When your a dad will you ski park?

JEWmanji

JEWmanji

Member
I saw a abunch of 45 year old guys slaying the park the other day and it got me thinking, will I do that when I'm an oldy?
 
Assuming your knees and back are still functioning without any complications, I doubt you'll be willing to risk that when you get older.

You're not going to bounce back like you used to. I'm realizing that now and I'm only in my mid 20's.
 
I have a guy who works on my park crew, he's in his 50s, he has 3 kids, one of them was home from college yesterday lapping the park he helped build with him. If that's not awesome, I don't know what is.
 
Im 40. And a dad. Ski about 5 days a week. 95% park. But I ski Ohio so there isnt much else to ski anyway. As someone who used to ski moguls every day before parks even existed, I find park skiing relatively low impact. I dont get "techy" on the rails. Just sliding and regular or switch off is good enough for me. Lots of straight airs and 3's because they're easy and fun. And because I have a real job, and car payments, and a house mortgage that doesn't get paid if I get hurt. Skiing doesn't end at 28. You get smarter about when you can huck yourself, but more importantly when not to. I have no plan to ever not ski park. If you do it right, it doesn't hurt.
 
I plan on skiing park for a long time. My progression peaked at like 20, and then I went off to college and have not been skiing as much. Next year I would like to get back to the level I was at, and then keep progressing as long as my body can handle it. I'm sure one day i'll have to mellow out a bit, but i'll be happy just doing big floaty shit in the park.
 
Am dad, was skiing park last weekend at TAFT. Enjoyed it thoroughly.

They key about getting older and skiing park is basically two factors:

1) Health. You need to spend a lot more effort keeping your body in shape. Mine has how do we say - degraded? Too much NS desk work has left my trick bag a little less gnarly than it used to be. Some exercise and training can easily get you back in shape though so that depends on your own personal level of activity.

2) Risk vs. Reward. Trying a dub cork 12 for the first time? I think not. If I were to get hurt I have responsibilities that would be affected. Break a hand? No emails or NSing. Blow a knee? Can't help carry the kids around the house / do regular house maintenance chores. However, this doesn't mean that you have to avoid the park like the plague, it just might mean that keeping with the tricks that you know and are fun with the occasional scare yourself for the fun of it situation is all good. Sliding a box or a small rail? Who gives a shit, its easy.

The reason we haven't seen as much of this in the past is that park was so foreign to adult skiers that for the most part they decided not to learn. However as a new generation of park skiers ages (those of us that were 15-20 in '98 are now between 32 and 37) you'll see more dudes that just rip a few park laps because its fun. Its not like most park tricks are more demanding on your body than skiing glades, ripping bumps or skiing some steep gnar, so you can wholly enjoy the experience I'd imagine well into your golden years - though perhaps with a dramatically lower expectation of progression.

Park makes a lot of mountains super fun when conditions aren't conducive to a massive pow day. I fully intend on keeping it up, and hell lately I've been trying to train up a bit so I might even be able to dust off a few of my old tricks.
 
Im 28 now and I feel better than I did when I was in my early 20s. The key is living a super healthy lifestyle, eating right and drinking tons of water. Stretching and staying active are so key. the reason so many older folks look like death is cause they sit at a desk all day and let themselves go to hell, and then when they're not doing that they are doing other unhealthy things like drinking, smoking cigs, and taking "meds" to get them right, all while living off a shitty american diet. I was certain I was pretty done skiing after I blew my knee at 18, those following seasons were painful. It all comes back though if you want it, Im having more fun skiing now and getting tricks back I haven't done in years, and learning new ones. Skiing is the most rightious lifestyle!
 
My moms boyfriend is like 50 and he hits jumps and hicks some cliffs, today he was saying he wants to start doing 3s again
 
Not sure about the father part but I just wanna go back in 15-20 years to my home mountain and see how its grown and see how the park is and how good the kids are.
 
I'm 36 years old, and have 3 sons 8,10, and 12. I ski more park now than I ever have year by year. I even have a backyard setup that the kids ski on every day with a box, a 12' up rail and some pretty decent kickers ta boot! It's more fun for me now, sharing my love for skiing with them and helping them push themselves.
 
I'm a dad. I'm 48. I know this isn't badass by NS standards, but I still get stoked when I learn something new. When you coach you don't get a chance to just work on your own stuff as much. I was hoping that Denver would get dumped on again so I could set my PVC pipe up in my front yard, but sadly there hasn't been that much snow. I did get my first legit nose butter 3 this weekend. This was actually our second day in the park this season.

 
I'm assuming the people who replied to the poll and said yes are under 18. If my knee's and back are still halfway decent i might hit a box or a 15 footer. Most likely wont be alive/near a terrain park by that time though.
 
I don't plan on having kids anyway but if I knock a girl up, lets just say I know what to do.

Also riding park till the day I day whether that's tomorrow or 50 years from now.
 
My Dad was flying down some glades at 59 at jay. His biggest problem was his skis were too long (riding son straight 210s).

All depends on the progression of the ski technology to say wether or not I will ski park.
 
dont see any other way... im gonna be 30 in 3 months and nailed my first disaster 630 at northstar a few days ago. a lot of my friends have already fallen out of skiing, but the ones still shredding are in it for life
 
me and my dad took a spin through Neff land last year, lots of spread eagles off of the jumps. hes done plenty of hotdoggin in the 70's/80's throughout Michigan/the Midwest and taught us all how to ski, so he can go shred all the groomers and bumps he wants.
 
13302072:DeebieSkeebies said:
me and my dad took a spin through Neff land last year, lots of spread eagles off of the jumps. hes done plenty of hotdoggin in the 70's/80's throughout Michigan/the Midwest and taught us all how to ski, so he can go shred all the groomers and bumps he wants.
Click to expand...

FUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKing tablet keeps fuckkin up,

anyways. to touch up on being old, its a mindset to some, there are some fucking jacked old dudes out there in the ski world that still put in tons of work, and have been skiing longer than most of us have been alive. just go to any oldschool ski area like alta or something, you'll find old guys that skied the fuckin place when it first opened when they were little kids. its nuts.
 
I wouldnt mind being 78 and throwing a tripple backflip but dying mid air while my corpse completely sticks the landing
 
I'd love to be a grandpa skiing park but I don't know that I'll make it through the dad stage but I'll sure as hell try

Also, as a dad I'm going to be a real stickler on grammar especially if my kid ever ends up on NS...so please know that it should be you're and not your
 
It's partly about age and health. But it's more about interest and novelty. When you get to that age you'll be looking for something different than skiing 10% of the mountain over and over. That can stay interesting for a few years, but not necessarily for a few decades. Steeps, trees, long tours, complicated approaches, or other things make for a good change of pace and usually end up holding your attention and interest much longer.

So enjoy the park as long as you find it interesting and exciting. Meanwhile always keep your eyes and mind open for new experiences.
 
As a 20 year old skier this thread made me realize how I need to enjoy being able to learn new tricks and bounce back after falling. Before I know it there will be a day when I am not be able to get pitted and come out unscathed. Enjoy everyday skiing as though it is your last.
 
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