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Skiing keeps seniors young at heart

Alison Taylor checks out Canada's, and Whistler's, largest-growing skier demographic - seniors.
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Seniors ski team gathers in Rendezvous for some hydration before hitting the slopes. Photo by David Welsford, www.coastphoto.com

Before the days of shaped skis and step-in bindings, before graphite-sintered bases and polar fleece, Joan Deeks got her first pair of skis – wooden with no edges.

She was nine years old, learning to ski in the Ottawa Valley back when Whistler was little more than a handful of fishing lodges.

Sixty years later Deeks is still skiing, with about 60 days on the mountains this season. That’s not something to be scoffed at especially for someone who was out of commission for January and the beginning of February with a broken arm.

"I love to ski," said the soft-spoken Deeks at the Rendezvous on Blackcomb. "I love to be on the mountain."

At 69 years old Deeks is just one of almost 100 members of Whistler-Blackcomb’s Seniors Ski Team. Sure, they’re not the youngest bunch on the mountain, most likely not the fastest, the coolest or the strongest either. But they are keen to keep on skiing and are arguably having the most fun on the mountains while they’re at it.

In the highly competitive ski industry, seniors like these are becoming an increasingly important demographic for ski resorts like Whistler-Blackcomb that are eager to keep aging skiers on the mountain.

The baby boomers are getting older. They are seen as the ones with time on their hands and, more often than not, the money in their pockets to afford the sport.

Resort operators know it’s critical to keep aging skiers and today’s seniors on the slopes.

You don’t have to ask Whistler’s Seniors Ski Team twice; they’re raring to go.

On a beautiful blue-sky day when the fresh untouched corduroy sparkles and beckons, they gather at their meeting place beneath the Rendezvous on Blackcomb Mountain. There are no crowds on the mountain, no lift lines. It is shaping up to be a perfect ski day.

They meet briefly only to separate into 14 different "teams" and head off wherever they fancy. Some are going to tackle the double black diamond runs in Spanky’s Ladder for the first time, others are heading up to the Blackcomb Glacier. After today some of them will be able to say they’ve skied the Couloir Extreme, others the Blow Hole.

Today Coach Wendell Moore takes his seven-member team towards 7th Heaven. They stop on the way there for some warm up exercises. And though, like Deeks, many of these skiers have 30, 40, 50 years experience under their helmets, there is always something new to learn.

Moore puts them through the paces, warming up their muscles, reminding them of the cardinal rule of skiing – balance.

Though it’s back to basics, it is a crucial part of the ski day.

The seniors in the SST are in agreement – the coaching has taken their skiing to a new level.

"I’m sure everybody in the group is skiing better than they ever have in their lives," said SST member Gord Leidal. "And it’s amazing at our age to think you’re still getting better."

In a resort full of Peter Pan’s reluctant to grow old, age is a relative thing. A 70-year-old Whistlerite oftentimes isn’t your average senior. There are several skiers in the SST who are in their 70s, and even a few that are in their 80s.

The average age is 65 years old. But watching them fly down 7th Heaven, it’s hard to believe they’re seniors.

Rosemary Malaher was one of the original members of the team. Back in 2003 there were just seven of them.

Though they were few, their ideas were many and they had specific plans for how the SST should work, recalls Malaher, sitting in Starbucks with a handful of her teammates in comfortable camaraderie.

"We were pretty firm on the structure of how it was going to work," she said.

First off, they wanted to keep each group small, with one coach for every seven seniors. That allowed the team to fit together on two high-speed quad chairlifts so it worked from a technical aspect. But by keeping it intimate, each group also got the chance to get to know the other group members.

At the same time the coaches became familiar with the nuances of everyone in their group and how they skied.

"There’s the continuity and the social aspect of it also with the instructor getting to know us, along with the very extensive information that they gather at the beginning of the season," explained Doug Deeks, another founding member sitting next to Malaher. "So if anyone has concerns, physical problems or anything, it’s all highlighted at the beginning – so the coaches know more than the average instructor."

The SST founders were also adamant that the lesson would not stretch over the course of the whole day. It was to last about three hours, beginning at 9 a.m. They admit that some of them are better first thing in the morning. There were to be a dozen lessons over the course of the season and they agreed not to meet on the busy weeks such as Christmas and spring break.

The final requisite for the SST was the age qualification. To join you had to be 65 years old or older. There were allowances, however, for younger spouses who could also be a part of the team.

The framework was simple and catered specifically to what the original seven were looking for three years ago.

The following year 49 seniors signed up as word of mouth about this new group spread throughout Whistler. Together they made up seven ski teams and there was a wait list to get on.

This year there are 14 teams with 98 seniors spending $299 over and above their ski passes for the lessons. And there is still a wait list.

The founding members seem just as surprised as everyone else at the SST’s explosive success, which is really just a sign of the times.

But they worry that perhaps they might lose the intimacy and the social fabric of the group if they get too big too fast. Any more than 100 members could be the so-called "tipping point", taking away from the unique social experience at the expense of getting bigger.

Their success, however, is proof of the changing ski demographics and the fact that seniors are a growing force to be reckoned with.

Statistics from the Canadian Ski Council from the 2002-03 ski season show that while there were increases of alpine skiers in every age category, by far the most significant increase was in the 50 to 64 year bracket. The number of skiers was up 23.9 per cent in that age category alone.

Closer to home, the statistics are confirmed by the number of seniors pass sales. At a time when Whistler-Blackcomb’s seasons pass sales are flat compared to last year, seniors pass sales have gone up 10 per cent, while super seniors passes, for those 75 years and older, have gone up 15 per cent.

Whistler-Blackcomb’s senior manager of marketing, Stuart Rempel, sees that trend getting even more significant in the years to come, as baby boomers get older.

He calls that demographic the "aging boomers." The boomers, he said, were the ones that really embraced the sport in the ’60s and ’70s, and with new ski technology in boots and skis there is no reason why healthy seniors can’t keep on skiing. The key is to make sure they don’t stop, to make it enjoyable for them to keep skiing.

"We would like to find ways to provide reasons for seniors to come ski here," said Rempel.

That’s music to coach Moore’s ears, that Whistler could be the resort renowned for being "seniors friendly."

"It sounds magic to me," he said.

It’s obvious this coach has found some of his favourite students in his seniors. They call him their "coach" rather than their instructor. The seniors are his "team" rather than his students. The lingo is all part of creating a friendly atmosphere that is about more than perfecting ski technique. And it’s working.

On 7th Heaven there is a laidback atmosphere in the group, a feeling of companionship and ease, of familiarity and fun that you just don’t find in any old ski lesson.

It’s easy to see why these seniors are still skiing.

When asked how to make the mountains "seniors friendly" Rempel said good grooming is a key part of the equation. Good deals for seniors go a long way too.

But the evolving technology – with shorter, wider shaped skis and better boots – has allowed people to be more comfortable on the mountain, making it easier for them to keep skiing with less fatigue. And that’s a golden nugget for people skiing through their golden years.

For Rempel, an avid skier in his early 50s, watching the seniors in Whistler is inspirational.

"We’ve got something fabulous to look forward to and these guys are really charting the way," he said.

Good equipment, however, is only a part of the battle. Any Seniors Ski Team member will tell you it’s also about technique and learning to compensate for an aging body.

For some that means their peripheral vision is not as keen, while others don’t have the balance they once used to. Some may have angina and need more frequent stops during the day. There are seniors with osteoporosis, some who have had heart bypass surgery.

"Do we have one team with all pacemakers?" quipped Leidal sitting next to his ski partners at Starbucks.

All joking aside, there are ways to keep seniors skiing with subtle changes to their technique, be it advice on the placement of their bindings for maximum balance to just the added confidence that comes from seeing small improvements.

"The coaches appreciate that with age your body changes," said Doug Deeks. "That’s all natural – your sight, your balance, everything else. So they’re (the coaches) helping the mature skier, if you would call it that, to improve and to continue to enjoy skiing by technique to compensate for the aging process, which is all natural."

Let’s face it, said Deeks, lessons some of these seniors were getting 20 and 30 years ago on their long skinny skis with knees locked together are different from the lessons of today. They agree there is always something new to learn.

Fourteen members of this year’s SST wanted to stick to the groomers and perfect their ski technique. The rest wanted to explore.

With no true beginners in the group Moore said most are looking to gain confidence in the powder and see parts of the mountain they have never seen before. Half want to become accomplished powder skiers, the other half want to be better skiers off-piste.

"They’re very good skiers for the most part, they’re just not ready, or have never trained, to go off-piste," said Moore with a trademark ready smile.

Paddy Sherman is 78 years old. He, like a dozen others, drives up from Vancouver on SST Wednesdays. An avid mountaineer most of his life, Sherman took up skiing when he retired in 1989. He is the anomaly in that respect. Most others have been skiing throughout their lives.

Sherman comes to Whistler several days a week. Usually he skis alone.

Joining the SST has done wonders for his skiing and given him an added confidence to get into places that he may have thought twice about in the past.

With his group he’s been tackling steep moguls and deep powder and now he’s comfortable in most any situation.

"I think it’s fabulous," he said of the SST. "My skiing has improved tremendously."

The majority of the team members, however, are Whistler residents.

It’s not just the powder and off-piste skiing that’s gotten better for Gord Leidal. He’s relaxed going through the trees and moguls; the bane of any aging skiers knees aren’t a problem any longer.

"We skip around the bumps without doing damage to our old bodies," he joked.

Through the SST he has met other skiers of his age and ability. They get out together on non-lesson days and have a great time together.

And it’s got them thinking about the future.

Maybe they can organize seniors ski trips to other mountains or abroad. Perhaps the seniors can organize a day heli-skiing or cat skiing. They’re game for any suggestion and approach it as they approach their ski lessons – with great enthusiasm and zest.

So the question remains: how did those seniors, some of whom are in their 70s, manage to get down Spanky’s Ladder? That’s a double black diamond run and it requires a short hike to get there. It is not for the faint of heart.

Coach Bob Calladine explained that he had been building up all season for a run through Spanky’s. Last Wednesday there were six of them. Some had been there before; for others it was a completely new and somewhat nerve-wracking experience. Boot packing up the mountain into new terrain can be intimidating for any skier, particularly when it’s terrain that by all accounts is challenging.

"Once we started the skiing part it was no problem," said Calladine, adding that half the battle is the mental confidence to just do it.

Now as the season draws to a close these seniors have earned their bragging rights.

The SST officially skied together for the last time this season on Wednesday. But there’s no question they’ll be back together next year for more fun.

For information go to www.seniorsskiteam.com.



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