I don't understand skiing as a leisure activity

[Anonymous]

I love skiing and i love being white!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up skiing and still love the idea of it, but what I find discouraging these days is that lessons for kids have become should much more intense and involved. When I was skiing as a kid we simply went to mountain and my parents would put both me and my brother in the ski school for a day. No advanced reservations were needed. Now, you have to sign up for six weekends of lessons in January and February for two hours at a time at so many mountains. I hate the thought of having our winter weekends all occupied by the same activity. The same goes for people who rent houses for the winter in ski country and drive the two hours there and back every weekend for two straight months. Doesn't they want to do any other activities during the winter?

You could say this about so many activities that people engage in, but I understand your point, especially when you have younger kids. I like to expose my kids to many different activities and pursuits, so renting a ski house for an entire winter and having skiing be our only activity for three months, at the same mountain each weekend day would not fly with us. I find that many skiers are boarderline obsessive about it and their entire winter is dedicated to it. I personally prefer maybe 3-5 ski days a winter then other activities on other weekends (museums, indoor climbing, visiting friends, etc...)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Water skiing is superior to snow skiing in every metric.

I'm the skiing hating swimmer above. Ironically I did grow up water skiing because we were a boating family. I became a competitive swimmer because my mother was scared we'd drown if we fell out of the boat. I learned to swim and just kept training.

Where I grew up you didn't have to be rich to go water skiing - my father made racing boats in his garage. He made my first pair of water skis. Kids raced sailing boats on Saturday mornings, just like they play soccer around here. I imagine water skiing and sailing aren't working class hobbies around here.

I grew up pretty poor (locally) and we always had a beater boat that our family would get on the water with every weekend in warm weather. Boating back in the 70’s and 80’s wasn’t as expensive as it is now. Boats were cheaper back then, cheap boats were wayyyy cheaper, and more abundant than today. I knew how to waterski when I was 8 years old.

Boat exhaust? Hell yeah! Some of the best memories of my childhood are tied to the sweet oily aroma of 2-stroke engine exhaust.

[Anonymous]

Apres ski.

As a high school teen girl, I enjoyed seeing all the cute boys on the slopes. Some were ski instructors.

[Anonymous]

I’ve never been skiing but lol at you thinking golf has an easier barrier of entry. The equipment is very expensive and playing a round is easily $100+ at most courses here. Both are geared toward a targeted income level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At some point in your 40s/50s/60s you are probably going to find that taking a 3-4 runs up and down the mountain is all you have the appetite for, and for those 3-4 runs, you spent unjustifiable dollars.

This is the dumbest thing I've ever read. What kind of crap shape are you in?

Read my words again: do you really think most people who know how to ski are going to want to ski more than 3-4 runs after they turn 70? Maybe the ski patrol, but most people, which means probably? And I am in perfectly good shape and ruck in steep terrain for hours 5-6 days per week. Maybe if I lived in California and owned a slope-side house I would feel differently, but my realistic options are in icy New England/Quebec.

[Anonymous]

I drove across Kansas most years to ski in Colorado. I am not an avid skier. I only skied black diamond once by mistake. I have skied in Aspen, Vale, Breckenridge, Heavenly, and Lake Tahoe.

I wanted to continue skiing every year. I just stopped but I loved it.

My favorite place was Breckenridge. I loved the little town

I loved being up in the mountains. I enjoyed the apres ski.

[Anonymous]

I agree it's just too expensive.

If you live in a place you can do it easily, I get it.

If you don't, I don't understand going through the expense and effort more than once in a blue moon. I get why people enjoy it, I just think it's still not worth the effort and expense at this point. I view it as an activity for the wealthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ve never been skiing but lol at you thinking golf has an easier barrier of entry. The equipment is very expensive and playing a round is easily $100+ at most courses here. Both are geared toward a targeted income level.

Yeah, golf is in NO way a low barrier to entry sport. Despite the prevalence of public sources it’s still not cheap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At some point in your 40s/50s/60s you are probably going to find that taking a 3-4 runs up and down the mountain is all you have the appetite for, and for those 3-4 runs, you spent unjustifiable dollars.

This is the dumbest thing I've ever read. What kind of crap shape are you in?

Read my words again: do you really think most people who know how to ski are going to want to ski more than 3-4 runs after they turn 70? Maybe the ski patrol, but most people, which means probably? And I am in perfectly good shape and ruck in steep terrain for hours 5-6 days per week. Maybe if I lived in California and owned a slope-side house I would feel differently, but my realistic options are in icy New England/Quebec.

Your post started with 40s, not 70. That’s what people are reacting to. I fully expect to be skiing more than 4 runs after 70, but agree that at 80 I will need to slow down. I still do steeps and bumps in my 60’s but also mix in some groomers.

I had a really fun long weekend in Quebec last season. Conditions were very good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Water skiing is superior to snow skiing in every metric.

Mountains and hills can vary. Snow can vary. Water is always flat. There are ramps but snow skiing still offers far more variety.

Water is not always flat - there are waves. There are white caps. There are days when the water is as still as a mill pond. When you are water skiing, you go from side to side and you can jump the wake. You can ski on two skis or you can go slalom. You can go barefoot. The boat driver can vary the speed.

I don't think you've ever been water skiing.

I have. I've gone to the left. And to the right! Side to side.

In Vermont alone, there are 555 miles of ski trails. And that's not counting the infinite lines through the trees.

You prefer all the...variety that water skiing offers. That's great. Do what makes you happy. But saying that a totally different activity is inferior makes you look like a child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At some point in your 40s/50s/60s you are probably going to find that taking a 3-4 runs up and down the mountain is all you have the appetite for, and for those 3-4 runs, you spent unjustifiable dollars.

This is the dumbest thing I've ever read. What kind of crap shape are you in?

Read my words again: do you really think most people who know how to ski are going to want to ski more than 3-4 runs after they turn 70? Maybe the ski patrol, but most people, which means probably? And I am in perfectly good shape and ruck in steep terrain for hours 5-6 days per week. Maybe if I lived in California and owned a slope-side house I would feel differently, but my realistic options are in icy New England/Quebec.

People who really enjoy skiing will continue into their 70s. I met a wonderful 70 yr old retired doctor on a lift at keystone and skied a few runs with him as he showed me around the mountain. I aspire to keep skiing into my 70s and while we live in the DC area now we plan on retiring out west so we can hike in summer and ski in winter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe don't do it then?!

Why come here and ask people to defend why they enjoy something? Such a strange post.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At some point in your 40s/50s/60s you are probably going to find that taking a 3-4 runs up and down the mountain is all you have the appetite for, and for those 3-4 runs, you spent unjustifiable dollars.

This is the dumbest thing I've ever read. What kind of crap shape are you in?

Read my words again: do you really think most people who know how to ski are going to want to ski more than 3-4 runs after they turn 70? Maybe the ski patrol, but most people, which means probably? And I am in perfectly good shape and ruck in steep terrain for hours 5-6 days per week. Maybe if I lived in California and owned a slope-side house I would feel differently, but my realistic options are in icy New England/Quebec.

People who really enjoy skiing will continue into their 70s. I met a wonderful 70 yr old retired doctor on a lift at keystone and skied a few runs with him as he showed me around the mountain. I aspire to keep skiing into my 70s and while we live in the DC area now we plan on retiring out west so we can hike in summer and ski in winter.

I've seen a trend in some areas of instructors being elderly where they used to all be young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids chose to go to school in the mountains, due to our family's love of skiing and other mountain sports. After spending 2 years in the dorms, our kids are thrilled that we bought them a "kiddy-condo" for their jr-sr year / our family vacay home. Very similar I guess to those parents whose kids go to college in Florida or Arizona.

CVA/Sugarloaf? How do they like the school?

My DW would never agree to this lol