Skiing Retiree vs Non-retiree

[jimk]

I saw a post where Harvey mentioned his upcoming retirement and I thought it might be interesting to discuss the differences between skiing before and after retirement. For those not retired: What are your expectations for how your skiing will continue or change? For those who are retired: What is your reality, how did it differ from before, and do you have any lessons learned?

I could discuss this topic at great length, but here are some quick bullets:
-I fully retired six ski seasons ago at age 65, I'm 70 now. The toughest time for my skiing was late in my working career, approx age 55-65. Still in the weekend warrior mode, I wanted to pack a lot of skiing into every ski day and my body wasn't in good enough shape, so I was sore and had to fight through aches and fatigue to maximize weekends and one-week ski vacations.
-A great perk in retirement is that I can ski more often, but with less intensity. Skiing three or four hours at full bore, then quit and go back another day. Partial ski days are an old guy's best friend. In retirement, you have the time to ski yourself into shape over the course of a ski season. My ski days per season have doubled from 30ish to 60ish. I skied 70 days last season.
-I've had season passes for decades in my youth and old age, but for many years in between I did not have a season pass and skied on day-tickets. I find the mega-passes to be really fun in my retirement when I have time to visit many mountains and take full advantage of them.
-beware of too much of a good thing. I’ve found that I have to pace myself. Too many ski days in succession leaves an old body feeling tired and burned out. Having a non-skiing wife has possibly extended my ski career because I take almost half of my days off to do stuff with her. It recharges my batteries and I enjoy my next ski day more thoroughly.

 

[jasoncapecod]

I will be retiring before the 24/25 season and so will my wife. Like your wife my wife doesn't ski.
I don't think my ski days will change much. The first year of retirement will be adjustment. Getting used to spending money , not making money.
We will be 62..

 

[jimk]

I will be retiring before the 24/25 season and so will my wife. Like your wife my wife doesn't ski.
I don't think my ski days will change much. The first year of retirement will be adjustment. Getting used to spending money , not making money.
We will be 62..

Best wishes. Nice that you and wife get to go through the shift together. The freedom of being off the 9-5, Mon-Fri grind is very nice! I once had a barber make small talk and ask me, "what are you doing this weekend?" I told him nothing. Since everyday is a Saturday I usually stay home on Saturdays and go out more on weekdays when everything is less busy

One of my biggest adjustments in retirement was more give and take with my wife. I guess I had this fantasy that in retirement I'd be able to do anything I want, mostly sports activities (skiing, golf, biking, etc). The reality is I had to compromise and also do a lot of stuff my wife wanted such as gardening, home improvements/remodeling, church activities, shopping, etc. There is a worthwhile balance in all this. As I alluded to above, I'd have probably worn out or wrecked my body by now if I'd done nothing but sports and exercising the last six years.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I think JimK is one of the best examples of a great leap in conditioning that can happen in retirement with more time for exercise.

Before retirement I had 7 seasons after divorce averaging 45 days. Still, the first retirement season 2010-11was 71 days and I was in somewhat better shape.

I skied a day or two with JimK and we are very similar now despite his being in the mid-Atlantic skiing far fewer days on much less challenging mountains than me before retirement. Retirement has been great indeed for him.

I still usually ski full days with no wear and tear aches and pains. I may need a day off after a few strenuous days, which seems not to be necessary for Tseeb.

High effort skiing has become more difficult since age 70, but many of my contemporaries are slowing down much more. I’m trending like Garry Klassen, being more particular that expert terrain have excellent snow conditions or I will opt for something easier.

 

[Harvey]

This season will be a transition for me. Last day of work is 12/31/24, but I am sure I won't just walk out the door after 38 years.

And we are building a house.

After averaging 28 days over the last ten years, 100 days may be possible. 25/26 could be significantly more. I will exercise every day.

Going to be very interesting.

 

[jimk]

This season will be a transition for me. Last day of work is 12/31/24, but I am sure I won't just walk out the door after 38 years.

And we are building a house.

After averaging 28 days over the last ten years, 100 days may be possible. 25/26 could be significantly more. I will exercise every day.

Going to be very interesting.

Retiring and building/moving into a new house is exciting. I can't understand people who retire and are bored?!? Who can be bored when life is a permanent recess?
The new house will give you plenty to stay busy with associated projects and focus on the future. There will be little time to reflect on or miss your past life in the working world.
I was always one of those who worked to live, rather than lived to work.

A Most important underlying factor is to keep looking after your health, including annual check-ups.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

After averaging 28 days over the last ten years, 100 days may be possible.

I don't think my ski days will change much.

Funny to see two different expectations from soon-to-be-retired NYSers: Harvey looking to potentially hit triple figures and Jason, who's been skiing in the mid single digits in recent years (but lots of mountain biking and pickleball).

 

[Harvey]

The new house will give you plenty to stay busy with associated projects and focus on the future.

This seems likely to me too. We've got a view to (partially) clear. That will be really fun. How to get a distant view and still maintain (some) privacy from the road.

Plus we have 2 miles of single track / nordic that will need to be maintained and want to be improved. And likely modified for an electric UTV.

And 500 feet of driveway to plow.

There's a thread on house building in NYSB's forum, you can see some of my pics there.

I was always one of those who worked to live, rather than lived to work.

I used to live to work. It changed in October of 2010. I remember the moment. It was Saturday, and I was at work.

 

[Sbooker]

Being so far away from reliable snow conditions I don't think my days on skis will make a huge increase once I retire. I would expect my current approximately 20 days per year might jump to 30 or sometimes 40 as I will take longer trips. But other things will come into play that is likely to keep me and my wife from a lot of travel. We both have parents at about 80 years of age - some with ailing health. Secondly as my now late teenage children progress we'll no doubt be conscious of time with them and possible grandchildren. I have had thoughts of doing 'seasons' in the snow but I now know that is a little unrealistic. That said I'm 52 tomorrow so I've hopefully got 20 years to see how things pan out.
I don't expect or want to fully retire for some time but in about 3 years I plan to job share so I'll have 26 weeks each year to fill.

 

[EMSC]

There's a thread on house building in NYSB's forum, you can see some of my pics there.

Just a tiny bit larger than the old cabin

What timeline for occupancy? Obviously well along in the build, but also a very long ways to go on that build. Maybe by ~Nov? Relative to Gore and/or North Creek what direction is your land?

And 500 feet of driveway to plow.

I have one with over a 700 foot driveway. Good thing it's primarily a summer mtn cabin! Though I actually shoveled it once the first winter, before I had the means to do it otherwise!

I used to live to work. It changed in October of 2010. I remember the moment. It was Saturday, and I was at work.

I was always one of those who worked to live, rather than lived to work.

I have always been in the work hard, 'party hard' philosophy camp. Though I'm quite happy to be down to 4 day work weeks now. I can certainly relate to Harvey's 'moment'. I had one of those at one job where I was still hard at work at 11pm in the office (mtn time), sent an email to a colleague in Toronto... ~30 seconds later I got a phone call from said colleague who was still in the office there at 1am... Decided right then and there to leave and get a different gig. Which I accomplished about 2-3 months later - with both a promotion and less work hours to boot.

Unclear for full retirement age/timeline for me. With a busy 14 year old adding his own expensive activities onto my already expensive hobbies... (plus locked into the school schedule and current primary home location, etc...) I'm more coasting into it by dropping hours, but holding onto some OK cash flow, benefits, etc...

 

[Harvey]

Just a tiny bit larger than the old cabin

What timeline for occupancy? Obviously well along in the build, but also a very long ways to go on that build. Maybe by ~Nov? Relative to Gore and/or North Creek what direction is your land?

It's about 2000 sq ft, not including basement and porches. I like the size. I lived in 1000 sq ft for 30+ years and now we live in 2400. I was lobbying for something smaller, but this plan only works if I have my wife's buyin.

Builder is estimating a CO next spring, sometime between April and June. This project has been going on since 2022. That first year we rerouted the driveway and cleared the land (bought the lot next door and made the driveway significantly less steep).

Then last year we did some blasting, prepped the site and built a separate garage. This year is the house.

Gore's summit is pretty close as the crow flies, 3 or 4 miles. Maybe ten miles by car. It's off to the southeast. From the cabin we can see groomer headlights on the summit. The house "faces" southeast too. You're supposed to orient your big windows to the south, but we went for the best view.

One thing I do like, is that "code" or the rules for building, have gotten much more energy conscious and this house, obviously built to code, but not beyond, is far more energy efficient than anything I've ever lived in, by a huge margin.