My plan for after closing up my business is to be mobile and follow the seasons traveling to lots of different places. Skiing will be a common theme in the places I choose to visit.
-
For more information on how to avoid pop-up ads and still support SkiTalk click HERE.
You can't just ski everyday!
- Thread starter Guy in Shorts
- Start date
...and on bluebird days...and when friends are in town and want to ski...and when the sun comes up...and...
This post of mine is a little bit off track
Skiing as many days in a season as possible is something I certainly aspire to do..
I'm 57 , recently retired and need to get on to it sooner rather than later
I could do it at my local mountain in New Zealand but it is only 700mts vert and 500 hectares along with a half hour minimum drive each way
The most I've done there was 35 days in one season.
It's cheap skiing there ,a Life time pass cost $4k 10 yrs ago
Besides ,I have skied all over it hundreds of times already so I have been thinking about heading to the States or Canada for a season
Where would the ideal place be ? Where would you go?
SLC or Summit County maybe for the variety that is handy?
I would need small 1 bed room furnished accommodation, a car ? or local transport ?
Where is the longest open ski resort ?
What is there to do on a day off ?
Oh ,the list of questions ...
Skiing as many days in a season as possible is something I certainly aspire to do..
I'm 57 , recently retired and need to get on to it sooner rather than later
I could do it at my local mountain in New Zealand but it is only 700mts vert and 500 hectares along with a half hour minimum drive each way
The most I've done there was 35 days in one season.
It's cheap skiing there ,a Life time pass cost $4k 10 yrs ago
Besides ,I have skied all over it hundreds of times already so I have been thinking about heading to the States or Canada for a season
Where would the ideal place be ? Where would you go?
SLC or Summit County maybe for the variety that is handy?
I would need small 1 bed room furnished accommodation, a car ? or local transport ?
Where is the longest open ski resort ?
What is there to do on a day off ?
Oh ,the list of questions ...
Last edited:
I'd suggest starting your own thread - you're likely to get TONS of useful info. There may be similar threads on here somewhere too.
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2017
- Posts
- 1,311
Apologies for only skimming through the thread.
At first I thought the OP was going to get into the idea of budgeting Jim and affordability once retired. Instead that wasn't the case.
But with that in mind first you would have to live within a practical distance of a skiing. And even then is it affordable.
Assuming all is good ncluding health and you don't have help your dual working married kids raise your grandkids I can't honestly say I'd be skiing all the time.
I think there could certainly be such a thing as too much too often with just about anything we do.
Then again I suppose this can also be geographic too. I mean the Poconos can get boring pretty quickly vs say living near a much more dominating big resort out in so called ski country.
The views, the nature, the snow quality and amount, the crowd size, the general behavior of that crowd, etc..etc..i think would all weigh in as to just how much total enjoyment you have and how long you could go before it would ever become too much.
At first I thought the OP was going to get into the idea of budgeting Jim and affordability once retired. Instead that wasn't the case.
But with that in mind first you would have to live within a practical distance of a skiing. And even then is it affordable.
Assuming all is good ncluding health and you don't have help your dual working married kids raise your grandkids I can't honestly say I'd be skiing all the time.
I think there could certainly be such a thing as too much too often with just about anything we do.
Then again I suppose this can also be geographic too. I mean the Poconos can get boring pretty quickly vs say living near a much more dominating big resort out in so called ski country.
The views, the nature, the snow quality and amount, the crowd size, the general behavior of that crowd, etc..etc..i think would all weigh in as to just how much total enjoyment you have and how long you could go before it would ever become too much.
When I posted way earlier about my 100+ day seasons, I should have mentioned that the ski area was between the house and the Post Office Box. Handy excuse, as long as I was going to get the mail, why not take a few (or more) runs?
Yeah I let myself get carried away with um, myself and keep a goal of getting a place at Kton but really hoping all the stars will align and we just go out West instead.
Every time we go ski out there my wife and I say forget Kton and let's just move out West in retirement but too many factors at play. A guy can dream though!
It's nice to dream...
but my wife and I made the decision to get a place at Killington precisely because we knew that trips out west or to Europe just weren't in the cards for the time being with no real ability to see when our circumstances would change in the future. And we wanted to up our ski days per year while we are still "young" enough to really enjoy them. Waiting until retirement has a funny way of backfiring on people, so we just went for it. The plan is to go up for prolonged periods, and likely stay during the core snowy season, and ski mostly mid-week to avoid the infamous crowds on the weekends. While working, this will have to wait, but I had more days in this season before the end of January than ever before. Previously, we would ski the Poconos on day trips, get a ski week at Sunday River (great bargain, at least when we did it with lessons included), and then do a long weekend with friends and college aged kids at Mt Snow, Killington, Elk, or Seven Springs (close to Pitt, Ohio State). Kids are out of college so liberated from that limitation and expense, and they can stay with us at Killington if they want to ski a big resort.
Listen to your wife. They are always right.
We started skiing SLC in 1981. Bought a place by Stratton in '83. We were in our twenties. Had visions of a quiet retirement in SVT. As we aged, Mamie figured out she didn't really like to be tied down to one place and ski the same hill over and over again. Now, we pick a different resort each season. A few season long road trip mixed in is what keeps her happy.
Stay loose and don't stare too far into the future. You may be seeing things that aren't there.
Listen to your wife. They are always right.
We started skiing SLC in 1981. Bought a place by Stratton in '83. We were in our twenties. Had visions of a quiet retirement in SVT. As we aged, Mamie figured out she didn't really like to be tied down to one place and ski the same hill over and over again. Now, we pick a different resort each season. A few season long road trip mixed in is what keeps her happy.
Stay loose and don't stare too far into the future. You may be seeing things that aren't there.
Sage advice, sir. Thanks. Tough to do as I'm sure you know.
That was our plan originally but it seems we are spending every winter in the same place, Whitefish. The combination of affordability and good skiing has made it a no brainer. But I am interested in hearing how you view the different areas and what your priorities are. For instance I have skied Alta and love it but I would never consider living in SLC for any period of time.
Done
We're cutting out all the middle men and looking at planes......
Thanks! Can't say anyone said I inspired them recently!
Skiing into your 70s at a reasonably high level is matter of good health, especially your knees. I have been lucky in that regard. Still love to ski bumps (as long as they are soft and not too big). And able to do some hiking in the Rockies at 12,000 ft to get to the good stuff. Since I started skiing 60+ days a season at 60, I've actually seen my skiing improve. I can ski stuff I would have passed on when in my 50s. And I am convinced that staying active is the key to warding off old age as long as possible. Use it or lose it.
Can’t really help you on the resort selection process. I just do what the boss (Mamie) tells me. I drive the car and carry the bags.
On a more serious note. Both of us are decent skiers. We like steeps, bumps, tree and chutes. Any combination thereof will float our boat also. We are not that sensitive to snow condition. We’ll ski almost any kind of snow. Softer snow is generally a plus.
That said, our preferences diverge from there. I like to ski while Mamie likes variety. She likes the travelling and different places more than I do. She handles all the tasks related to lodging while I cover the logistic end.
We live in NYC the rest of the year so we are pretty busy with stuffs that goes on around us when we are home. While on the road during the winter, we focus and concentrate mostly on skiing. We are simple folks and it doesn’t take much too keep us entertained. I have to say it is really nice when we luck into a local community with a great vibe like Taos, but that is not always necessary for us.
Since we generally log 100+ days per season and have a preference for more challenging terrain. That sets an initial requirement for a pass or passes that allows us “unlimited” days at a resort or several resorts. The requirement for interesting terrain severely limits the set for “home base” resort. So far, our past home base resorts list includes Taos, Squaw, Snowbird and Whistler.
To keep Mamie from going stir crazy, we also incorporate a road trip component on top of our extended stay at the home base resort of the year. Snowbird was our home base for 2014. We also incorporated 1-1/2 weeklong trip to Jackson and a three weekslong trip that covered Jackson, Sun Valley and Mammoth.
The advent of multi-resort passes has piqued Mamie’s interest on the concept of season long road trips.
We had the Epic Pass for couple seasons when Andrew was in high school around 2010. The lack of challenging terrain at most of the included resorts eliminated it from consideration.
Couple season back, we had a Taos pass, RMSP+ and the Max Pass add on. We covered 14K miles and hit 13 resorts. Some multiple times. Mamie still considered that season as one of the best for her. Next year, we’ll be travelling with the Ikon pass. It’ll be interest winter, but first we’ll be doing four to five week of spring skiing at Squaw and Mammoth with it this season.
I know it’s difficult to get out of a rut. Sometimes it is down right scary.
Jot down your priorities, stand back and look at it. Things will become clearer. Or not.
@KingGrump what a cool way to live. If there was a tv show about your winters, we'd watch it ... (especially the Taos episodes, dying to go there...)
Thanks. It is not as exciting as it seems. Just lots of skiing. Interrupted by some ski tuning. Hardly worth a TV series.
Thanks for the detailed post above KingGrump. You have chosen a very different route than I have. My winters consist of 2-week stays each month at our condo at Killington and 3-week trip each February to Summit County Colorado. The condo is in a short-term rental program so is available for rental when we are not there. The rental income in February usually covers our condo rental in Colorado. The selection of Summit County was based on the cheap passes, variety of resorts within a short drive, reliable snow, and ability to stay right in the mountains at a reasonable cost. I love the steeps at A-Basin, the upper bowls at Breck, and the trees in the Outback at Keystone. Copper has a nice mix of everything and my wife (who not longer skis) likes to snowshoe there. Wife and I also enjoy the breaks at home on Long Island to catch up on projects and do something different than get up early every morning and go skiing or snowshoeing.
Interesting. Do you pick the two weeks at Kton each month at the start of the season so you can rent out the other two weeks or do you make decisions on a month to month basis?
What do you do with the snow piling up at your place back on the Island? Do you have someone to remove it for you? That's something I think about and how it could possibly complicate things.
Sponsor
Staff online
-
Jim KenneyTravel Correspondent -
dbostedoAsst. Gathermeister
Members online
- Jim Kenney
- sabotabbster
- ckmattix
- ron g
- mattfredricks
- JESinstr
- Nooms
- dbostedo
- truk8
- Drahtguy Kevin
- crgildart
- Doug Briggs
- wgo
- Peb75
- Yepow
- RTsucks
- BLiP
- precisionchiro
- Johnny V.
- Scruffy
- GB_Ski
- cjm
- Dayanalat
- Coloskier
- AlexisLD
- deadheadskier
- Schussboelie
- finestouncemy
- AngryAnalyst
- Turoa Kiwi
- smv
- Petrus
- scvaughn
- Varmintmist
- sparty
- Old Runner Frank
- Living Proof
- Peakviper
- wooglin
- Willyum215
- Mike Thomas
- aarghh
- butleri
- eric100
- David
- Victorrxh
- Zrxman01
- Gina D
- aveski
- KJL