 when I did 2 days. 2012 got my kids on skis and have been at it since. After last season the wife decided she was missing out on great times with our kids and has 4 whole days in this season. I am quite proud of her considering she isn't very coordinated and not overly athletic but is trying in earnest.

 

[JDMRoma]

i missed about 20 years, give or take a few ! I skied through most of my childhood and up until i was married !
We did get out a few times a year but not seriously into it One summer I got into water skiing and went crazy....every waking minute of out lives was about waterskiing ! Started with slalom and ended up a Barefooting / trick skier. did that for 15 + years until I herniated a disk in my neck and stopped everything. my daughter got me back into snow skiing when she went into jr high and the rest is history !

Boy it comes back to you, after taking the 20 years off it was only a few runs before it all seemed to click again ! and wow shaped skis !!

 

[Tin]

Skied from age 10 to 14 about 8-10 times a year. Chose hockey in high school and college so stopped from age 14 until 23. Started skiing again about four years ago and don't plan on stopping.

 

[drjeff]

As close as I ever have gotten since I started skiing in the '79-'80 ski season was the 2 winters my kids were born - with birthdays of Jan 9th and Dec 29, I was needed around the house plenty those 2 winters and skied 2 days the season my oldest was born and 5 days the year my youngest was born (the fact the Killington's ski school had a combo skiing/daycare program for my oldest who had recently turned 2 the winter my going St was born let me both get a couple of weekends in that season and start my oldest's skiing career off that winter!)

 

[Puck it]

Twice when I was around 9-13 and playing around 120 hockey games during the winter and then when we had kids in hockey cheerleading.

 

[ALLSKIING]

Moved to Miami for 5 years years in 1990. Only skied once during that time.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

I was a 30 day a year boarder through college years (20 years ago, went to school in Troy, NY and had great access and took advantage to Skiing in VT). After college, did a few 100+ day seasons working for ASC corporate. After I quit I lost the desire. Probably burnt out a bit

Probably went 6 years without even thinking about it. Its crazy looking back at it that I had no, like zero, interest in it. I was into fitness, Bike riding and TRI's at the time. training, training, training.

Anyway, met the wife, she liked to go, and got back into it. I still don't need too many days a year to make me happy. Now that my oldest is 7 and starting to rip it a bit, I have a whole nother level of interest, which is fun for both of us and great family time.

what did you do for ASC? corporate ski job is sort of my dream job. use my professional degree in an industry that means a lot to me. i was considering moving to CO and was looking at vail resorts job page, which had plenty of options that suited my background.

 

[Pez]

I think a common theme here is don't get involved with a woman that doesn't ski.

 

[podunk77]

Boy it comes back to you, after taking the 20 years off it was only a few runs before it all seemed to click again ! and wow shaped skis !!

I too took about 20 years off, roughly from ages 22 to 42. No good reason for it, just more focused on establishing myself professionally. Got back into skiing 7 or 8 years ago and it was like riding a bicycle; legs definitely have "muscle memory" and within a few runs I was back to my old intermediate-level ski proficiency. Took me a little longer (but not much) to understand the physics behind shaped skis.

 

[tumbler]

what did you do for ASC? corporate ski job is sort of my dream job. use my professional degree in an industry that means a lot to me. i was considering moving to CO and was looking at vail resorts job page, which had plenty of options that suited my background.

Don't do it! Working in the business sucks even on the corporate side. You'll spend more time looking at the hill than being on it even as a lawyer. It will make you loathe skiing, it happened to me too.

 

[ironhippy]

I learned to ski at 3 years old, our family had passes from 3 - 10 years old.
At 10 my parents told my brother and myself "you have to choose, we can't be at the rink and the ski hill at the same time on the weekends"
We both chose hockey.

I skied maybe a dozen times between the age of 10 - 32.

I was big into hiking, biking and snowshoeing in 2009, and I started thinking seriously about getting into back country skiing because it seemed like the natural thing to do after you've hiked up a mountain in the winter time, however I hurt my leg that fall and put all my athletic plans on hold.

I tried skiing again in 2012 near the end of the season and to my surprise, it was the perfect amount of stress for my leg.

I bought a pass the next season and didn't look back.

My skiing got stronger and so did my leg and after last season my leg was strong enough that I could start hiking and biking seriously again. I've since moved onto lifting weights and rowing and most of the stuff I used to, just not at the same capacity.

This season I was actually back country skiing when the snow was good, so I've come full circle. I'm bored and annoyed at the lift now.