Before I get into this week’s topic, I’d like to thank each of you who donated to SeniorsSkiing.com. This is the second week of our second annual fund raiser. The response has been enthusiastic. Your gifts will help us get closer to covering expenses. As important, they are telling us that this effort to form a community of older snowsports[Read More…]
Earlier this week a request to support SeniorsSkiing.com showed up in your email. We really need your donations. This is our fifth publishing year and only the second time we’ve made the request. When we started, Mike and I decided that this labor of love should be free. What we’ve learned is that publishing weekly throughout the season requires a[Read More…]
Why aren’t skis designed for and marketed to the 20% of the U.S. skiing population over the age of 52? In other words, is the industry ready for a senior’s ski? I’m asking now, because this is the week ski manufacturers write orders for next year’s crop. They’ve gathered at the Denver Convention Center for the Snow Show, the industry’s[Read More…]
Have you ever been in or near an avalanche? Big Mountain skiers everywhere are accustomed to hearing and feeling the reverberations of bombs and other technologies used to dislodge slides, making the areas safer. A few years ago, Taos added a chair to improve accessibility to Kachina Peak. Last week, following inspection by patrol, a slide there killed two. At the[Read More…]
There’s a pattern to most chairlift conversations. I usually start mine by asking: “Are you local?” My other go-to intros are a comment if it’s cold as hell or if it’s a bluebird day. Use any of these ice-breakers, and most people drop into the groove as easily as a needle on an old 78 (remember them?). A double or[Read More…]
I write this column every week to share information and ideas about being in and on the snow. I haven’t yet had the pleasure of being there this season. It’s still a week or so off. Sometimes it’s clear what I’ll write about: there’s a new survey; we’ve published one of our annual lists; Big Skiing, Inc. is systematically removing[Read More…]
John Fry is an important thinker in the world of skiing. For many years he was editor-in-chief of SKI Magazine, and he was founding editor of Snow Country Magazine. He created Nastar and invented the Nations Cup of alpine ski racing by which the relative strengths of the world’s national ski teams are ranked annually. He was inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 1995.[Read More…]
Some interesting comments on last week’s Short Swings! asking if older skiers and boarders are invisible to the people making business decisions about skiing. Reader Rich Spritz, a Breckenridge instructor, wrote that seniors don’t spend money and it makes sense that, resorts, being businesses, don’t give seniors their attention. There’s no question that the group he describes exists. I see[Read More…]
Here’s a picture of the birthday cake that, along with a lot of other things, surprised me last weekend. The side you don’t see had pine trees around the bottom. Looked good and tasted delicious. If you have a ski-related cake or other confection you’d like to share with the SeniorsSkiing.com community, send a picture to [email protected] or [email protected]
Are older skiers and boarders invisible to the people making business decisions about skiing? Unless, you’re a marketer selling reverse mortgages, extended care facilities, pharmaceuticals, or walk-in bathtubs, most companies ignore our market segment. In the world of skiing corporate ski area consolidators are eliminating senior discounts, and ski makers haven’t bothered to present a product designed and presented for[Read More…]
Twenty-seven thousand, three hundred and ninety-four days. Exactly, nine hundred months. On Wednesday I turned 75. For all but the first nine years, skiing has been my passion. Two things about me contribute to this craziness: I love being outside in the cold, and what I lack in athleticism, I’ve made up for with persistence. In Okemo’s early days, when[Read More…]
A friend recently commented that a key to greater happiness is to lower our expectations. It took a few days before I understood what he was saying. In some cultures, unhappiness can be traced to the variance between what we have learned to expect and what we have come to experience. Lowering expectations can change that, without lowering our standards.[Read More…]
Here’s an idea that may be of interest to a handful of readers. As part of our month-long ski trip to the Alps, I will spend the week of March 10 with Alpskitour, skiing with a guide in Italy’s Aosta Valley. I’m inviting a handful of SeniorsSkiing.com readers to share the experience. Alpskitour is based in the small city of[Read More…]
Last evening we celebrated our fifth year of publishing with a party in New York City. The crowd that showed up had a good time. Many walked away with raffle prizes. The idea for a magazine dedicated to older skiers, boarders, and snowshoers developed over several years. Living in Park City, I saw that, midweek, almost everyone[Read More…]
I keep a list of the places I’ve skied since I was 10. In a few weeks, I’ll be 75. The list totals 85 areas, mostly the US and Canada. The others are in the French and Swiss Alps. One, an indoor area that no longer exists, was in Japan. That, and the recent addition of Canada to our annual[Read More…]
