 Poster: A snowHead
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| Whitegold wrote: |
The body is well into biological middle-age at 28.
Strength and balance have peaked and are starting to decline.
28 is right at the very upper limit of when someone should take up a new sport. |
How are you getting on in the care home? 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I will try not to take offence at the implication I am totally past it and should have been in my bathchair for years by now! In my opinion nobody is ever too old to have a a go at anything they feel inspired to try - you're only as old as you feel (which makes me about 21!). I'm having huge fun learning to ski & wish I had discovered it younger - no, I won't ever be a super-star, but I will be a safe and in due course essentially competent driver of two planks (not a tray!)
So, who's the oldest beginner you've ever known? I know someone who is still a regular skier in his mid 80s having started aged 63.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Whitegold wrote: |
| Axsman wrote: |
| Whitegold wrote: |
Tbh, the dude is getting too old to take up skiing. You should encourage him to board. It is much easier.
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at 28????!!!! If you're not joking or trolling you're barking  |
The body is well into biological middle-age at 28.
Strength and balance have peaked and are starting to decline.
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Actually, if you have maintained your fitness level, your body is just about at its absolute peak at that age.
In the majority of professional sports, that is about the age you will find most top level champions.
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28 is right at the very upper limit of when someone should take up a new sport.
Time is no longer on your side.
You need to pick the easiest sport available. That is snowboarding. |
I started skiing at 38, and know a few people who started later than I did. It was not difficult to learn.
There was a thread recently about people starting in their late 50's.
Yes, if you are starting that late, you will have to make allowances for the fact you won't be quite as flexible, and minor injuries will take longer to heal. But at the same time, general life experience should have taught you a lot about recognizing your limitations, and working within them, so you will probably be less likley to get yourself hurt by thinking you are invulnerable.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Thanks again Just shown him all the posts and is coming along to the idea of private lessons. He is very gun ho, and does extreme mountain biking and Karate, he thinks that a day of private lesson and he will ok. I have booked him a 2 hour lesson at the snow dome for his birthday at the end of the month to see how he gets on.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| jtobin03 wrote: |
| ... he thinks that a day of private lesson and he will ok. |
I wouldn't want to do a whole day of a private lesson. Too tiring, mentally and physically.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Plus, a whole day of private lessons will cost a lot of money. Best to do 2 hours, then practice what you've been taught. But if he does extreme mountain biking and karate he won't be afraid of a bit of pain, which is a good thing! But is he aware that he is probably a bit too old to take up a new sport??
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| Whitegold wrote: |
The body is well into biological middle-age at 28.
Strength and balance have peaked and are starting to decline.
28 is right at the very upper limit of when someone should take up a new sport.
Time is no longer on your side.
You need to pick the easiest sport available. That is snowboarding. |
Blatant trolling, but a few interesting points to note on the subject:-
1) Although your speed and agility might well have peaked by your late 20s, your strength and stamina (with regular training of course) can peak much later, often in your mid to late 30s. Look at the Tour de France for example, not many winners of that are in their early 20s. Same goes for serious mountain climbers, rowers, mountain bikers etc. For skiing I would say stamina is more important than speed, which is why I'm still improving my skiing at 40 after nearly 30 years of learning. I don't feel any disadvantages due to my age yet.
2) Did you see the human Spiderman on TV the other day? He was in his 50s I think (late 40s at youngest) and he wasn't exactly struggling with his fitness or balance!
3) I agree kids learn sports much faster than adults, so starting any sport later in life is going to make it far more difficult to reach a high level. But providing you haven't totally let yourself go, 28 is hardly the oldest age you should consider taking up skiing. You could easily start skiing at 28 and qualify as a low level instructor within a couple of seasons if you really pushed yourself.
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jtobin03, When I was skiing in March there was a couple in the same chalet who had never skied before. He was a experienced mountain walker and biker and a rock climber who said he expected to pick up skiing in a couple of days. The outcome at the end of the week was that he had a great deal of trouble getting past the snowplough stage and was very frustrated at his very slow progress to the point that he had almost given up whereas his partner who was not a out door person was making very good progress and cannot wait for her next skiing holiday. I would book your friend into ski school until he has mastered the snowplough and the traverse and then 2 hr 1 to 1 private lessons.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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riverman, it's interesting, isn't it, how differently people take to skiing, and why? Anyone who expected to "pick up skiing in a couple of days" though, is in for a bit of a shock. I do think that sometimes women are much better at taking instruction - they don't think they know it all, so they listen, and do as they're told! I would add side-slipping to the skills a new skier should master before setting off round the hills without an instructor. I was very pleased that our beginner friends, last week, were taught side-slipping in lesson 3. they didn't master it, far from it, but at least the instructor had given them the rudiments and stressed the importance of being able to side-slip down slopes too steep for slow snowplough turns.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| uktrailmonster wrote: |
| Whitegold wrote: |
The body is well into biological middle-age at 28.
Strength and balance have peaked and are starting to decline.
28 is right at the very upper limit of when someone should take up a new sport.
Time is no longer on your side.
You need to pick the easiest sport available. That is snowboarding. |
Blatant trolling, but a few interesting points to note on the subject:-
1) Although your speed and agility might well have peaked by your late 20s, your strength and stamina (with regular training of course) can peak much later, often in your mid to late 30s. Look at the Tour de France for example, not many winners of that are in their early 20s. Same goes for serious mountain climbers, rowers, mountain bikers etc. For skiing I would say stamina is more important than speed, which is why I'm still improving my skiing at 40 after nearly 30 years of learning. I don't feel any disadvantages due to my age yet.
2) Did you see the human Spiderman on TV the other day? He was in his 50s I think (late 40s at youngest) and he wasn't exactly struggling with his fitness or balance!
3) I agree kids learn sports much faster than adults, so starting any sport later in life is going to make it far more difficult to reach a high level. But providing you haven't totally let yourself go, 28 is hardly the oldest age you should consider taking up skiing. You could easily start skiing at 28 and qualify as a low level instructor within a couple of seasons if you really pushed yourself. |
1. There is little comparison between spinning a few pedals round on a bike and balancing confidently on two skinny planks over highly unpredictable terrain at good speed.
2. Spiderman is doing fewer climbs and giving up more often nowadays. He had to abandon midclimb his last attempt in London. His skills are fading fast.
3. The later you start skiing, the more likely you will be consigned to a lifetime of mediocrity. Becoming a "low-level instructor" makes you sound like a loser who could never quite make it to the top.
The point stands. Boarding is easier. It is much quicker to learn. Anyone close to 30 or above should start with a tray, not sticks.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Whitegold wrote: |
| spinning a few pedals round on a bike |
Two is the usual number.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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rob@rar, thats exactly what happened to me, I went with 3 experienced skiers and was a bit gung ho trying not to slow them down too much and then what happened....had a massive fall at speed totally out of control and totally out of my depth, decided this is perhaps one sport not meant for me afterall and also decided that once safely down the hill I will get my bag grab a taxi to the airport and leave them to it...on the way down we stopped at one or two huts for refreshment(nothing but my ego was broken by the way) so that by the time we got to the bottom I was already looking forward to tommorrow on the slopes only this time under instruction. Which I did and on each subsequent day until on our last day of 4 I was able to join them on a complete circuit of the resort only this time I was able to exert some control still had lots of tumbles mind you!!!
PS I was 51, it was only 2 years ago and now I am totally smitten, 3 trips this season!!!!
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
| It is much quicker to learn. |
Whitegold is right. Boarding is certainly quicker to learn (though also more painful to learn; as an OAP and beginner snowboarder I bow to nobody in my knowledge and experience of this!). But that doesn't mean that anyone older can't learn to ski well, provided they take good instruction, practice a lot, and are fit. At 61 I am fitter than some fat, paunchy, mid 30s who drink too much beer and haven't seen certain parts of their anatomy for a few years... And I have skied with some young people who have been skiing for some years, and are hopeless, precisely because of lack of said instruction. Although there are statements which hold generally true at a population level (older people are stiffer, more afraid of falling and slower to learn) they do not necessarily hold true for individuals. Some 50 year olds will learn to ski quicker than some 20 year olds. What is undoubtedly true for everyone is that we are all capable of doing far more than we actually do. Experiencing something new, especially new learning, is the best way of keeping your brain young. New learning requiring a high level of brain/body coordination is especially good and keeps the body young too.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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skisimon, Yep, I can plenty of uses for both of them
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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tell him to make friends in the ski school and hang out with them at least for the first few afternoons. give him an hour a day to send him off on some runs to practice.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
| Sorry pamW but with respect, 'too old to take up skiing at 28' is pure unadulterated bollux. |
quite agree, having taken it up at 40. However, I was only referring to Whitegold's contention that snowboarding is quicker to learn than skiing. It is, because there is no equivalent of a "snowplough turn" and because you can't do it slowly. You just have to chuck yourself down the mountain. Maybe learning skiing on a monoski would be comparable! A reasonable able and motivated (not a wimp) beginner snowboarder can be boarding red runs in decent style at the end of a week, having fallen over a lot. Beginner skiers can wimp around the mountain getting nowhere for weeks, not falling over, but still not be able to put in a half decent turn. It's also true that learning boarding is more painful, but that's not what the man said (he has to be a man, don't you think? )
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pam w, Fair points and based on the experience of the kids I agree that it is easier to get to grips with reds and blacks on a board (basically in the early days they just side slide everything).But my argument with he of the contentious remarks was his assertion that 28 is to old to learn to ski - utter tosh and piffle!
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| Quote: |
A reasonable able and motivated (not a wimp) beginner snowboarder can be boarding red runs in decent style at the end of a week, having fallen over a lot. Beginner skiers can wimp around the mountain getting nowhere for weeks, not falling over, but still not be able to put in a half decent turn
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10 years ago pam w I used to think the same thing, but with the new gear skiing has got a lot easier than it was. I learned to ski in the early '80s, when an "advanced" skier was somebody who could ski parallel, and it might take you 8 weeks to get there. Only racers and Ali Ross could carve... it's definitely different now!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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There is no such thing as a maximum age to start a new sport, anyone who believes there is is cleary 12!
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Plake, new ski gear certainly enables folk to ski better, quicker, than when I learnt (also in the 'eighties) but no way does it guarantee that people do so. You only have to watch from a chairlift! There are still just as many ways to do it wrong, extensively demonstrated by people who don't seem to have taken any lessons, or not for years. There are also some ways to do snowboarding wrong (wrenching the board around, rather than foot steering, etc) but not nearly as many, and that phase usually doesn't last too long, judging by the kids I've been watching round here this morning. Little kids, who can't have been boarding long, looking really great.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Another vote for ski school. If you ski with him you'll spend 95% of your holiday waiting for him and that is just not fair on you. If you feel like compromising by skiing with him in the afternoon - thats up to you.
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