Can adults learn to ski?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up going to ski school and was a pretty good skier and could get up to Black Diamond. HOWEVER, I have since torn an ACL and now I am terrified to get back on skis, even though I love it. I am wondering if I can try cross country skiing as that seems less hard on the knees. Does anyone know?

I’m a lifelong downhill skier and took up nordic skiing 4 years ago at age 40 because long story but we moved next door to a nordic ski center. Unless you are going very slowly on absolutely flat, groomed trails, I think nordic is much scarier as an adult. The skis are narrow and don’t have edges and the boots are much less stable than alpine boots. Although it is gentler on your knees if you are good at it, I’ve found the falls to be much, much worse because your bindings don’t pop off and the boots are soft enough that your legs and skis can go any and all directions. All of my nasty falls in the last 3 years have been nordic related and on stupidly mild slopes and even standing still.

The motion of classic nordic skiing can also be very hard on your achilles and calf muscles for a new skier, and if you’re not careful you might flare old knee injuries when your body tries to compensate.

My neighbor is a downhill and Nordic skier with lots of ACL drama. After surgery last year, he dropped nordic and is happily downhill-only in a brace.

Fascinating! I had planned to switch to Nordic at some point (I'm in my late 40s now).maybe instead I'll switch to snowshoeing?

[Anonymous]

Snowshoeing is awesome. You can go anywhere you want. But it’s only fun in places with lots of snow. Lots.

Otherwise you may as well just hike in boots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up going to ski school and was a pretty good skier and could get up to Black Diamond. HOWEVER, I have since torn an ACL and now I am terrified to get back on skis, even though I love it. I am wondering if I can try cross country skiing as that seems less hard on the knees. Does anyone know?

If you love(d) it, and were a good skier, fear not. Discuss with your orthopedic surgeon, and get back on the slopes with any prep they recommend. There’s likely no reason you have to abandon your beloved sport! Like you, I skied, then tore my ACL during a different sport, then got back on the slopes a few years after that. If you have residual instability there are things to do to prepare and wear. You can do this, and have no knee pain and no issues at all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

a lot of it is how fearless you are. It’s physically harder to ski very slow than it is faster.

This is why it’s better to learn young.

But that doesn’t mean that learning once old and sticking to easy terrain can’t be awesome.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up going to ski school and was a pretty good skier and could get up to Black Diamond. HOWEVER, I have since torn an ACL and now I am terrified to get back on skis, even though I love it. I am wondering if I can try cross country skiing as that seems less hard on the knees. Does anyone know?

If you love(d) it, and were a good skier, fear not. Discuss with your orthopedic surgeon, and get back on the slopes with any prep they recommend. There’s likely no reason you have to abandon your beloved sport! Like you, I skied, then tore my ACL during a different sport, then got back on the slopes a few years after that. If you have residual instability there are things to do to prepare and wear. You can do this, and have no knee pain and no issues at all!

How bad was your acl tear? Did you have surgery?

[Anonymous]

I did in my late 20s as a very unathletic person but I was going every weekend because I lived in the Alps. Modern skis are also easier to use.

[Anonymous]

Yes, my dad and husband both did. They’re not going to win any competitions but they both ski quite passably. Take lessons! And prepare to learn more slowly than the small children around you

[Anonymous]

I learned in my 30s. It helped that I was fairly athletic at the time and had never been on skis - the instructor was thrilled that there were no bad habits to unlearn.

I never progressed much, though, beyond greens - and I am fine with that.

[Anonymous]

I had a bunch of friends learn in their 40s. Being in shape helps tremendously. Those that got hurt were out of shape. Although in Fairness knee injuries van happen to anyone.
If you do lessons around here consider going on weekdays. It is so insanely busy around here and for new skiers it can be too much. Just way more to look out for on the slopes instead of learning to ski.
It takes a lot of practice. You need to go consistently to get better just like anything else. But you can def do it.

[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.

Hahahaha! This is me. OP-I think most people can learn to ski if they really want to. It was VERY hard though. So be prepared to REALLY want to learn.

[Anonymous]

I learned in mid 30's. We ski a lot now. I am reasonably fit but also overweight. Watching my kid learn now and they are more fluid and natural than I will ever be after 15 years of skiing. My skills have progressed but I always feel like I have to work at technique (it's not as intuitive/second nature as I would like it to be). Plus the risks of an injury in my 50s are too high, so I ski somewhat cautiously, esp. on advanced blues and blacks. But it's fun!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you really want to learn to ski, OP, I would not do it on local hills. Or even New England. I know it's expensive, but I would do a trip to a Utah or Colorado resort. Better snow, and the impact of skiing straight for 5 days can't be overestimated.

I learned at 40 - had never been on skis before. I took one group lesson at Wintergreen, and it was a disaster. I then went out west on a group family trip, and took lessons for 5 days in Utah. Mostly group, one or two private, and then skied on my own. At the end of it, I made my way (slowly) down the easiest blue hill at the ski resort. I now am comfortable on basically any blue hill in Utah, and a handful of blacks. We do at least one long trip a year. I am never going to be a great skier, but I have a lot of fun, and can hold my own as long as I stay on the right slopes.

If you can afford it, it's definitely the best way to learn. I would choose either a smaller less crowded resort (such as Solitude, where I learned) or a higher end resort like Deer Valley. I'm sure there are similar places in Colorado that others can recommend. Wait a year or two to ski at Park City, Alta, etc.

New England in late winter is great and snow can be just as good as out West.

Is it possible that the snow is as good? I suppose - anything's possible. But you're far more likely to get crappy, icy snow in NE than out west.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you really want to learn to ski, OP, I would not do it on local hills. Or even New England. I know it's expensive, but I would do a trip to a Utah or Colorado resort. Better snow, and the impact of skiing straight for 5 days can't be overestimated.

I learned at 40 - had never been on skis before. I took one group lesson at Wintergreen, and it was a disaster. I then went out west on a group family trip, and took lessons for 5 days in Utah. Mostly group, one or two private, and then skied on my own. At the end of it, I made my way (slowly) down the easiest blue hill at the ski resort. I now am comfortable on basically any blue hill in Utah, and a handful of blacks. We do at least one long trip a year. I am never going to be a great skier, but I have a lot of fun, and can hold my own as long as I stay on the right slopes.

If you can afford it, it's definitely the best way to learn. I would choose either a smaller less crowded resort (such as Solitude, where I learned) or a higher end resort like Deer Valley. I'm sure there are similar places in Colorado that others can recommend. Wait a year or two to ski at Park City, Alta, etc.

New England in late winter is great and snow can be just as good as out West.

Is it possible that the snow is as good? I suppose - anything's possible. But you're far more likely to get crappy, icy snow in NE than out west.

I know nothing about skiing but my husband said I had a horrible time learning because of the crappy snow/ice here. He learned to ski in Colorado and apparently it makes a big difference when the snow isn't just right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up going to ski school and was a pretty good skier and could get up to Black Diamond. HOWEVER, I have since torn an ACL and now I am terrified to get back on skis, even though I love it. I am wondering if I can try cross country skiing as that seems less hard on the knees. Does anyone know?

I’m a lifelong downhill skier and took up nordic skiing 4 years ago at age 40 because long story but we moved next door to a nordic ski center. Unless you are going very slowly on absolutely flat, groomed trails, I think nordic is much scarier as an adult. The skis are narrow and don’t have edges and the boots are much less stable than alpine boots. Although it is gentler on your knees if you are good at it, I’ve found the falls to be much, much worse because your bindings don’t pop off and the boots are soft enough that your legs and skis can go any and all directions. All of my nasty falls in the last 3 years have been nordic related and on stupidly mild slopes and even standing still.

The motion of classic nordic skiing can also be very hard on your achilles and calf muscles for a new skier, and if you’re not careful you might flare old knee injuries when your body tries to compensate.

My neighbor is a downhill and Nordic skier with lots of ACL drama. After surgery last year, he dropped nordic and is happily downhill-only in a brace.

Fascinating! I had planned to switch to Nordic at some point (I'm in my late 40s now).maybe instead I'll switch to snowshoeing?

You may like the background Backcountry type of cross country skis that have metal edges, making turning much easier. For me as someone who didn't try skiing until after age 30+ a decade ago, cross country is much easier on the knees. That might not be true if I were better at downhill.

For op, if you're planning to learn as an adult, do work on general fitness. I can tell a huge difference when I've been consistent about hitting fitness classes where we do a lot of squats and core work because it makes skiing so much easier.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely!

I learned to ski locally (Whitetail and Liberty) at 42. 4 years later I have progressed tremendously and would consider myself a solid intermediate to advanced intermediate skier. For first day out skiing I prefer the learning area at Whitetail. After that I like the green runs on the front of Liberty. After that I like Sidewinder at Whitetail.

Things that make a huge impact- lessons, lessons, lessons and practice, practice, practice. I started skiing in Jan 2020. Took a lesson then went on my own 4 more times that season. Then in the 2020-2021 season i took additional lessons, a trip out west that included a lesson and skied 19 days that season because there was nothing to do during covid. I have skied around 20 days/season since and did the adult development program at Liberty last winter which was incredibly helpful.

If you really want to learn and put the time in and can do it and progress a lot. Being somewhat athletic to begin with also helps.

If you can go on a weekday it's even better because group lessons will be smaller and you are even more likely to end up with a private lesson.