The Older I Get...

[WakeboardMom]

This is an awesome thread. I love reading the responses about enjoying each season; not getting worked up about missing a powder day; and about staying in shape. I'm in total agreement with all of that...and the best thing is...so is my husband!!

He's a guy that's never still, and to lose a day of skiing (or waterskiing) in the summer used to drive him crazy. LOL...he's still not what you'd call "mellow," but at least he's a lot less psycho! ; )

We're both at the gym three or four days a week just so we can keep doin' what we're doin'. Neither one of us can keep up with our kids, but they hang back and keep us company every once in a while! Pretty soon we'll have our grandson to hang with us. Can't wait for that!!

While waiting for ski season, he and my son are hanging a douglas fir ceiling. That should take several weekends. That kind of thing is fall work, 'cause no inside work gets done during the summer; and no big projects during ski season. This house is gonna take years and years and years to finish. No problem. We've got more time than money. "Sweat equity."

: ) It's all good!!

 

[tt431]

I feel sorry for you old people, RIP. :-o Be young at heart and quit wining about how old you are, enough said.

 

[awf170]

...the harder it is to transition to winter. I have always been a winter person. Loved being out in cold and snow since I was a little kid. Now I am in my 50's and have lately noticed that when it starts to get cold I don't feel the same excitement I used to. I find it harder to adjust. Fall is no longer my second favorite season. Don't get me wrong, I still love winter and skiing... I just have a harder time getting into that mode and a harder time dealing with the cold. I no longer embrace it. I fight it. Sucks, growing old.

Snow and skiing are the two redeeming parts of winter. Everything else sucks. Skiing does definitely make up for dealing with cold, windy walks to school everyday though. I don't think it helps that I run wicked cold, and don't generate heat no matter how hard I exercise. I'm perfectly content mountain biking when it is 90 degrees outside, but have me go for a run when it is 50 degrees and cloudy and I will freeze my ass off.

 

[billski]

I feel sorry for you old people, RIP. :-o Be young at heart and quit wining about how old you are, enough said.

Your day will come. 8)

 

[tt431]

Your day will come. 8)

I like your comment. I sound like a spring chicken, don't I?

 

[Harvey]

Definitely an important thread. I'm also a "fall is my second favorite season" guy. Summer is definitely 4th.

I'm 52.

Powderqueen has said to me many times .... "Harv .... you're a type. Every guy I've ever met who started skiing late in life (I was 40, give or take 10 years)... is an outta control ski fanatic.

I am still into it. I love battling the cold and freezing my ass off. I like every part of skiing except maybe the parking lots and waiting in line.

Not sure what I'm going to do when I get to where crank is. Maybe go back to my roots, skiing in the woods. For one thing it's a hell of a lot warmer out there.

 

[bigbog]

Great thread crank. Skiing's still as fresh as when I first started...at the ripe young age of 31..LOL. Much more enjoyable now with better skills and comfortable boots! But spring and summer in the NE woodlands is indeed easy to live with! ...But now on to the leaf raking-thing = the thrill there is GONE...if there ever was any..LOL. (A couple Coronas with lime help a lot though..). I think it might be that I've gotten used to the ease at which we can now deal with snow....and the comfortable insulating layers of clothing we now have. Cool and somewhat raw weather makes raking easy, but it leaves a lot to be desired...

 

[legalskier]

...the harder it is to transition to winter. I have always been a winter person. Loved being out in cold and snow since I was a little kid. Now I am in my 50's and have lately noticed that when it starts to get cold I don't feel the same excitement I used to.... I just have a harder time getting into that mode and a harder time dealing with the cold.

There are so many responsibilities that bump up against the beginning of the season—work, fall cleanup, holidays, shopping, family get togethers, etc. It's hard to switch into ski mode.
But then I get to the mountain, strap the boards on and take the first run of the season...and suddenly I'm that little kid again. I can remember riding in the third seat of the family 'station wagon' on the way there, looking up at the snow covered mountains, just aching to get the boards on and fly.
Once the bug bites, it sticks around right until the end of the season. I still enjoy it just as much as when I was young.

Skiing is a state of mind.


.

 

[ski220]

At this point in my life I'm taking a more measured approach, I only do what I want, when I want. Now I pick my times.

The older I get... the smarter I get.

 

[kingslug]

Well at 46...I still get super amped up about big dumps. And kind of depressed when it sucks out there..and reading western ski reports. But I at least can afford to get out there whenever and wherever I want..so I just watch weather reports..and hop on a plane to Alta throughout the season. I keep getting in better shape each year so I can hit the elevator shaft chutes and hikes at 11000 feet...discovered Bikram yoga...life changer...I never want to quit..and don't plan on it.

 

[abc]

I must be naturally a cold weather person then. I grew up in the warm sub-tropic south and never really like the sweaty summer at all. I found my second calling when I went to collage at Michigan! Tell me about cold?

Fast forward 20 years, I'm still liking the cold. I do like summer, with all the water sport and cycling. But I just never like the temperature going above 80, never mind 90. So I'm not the least bit bothered by the falling of the temperature in November and December. I just wish it would fall straight through. This "shoulder season" of 40-50 degree rain is useless. Give me the 30's and I'll bundle up like Santa and have a fabulously good time!

I do recognize as I get older, my tolerant to temperature decreases. Though for me, that decrease happen at the warm end rather than the cold end. But I can understand if others feel the body response slow down at the cold temperature. One way to counter that is to dress a bit more conservatively, at least at the onset of the cold season. That should help the body adopt to the lower temperature without being over-whelmed. Another thing I found helpful: dress warm and go outside at the begining of the winter. The body gets exposed to the cold air and quickly turns on the internal furnace!

 

[powpig2002]

i like to play in snow. just don't like to shovel or drive in the shit

 

[bigbog]

There are so many responsibilities that bump up against the beginning of the season—work, fall cleanup, holidays, shopping, family get togethers, etc. It's hard to switch into ski mode.
But then I get to the mountain, strap the boards on and take the first run of the season...and suddenly I'm that little kid again............Once the bug bites, it sticks around right until the end of the season. I still enjoy it just as much as when I was young.
Skiing is a state of mind.

Extremely well put LS...
I really get a kick out of winter cuz back in HS(upstate NY)....the thing was hockey...another team thing. ..Was truly a lost boy back then.....used to tramp miles thru knee-deep just to reach a little pond to pass a crazy puck around... Sick, sick boy...LOL.

 

[Bumpsis]

I feel sorry for you old people, RIP. :-o Be young at heart and quit wining about how old you are, enough said.

As it was well pointed out, your time will come to find out what's waiting for you.
Yeah, being young at heart is just one part of the equation, but the aging process has plenty of surprises for you. Very few of them good.

 

[abc]

i like to play in snow. just don't like to shovel or drive in the shit

Move to a condo (town house). At least you don't have to shovel it.

Can't avoid driving in it though, if only to get to the hill.

 

[tirolerpeter]

Well at 46...I still get super amped up about big dumps. And kind of depressed when it sucks out there..and reading western ski reports. But I at least can afford to get out there whenever and wherever I want..so I just watch weather reports..and hop on a plane to Alta throughout the season. I keep getting in better shape each year so I can hit the elevator shaft chutes and hikes at 11000 feet...discovered Bikram yoga...life changer...I never want to quit..and don't plan on it.

Attaboy Ira! I'll be back at Alta after Jan 12. When it dumps you can come out west to help me "rehabilitate" my 64 yo heart with the new set of valves I had installed two months ago. There sure is some pathetic whining about the cold from some of the "aged" guys on this board. I guess they just need to make a run out the "High T" and drop into "High Rustler" with us to get their blood moving and work out those creaky joints and muscles

 

[mister moose]

I'm older than a lot of you, and don't know what all the fuss is about. Seasons change. Cold feels cold. Dress for it.

However, skiing is not stamp collecting. There will come a time when you can't do it anymore. Live your life to minimize the "I should have....'s", and you'll be fine.

 

[SkiDork]

yesterday I accidentally slammed into 2 bumps (seperate runs) without absorbing. I felt both times like I had been punched in the chest. Never had that happen to me before. I guess cause I'm old now...

 

[Bobt2ski]

I don't like the cold but love the thrill of skiing and dress for it. It was so cold this morning I saw a chicken crossing the slope with a capon!!!!

 

[Smellytele]

I'm older than a lot of you, and don't know what all the fuss is about. Seasons change. Cold feels cold. Dress for it.

However, skiing is not stamp collecting. There will come a time when you can't do it anymore. Live your life to minimize the "I should have....'s", and you'll be fine.

I have an uncle who is 80 and still gets out there and after drinks a couple of Manhattans.