To ski or not to ski?

At my advanced age, I am wondering if I should give up skiing.  I am on board to chaperone our upcoming Diocesan youth event, Snow Slam.  To be honest, I am well past the age of being comfortable sleeping on a church floor, so am sure this will be my last such event.

 In my early twenties and being a fairly athletic person, I believed a friend's suggestion that I could handle the blue slopes after only a morning of ski class.
(Thanks Kathy B!)  After a terrifying fall and the subsequent impact of several (also unskilled skiers) hitting me, I took off my skies and walked down to the bunny slopes.  Vowing never to ski again!  

Years later, a kind friend, Ken C., suggested that, if he could ski having suffered from polio, certainly I could ski with two legs the same length.  He undertook coaching me into being a fairly competent, though still tentative skier.  I never attempted the black runs and only a few blue, but loved the greens.  In my forties and fifties, I did not spend much time skiing because of work and family obligations (and because being an introvert made me treasure the times my husband would take the children skiing and I could have a weekend to myself!) My friend, Margaret, is still skiing and is amazed that she can ski for free at the age of 70.  She insisted she could sleep on the floor with me (although her husband is insisting they stay in a hotel!) and she may just shame me into taking my last runs down the hills!  We will see.

Maybe the fact that men have beards makes them ski longer?

 Image Via

For an interesting article about why women give up skiing at an earlier age than men visit the Out There Blog.

I am wondering, if you are an older skier, at what point might you decide to give it up?  When I fell (tripping on a speed bump in a rain soaked parking lot.. but just walking) and broke my arm last year, I decided perhaps I should give up my roller blades and I gave them away.  Should people on Social Security and Medicare begin to be a bit more careful?
Or should we just deal with the consequences of falling?  What do you think? 

However, a new generation is growing up to love skiing!
My two and a half year old granddaughter, Eliza, is fearless!

Eliza's first lift ticket

It is always more fun with a friend

How far down?

Are we there yet?

Okay, I'm ready!