People posting "I've gotten old, I'm 25" makes me laugh. I'm young enough to still remember the kid who I was at that age. Just kind of getting to learn what it means to be an adult and how to become one. 25 isn't old, even 50 isn't old. 75 is old, but if you take good care of yourself, you're still able to ski.
I'm older than Tanner Hall and only a few months younger than Candide Thovex. Started skiing at 34, just turned 39 in December, having my fifth season atm. My kids are older than some of the young guns of NS. Haven't hit a level yet where the risks are mad high compared to the rewards, but if you start this late, you obviously aren't going to be on par with people less than half of your age. Accepting that has helped me a ton, and led me to focus on style & comfort in the few tricks I've gotten good at.
For me, there's still plenty of things to achieve in learning tricks & honing them. It is mentally different headspace than for a teenager for sure, but for like 99% it's just between your ears. People play in NHL deep into their 30's on a regular basis, some even to their 40's. Yes, it's a different sport but it's also WAY more competitive and physically tolling than skiing park.
Just like the current Instagram/TikTok meme says I don't have any hobbies actually. This isn't my hobby, a hobby is something you do on the side. This is not a side project. This consumes my entire life. I'd say eating is my hobby.
The older you get, the higher price you need to pay to keep doing what you want to do, if you want to do it comprehensively. The harder it becomes to recover from physical load & injuries but that's how life goes. You need to focus on general 24/7 physical & mental athleticism, sleep, food, gym, stretching, etc. to be able to ski park in a progression oriented way.
Mental athleticism is picking your battles and winning them all. Push the send button only if you're 100% sure you are in the correct headspace & physical state to go for it and willing to take the risk of having a season ending injury if something goes wrong. In my books that means skiing for 2-3 hours at max per day and for 3-4 days a week on average.
Learning new things and especially overcoming fear is way more rewarding at this age compared to younger version of me. The prize is divided to a long period of incremental progression of which you can have a slice everyday on the hill and not a two minutes adrenaline rush from not dying on a new dub attempt. Hats off to the young senders, not mocking you in any way. Just stating the obvious difference.
The Finnish park skiing scene is mostly filled with youngsters just like everywhere else, but from my perspective there isn't an age gap until from like 30 and up. There's people older than me every once in a while but I'm definitely always in the oldest age group and most of the time one of, if not the oldest guy ar the park.
. That's not what friends do.
