How long can freeskiers do what they do?

BigPurpleSkiSuit

BigPurpleSkiSuit

Active member
Candide is still sending at 41, Mike Douglas launched a D-Spin at 50, Tom Wallisch can still do anything he wants, Tanner Hall is still doing crazy stuff in the streets and it feels like many of the rippers I know from the bird are as strong as they ever were going into late 30s.

I remember meeting one of the old pioneers of aerials in a cafe once and he couldn't walk well at 70, but gear and safety back then was way way less. Wondering at what age it really starts to change and drop off for folks.
 
I think 45 maybe 50 is the limit for going hard. As long as you stay fit and don't get injured i don't see any reason why skiers can't keep pushing it into their mid 30s at least
 
Its about soul skiing at that age. Also, they kept up with it on the physical shape aspect. You can see these guys working out at the gym in the summer, doing physio and eating well to be able to keep skiing at an older age.

getting older doesnt mean devolving is obscelitness. Glen Plake and Seth Morrisson shifted toward safety and theory, JF Cusson is coaching the Canadian freestyle team, others built companies to pay for what they love. The top pros of our era arent in front of the lens anymore, they are supporting skiing!
 
I think as long as your mental game keeps improving at the rate or faster than your physical decline you can keep improving. Like Candide and Tanner in their late 30's/early 40's, I think their risk management and planning game is way better than when they were wild young bucks, and it shows because they're both still better than they ever were.

Like I specifically think of this Candide clip: https://www.instagram.com/p/C2pnmuWtFUB/

The more you watch it, the more you realize its just perfectly planned and perfectly suited to Candide's strengths; one of his signature tricks he has on lock, a massive transfer that's relying on his decades of freeride experience to nail the speed and in-run, and relative to the rest of the face his landing zone looks a fair amount safer, he's past most of the cliff bands and there's ample untracked runout. I mean heck even spotting that transfer is a crazy skill in its own.

I also think the other side of that coin is keeping your body in great shape as you age, even if you're only at 80-90% of your peak that's probably still enough IMO, and I think that's easily achievable in your 30's and probably even your 40's and maybe even 50's if you work hard for it
 
topic:BigPurpleSkiSuit said:
Candide is still sending at 41, Mike Douglas launched a D-Spin at 50, Tom Wallisch can still do anything he wants, Tanner Hall is still doing crazy stuff in the streets and it feels like many of the rippers I know from the bird are as strong as they ever were going into late 30s.

I remember meeting one of the old pioneers of aerials in a cafe once and he couldn't walk well at 70, but gear and safety back then was way way less. Wondering at what age it really starts to change and drop off for folks.
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Candide has had some fucked slams w/o a helmet and is still going strong. Some people are just built different I guess.
 
topic:BigPurpleSkiSuit said:
Candide is still sending at 41, Mike Douglas launched a D-Spin at 50, Tom Wallisch can still do anything he wants, Tanner Hall is still doing crazy stuff in the streets
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And I’m a noob but my knee is somehow fucked smh. Why god why :(

I wonder if a lot of it comes down to what you do outside skiing. Maybe these pros are keeping really good care of themselves in order to keep doing what they do.

I think yoga is the key

**This post was edited on Feb 19th 2024 at 7:40:16pm
 
This is me last winter. I turn 50 my next birthday. I keep the tricks simple and pick the better days for sending it….. but I’ve still got some left in the tank.

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14591940:isthiscorked said:
what kind of training do these goats go through to be able to send hard 40+ ??? need to get on that early
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Tanner Hall went into all that stuff on his bomb hole episode
 
As long as you respect your body and you stay healthy, you should be able to ski till your 70.

I met a guy at Red mountain a few weeks ago, he started skiing in his 40’s and is now 72. He skis every day for a few hours and goes to the gym every second day as well. Keep in mind he tends to keep the skis on the ground, but oh my he was quick and extremely playful in the trees.

If I am skiing in my 60’s, I’ll be happy.

Remember: If you don’t use it, you lose it.

**This post was edited on Feb 20th 2024 at 6:46:36am
 
The argument for tanner hall seems skewed a lil bit. The dude still rips like crazy, but half the time I get this feeling he could collapse at any moment. He gets a ton of injuries and can tell he's kind of stiffened up a bit. I mean, that tree crash from a lil bit ago seemed a bit far fetched.

I don't think age should be a limiting factor in skiing, but as you get old, I agree that itd be better to approach something smart instead of just going for it and seeing what happens.

When it comes to age though, I feel as though people will always desire skiing and fitness, but at one point later in life, things just start to fail. Its hard though because the skiing and discipline is so different nowadays that these people may still want to do crazy things into their 60s and 70s. Glen Plake is still doing some crazy stiff for his age. i can only imagine what will happen because in the flow state, these people only know one side of skiing and its the one where they did all these things with that itd be hard to see another aspect of the sport so maybe they just learn to slow down or the injuries keep coming even later in life.
 
14592078:JFU said:
As long as you respect your body and you stay healthy, you should be able to ski till your 70.

I met a guy at Red mountain a few weeks ago, he started skiing in his 40’s and is now 72. He skis every day for a few hours and goes to the gym every second day as well. Keep in mind he tends to keep the skis on the ground, but oh my he was quick and extremely playful in the trees.

If I am skiing in my 60’s, I’ll be happy.

Remember: If you don’t use it, you lose it.

**This post was edited on Feb 20th 2024 at 6:46:36am
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This so much. When you started and how long you’ve been skiing matters so much.

I skied as a kid from 5-9. Then didn’t ski again until into my 30’s. Now at 40 my knees feel fairly fresh.that 20+ years of abuse I missed out on helped me a lot and realistically will allow me to ski well into my 70’s ideally if I take care of myself.
 
I coach with a guy who's 40, and he can still rip the illest cork 9 of all time. Only downside though is he was barely able to walk for 3 days after trying it. I bet that with proper stretching and care of the body, Tom Wally will do a swub at 50.
 
I personally feel like just making turns and cruising is a good thing for longevity of skiing. Like sometimes just going out and ripping some groomers and making parallel turns that are wall-to-wall is just enough. You don't need to ski the big boy lines we dreamed-up as kids.
 
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