Let’s face it: The best skiers in the world all started as soon as they could walk.
In your group of ski friends, there’s a good chance the one with the best form tackles any terrain and is always first back at the chair learned as a kid, lucky enough to live in a place with skiing and parents who supported it.
R. Scott Rappold during a day of skiing. (Photo provided by R. Scott Rappold)
I grew up in the Midwest and never skied until I moved to Colorado at 30. But 20 years later, I ski 100 days a winter, and while I’m no pro, I’ll ski most anything and have a blast doing it.
The median age of skiers has risen to 35, up from 30 a decade ago and 24 in the 1960s. And not all of them were lucky enough to learn as kids. More and more adults are joining the sport, especially as baby boomers hit retirement age, with more leisure time and disposable income.
Many people are learning what I did 20 years ago, a lesson that changed my life, that you’re never too old to learn to ski or snowboard.
Take a lesson
Kyle Murphy sees it often at Breckenridge Resort, where he is the ski school director.
“You go up to someone on a black run, and they’re walking down the hill. ‘What’s going on?’ Murphy says. “‘My friend took me up the chair. It’s my first time skiing. They said just figure it out.'”
In a version I’ve witnessed, a grown man was sliding down a black diamond run on his behind. “F— skiing,” he bellowed at the hecklers on the chairlift.
Such are the hazards of going in without a lesson.
“We see a lot of trepidation from adult guests, they hear ‘ski school’ and they’re like, ‘I don’t want to go to school. School is for kids,” he says. “A lot of adults are like, ‘Hey I can take care of myself and figure it out on my own.'”
“Those are the people we want to show that, ‘Hey we have lessons for you. We can help teach you. We can get you started and make sure you’re having not just a fun but a safe experience,'” he says. “It’s a technical sport, and like in any sport, it’s important to build the fundamentals.”
At Breckenridge, most of those taking lessons on any given day are kids, but a sizable percentage are adults who learn in adults-only groups or private lessons.
He says having knowledgeable instructors who know the mountain, know how to take you from the bunny hill to green runs, etc., is an easier and safer way than, say, having your spouse teach you.
And, of course, a lesson is cheaper than a divorce. “For the sake of your relationship, take a lesson.”
Greg Clark, center, a ski instructor at Loveland Ski area on teaches class on Jan. 25, 2019. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)
Continual learning
For most of my life, like 97 percent of Americans who don’t ski, I suffered from the common delusions: It’s expensive, dangerous, too far away, and I’m too old to learn such a difficult sport.
Then I moved to Colorado Springs, and my co-workers convinced me to join them on a trip to Monarch Mountain, a small resort near Salida that had a free lift ticket day for a canned food donation.
Following their advice, I took a lesson. I was the oldest in the group. We slid around on one ski. We learned how to stand. We learned “pizza wedge” and “french fries.” After 2 hours, the instructor told me to have fun.
And boy, did I.
I loved the thrill of sliding (awkwardly) down on snow like sledding but being able to control where you go. I also loved the stunning views high in the Rockies in midwinter, like I had never seen.
How had I never done this before? I blamed my parents for raising me in the flat part of the country.
I skied until the lifts closed. From then until spring, I rented skis every weekend and explored places I’d never been. That summer, I bought my first skis and my first season pass.
The learning curve was steep. Eager to push myself, I went into terrain I wasn’t ready for and inched my way down. Skiing with friends, I was usually the last one down. I fell. And fell. And fell.
I reached a point where I didn’t feel like I was improving, so I took an intermediate-level lesson.
It seems I was using my poles all wrong, arresting my speed rather than as the pivot point of the turn. Everything changed. Soon, I was skiing 30-35 days a winter.
Then I took an expert-level lesson and learned I wasn’t properly skiing bumps, not keeping my shoulders facing downhill.
Through time and practice, and the fact that I moved to the mountains and my wife let me quit my job to be a ski bum, I lost the fear. I embraced the double diamonds.
And now, all summer, I anticipate winter.
Andy Cross, The Denver Post
A skier negotiates a little powder near the Alpine Valley run on Peak 8 at the Breckenridge ski area in 2012.
Tips for first-timers
Murphy’s first tip is to take a lesson, which is a motion I second.
“Our instructors are going to be able to push you, whether you’re a beginner or an intermediate or an expert, to gain new skills safely. Our instructors aren’t going to say, ‘Let’s go to a black bump, run and teach you how to ski bumps,'” he says.
“We’re going to start on a green bump run, and we’re going to work our way up, so you know they’re going to be able to push you to progress and challenge yourself, but also push you in a safe way.”
Second tip: Progress at your own pace, not your spouse’s or friends’.
“You know yourself better than anybody and what you’re good at, what your body can do, what you’re comfortable with, and so it’s really important to progress and develop and challenge yourself at a pace that works for you.”
Third tip: Remember, everyone started as a beginner.
“Everybody starts at the same point, carrying their skis, struggling to walk to the base area with their ski boots … so it’s really important, and I would say this applies to picking up anything later in life, to not feel intimidated, not feel uncomfortable. Everyone who started, whether they’re 5 years old or 35 years old, had to learn pizza wedge and french fries.”
Fourth tip: Practice makes perfect.
“If you’re picking it up at 30 and for the next 10 years, you’re doing 100 days a year, you’re potentially gonna be a stronger skier and rider than someone who started when they were 5 years old, but only went for 4 days a year, right? Picking up the sport later in life, you know, with lessons and the appropriate amount of practice, you can absolutely advance to a really high level.”
Fifth tip: Make sure you have fun.
“When you’re not mastering that skill that you want, it gets easy to get frustrated and instead focus on the fun. You’re out on the mountain. You’re out skiing. You’re not at your desk. You’re not at your computer, all right. Enjoy it.”