Where would you like to retire????

[jamesdeluxe]

I've moved on. Similar to produce, I like to operate according to the seasons. During winter, I can't even think about warm-weather sports (golf, mtb, etc.) and during summer, it's the same way in reverse. My swiss chard and green beans are almost ready to be picked, and the Yankees are finally starting to hit.

Can't even imagine getting motivated to go skiing in South America. Sorry, feel free to excommunicate me.

 

[Patrick]

Can't even imagine getting motivated to go skiing in South America. Sorry, feel free to excommunicate me.

:lol: :lol: :lol: South America isn't that bad, just think about the motivation to go skiing in New England. :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[jamesdeluxe]

I meant packing up skiing equipment and clothing in the middle of summer. To me, it'd be like eating fruit/vegetables from Chile. No thanks.

 

[Patrick]

I meant packing up skiing equipment and clothing in the middle of summer.

I was thinking about New England this time of the year. :shock:

 

[Marc_C]

Similar to produce, I like to operate according to the seasons. During winter, I can't even think about warm-weather sports (golf, mtb, etc.) and during summer, it's the same way in reverse.

Besides feeling crappy, a big reason I didn't (nor would have if feeling better) ski on Saturday is that after many weekend days of great spring corn, Snowbird was still 29F at the base and 21F at the summit at 10:30a with 8" of ultra-dense new that fell Thursday night. Refrozen oatmeal in poor vis just wasn't happening for me!

Although sunny, yesterday was pretty cold for this time of year (11F below normal in the valley, with a high of only 68F). Bobby D said Regulator didn't soften enough to become skiable until at least 1:30p. (In prior weeks, the sweet spot for that side of the bowl was around 11:30.)

 

[Admin]

Marc_C just explained my lack of weekend motivation.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I like to operate according to the seasons.

But what's not to like about an overlapping 12-month surf season and 8-month ski season?

 

[riverc0il]

I'm already here. :wink:

+1

But in reality, I do not plan on retiring early so I assume that skiing will not be as big of a part of my life at age 65 than it is currently. I can't see any reason for leaving NH during retirement. The big difference is that skiing would not dictate my preferred location as much as currently. I am sure I will get even more snobby about good conditions when I can go any day of the week and have a more restrictive budget.

 

[Patrick]

But in reality, I do not plan on retiring early so I assume that skiing will not be as big of a part of my life at age 65 than it is currently.

Well, did you ever hear of Rhona Wurtele-Gillis and Rhoda Wurtele-Eaves? Skiing is still a big part of their lives. I want to be able to ski like them when I grow up.

CBC TV on YouTube.
March 19, 2008

They're the senior version of the Crazy Canucks - 86-year-old downhill skiiers.

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These two are members of the Canadian & US Ski Hall of Fames. Were among North America best skiers in the 40s. Alta Cup, Harriman Cup, etc. Unfortunately they were injured during the 1948 Olympics. Ah yes, they had a few famous kids too.

Saw them at the Canadian Ski Museum Banquet back in April, got their book. I just finished it last week. Great read.

REMPEL, BYRON No Limits: The Amazing Life Story of Rhona and Rhoda Wurtele, Canada's Olympian Skiing Pioneers
Canada, Twinski Publications. 2007. (ISBN: 0-9783890-0-X) Trade Paperback. A wonderful story of the Wurtele twins, pioneers on the Canadian ski scene. A New book, no flaws. "As a ski reporter for the Montreal Gazette in the 1940s, I watched Rhona and Rhoda win race after race. They were truly phenomenal as they tamed the wildest hills. But I knew nothing of their later lives until I read this book. It led me to further admiration as I learned how the twins overcame many hardships and brought up, between them, seven children, all of whom have had outstanding careers. The book is much more than a chronicle of sporting achievement; with its revealing sidelights it is also a valuable contribution to the social history of Canada in the Twentieth Century:" - William Weintraub. As New/No Jacket.

Reference:
http://www.antiqbook.com/boox/zeeba/013373.shtml

 

[jamesdeluxe]

But what's not to like about an overlapping 12-month surf season and 8-month ski season?

The majority of people on sport chat boards are ambitious you-can-have-it all types -- always with a grass-is-always-greener gaze on places with "endless" summers or winters, taking long-distance plane trips to the southern hemisphere to ski during the summer or going to Florida to golf during the winter. I guess you could extend my dopey metaphor to eating out-of-season fruit and vegetables that are transported in from all over the world.

I know that my choice is a minority opinion, but I like working with limitations, i.e. living seasonally, going to smaller or less well-known ski areas rather than the places conventional wisdom tells you are the “best.” When I read Sharon’s anecdote about Snowbird and how she dreams about it while skiing at a "lesser" nearby area, I thought "wow, that's the exact opposite of the way I think." I fly across the country to ski a second banana, while the big show is just a few miles away.

Oh well, it takes all kinds.

 

[icelanticskier]

Look what we are arguing about... PRODUCE.. :roll: :shock:
It's to damn hot in the North East. It's starting to melt our brains..

Right now I want snow. I miss skiing. It's making me cantankerous.

yer missin some great skiing up north right now, better cover than mid-may last year and who wouldn't want to lap perfect corn in warm temps, much better than skiing in nov and most dec/jan most years right now and for a few more weeks. can't wait for wednesday. temps in the 70's with many options in the ravine. get on it!
rog

 

[icelanticskier]

I'm already here. :wink:

+1
I am sure I will get even more snobby about good conditions when I can go any day of the week

oh, like me?
rog

 

[tirolerpeter]

I'm already here. :wink:

^^^^ Ditto! ^^^^

My wife andI retired in 2001 from jobs on the east coast (Long Island, NY). After several years of flying out west, and endless 350 - 600 mile round-trip drives to "hit or miss" skiing (Yes, I know that is going to raise some hackles among certain EC skiers who love to "earn their turns" and find "authenticity" in sliding around in conditions alternating between something resembling ice rinks and mashed potatoes, when it is not raining.) I decided to make the move to SLC. Now I live 16 miles from Snowbird and Alta. My grown-up kids all live in different parts of the USA, and going to see them takes me less time from SLC (Great airport connections!) then driving from LI. They also love to ski, and coming to visit us in our house here is very appealing for them. BTW, I basically rolled a rather modest 2,200 sq ft house in the east into a lovely 4,000+ sq ft house here in the west. My kids still tease me about our "upsizing" but don't mind staying for free!

Yes, there are some limits on cultural and culinary attractions in the SL Valley vs. the NY Metro area. But, on balance, we have found decent to excellent food, interesting friends to share it with, and various activities that amuse us. And, since we don't work (Isn't that the point of "Retirement?") we have time to continue to travel to places we enjoy whenever we feel like it. Works for us.

Actually, I hope it doesn't appeal to everyone. Why would I want "everyone" to join us here and make things as crowded as the places that I moved away from?

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Credit where it's due... Peter showed admirable restraint in waiting 51 posts to deliver the latest version of his "why I moved to Utah" chestnut.

It keeps getting better with each retelling!

 

[tirolerpeter]

Credit where it's due... Peter showed admirable restraint in waiting 51 posts to deliver the latest version of his "why I moved to Utah" chestnut.

It keeps getting better with each retelling!

It keeps getting better the longer we live here!

I hope those with priorities (Climate, terrain, family, activities, etc) different from mine find their perfect location for their RETIREMENT. To borrow a phrase from an historically prominent Utahan: For me and the time being...."This is the place."

 

[jimk]

Resurrecting an old thread. Hoping to use you guys as a sounding board.

I think I'm going to retire at the end of this calendar year. Living entirely in Northern Virginia for the whole time I've been a skier (47 seasons) I'm motivated to seek high quality ski time in the Rockies or US West in my retirement years. I'd entertain suggestions outside the box, but I think I'm coming down to the following two scenarios: 1) keep my current residence and temporarily relocate to a top ski destination each winter for ~2 months, possibly varying the location each season for fun and variety or 2) pick one good ski town/city and buy a home there to enjoy the logistical, social and economic advantages of stability and predictability. For either scenario I'm thinking Colorado, Taos, UTAH, or Tahoe as initial top contenders.

Scenario 1 factors:
-Most likely option for the first winter or two after I retire because it's less disruptive to status quo.
-Offers the possibility of new terrain and flexibility of choosing a new ski location each winter, but puts me in a permanent tourist mode.
-Logistically more challenging to find a suitable one or two month rental, but far less overall financial commitment than buying a place.
-Which place do I ski the first winter of retirement and which pass do I buy? Do I rent a condo or sublet a room in a house? Does my wife (the marginal skier) accompany me for the entire winter excursion or just for part of the time? Do I bring a car or go carless? Do I factor in accommodating my skiing adult children and friends? Do I recruit housemates to share costs?
-Can I stay healthy for two straight months of skiing at age 60+.

Scenario 2 factors:
-If there were no other considerations I'd prefer to buy a condo at a good place immediately and become full time ski bum, but the reality is that my wife is not as interested in a mountain lifestyle. Plus, there are significant family ties and responsibilities around my current home that I can't fully shirk just yet.
-My old school pension will provide a good retirement income, but my wife and I still need to experience the reality of what a 40% drop in current salary means to our lifestyle choices. I may seek to pick up meaningful part time employment in my current location sometime after I retire. Hopefully, keeping winters free. Should I as a geezer consider employment at a ski area?
-I'm not ready to commit to a single resort just yet, also not extremely informed about mtn real estate. More study and visits required before considering ski resort home purchase. Wife is definitely a keeper and must be onboard with any future home purchase.
-Should I buy something slopeside/near slopeside or would I live in a town or small city near good skiing?
-Should I keep my current residence and buy a vacation home, or sell current residence and take about $600k equity and totally relocate?

This is kind of a personal decision so if nobody feels like chiming-in, no problem. Just putting some of this in writing is probably a healthy exercise.
PS: I'm good with instant ramen noodles, but my wife might prefer a decent restaurant once in a while

 

[Tony Crocker]

-Can I stay healthy for two straight months of skiing at age 60+.

This one is easy to answer. You'll get a boost in your conditioning when you retire with more time for exercise. And your stamina for hikes, chasing admin out the High T, etc. will be better when you're skiing 60 days a year instead of 30. This assumes you don't have some pre-existing wear-and-tear issue that will be aggravated by the 60 days. Skiing is not that hard on your body if you stay away from things like terrain parks and hard moguls, neither of which interest me much anyway.

Jimk has probably read enough reports to know that I've been on a variant of Scenario 1 for the past 4 seasons. I suspect it's easier physically to be taking one big ski trip a month for 5 months rather than skiing nearly every day for 2 months. Of those destinations, Mammoth and Utah are recurring and fairly cheap with Mountain Collective and lodging deals. Canada is recurring with expensive but consistently great cat skiing and fairly reasonably priced resort skiing. Other ski travel involves my strong desire to experience new places, and I realize some of that may be beyond the budget of most retirees.

I do think that month long road trips in the U.S. Mountain West and interior B.C. can be done at reasonable cost. I think you should consider that during the first couple of years, particularly since you might find the place you really like and want to settle in later. If you're trying to hold the line on lift tickets, go with a full Epic Pass and/or a Mountain Collective. Liz had 8 free days and 13 half price days on her Mountain Collective in 2013-14, saving over $1,000 vs. best available alternate prices. I'm sure tseeb will chime in as he had both Mountain Collective and Tahoe Local Epic this past season.

Salt Lake has a subculture of retirees from both coasts who live in Utah 4-5 months of ski season and the rest of the time in their original homes. I think it's hard to beat SLC for that particular Scenario 1 and it's certainly what I would do long term on a smaller budget. Your rental or buying cost for lodging will be much lower than in a resort town. When the commute to the most reliable snow in the world is only half an hour, is it really worth it to be on-site at some Colorado area with less snow and far higher cost of living? As for me, if I'm going to go expensive, I'd rather spend it on cat and heli time than a high priced second home.

Living in Reno and skiing the Tahoe areas is a fairly close analogy analogy to the SLC scenario. Overall I might even prefer the terrain quality there, but of course the weather is much more erratic with feast or famine seasons. If you live in Denver, the daily commute to skiing is much more of a grind than from Reno or SLC. With a casual skiing spouse, it's probably going to be easier to sell a city like those 3 than some remote mountain town. Taos may be an exception to that, with Santa Fe down the road and a vibrant culture. But Taos has a short reliable ski season of just February/March, and if skiing is a big part of this decision I'd want a longer season. Maybe your wife would be OK with a resort town that is as or more attractive for summer activities. Tahoe, Jackson and Whitefish come to mind from what I've seen on summer trips.

 

[jimk]

Thanks for the feedback Tony. I guess the one thing I didn't state in my post was that my initial idea of skiing after retirement, under either scenario 1 or 2, is that I would stay in one place/condo/house for the winter and ski one or more areas near it. This leads into the idea of taking advantage of one of the pass products that allows access to multiple resorts such as Epic, RMSP, Tahoe Superpass, Powder Alliance or any number of season passes with reciprocal arrangements to provide a main mtn, but with some additional ski terrain variety nearby. I'm not sure the Mtn Collective works so well for this idea if your target is 60 ski days and a steady place to stay each night.

An extended form of vagabond roadtripping might be an option and is not totally off the table, but I've done a lot of that in past one or two week vacations and I guess I'm looking more for settling into a mtn lifestyle even if only a two month condo rental each winter. The renting vs. buying scenarios really trigger very different issues when you look closer.

 

[Tony Crocker]

I'm not sure the Mtn Collective works so well for this idea if your target is 60 ski days and a steady place to stay each night.

I'm strongly biased in favor of the Mtn Collective areas in terms of terrain quality. If I lived in Salt Lake I'd be skiing AltaBird ~85% of the time like admin and company. Maybe with 2 months there you take one or two road trips. Jackson is 5 hours, Aspen 6 1/2, Reno 7.

You need something like 24 days at AltaBird to prefer a pass there vs. Mtn Collective.

 

[Admin]

I'm not sure the Mtn Collective works so well for this idea if your target is 60 ski days and a steady place to stay each night.

I'm strongly biased in favor of the Mtn Collective areas in terms of terrain quality. If I lived in Salt Lake I'd be skiing AltaBird ~85% of the time like admin and company. Maybe with 2 months there you take one or two road trips. Jackson is 5 hours, Aspen 6 1/2, Reno 7.

You need something like 24 days at AltaBird to prefer a pass there vs. Mtn Collective.

That's vs a full $1450 AltaBird season pass and when factoring in a pricier combined day pass. Alta's gold card changes the matrix but you have to have residency. A gold card costs $200 and gets you half price on any Alta ticket product.