Poll How has the age you started skiing affected your skills?

[heliskier59]

If you started skiing as a child, do you think this gave you an advantage in building skills simply because you were young?
If you started skiing long enough ago to have gone through at least one significant gear change, has changing the way you ski to match the advantages of the new gear been difficult for you?
If you started early, stopped, then resumed, do you think your higher level of maturity as you started up again helped you or hindered you?
If you started early but learned poor mechanics that got embedded deeply at that age, has that been a disadvantage that has plagued you ever since?
If you started as an adult with today's ski and boot technology in place , are you grateful because you think you wouldn't have stuck with skiing otherwise?

There are so many ways of taking this discussion. Let's see what people have to say.

I am 60. I'm skiing better than as a 20 yo. Started with beartraps in Switzerland when I was 6. Lot's of time in the weight room/ running/ backcountry skiing over the years has allowed to feel as if I am a young kid when out on the slopes. Skied 100K+ vertical heliskiing in deep powder over 4 days using GS skis instead of powder skis. I can still hammer out a back bowl in Vail in fresh powder without stopping or a Peak to Creek at Whistler without rest. Don't get hung up on a number....I've seen some other "gramps" tear it up too.

 

[beginnerskier96]

I started learning when I was 5 then we went to Italy on a family ski trip in December 2009 when I was thirteen years old. I loved it. I used to take lessons at a ski school near my childhood home in Mole Valley. I still learn but only occasionally now. I was never really any good. I always had issues trying not to fall over onto the snow.

 

[Smear]

This!!! Decent coaching is the key to youngsters realizing their potential. I’m sure many will disagree with me but I don’t think most kids are capable of absorbing direction in a meaningful way until about age 6. By all means let your 2 year old slither around on snow with you but you’re not really accomplishing much.

Been thinking about this a bit lately. In the world of skiing as an organized sport, starting at age 6 is very late. Most kids that go to organized training start in ski clubs at age 6, and they have been skiing for years at that point. When some outliers want to start at age 6 this creates a lot of challenges since they need to start at magic carpet, surface lifts etc and require one-on-one attention or at least being in a group of similar skill level. That group rarely exist in a ski club setting, because starting that late is very rare here.

In our ski federation (Norway) the common theme is getting the kids to become "at home on skis". This "at homeness" on skis is developed by playing a lot on skis during childhood. On different types of skis; alpine skis, XC-skis, plastic skis in diverse settings and conditions. Playing in the yard, jumping on xc-skis, at school, at child care, at XC-stadiums and with alpine skis at ski resorts. There is very little focus on "not doing it right", avoiding situations that foster defensive movements, having perfect coaching etc. Mostly avoiding instruction completely but instead relying on task-situation guided learning. The focus is on spending a lot of time on skis in a variety of situations, and keeping it playful.

That said, as a father of an 8 year old that is very much "at home on skis" but still all to often fall back to going straight down in a wedge, I do sometime think how it could be done differently. Like avoiding to get those defensive habits ingrained in the first place by starting later, with perfect coaching and staying only on green slopes or flatter until perfection was achieved....

 

[Prosper]

Coming in late to this discussion and have only read the 1st two pages of the thread. 1st time on skis was the 8th grade ski trip to Villa Olivia in the well known ski Mecca of Bartlett, IL. Skied about 10 times until my early 20s and then was bitten by the ski bug. For the next 15 or so years skied 6-8 days a year split between a few days at the ski areas drivable from Chicago and 1-2 long weekend ski trips out west. Getting 10 days on the snow was a banner year. I’d take a lesson every year or two and did JH Steep and Deep once. I read a lot on Epicski and tried to implement that technique into my skiing. Then moved to the Denver area 7+ years ago and have been skiing 25-30 days a year since. I’m a pretty good athlete and found that it allowed me to ski more advanced terrain more easily and quickly by compensating with strength and athleticism rather that good technique. I think that being a good athlete doesn’t necessarily make one a better skier technically since there is very little about skiing that is intuitive. A good athlete who is willing to learn and receives good instruction or coaching will certainly progress more rapidly than those with less natural ability. Otherwise, without good instruction, the athleticism will provide strength and compensatory movements and allow for progression to more difficult terrain more easily. If a good athlete is trying to become a better skier by observing good technical skiers, some of those movement patterns might be able to be picked up just by observation. For me, progressing to become a better skier technically has required that I focus more on good skiing rather than breaking bad habits. If I find a movement pattern that works well, it’s not too difficult for me to incorporate it into my skiing as long as I understand it well, understand how to perform it physically and am diligent about doing it over and over again. That’s where the athleticism helps me now.

 

[Dr. Mark]

I started late (17) and for years only skied one weekend per year. Then graduate school put the kibosh on any skiing at all for years. When I came back to the sport, skis were shaped. That change rejuvenated my skiing. I think I turn five times more than I did on long, straight skis. It's become so much easier, with the economy of effort that comes with practice. Skiing 30 days or more per season helped a lot, too. I see that I am not the only one who skis better in his sixties than he did in his thirties.

 

[SSSdave]

I think more important than when one started skiing is growing brain neuron connections between our afferent perceptual proprioceptors in muscles, joints, body form, and ear balance senses, with our efferent muscle motor controls neuron memories. Neuroscience has come to understand our considerable neuroplasticity causes changes in our brain connectivity throughout our lives through learning and repetition. Thus whenever one begins skiing regularly at whatever age, it is key to repeat good form and technique that then becomes movement and motion that can be repeated at will because one recognizes the feelings to perform such movements. Thus a 35 year old that skis a lot from the get go with good technique is in a relatively shorter time going to ski better than someone that has skied for decades with less than ideal technique because their brain has grown the afferent to efferent motor control connections and memory to do so that does not care about how long that took to do so.

That noted, it is also true if one does not yearly use those muscle memories, they will over years degenerate. And that use it or lose it becomes more important as we move into our later middle age years. Thus best to be a skiing enthusiastic for continuous years after gaining such skills.

 

[abcd]

Started late, when I was around 30. First slow, but for the last few years was trying to do about 50 days a year. About 20 day a year include me taking a class or receiving some kind of coaching.
Still not giving up hopes to dig myself out of an intermediate rut, but it has been quite challenging to achieve so far. Not being involved in any sport requiring coordination as a kid certainly doesn't help.
I skied with some people who started in their 40s and later and while they made admirable progress and receive exceptional coaching, getting to advanced level seem like an uphill battle that is very hard to win

 

[luliski]

8th grade ski trip to Villa Olivia

Ah, Villa Olivia! That was the first place I skied in the midwest after moving from Switzerland to Chicagoland. Had some fun times there in junior high as well. All I did all day was go over jumps.

 

[rj2]

I started skiing in my late teens and stopped in my late 20s. Just a few lessons, mostly chasing after faster friends. Used kick turns to survive the namesake KT-22. Restarted a few years ago by slowly skiing blues with my wife at N*. Averaging about 15 days/year. Definitely more cautious on the slopes.

Surprisingly pleased at 57 that on the first day of the season I could ski black runs all day at Kirkwood with someone half my age. Just enough out of my comfort zone to rediscover capabilities.

Current skis remind me of my first oversized tennis racquet, perimeter weighted golf clubs, or 29er mountain bike. You really can buy a game.

Migrating from Atomic Bionic 203s to my Kästle FX85 HP has been easy. The skis turn themselves. I feel like I'm skating while carving. My main focus is vision along with keeping my feet apart. And my Lange RXs fit way better than the XLR. Although I wish I kept my padded ski sweater for the imaginary gates and après ski. Still have the poles.

I've really tried to stay active and use skiing as cross-training for mountain biking. Moving your weight around, angulation, and vision are similar. Plus it's fewer squats I have to do in the gym and counts as altitude training.