Ideal ski towns for the future factoring in all issues?

[deadheadskier]

I too have friends like Jim and others that are 60 plus and still ripping it. Jim has always made me think I could be that guy. I have loved his reports over the years.

But.....I have 10x friends that are in their 50's with hip or knee or anckle relplacements. Others with back issues so bad they quit the sport altogether. I am 55 and still ski 60 days a year and mostly healthy. I atribute it to still exercising. I mountain bike in the Boston area year round and the MRV all summer. I road bike quite a bit and do the PMC every year so my fitness is pretty good. I came from sking with the freestyle crew at SR for years so my style was always bumps and trees. Beat the living shit out of myself for years. But the end is comming and I can feel it. I ski with pain every day. Not bad pain but it is there. The 60 + crew is a gifted and very luck group. I ski with them all the time and envy them. But they are most certainly the minority. I will bet that most of you guys will not be part of the 60's group still sking bumps and trees.

I guess the point is that most people retire in thier 60's and at that point there is a small minority of the overall ski population that can ski hard still so good weather, good conditions and other off mountain entertainment is more of a priority for us.

I too grew up primarily a bump and tree skier. I would pound bumps all day long and only viewed groomed terrain as a means to get to the bumps and trees.

Around age 30 I made the conscious decision to reduce the amount of bumps I skied to help preserve my body. I started mixing in about 25% of my time skiing groomers. At 40 I shifted to about 50/50.

I've actually grown to really love carving groomers and feel I'm actually improving in that aspect of my skiing. Where as with bumps and trees, I'm just trying to preserve my skills. I'll never be as good at bumps and trees as I was in my 20s. I just don't have the same athleticism as I did then. This year at age 46 I actually started racing and very much have enjoyed that experience between the beer league team I'm on and running Nastar at Gunstock.

I agree with you that people who can still rip in their 60s are a rare exception and not the norm. I actually skied with a 70 year old on Sunday who was ranked 9th in the country for his age at Nastar. Only started racing at 66 too. He ripped. Was beating me by a full second on the handful of runs we did together down the course. Very inspiring

 

[crank]

We've taken a few hiking/mtb trips out west in September after Labor Day. The national parks are full of fit retirees at that time of year. Last september we did a pretty tough, steep, though not super long, ranger guided scramble to a hidden cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde and there were some 70+ year olds who were managing just fine.

I think part of it is genes and part of it is continuous exercise and weight control.

PS. I've skied with Jim K a few times. Places like Snow Basin, MRG. Dude rips.

 

[Razor]

I'm 75 and still ski everything on the mountain, Can go a full day if it's good. Love the trees. My wife is 72 and still does everything I do. In fact, she's better as she grew up skiing while I didn't start until after college. We're really lucky as we've been healthy. But also, I do an hour and a half of working out 6 days/week year round, alternating between the gym and road bike or other aerobic activity. Been doing it for many, many years. It's just part of the day. Not that many are willing to pay the price as they get older.

 

[Edd]

A friend of mine often says use it or lose it, which I take to heart. At 51, I’m watching some longtime friends physically deteriorate and show no interest in exercising at all. Completely baffles me.

 

[Hawk]

No doubt exercise helps but if you can ski all day in your 70's then you are a genetic anomily. Myself and a bunch of the people I ski with at Sugarbush have the same commitment to excercise, diet and stretching and a good portion of us are breaking down. Hips, knees and other ailments are the result of use. There is no diet and exercise that will cure or prevent the body from breaking down. You have to have superior genetics and good luck to beat father time.

But...There is a guy named Hugo at Sugarbush who is 80+ that I skied with during the storm the other week. He did Lixi's and Moonshine with me and my wife and did half trail pulls on both, total smile on his face and ready for more. He truely is my hero.

 

[NYDB]

A friend of mine often says use it or lose it, which I take to heart. At 51, I’m watching some longtime friends physically deteriorate and show no interest in exercising at all. Completely baffles me.

I'm 47 and I see it with my non cyling friends too. Less activity/more eating/more drinking booze leads to being sedentary. In a couple of years they won't have the choice to do some activities anymore. It is tough to fight that momentum. I end up just opting out of alot of social gatherings that are booze/food centric.

My advice is to become friends with roadies. Being skinny by normal standards is still fat for road cycling. Being light helps. You don't see many big active older people.

No doubt exercise helps but if you can ski all day in your 70's then you are a genetic anomily. Myself and a bunch of the people I ski with at Sugarbush have the same commitment to excercise, diet and stretching and a good portion of us are breaking down. Hips, knees and other ailments are the result of use. There is no diet and exercise that will cure or prevent the body from breaking down. You have to have superior genetics and good luck to beat father time.

But...There is a guy named Hugo at Sugarbush who is 80+ that I skied with during the storm the other week. He did Lixi's and Moonshine with me and my wife and did half trail pulls on both, total smile on his face and ready for more. He truely is my hero.

You just said you used to beat the living shit out of yourself for years. Not all of us did that. That has consequences.

I will agree that there is a bit of luck involved. Genetics and injuries are sometimes out of your control

 

[abc]

Hips, knees and other ailments are the result of use. There is no diet and exercise that will cure or prevent the body from breaking down. You have to have superior genetics and good luck to beat father time.

"Breaking down" happens a lot later in life than what most people see. The human body is bred to repair itself.

However, injuries, especially incompletely healed injuries, are much more likely the cause of the "ailment" that plagues most 50-60 year olds.

Exercise is one way to help "restore" proper function of the body, after "use" or far more importantly, post injury. Building up muscles so the ligaments and tendons endure less stress... etc.

A friend of mine often says use it or lose it, which I take to heart. At 51, I’m watching some longtime friends physically deteriorate and show no interest in exercising at all. Completely baffles me.

"Exercise" can be fun or boring, depending on many factors. I definitely "mellow down" as I get older. I'm no longer excited about perceived danger such as going down a mountain bike single track trail with trees whizzing by, or the heart stopping drop of a waterfall (ok, small ledges) in my kayak.

The "tempering" of some of those feedback moments certainly affected my motivation of doing some of the activities. I now have to occasionally force myself to get out to do things I KNOW is fun, even though in the past I never even hesitate a moment to jump on those opportunity.

It's not a conscious thing either. It just happened. I now look for "flow" where I used to look for excitement. It's not quite the same though...

Hitting the gym is more of a necessity than love. Again, I used to feel the "high" of the endorphin kicking in when I exercise in the gym. Now that endorphin machine had slowed considerably, I had to work harder to get it started.

Sucks.

 

[Tonyr]

The humidity sucks, but it makes for far superior lake boating than almost anywhere out west. That is ultimately what will keep me here in New England. That plus far superior access to culture. Boston is an hour. NYC or Montreal within 5 hours. Also vast amounts of coastline to explore some of which is only 20 minutes away from me. I think the NH Seacoast is one of the very best 4 season locations to live in the country.

I'm certainly jealous of the superior skiing out west, but that's not enough for me to give up all of the other benefits I enjoy here

I've never skied in NH but we were up there last summer to do some hiking. It is georgous in NH during the summers. I've heard to ski VT in the winters and hike NH in the summers. The sky in that first photo looks fake!

 

[x10003q]

So you would rather ski cold ass climate with regular Ice on the trails in a remote area for the rest of your life? The way weather is going, less snow and more shit will be the norm in New England.

The answer for us is looking like continue to live/ski in the East, but rent for a month out West during ski season.

 

[Hawk]

I have skinny biker friends that have cronic knee and back pain at 50. I have skinny marathon friends that have run sub 4 hr marathons that now need hip replacements at 45. They all have been injury free and are breaking down because of use. It occurs and I don't agree with your assessment.

 

[Hawk]

The answer for us is looking like continue to live/ski in the East, but rent for a month out West during ski season.

Yup that is what I plan to do. Out West and Europe. I plan to do Europe for a whole season while I still have something left in the tank.

 

[abc]

I have skinny biker friends that have cronic knee and back pain at 50. I have skinny marathon friends that have run sub 4 hr marathons that now need hip replacements at 45. They all have been injury free and are breaking down because of use. It occurs and I don't agree with your assessment.

Roadies with knee problem is relatively rare to hear!

I came to road biking post a ski related knee injury, then got hooked on cycling. Amongst the people I bike with, half of them are runners recovering from foot/knee "over use" injuries (*) and then got hooked on cycling. Being non-weight-bearing, foot/knees don't usually get trashed on bike rides. They really have to do something bad to have their knees "break down" on them while on bike.

Cycling carries many other risks, but knee isn't usually one of them. Obviously it can happen to some individual, but it's just not typical.

(*) I put "over use" in quotation mark. As quite often the case many of these injuries are when the weekend warrior doesn't give their body the time to repair itself between workouts.

 

[jimk]

Reading the last couple pages of this thread, after just popping an ibuprofen and skiing three consecutive days, with the 4th set up for tomorrow.

I'm a pokey old geezer who once in a while turns on the juice. Saving your energy for when you really need it/want it is pretty critical for older skiers. Skiing snowbird a lot is very humbling. There are tons of older skiers out here that can crush me and on a powder day mega-tons! It's taken me several years to learn how to "manage the mtn", that is, knowing where I have to focus at Snowbird, where I can relax, where to ski when I'm tired. I'm retired and ski a lot of partial days, that helps a lot. I'd rather ski good/interesting terrain slowly, than crappy terrain fast. I'm not into vertical just for the sake of vertical.

I ride an old hybrid bike in the off season, for sweat, not speed. Biking for me is like medicine for my knees. Makes them feel less arthritic, rather than more.

The telemarker in a couple of my earlier photos is the same guy. He's 67, a year younger than me, and is a fitness animal. Big time road cyclist. Does some crazy Wasatch mtn hikes in the off season involving tens of thousands of vertical in a day. I met him for a hike once and he road his bike to and from the hike. He skis bumps faster on tele than most any 67 year old alpine skier I've ever been around. Might ski with him again tomorrow at Solitude.

Crank is a relative youngster and a good, strong skier. His wife is a super fit lady.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I just have to do something to make it permanent so I don't have to fight the battle of the bulge every year.

My advice? Do the math and find your status quo caloric intake. Then download a calorie counting app to your phone and enter everything you eat. I KNOW, it SOUNDS like a tremendous pain-in-the-azz, but after a month it becomes a part of your life, and so long as you do this it is literally impossible to gain weight outside of some extraneous medical condition.

 

[jimk]

I too have friends like Jim and others that are 60 plus and still ripping it. Jim has always made me think I could be that guy. I have loved his reports over the years.

But.....I have 10x friends that are in their 50's with hip or knee or anckle relplacements. Others with back issues so bad they quit the sport altogether. I am 55 and still ski 60 days a year and mostly healthy. I atribute it to still exercising. I mountain bike in the Boston area year round and the MRV all summer. I road bike quite a bit and do the PMC every year so my fitness is pretty good. I came from sking with the freestyle crew at SR for years so my style was always bumps and trees. Beat the living shit out of myself for years. But the end is comming and I can feel it. I ski with pain every day. Not bad pain but it is there. The 60 + crew is a gifted and very luck group. I ski with them all the time and envy them. But they are most certainly the minority. I will bet that most of you guys will not be part of the 60's group still sking bumps and trees.

I guess the point is that most people retire in thier 60's and at that point there is a small minority of the overall ski population that can ski hard still so good weather, good conditions and other off mountain entertainment is more of a priority for us.

Websites like this and Ski Talk and down my way DCSki have been great motivators for me as I got older. Love the stoke, love hanging with my "tribe". You wouldn't believe the network of ski buddies I've met through them over the last 20 years. Meanwhile, several of my ski buddies from my teens-40s have long since given up the sport.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I don't understand the fuss around getting older and skiing.... not at 60 at least. I watch other instructors in their 60s and some in their 70s still skiing 7+ hours a day, full-time, on level 7/8 terrain.

Can I assume they all stayed in shape (skinny) and worked out 3 or 4 times a week?

 

[crank]

The answer for us is looking like continue to live/ski in the East, but rent for a month out West during ski season.

We have friends that do this. One good old, 65-year-old, friend we skied with last week at Jackson Hole spent around 7 or 8 weeks there last season and less than 4 this year due to lack of powder skiing. He remains flexible.

We have another friend who rented a condo in Steamboat January 2020. He skipped the last 2 seasons and is looking for what will be his home mountain/ski town next winter. Another non retired friend may join him and work remotely and ski as much as she can.

Another friend, close to 70, and his wife are taking their Sprinter camper van out west in March.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I'm retired and ski a lot of partial days, that helps a lot. I'd rather ski good/interesting terrain slowly, than crappy terrain fast. I'm not into vertical just for the sake of vertical.

If I lived in a ski town this would be my strategy, regardless of retirement. I'd much rather ski 3 great hours than 6 hour days to get your money's worth or something.

 

[ss20]

Can I assume they all stayed in shape (skinny) and worked out 3 or 4 times a week?

In shape, yes, but nothing excessive (in my mind at least). If you want to ski at that level at 70, you should start preparing at 40, and not having any bad luck or doing something excessively stupid before that certainly helps.

Too often people think "well if I ski 50 days a season I'm going to need new joints at age 50". That's just wrong. There's another factor in there (whether it be genetics or an accident or poor technique....something beyond just skiing hard).

 

[JimG.]

One of the main reasons I retired at 57.

Good for you Jim! I’m not smart enough to have pulled that off!

lol...lucky, not smart.

I stay active and work out 4 times a week year round at this point. I'm in good shape and I keep my weight down and eat sensibly. I've had my skiing injuries and surgeries and am likely a candidate for a knee replacement down the road but not today. Frankly when I ski it's probably the only time my cranky right knee with the transplanted ACL and PCL/healed tibial plateau fracture doesn't bother me.

I ski as much as I can because I love it. I'm not out there anymore to beat people down the hill or beat myself up trying to keep up with much younger or better skiers. That's not fun for me and as such runs counter to my entire reason to go skiing in the first place...to have fun. Happy to ski anything on the mountain but the laps where I scare myself are usually limited to one run per day. Also, with a family and 3 boys I have too much to lose to do dumb things out on the hill anymore.