Going downhill as you age isn’t such a bad thing. Folks over the hill
are heading for the hills like never before. Silver Streakers, the Over the Hill Gang,
the 70+ Ski
Club, you name it - the nation’s average age is up and so is
membership in senior ski clubs.
According to Snow Sports Industries America, 7.9% of the U.S.
population that skis (6.8 million) is over the age of 55. That number
is up a whopping 30% from the previous season’s 5.9%. Apparently, our
expanding population of seniors is more youthful than ever – how’s
that for an oxymoron.
Greg Sweetser, Executive Director of
Ski Maine said,
“We are at the end of the baby boom generation. The population is
aging, but is far more active – refusing to get old. With medical
advances like new knees and a healthier lifestyle, the ski industry is
seeing more skiers continue later in life.”
As the
Sugarloaf
brochure reads, “youth is like fire, it goes out if unattended.”
Venerable Sugarloafer Paul Schipper was the inspiration for that
passage. Schipper certainly skewed any data by skiing 150 days a season
and over 3,000 consecutive das of skiing - every day the Loaf
was open, Schipper was part of a generation of seniors skiing longer,
legendary.
While Ironman Schipper recieved a lifetime free pass to Sugarloaf, most
seniors are looking for deals and discounts for their “fixed income”
and liberated schedule. Senior ski clubs that connect downhillers to
deals continue to increase memberships, despite obvious natural
attrition. These clubs also provide social opportunities for
like-minded senior schussers.
The 70+ Ski
Club is the largest senior ski club, with over 10,000 members,
according to Executive Director Richard Lambert. His father, Lloyd
Lambert, founded the Club at Hunter Mountain in New York in 1977 with
37 members. Lambert was a ski columnist and radio personality,
National Ski Patroller, and skied vigorously until the age of 95.
Lloyd’s son took over managing the organization at the youthful age of
69 (one year before he could become a card-carrying member). Currently
there are 250 members in Maine. In neighboring New Hampshire there are
over 600 members.
70+ members pay $10 annually; couples joining together get a deal at
$15, to receive a distinctive 70+ patch, and a privilege card with a
list of ski areas that honor discounted or free skiing. The 70+ Club
Newsletter is published twice annually with enticing ski trips and
member news – a who’s who of hip and knee replacement, who is winning
NASTAR races, and where the Club is heading on their next ski safari.
This winter’s 70+ downhill destinations include: Lake Tahoe, Steamboat
in Colorado, Bachelor in Oregon, and Solitude and Brighton, Utah.
Summer is no time to sit in a rocker and knit a ski sweater for the
grandkids – the Club generally has a trip to the Southern Hemisphere
for more skiing in Chile.
Younger sister club,
The Over The Hill Gang was founded in Colorado the same year as
70+, and has over 5,500 members over 50. For a $50 membership fee
(with a sliding scale for renewing and aging members), you receive a
discount card good at 300 ski areas.
The real perk for Over The Hill Gang members is the annual catalogue
of escorted group trips that reads like any skiers’ wish list. This
winter, Over the Hill Gang has 22 planned ski excursions to resorts
including Aspen, Sun Valley, and Innsbruck, Austria. This genial
geriatric group has lost neither their wanderlust nor their sense of
humor based on the OTHGI motto - “once you are over the hill, you pick
up speed.”
Here in Maine, seniors can find benefits at most mountains. Jay Hanlon
of Brewer, former president of Eastern Ski Writers Association and
enduring skier said, “Being over 70 has been a blessing for me, given
the price of lift tickets today. Every ski area I have approached has
granted me privileges. Hanlon skis regularly at New Hermon where he
says the Whitcombs welcome him with open arms.
New Hermon, Big Squaw, Camden Snow Bowl, and Titcomb all give free
skiing to those 70 and older. Black Mountain gives free tickets to
seniors 75 and up.
Patricia Carrier of
Saddleback
said, “Not many mountains are doing free skiing for 70plus anymore.
Saddleback does. Also, on Thursdays, we offer a cheap lift ticket for
those 60-69.”
Shawnee Peak
gives free skiing for those 80 and older, or a discount season pass if they
prefer not to have to go to the ticket window each visit. Melissa Rock
of Shawnee Peak says they also honor members of the "70+ Club" with
$15 lift tickets, and season passes for age 65-79 are discounted.
Mt Abram provides senior skiers age 65 and over a savings of $10 on a
full day ticket.
Sugarloaf and Sunday
River sell discount day tickets to 65 and over. If savvy seniors
go online to purchase two or more tickets, they save an additional
10%.
Sunday River has an “Over 50 Club” with get-togethers season long;
these skiers share the lifestyle and explore the mountain as a group.
TThe Over 50 Club meets every Tuesday and
Thursday from Jan. 6 - March 25, except during holiday weeks. The
River also hosts a “GO50 Week” in mid January with lift and lodging
deals for five
nights lodging, lift tickets, a clinic, plus organized après social
events, and a Sock Hop.
Over the border, New Hampshire’s
Gunstock honors
“Two For Mondays,” seniors can buy two lift tickets (non-holiday) . Gunstock also sells a 65+ Season pass for midweek,
non-holiday use.
Bretton Woods
offers midweek, non-holiday tickets to seniors age 65 and
over, a huge discount off the retail lift ticket. On Senior Thursdays at Bretton Woods, including a 1-½ hour group lesson
specifically for seniors.
Wildcat
celebrates “AristoCat Tuesdays,” guests age 50 and up can purchase a
lift ticket with a 10am ski lesson for a deal.
Greg Sweetser of Ski Maine said that today’s seniors benefit from
discounts, and from technological improvements of snowmaking and
grooming that make skiing more accessible and enjoyable.
“The standard gambit among the geriatric set is ‘Whoever said the
Golden Years were beautiful was just plain nuts - unless, of course,
you are a skier,” Hanlon says.
