Can adults learn to ski?

[Anonymous]

Yes, it’s possible but for some of us takes a great deal of time and effort. I didn’t realize how long it was going to take. I still can’t do a parallel turn. I think the best way to learn is to do weekly lessons at the local hills. Pizza-ing on old knees is exhausting and trying to ski for a week is too much when you are just beginning and skiing in a wedge.

[Anonymous]

It’s going to be very difficult. You are going to fall a lot and if you don’t have the resilience and determination to persevere, it’s not going to work.

I started skiing in college and then wanted to learn to snowboard in my 30’s. It was damn hard, and I was falling all the time. I went a lot too. I finally got decent up to blue runs but that was after endless local trips.

DS grew up skiing, is really good, blacks/double blacks. He tried snowboarding when we dated since I board, fell so much, that after 2 hours gave it up and went back to skiing. It was humbling.

My good friend just tried last winter, in her 40’s, with a private instructor. It did not go well.

I’m back to skiing now since we started teaching our DS to ski. So we ski as a family. But honestly, I don’t think I could start in my 40’s. Older, heavier, more scared of falling and injuries. Plus PP above is right, pizza-ing and wedge skiing burns your thigh like hell and your legs just take a beating and hard to do for hours.

[Anonymous]

It's not that hard to learn as an adult. Most people will be fine after a couple days of lessons. Personally, I think instructors who work with kids are the best - they're much better at explaining things in ways that just make sense.

Remember that it's a skill that you can always improve on. I ski double blacks and still take a few lessons every season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not that hard to learn as an adult. Most people will be fine after a couple days of lessons. Personally, I think instructors who work with kids are the best - they're much better at explaining things in ways that just make sense.

Remember that it's a skill that you can always improve on. I ski double blacks and still take a few lessons every season.

So you learned in your 40s and are on double blacks now? How long did it take to get there?

[Anonymous]

I learned as a college-aged adult. It was hard, but I was able to do it.

My spouse doesn’t like it due to an old knee injury so I stopped going. I wonder if I could do it now or not.

My guess is some of the challenges of learning later in life come from being out of shape.

[Anonymous]

I did a big group ski trip in my early 20s. One guy with us had never skied before and he took an intro class. It was him and a bunch of 6 year olds and their parents. Apparently he and the kids were fine because they had no fear but the parents were all scared and that impeded their progress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I learned as a college-aged adult. It was hard, but I was able to do it.

My spouse doesn’t like it due to an old knee injury so I stopped going. I wonder if I could do it now or not.

My guess is some of the challenges of learning later in life come from being out of shape.

I learned in my 40's and definitely believe fear plays the bigger part over being out of shape. I'm in fairly good shape, though i did say skiing in a wedge killed my knees. My knees also hurt in my 20's though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I tried. I managed to drop the instructor and fall on him. At the beginning of our lesson, he said he could teach anyone to ski. At the end of the lesson he had to admit I was the first one he could not help.

Haha, this could have been me posting.

But worth trying, OP!

[Anonymous]

I learned how to ski when I was 54. It helped a lot that I am a good skater, including being able to do a hockey stop. I'm never going to be a good skier, but I can get down the easier hills with ease and can get down medium-level slopes if I focus a lot.

Sorry I can't help with suggestions of where to learn, as I do not live in the area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I learned how to ski when I was 54. It helped a lot that I am a good skater, including being able to do a hockey stop. I'm never going to be a good skier, but I can get down the easier hills with ease and can get down medium-level slopes if I focus a lot.

Sorry I can't help with suggestions of where to learn, as I do not live in the area.

OP would be best off heading to New England for a long weekend. The slopes local to DC are often overcrowded with very poor quality snow, which is hard to learn on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I learned as a college-aged adult. It was hard, but I was able to do it.

My spouse doesn’t like it due to an old knee injury so I stopped going. I wonder if I could do it now or not.

My guess is some of the challenges of learning later in life come from being out of shape.

Big difference between college aged (18-20’s) and 40s

[Anonymous]

You can learn, but the question is will you get injured?

Worth a try.

It is fun when the weather is not bitter cold.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it is possible; however, you will likely never learn to ski as well as those who really learned as kids.
The smooth movement of foot and knee coordinating is not easy to master when older.
I skied twice prior to actually learning to ski. Once at 19, and loved it, and once at 23, and DH told me this was an easy run when it was a frozen black. I was picking myself up from that run!
Then I went alone for 4 days of ski lessons in Keystone and skied with instruction in group lessons. So that I could ski with my kids, and then we took our young kids to ski. I am pretty close to being a good skier now years later.
But, that feeling of holy cr*p when I see a really steep run is still present.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can learn, but the question is will you get injured?

Worth a try.

It is fun when the weather is not bitter cold.

Beginners are far more likely to get injured trying to snowboard than ski.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes.

Go to liberty or whitetail.

https://www.libertymountainresort.com/the-mountain/mountain-conditions/mountain-cams.aspx

No snow. This is the problem.