Twists, Turns and Surprises

     As a geezer skier known to be passionate about my skiing, I often get questioned about what I occupy myself with during the off season.   Many of them know I play tennis, enjoy e-biking and volunteer as a docent as our local museum.  However I now must say various twists and turns of fate along with surprises have modified my answer for a while.   

    Recently I received notification of the Empire State Senior games coming up in June with an invitation to participate in the tennis tournament.  Unfortunately there are two reasons that I will not even attempt it this year.  My wife is my tennis partner and a week or so ago she has broken her wrist and will likely be out of commission regarding tennis for some time.  In addition, in my age bracket for the senior games at 90 to 94, there are no other likely contenders in the singles area.   Thus I would have to play the youngsters to even get a match.  Alas, as you age there are twists in the world that change your participation.  

    Since I am the prime care help for my wife as she heals,  it is probably true that I should not risk e-biking with the potential for a crash.   So that leaves me with museum volunteering as my prime off season diversion.   That brings me a lot of satisfaction.  I have a captive audience to tell stories at the tractor and agricultural museum component as one has has lived that life.  Also as an agricultural engineer academic, I did research on agricultural tractor stability and roll over protective structures.  Growing up on a farm also gave me first hand knowledge of agriculture of as early as the late 1930's.  And so it goes with the geezer life.

    Who knows what the next surprise will be?  Meanwhile I will do my best to be ready for the next ski season.   And believe it or not, my local ski area where I have skied since the late 1960's has comped me with a free season pass!

Best wishes to all who have read my blog over so many years.  Enjoy your lives to the fullest whatever age you are.  One can only hope during our earthly sojourn that we have been a positive contributor to humankind!

Withdrawal! Anticipating the Next Season

     The ski season has wrapped up for me as I now approach my ninetieth birthday in April.  I has been a great year for me enjoying the slopes with renewed vigor after my previous seasons more abbreviated participation.  Sixty eight days is not a bad number and approaches the 77 day average for 25 years after my retirement.  

    Now I am in the mode of adjusting my daily routine from mornings on the slopes during the week to engaging in chores that have been put off.   I can also pick-on my fellow volunteers at the local museum and maybe I can also pick up on my Red Cross work as a Blood Ambassador at local blood drives.  

    April 12,  I will be celebrating my April 11 birthday at a part with a vast array of friends and family from many walks of life which of course includes an array of ski companions over many years.   What a wonderful honor and diversion to fill the void of weekly ski days.  As I contemplate what the future will bring, I was inspired to write a reflection on being ninety in the form of a free verse poem herein included.  I trust you will allow this poetic reflection as okay for this blog.

Courtesy on the Slopes

     I guess as one who has been on the slopes for over 60 years I have seen all kinds of behaviors of skiers in relation to their fellow skiers.   As I am now approaching my 90th birthday in a few weeks, I am keenly aware of how the behavior of other skiers on the slopes affect my comfort and safety.   Obviously I need to be a responsible skier too and hope that I am.

    Along this line of thinking I along with my friend Tim, often make observations of behavior that give us concern for our safety and, or our comfort.  We thus develop some pet peeves.   Here are a few of them.

1.  Stopping in the middle of the slope either singly or in groups and obstructing the passage of other skiers when one can stop on the side of the trail and provide clear sailing for the uphill skiers.

2.  Failure to give adequate space in passing us from the uphill side and startling you out of your rhythm.  I recognize there are times when the uphill skier may not have a choice, but often that is not so.

3.  Obstruction of the flow to the lift often happens without much thought of the other skiers.  A common courtesy would be to step out of the way for others while you have a confab with your companions.

Overall, I guess the above three points cover my major complaints.  I hope I don't come across as a curmudgeon.  However, I do want to avoid any mishaps on the slopes as much as possible since as a quite senior skier even though I have had many years on the slopes, I still have the fire of continuing into my 90's. 

Readers, I invite you to comment with your pet peeves about slope behaviors that annoy you.  Meanwhile, I wish all safe skiing as a novice to Geezerhood.

Contrasts and Other Commentary!

     Amazing how the day on the slopes can change from one day to the next.  My geezer plus group at Greek Peak yesterday was skiing in a bit of rain. Temperature wasn't too bad, but it was a short day getting soaked by late morning.  However, the skiing conditions were quite good with frozen granular providing good edging.  For this old guy, however, the visibility was a bit challenging to read the surface.  

    What a contrast today!  Bright sunshine greeted us this morning and remained for the entire morning with only a few clouds scudding by.  One would expect that this would provide premiere delight in our skiing. However, it was not so for many of us. I will confess to doing a lot of skidding today on the hard groomed corduroy surface.  It was to the last run of the morning when things softened up enough that I was able to put down nice grooves in the slope.  A wonderful way to end a day for me when I was feeling out of sorts with my skiing ability.

    A bonus for this day from yesterday was the appearance of two of our long time geezer skiers for a day of fun and coffee with the rest of us. Gene Wexell who has challenges with vision was happy to join us.  He is basically ahead of me a bit on the age thing since he is past 90 by a bit, and I will reach that milestone in April, 2025.  We also welcome our good friend Dick Botoff, for his first day back this season,  delighted to see his return.   My endnote is that it was great to have an expanded geezer skier group on the slopes today and to toast the memory of our recently passed founder Pat Ryan, of the Tough Old Geezer Skiers of Greek Peak Resort at our day end coffee time.

Know When to Hold Them

    As a very senior geezer skier I am still learning to give in to my limitations.  Perhaps that is true for all skiers, but is especially important in the latter years.   This has become apparent to me in the last few days.  A few days ago upon returning from the hill I hit a patch of ice while walking in my ski boots and took an unexpected tumble!   Fortunately it was on my butt with some padding but gave me quite a jolt and a pretty good contusion on my left hand.  I guess anyone can fall on ice, but I think for me it was a momentary lapse of concentration on the conditions of the footing in the area.   

     Regrettably the fall caused  a whiplash injury to my neck.  The last few days I have been making a recovery from strained muscles in the neck and am now anxious to get back to the slopes. That leads me to ponder whether I should hold off for another day or head back to the slopes tomorrow. The decision will be made tomorrow when I get up and my neck with a few rotations and stretching.   

    I am guessing pro athletes often have the same kind of decisions to make.  Are they fit enough after an injury to pursue their craft? For those of use who are recreational athletes,  erring on the cautious side is the better part of intelligence.  What about that my readers? Do any of you have any moments when you have to decide to hold back?

Reflections on Transitions in the Geezer Skier Community

    I started this blog in December of 2009; at least 15 years ago!  At that time our Tough Old Geezer Skier group at Greek Peak in Virgil New York had been self identified for several years.  Founder Pat Ryan had labelled many of us as such.  Even giving us badges to wear with our name and the Geezer designation.  Many of us have continued to wear such badges with pride as the years go by.  I have lost a few, but have replaced them almost immediately to keep the tradition going.

    Sadly, our founder Pat Ryan recently passed away.  We deeply mourn his passing and miss his presence on the slopes. Pat was an exemplary person, a fine skier and model of integrity that we will not forget.

    In the ensuing years following our founding, there have been many changes.  Membership was always quite open and in the early years there may have been 30 or so that would identify with our group.  Some ardently, and others casually.  We even would have an annual season ending meeting for lunch with gag awards and invited spouses.   Basically we were more or less young geezers in late sixties and early seventies.  As time has passed many of the original group have either given up skiing or have passed away.   Fortunately there has been an infusion of a few new geezers.  It will be a challenge from now on to recruit replacements  for the inevitable departure of some of our more senior members.  To the best of my knowledge I am the most senior geezer skier at Greek Peak regularly on the slopes each week.  Gene who is a bit older is less frequent due to health issue.  

    A word about my geezer skier experience currently.  I now recognize I do not have the stamina I once had as I approach my 90th birthday this April.  Essentially on an every day basis I am skiing with "youngsters".  My definition of youngsters is now anyone in their seventies and younger.   Many of my companion skiers are  now in their sixties.   My companions now seem to think they need to take care of me!  Of course, I tolerate that, but in some ways I feel like I may be holding them back by my somewhat slower pace!    However, my wife does appreciate that my friend Tim Russell has taken on the role as my guardian angel!  In this vein, I must say that many of the Greek Peak ski community have both admired me for still being out and are keeping an eye on me.

    As I rest up on the weekends, I find it recharges my batteries for the coming week and it gives me a chance to reflect on how lucky I am to be pursuing downhill skiing in my most senior years.  I look forward to passing the torch of leadership of our group to the next generation when the time comes.  A shout out to the the geezers who might be reading this blog!  Keep on moving and enjoying every day we are blessed with!

Community of Characters

     Skiing at one area for many years brings you into contact with a host of characters to observe.   Some of them will become your friends. If you were writing a play or a story, you would have to have real examples of individuals of all sorts.  In fact you might not even be able to imagine them without actually observing them.  

    One thing about the characters that is shared by all at my Greek Peak Ski Area friends in Virgil, New York is a passion for skiing.   The long-timers desire to be on the slopes as much as possible, depending on their physical condition, their economic situation and the demand of family and jobs. 

    In the case of my closer community at the Peak, we have made all kinds of observations about skiers behavior.  Many of these regulars have nicknames that are universally known or in some cases, if they are somewhat derogatory, are unknown to them.  For the most part, we are a forgiving bunch when we observe behaviors we think inappropriate.   

   Observations of behavior include comments on skiing style.  Bombing the hill seems to be desired by a few of these characters and we know when to avoid what we think is perilous behavior. While we skiers are mostly tolerant of snow boarders, we do have some anxiety about what we consider to be their blindside while boarding!

    Among the special subsets of community are the Geezer Skiers. We pretty much know all of the geezer skiers and most of the staff as well as the management, who appreciate our loyalty to the area.  Recently some of us were honored for our loyalty with plaques placed on the back of the Visions Express chairs recognizing our decades at the Greek Peak Ski area.  Beyond the current Geezer Skier characters we hope that there will be people at the area who will still appreciate those who are deceased and/or now reluctantly retired from the slopes.

    Meanwhile, I will continue to enjoy observing the character of this skier community and meeting and chatting with the skiers from all over Central New York to learn their stories and get some insights into their character. 

    As a final observation, I am uplifted by the recognition of character as such an important element of human existence recently highlighted in the service for President Jimmy Carter. Regardless of your political leanings, one has to appreciate the exemplary life of that man of such sterling character.