Updated April 22, 2026 04:50PM
Every ski mountain has its old-timers. Like the oldest tree in the forest, with a tangle of gnarled branches, you can pick them out from afar. The stories lie in the faded outerwear, the rugged hands, and in weathered eyes that have seen way more powder days than you have.
At 33 years old, I’m still young. But I’ve also long since reached the age where I’ve started to see the meaning of aging. Sometimes I wonder whether I’ll even be able to walk in 40 years, let alone ski.
So I went out and asked these legends themselves. Would I discover the eternal truth? Between stories of the good old days—yes, there will always be stories of the good old days—I found a treasure trove of information that we younger folks can use to boost our chances not just of lifespan or healthspan… but of skispan.
It’s not a guarantee. Everyone acknowledges that there was a lot of luck along the way. But as the Roman philosopher Seneca reminds us, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” John Bouchard, a 74-year-old American skier and climber, has his own take on Seneca’s idea: “You can’t control the hand that you’re dealt, but you can control how you play.”
1. Community
Socialization is the bread and butter of all human existence. The science is clear: laughter and connection are key to a long and healthy life. And for a lucky few, skiing has been the path to community—and vice versa.
Mike Campbell, a 75-year-old snowboarder who spends his winters in the French Alps, puts it at the forefront. “In skiing, I found a community. Similar to what I found surfing in the 60s and 70s.”
Meanwhile, Jaybird, a 71-year-old American based in Alaska, still migrates to the French Alps each winter. When I ask him why, he shrugs. “There are a lot of reasons. One is because everyone else keeps coming back, too.” Inquiring into whether many of his friends have left over the decades, he offers his characteristic shrug again. “Nope. Most of them are still here.”
2. “Make the Decisions Today That Will Allow You to Ski Tomorrow.”
When asked about his secrets to skiing for 71 years, Joe Puchek, a 74-year-old American skier based in the French Alps, responds, “Make the decisions today to allow you to ski tomorrow.”
That’s a pretty broad statement, so I asked Joe to unpack it for our readers. “Well, not getting injured is important. I regret doing aerials when I was a kid because crashing from heights has wrecked my back.”
For budding shredders, maybe forget about mimicking the Freeride World Tour, because hiking off cliffs is going to compress a lot of discs in the future. Regarding avalanche safety, do you want to sacrifice all your future skiing for one run? And to the big-mountain guys bragging about their lines. “It doesn’t matter if you skied an insane line. There’s a difference between extreme and beauty,” says Mike.
3. Ski Efficiently
Each of the seniors I spoke with acknowledges that age brings significant declines in strength. In response to the body not being as strong as it used to be, Joe is pragmatic. “You just have to accept it. But you also have to ski efficiently. That means skiing from your core. And taking the line that’s there, not necessarily the line you want. The line of least resistance.”
On the other hand, “It’s easier to ski as an older person now because the gear is so much better,” exclaims Mike. “Lighter and easier on the body,” says Joe. Meanwhile, Jaybird and his friends take it to the next level by actually chopping the last several inches off their freeride skis to make them turn more easily.
4. Embrace Your Spiritual Side
In my conversation with Mike, he immediately dives into the otherworldly realm. Things get meta fast. “For me, it’s more of a spiritual thing. Skiing is a movement, dancing. The way we move affects the way we see, and the way we see affects the way we move. Dance is no more than the dancer and the dancing. Once that stops, there’s nothing. You can’t hold it or keep it.”
When I tell Jaybird about Mike, he laughs. “Other guys are structural [yoga, weights, diets, etc.], but Mike is spiritual. Both work.” There you have it—more options.
5. Keep Discovering
One of my primary questions is how to maintain enthusiasm for the sport after so many decades. The answers hinged on the notion of discovery.
Mike is characteristically abstract: “Why not just ski groomers at our age? Maybe the primordial desire to hunt. To find the best snow of the day. In that sense, maybe off-piste skiing is what keeps us around, even though the snow is harder on our bodies. Groomers just don’t offer the same kind of hunt.”
Jaybird, on the other hand, even admits to occasional boredom. “I do get bored, a little bit. But then a storm comes, and it gets better again. My favorite is tree skiing because it’s harder to make the same turn twice.”
John, loath to relinquish his intensity, enjoys discovering his limits. “For me, the moment of bliss occurs just after I accomplish some goal that was at the limit of my increasingly limited abilities. And to stay focused, I keep in mind how youthful it felt to be 70.”
6. Ok…Let’s Talk About Money
Joe’s formula for skiing is as follows. “You gotta have desire, ability, time, and money. Those four things are all it takes, but if you don’t have any one of them, you’re not skiing.” The biggest variable for many people is going to be money. It’s no secret that you need a decent amount of it to earn the privilege of hitting the slopes.
Then again, skiing was never a choice for Joe; it was a necessity. “Since I was a kid, buying a ski pass has been like buying toothpaste and toilet paper. You had to have a ski pass. We always bought used cars, and I built my own house, nothing fancy.”
Mike had a similar philosophy, which he dubbed “simple simplicity,” though he attributed the quote to his friend Bill, another 75-year-old skier whom I did not get the chance to interview. “It’s about living skiing as a religion and eschewing material goods and expensive lifestyles.”
But perhaps the biggest secret is establishing a winter base in the Alps. According to Joe, “It’s easier to eat healthy here. The lifestyle is better. And it was much more expensive living in Gunnison [Colorado] than it is living here.”
7. There’s No Ownership of the Mountain
In seven decades on the slopes, Joe has come to understand that “you don’t take from the mountain, you ski what you’re given.” Mike has a similar outlook. “There’s no ownership of the mountain. You simply pass through.”
Ponder those simple truths for a while, and you may also come to see skiing as the perfect metaphor for life. Both timeless and fleeting, offering joy, frustration, fear, pride, pain, and euphoria. You briefly pass through, and at the end, it’s gone. You can’t hold on to it, but you can do it as best you can while it lasts.
In the end, the old-timers aren’t in much of a rush; whatever it is, they’ve already seen it. Everything from here on out is a bonus, and there’s an untold satisfaction in accepting that fact.
