Over-the-hill is where they ski, not their state of mind
SENIOR skiers don’t care if the weather is bad or good.
“They’re die-hards,” said Stan Hansen, a 70-year-old ski instructor at Park City Mountain Resort in Utah. “Life is getting short when you get [to] this age, and they just go for the gusto. They’ll stay out there in snow and rain.”
Hitting the slopes on a blustery day may not be everyone’s idea of the perfect vacation, but there are plenty of older skiers who thrive on fresh powder -- and changes in equipment are opening up the sport to more seniors every day.
One of the most visible septuagenarian skiers in the U.S. is Olympic gold medalist Stein Eriksen, who turns a robust 78 today. He thinks seniors are participating in the sport longer -- and even taking it up in their retirement years -- because skiing has become easier in some ways.
The Norway-born Eriksen, who is director of skiing at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, noted that people are staying healthier and more active in their later years, and the equipment is better, the clothing warmer and the grooming of the slopes improved. “It has made the sport much more attractive” to adults of any age, he said.
Tom Humphrey, 80, a retired physician and longtime member of a skiers group called the 70-Plus Club (www.members.cox.net/70plus/home.htm), summed up the typical attitude of “super seniors,” as the 70-plus group is often called.
“Many of us started skiing in the days before ski lifts,” said Humphrey, who lives in Palos Verdes Estates. “We were young and robust and poor. At resorts, we were the first on in the mornings and the last off at the end of the day.” Today, he said, “many members have new hips, knees, eyes [cataract and laser surgery] and hearts [stents, bypasses and valve replacements]. Some have considerable trouble walking but ski like poetry in motion.”
On some club outings, “it can be snowing so hard that you cannot see across the street,” he said. “Does anyone say, ‘I think I’ll wait and see if the weather improves’? No. They are all committed. Their attitudes are inspirational.”
Thousands of skiers throughout the country belong to clubs such as 70-Plus, which was founded in 1977 in upstate New York. Other large clubs include the Over the Hill Gang, based at Copper Mountain, Colo. (45 and older, with most members over 60; www.copperohg.com); Over the Hill Gang International (50 and older, not affiliated with the Copper Mountain group; www.othgi.com); and Elderhostel (55 and older; www.elderhostel.org). Each offers a variety of vacations and instructional clinics.
“Camaraderie is a major part” of the attraction of age-related clubs, said Jennifer Walker, program coordinator at Copper Mountain. “Even though people are skiing later and later, they are skiers who don’t just want to go out and take runs by themselves.”
At Copper Mountain, programs cover five levels of guided skiing “from raw beginner to off-piste [backcountry], tree-bashing expert,” said club representative Chuck Armstrong of Morrison, Colo.
“Some of our members are more than 80 years old. One of them is a retired doctor and former RAF bomber pilot who skis more than 100 days each season,” Armstrong said.
The 70-Plus Club reports at least 100 active members older than 90 and a couple of 100-year-olds, said Richard Lambert of Rhode Island, grandson of the founder and current executive director.
But isn’t falling a concern among older people? “People fall off a curb and break their elbows and wrists,” said Humphrey. “If you’re not willing to risk anything, you’re not going to find out what’s life’s about.”
As for the creeping expense of lift tickets, Doug Pfeiffer of Big Bear, a former ski-school director, suggests that resorts consider charging seniors not by the day but by the ride, because many “don’t ski as hard as they used to. And he thinks most seniors feel they should get discounts because they are responsible for introducing their children and grandchildren to the slopes.
Most age-related clubs have money-saving deals for members. The Copper Mountain Over the Hill Gang offers skill-specific clinics -- on topics as varied as basic balance and telemark -- for $25 throughout the season.
The Over the Hill Gang International, a for-profit group, has a variety of trips to major destination resorts in Colorado and elsewhere, including six days and seven nights in Aspen for $1,535 per person, double occupancy.
The 70-Plus Club offers excursions to resorts in every part of the United States. Its five-day Snowmass/Aspen trip is $800 per person, double occupancy. It’s no surprise that seniors rate Deer Valley and Taos, N.M., highly. Neither permits snowboarders. “We’ve had concerns about snowboarders being a little bit out of control,” said Lambert of the 70-Plus Club, “but we also have people taking snowboarding lessons.”
Big Bear resident Pfeiffer, who is 78, is not complaining about snowboarders; he is a certified snowboard instructor.
His solution? “If the weather’s good at Snow Summit [Mountain Resort], I go out every day from 8 to 10 a.m., before the crowds hit. After the first near-collision, I hang up my skis for the day.”
Stan Hansen, who teaches skiing at Park City, loves working with Elderhostel members. He says the most difficult aspect is instilling confidence in those used to the old, long straight skis, and showing them how to use the new easy-to-turn shaped skis. Once they catch on, he says, “it’s like they go from being a Model T to a Maserati.”
How should younger skiers view the super seniors they may whiz past? Humphreys says, “Let everyone know -- you’re just a 70-plus in training.”
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Fewer free rides, but it still pays to be a senior skier
By Grace Lichtenstein
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OLDER folks may find skiing and snowboarding tough on the knees, but thanks to an array of discounts and freebies, both are getting easier on the wallet.
Many winter resorts around the U.S. offer major discounts to 70-plus vacationers, and more are making discounts available to those over 65, although free lift tickets -- once offered to skiers over 70 -- seem to be going the way of stretch pants. Resorts such as Mammoth Mountain in California, Alta Ski Area in Utah and Taos Ski Valley in New Mexico provide free passes to skiers older than 80, while at Squaw Valley USA near Lake Tahoe, the magic birthday is 76.
Taos Ski Valley in northern New Mexico raised its free-pass age to 80 this season. Gordon Briner, general manager of Taos, says the resort thinks its $70 season pass for 70- to 79-year-olds “is about the best value in skiing, anywhere.”
Many regional ski hills -- including California’s Mountain High Resort in Wrightwood, Snow Valley Mountain Resort near Big Bear and Tahoe-Donner Ski Resort -- still allow those older than 70 to ski free. Others include Mt. Bachelor in Oregon, Angel Fire Resort and Red River Resort in New Mexico, Bogus Basin Mountain Resort and Brundage Mountain Resort in Idaho, Monarch Mountain in Colorado and Arizona Snowbowl. Copper Mountain Ski Resort in Colorado still provides free passes to those over 70 -- but only Mondays through Thursdays.