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Tuesday, February 05, 2002 -
Why should we care? Because older, experienced skiers reach a critical juncture at about age 45 - either they drop out in substantial numbers, according to the study, or modify their technique and equipment to accommodate aging bodies. Below you'll find the uplifting story of one man who has no intention of giving up the sport, as well as advice about how to keep skiing well into your golden years. For 40 years, Maurice Witten dreamed of turning 70 and being able to ski free at every resort in Colorado. It was a goal that motivated him "to stay healthy and physically active so that I would be capable of doing it," he says. "Secondly, as I purchased lift tickets for the whole family and felt my wallet grow lighter, I would look longingly at the sign posted above the lift-ticket window that read "70-plus: Free' and say, "At that price I could afford to ski every area!' " Now that he's finally reached the magic age, however, Witten has found this traditional perk has become almost as hard to find as 70-plus skiers themselves. Having hit the slopes at 16 of the 24 resorts he hopes to visit by the end of the season, Witten has found just six still offer the 70-plus freebie: Winter Park, Copper Mountain, Eldora, Sunlight, Powderhorn and SolVista. The others offer an array of discounted prices, ranging from $25 for a full-season pass at Loveland to a steep $59 a day at Aspen. "Aspen did offer a senior season pass for $149" - good at Aspen Mountain, Buttermilk, Aspen Highlands and Snowmass - "which would not be too bad if you were going to be around for a week or two," he notes. But Vail's rate of $99 for a season pass good at five areas seemed more reasonable. "If I ski each of the five areas twice, which I plan to do, that comes to just $10 a day," Witten figures, ticking off Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Arapahoe Basin. The least attractive price he has seen is $19 per day at Steamboat. "They did offer a five-day pass for us "Over the Hill' skiers, but not a season pass," he says. "I was very surprised by the disparity in prices," Witten says. "What would make sense to me, although it might not make sense to the ski areas, would be to have a senior pass that would be good at all the resorts statewide." That's an unlikely prospect, says Heather Fowle of Colorado Ski Country USA, an industry trade group. She explains that rates are set by individual resorts, "and they all have different reasons" for pricing tickets the way they do. Vail Resorts, for example, began charging 70-plus skiers last season, according to Adam Aron, chairman and CEO. "As the U.S. population in general, and the skiing population in particular, continues to age, this segment is becoming a larger part of our business," Aron says. "With an expressed desire for lower prices from our other guests, we cannot continue to ask younger skiers to fully subsidize seniors." Joan Christensen of Winter Park, however, says "it's just good business" to give free admission to skiers 70 and older. "When other areas first started charging this age group about two or three years ago, we looked at it and said, "Should we do this?' and decided not to. What we're finding is that where they ski free, they bring their children and grandchildren, and all those people buy lift tickets and rent equipment and pay for meals and lodging. So if you don't give a deal to the person over 70, you're going to lose all that business," Christensen says. "It's always possible that one of them may not have any kids and may ride up the lift and eat a peanut butter sandwich and not even buy a cup of coffee. But the fact is, if they're doing that at 70, more power to 'em. People of that era have done a lot for this business and this country, and it makes sense to be generous." Such "elders" account for about 2 percent of all the visits to ski resorts nationwide, according to an annual survey sponsored by the Lakewood-based National Ski Areas Association. As one might expect, most people engaged in the sport are in their 20s, 30s and 40s, but the median age of skiers has been creeping upward in recent years - from 30 in 1996-97 to 34 last season (and 37 at resorts in the Rocky Mountains). Moreover, there's been a steady rise in the proportion of skiers ages 45 and over. Witten, a retired physics professor from Hays, Kan., turned 70 on Dec. 5 and made it a point to ski for free that very day at Winter Park - where he first learned to ski on holiday trips and vacations in the early 1960s, and later where his three children learned as well. Ironically, the skis he is now using, a pair of 170-centimeter Dynastars he bought in Denver in December, are the first ones he has ever owned. "All those years, just going once or twice a winter, I always rented," he says. "But this year, I figured I'd be doing enough to make it worth buying a pair." Lean and fit (he lifts weights regularly at the gym at Fort Hays State University), Witten regards himself as "not a hot dogger, just a recreational skier," and sticks almost entirely to intermediate trails. Asked to pick a favorite, he responds, "Almost any of the blue trails I like, so that's kind of hard to say." He has never had what he would consider a serious skiing injury, but he did incur a hairline fracture in his upper tibia (shinbone) at Winter Park a few years ago. "They didn't do anything for it but put me on crutches and let it heal," he recalls. "Incidentally, there is a lot of physics in skiing," says Witten, who still teaches one course each semester at Fort Hays State. "Acceleration, kinetic energy, friction (or lack thereof), momentum, impact (hopefully not), speed, braking, control, temperature and weather, to mention just a few." A widower since 1992, Witten often takes family along - he has a daughter and three grandchildren in Goodland, Kan., another daughter in Manhattan, Kan., and a son in Illinois - so he's always on the lookout for the best deal. During the week between Christmas and New Year's, he reports, they stayed nights in Idaho Springs and skied most days at Loveland. Not only was its $25 season pass for seniors cheaper than a one-day adult lift ticket, but "they let me take one other adult - and my grandchildren - at a lower rate, too," he says. "Ski equipment rental, lodging, meals and incidental travel expenses of approximately $1,000 went from me to the local economy where Grandpa himself could ski the least expensively."
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