While there is no official count, I’d hazard to guess there are hundreds of thousands of aging ski bums around the world. While age is indeed just a number, if you possess some of the following criteria, you make the cut.
1) Vitamin I is a regular part of your diet.
2) You find yourself taking longer lunch breaks than in your younger years. You might even find yourself stopping for a refreshment between laps.
3) You still check the weather forecast, radar, and web camera, but you may not be in the front of the lineup as often as you once were.
4) Your skis stay on the ground and not in the air much more than in the past.
5) Your knees and other joints may be deformed, creaky, achy, make popping noises, and/or all of the above.
6) You still find yourself giddy for big storm cycles.
7) You instinctively choose the elevator over the stairs, especially at the end of the ski day.
8) You choose the quality of skiing over the quantity of skiing.
9) You don’t ski as fast or take chances as much as you once did.
10) You don’t look at moguls the same way that you used to.
11) You shake your head and say to yourself “The kids these days”.
12) You aren’t as explosive a skier as you once were, and that’s ok.
13) You need reading glasses to study the trail map.
You know you’re really there when a dose of Vitamin I doesn’t do it any more and you move to Aleve, twice a ski day.
I would add that to qualify as any sort of ski bum, skiing has to take precedence over other activities. You have to miss at least a birthday party, wedding, graduation and a funeral for skiing before you achieve ski bum status.
Good additions Marco!
You stop at every traditional safety check spot, and stay a little longer…maybe click out of your skis and lay down too 😎
Spoken like a true aging ski bum!
You keep your head on a swivel in the transition zones:)
Sorry, but what its Vitamin I – or is it Vitamin 1? I may need some.
Vitamin I = Ibuprofen