How old were you when you first started to ski?

[wa-loaf]

I was living in a refugee camp in the Austrian Alps near Innsbruck. My cousin who was around 11 or 12 at the time made me a pair of skis with leather strap bindings. The camp was located at the base of a mountain and there were some sloped meadows that were skiable. We hiked up, and we skied down. That was in 1949 when I was three years old. Came to the USA in 1951.

Very cool. You have a story similar to my fathers, except he's got 10 years on you and wound up near Munich after fleeing the Russians from Breslau.

 

[Grassi21]

I was 28 the first time I gave it a try. We did 2 days at Okemo. Good times.

 

[Terry]

I was 39 at Shawnee Peak when I first skied. I was just going to sit in the bar and watch my wife ski. When we got there, she got me a ticket and rentals without me knowing it. I didn't even have any gloves with me. But I gave it a try and have been hooked ever since!

 

[ski63]

Dec 1963 at Royal Mtn, NY. I was 6 using wooden skiis w/ beartrap bindings. The next year I graduated to Fisher wooden skiis and cubco bindings. Even at 6 or 7 you learned how to re-tighten lace up boots. I was too small to ride the T-Bar alone and to short to ride with my Dad so I was stuck riding the rope tow.

4 months 'till ski season!!!

 

[Warp Daddy]

Started Downhilling @ 51
Started XC @35

 

[skier90]

2000, skiing at Gunstock

 

[ALLSKIING]

I started at age 9 or around that age. That being said I have not skied every season since age nine. I lived in Miami for 4 years and only skied once during that time.

 

[hammer]

I started on a regular basis when I was 38...I'll be on my 6th full season this year.

 

[eastcoastpowderhound]

Started in 1975, 3 yrs old at Pleasant Mountain...now known as Shawnee Peak.

 

[snowmonster]

I was 36 on February 5, 2005 at Sunapee. Took a bus trip. All I wanted to do was snap a picture of me on skis. Then I took a lesson ... and it was downhill from there.

+ Edited to correct my age. I stopped counting.+

 

[JimG.]

I started at age 4 in 1962 at the Concord Ski Hill in the Catskills.

 

[cbcbd]

15, 16? At Brodie. that was 93/94?

Stopped skiing @ around '97... started up again '03, started skiing for real (got my own shaped skis) '05.

 

[thebigo]

I don't quite remember. I was in the 3-4 year old range and it was most likely wildcat or the old unexpanded sunday river. Back in the early 80's we skied one or the other most every weekend.

Anybody else remember a restaurant near sunday river called 'the only place'?

 

[zook]

I started with lessons at Hunter Mtn at 26, three seasons so far.

I taught my mom how to ski @ 52

 

[campgottagopee]

1969----4yrs old----Bakers Mills NY---11th Mountain, we'd hike up and ski down the old logging/sugar roads, what a blast!!!!! First "resort" North Creek Ski Bowl/Gore

 

[playoutside]

1968, 5 yrs old, Craigmeur (NJ) -- lace up boots, wood skis w/safety straps -- no parents, just a bunch a kids let loose on the slopes with a 1 hour lesson!

Skied there most days after school until I was a teenager (except I finally got buckle boots and step in bindings still with straps)

Took a 10 year break and when I skied again it was in colorado and skis had brakes! What a change! Such improvements!!

 

[ctenidae]

6 or 7, at Red River, New Mexico.

 

[kbroderick]

Anybody else remember a restaurant near sunday river called 'the only place'?

I remember that there was one...was it out on Rt. 2 in West Bethel, or am I thinking of another gone-and-replaced restaurant?

And to answer the original question--2.5 or so at Smuggs, if you don't count the plastic-skis-in-the-backyard experiences prior to that.

 

[madskier6]

Age 4 in 1968 at Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wisconsin. A small hill but good for learning (especially in the midwest).

I learned on wood skis with cable bindings and leather lace-up boots. Then I graduated to the old black Head metal skis with Tyrolia bindings a few years later.

 

[skiNEwhere]

Dec 1963 at Royal Mtn, NY. I was 6 using wooden skiis w/ beartrap bindings. The next year I graduated to Fisher wooden skiis and cubco bindings. Even at 6 or 7 you learned how to re-tighten lace up boots. I was too small to ride the T-Bar alone and to short to ride with my Dad so I was stuck riding the rope tow.

4 months 'till ski season!!!

Woa woa woa, back up a sec.....4 months til ski season???? In my mind its 2 months til I can start skiing. Granted I can go skiing in the sierra-nevada's with only a 5 hour drive, but still, I forsee Killington opening up a few trails mid October this year.