We have a new favorite line of the week, from a story in the Edmonton Journal on octogenarian skiers: during the photo shoot for the story, 87-year-old Hanna Andersen “thinks about doing a jump, something she hasn’t done since she was 85….”*
Andersen is one of 20 over-80 skiers in Edmonton’s 400-member Rocky Mountain Seniors Ski Club. We also liked this line from the story, because it gives some historical context to the ski industry: “Many octogenarians…started skiing in the 1930s and 1940s before tow ropes, ski lifts and groomed runs were common.” If you were skiing before tow ropes, you are one of the originals.
Hot on the heels of the Edmonton paper, NPR had a story yesterday morning on Aspen’s fabled Bumps for Boomers classes. The report notes that the classes are beneficial for older skiers (anything that promises to teach you how to “ski for life” sounds good to us) and for the resorts. There’s the immediate hit to the top line that comes from a four-day, $1600 course, and the long-term benefit from a big demographic group that keeps coming back, with time and money to spend. NPR claims that 70 percent of older skiers come back after their first visit, and boomer visits to resorts have doubled over the past 15 years.
*(Until now, our favorite was from 83-year-old sailor Bill Cooper: “Anyone who says they love the sea is an idiot. If you are in love with someone you don’t expect them to creep up behind you and box you on the back of the head. It’s boats I love, not the sea.”)
Photo of Finnish cross-country skier Kalle Jalkanen at the 1936 Olympics (where he won a gold medal in the 4×10 km) scanned “from grandfather’s albums” by Jonverve, via Wikimedia Commons.
