Bruce Horovitz turns 74 this December. He plans to ski again anyway. He's done it at least once every winter, and he still loves the wind chewing at his face on the way down. He also knows the risks. So he asked a geriatrician how to do it safely, and he wrote down his own rules for the Journal.
Ronan Factora is a geriatric physician at the Cleveland Clinic. He says there's no age cutoff for safe skiing. In your 50s, 60s and 70s, what matters is balance, strength, your medical condition and how you prepared in the months before. Horovitz adds two blunt lines of his own. Your older years aren't the time to learn, and skiing isn't smart for anyone with physical limits, however good you once were. Then comes honest self-reflection and, ideally, a talk with your doctor. Expect to fall now and then. "You have to be able to get yourself off the ground," Factora says.
Eight rules from a man who learned them the hard way
Horovitz trains all year. He swims about 40 minutes of laps a day. He does wall sits for 30 seconds, sit-to-stands from an armless chair, and balances on one leg. He rents his gear now instead of owning it, because he skis only a few times a year and his needs keep changing. He has moved to shorter skis, about 155 to 160 centimeters, for control. In college he owned skis over 200 centimeters long that he could never quite handle. He once carried skis, poles and heavy boots all at once and wrenched his back. It took weeks to heal. Now he uses a light bag with a handle and never walks far in ski boots.
He stretches indoors, then again outside before clicking in. He takes breaks at the far edge of the slope, away from anyone out of control. He skis about two hours, then takes the rest of the day off. As a young man he skied all day to get his money's worth from the lift ticket. Nearly every injury he's had came from staying out too long. He skis Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the quietest days. He avoids the icy crowd at the bottom of the main lift, skips moguls, and stays off the black-diamond runs. Factora, who is 55, mostly sticks to the green ones. He figures he has a 50-50 chance of falling when he gets off a lift. In 15 years, at 70, he may switch to cross-country or tubing. "Luckily, my identity is not tied to skiing," he says.
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This is Retirement (M10), with a Health Costs side. The money part of a retirement plan gets rehearsed for years. The body part usually doesn't. Horovitz treats his ski trip the way we'd treat a withdrawal plan. He trains early, he sets a stopping rule before he starts, and he changes the plan as he ages instead of pretending nothing moved. The two-hour rule is the smart one. Most of his injuries came from chasing his money's worth out of a lift ticket. That's the sunk-cost trap on skis, chasing money you've already spent, and it shows up in portfolios too. Renting instead of owning is Cash Flow (M5) in a nutshell. Pay for the days you'll really use, and let someone else store the gear.
The connection is the travel and activity line in your retirement budget, and the doctor visit that belongs in front of it. This week, if a ski trip or any hard trip is on this winter's calendar, book the checkup first and ask Factora's question. Is the joy worth the injury risk for you, this year. Then price renting against the gear in your garage for the days you'll really ski. A fall in your 70s can move money fast, so your emergency fund and your health plan's deductible are part of the trip plan too. If the active side of your retirement hasn't been talked through, bring it to your next review. You wax the skis in November, not on the lift.