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I can comment on snowboarding. But I did take up skiing as an adult and my experience doesn't line up with this. My kid graduated high school, so I moved to a

I can comment on snowboarding. But I did take up skiing as an adult and my experience doesn't line up with this. My kid graduated high school, so I moved to a small town in Colorado to learn how to ski and ice climb. I am somewhat athletic, but not competitively so. I started skiing at 42, and I am now in my 3rd year of doing it. I do wear a helmet. But I don't fall, and certainly not thousands of times. I'm old enough that I'm very conservative... but I fall infrequently enough that I can remember the 3 times I've done it this season. Skiing really isn't that dangerous or even physically demanding.

phillc73 5y ago
Similar to you, I started skiing at 45, the same time as my almost 4yr old did. That first season, I remember falling a few times, but absolutely not more than 20 for the whole season. Four years later, I have a ski crazy 7yr old who rips down blacks full tilt. I fall in very choppy or icy conditions somehow trying to keep him in sight. Didn’t fall at all today, fell once yesterday in chop. In decent conditions, I rarely fall, but as I’m the designated driver, I really don’t push things too hard. Also firmly in the wear a helmet camp. A lot of US ski and snowboard films show athletes who forgo this, and I generally try to avoid letting the kid watch them. Favourite ski films are Supervention and Supervention 2. Both are generally free online (try Redbull TV).
ramesh31 5y ago
> My kid graduated high school, so I moved to a small town in Colorado to learn how to ski and ice climb. I am somewhat athletic, but not competitively so. You're definitely the outlier that proves my point though. Skiing is not something you can just go "do" a few times and have fun at it like tennis or golf. You have to, as you did, live in close proximity to a hill and get out there day after day and put in the time and effort of falling on your face over and over again to do it. People can absolutely do it as adults, but you have to really really want it. It can't be a casual thing. >Skiing really isn't that dangerous or even physically demanding. It's what you make it. To a lot of people, "skiing" means hopping on the lift and cruising some blue/black groomers for a few hours. For others, it means hiking 3k vertical to ski 6 feet of powder on a 50 degree face, or blasting the drop line on a huge mogul field at full speed.
- mbrameld 5y ago
  > You're definitely the outlier that proves my point though. Skiing is not something you can just go "do" a few times and have fun at it like tennis or golf. Again, this doesn't match my experience as somebody who actually did learn to ski in my 40s while living in Phoenix, AZ. It's fine to say that you yourself couldn't do something, but you shouldn't speak for others. I'm very far from an elite athlete, I wouldn't consider myself an athlete at all. I'm largely sedentary.
  - ramesh31 5y ago
    >It's fine to say that you yourself couldn't do something, but you shouldn't speak for others. I'm saying this as someone who has skiied from the age of five, and spent a solid decade skiing over 180 days/season while working at various resorts, with a majority of those days being backcountry steeps above 10k feet. When people say you can "learn to ski" with little effort it just irks me a bit. Yes, anyone who can walk can become competent enough to cruise down some blue groomers at a resort. But actual skiing, actually getting to the expert level where you can truly enjoy the sport, is a completely different thing. And getting to that level from beginner as an adult is incredibly difficult.
    - scarecrowbob 5y ago
      That's some pretty high-end gatekeeping; you might consider that your context is getting in the way of a fundamental point: you can't say what it means for other people to "truly enjoy something". And that irks me. Like, how do you know you're really enjoying your skiing i you're not hiking up 8000M peaks to do your skiing? If you're not hopping out of a helicopter and getting filmed by Warren Miller, is it really worth it? Are you truly enjoying the sport if you're not skiing couloirs? I mean, I play music and I do some hard stuff. I don't think a lot of it is easy. But I am confident that someone can pick up a guitar and play it well enough to enjoy it (themselves) after not much practice. I personally wouldn't be satisfied doing the exact same thing... I have been doing it a long time and have high expectations. But those expectations are -for myself-, and that has nothing to do with what other people might enjoy. I'm gonna go enjoy some powder, I ain't a great skiier, but I can get down anything on my local hill. And for what it's worth, I am literally the only person who gets to say if I "truely enjoy" playing in the snow.

phillc73 5y ago

Similar to you, I started skiing at 45, the same time as my almost 4yr old did. That first season, I remember falling a few times, but absolutely not more than 20 for the whole season. Four years later, I have a ski crazy 7yr old who rips down blacks full tilt. I fall in very choppy or icy conditions somehow trying to keep him in sight. Didn’t fall at all today, fell once yesterday in chop. In decent conditions, I rarely fall, but as I’m the designated driver, I really don’t push things too hard. Also firmly in the wear a helmet camp. A lot of US ski and snowboard films show athletes who forgo this, and I generally try to avoid letting the kid watch them. Favourite ski films are Supervention and Supervention 2. Both are generally free online (try Redbull TV).

ramesh31 5y ago

> My kid graduated high school, so I moved to a small town in Colorado to learn how to ski and ice climb. I am somewhat athletic, but not competitively so. You're definitely the outlier that proves my point though. Skiing is not something you can just go "do" a few times and have fun at it like tennis or golf. You have to, as you did, live in close proximity to a hill and get out there day after day and put in the time and effort of falling on your face over and over again to do it. People can absolutely do it as adults, but you have to really really want it. It can't be a casual thing. >Skiing really isn't that dangerous or even physically demanding. It's what you make it. To a lot of people, "skiing" means hopping on the lift and cruising some blue/black groomers for a few hours. For others, it means hiking 3k vertical to ski 6 feet of powder on a 50 degree face, or blasting the drop line on a huge mogul field at full speed.

mbrameld 5y ago
> You're definitely the outlier that proves my point though. Skiing is not something you can just go "do" a few times and have fun at it like tennis or golf. Again, this doesn't match my experience as somebody who actually did learn to ski in my 40s while living in Phoenix, AZ. It's fine to say that you yourself couldn't do something, but you shouldn't speak for others. I'm very far from an elite athlete, I wouldn't consider myself an athlete at all. I'm largely sedentary.
- ramesh31 5y ago
  >It's fine to say that you yourself couldn't do something, but you shouldn't speak for others. I'm saying this as someone who has skiied from the age of five, and spent a solid decade skiing over 180 days/season while working at various resorts, with a majority of those days being backcountry steeps above 10k feet. When people say you can "learn to ski" with little effort it just irks me a bit. Yes, anyone who can walk can become competent enough to cruise down some blue groomers at a resort. But actual skiing, actually getting to the expert level where you can truly enjoy the sport, is a completely different thing. And getting to that level from beginner as an adult is incredibly difficult.
  - scarecrowbob 5y ago
    That's some pretty high-end gatekeeping; you might consider that your context is getting in the way of a fundamental point: you can't say what it means for other people to "truly enjoy something". And that irks me. Like, how do you know you're really enjoying your skiing i you're not hiking up 8000M peaks to do your skiing? If you're not hopping out of a helicopter and getting filmed by Warren Miller, is it really worth it? Are you truly enjoying the sport if you're not skiing couloirs? I mean, I play music and I do some hard stuff. I don't think a lot of it is easy. But I am confident that someone can pick up a guitar and play it well enough to enjoy it (themselves) after not much practice. I personally wouldn't be satisfied doing the exact same thing... I have been doing it a long time and have high expectations. But those expectations are -for myself-, and that has nothing to do with what other people might enjoy. I'm gonna go enjoy some powder, I ain't a great skiier, but I can get down anything on my local hill. And for what it's worth, I am literally the only person who gets to say if I "truely enjoy" playing in the snow.