I often ski alone on these road trips in retirement,and I crave conversations. The perfect vehicle, of course, is the chair lift. I wait and ask someone if I can ride with them. Almost always they happily agree. Yesterday I rode with an 88 yr. old gentleman who wants to ski until 90. He had labored speech, sounding like Diane Rehm, but was very sharp of mind. Near the end of the ride he laughed and confessed that his wife doesn't mind his skiing but wants him to give up his motorcycle. He has ridden a quarter million miles in all 50 states since retiring 20 yrs. ago. I wished him well.

I enjoy those discussions as well and would have enjoyed that gentleman since I love both skiing and riding my motorcycle. Had it out this past weekend, old ski pants come in handy for winter riding.

I too have met many interesting folks on the chairlift. It is easy to start a converstion about the conidtions, weather, etc. They always say alot of business gets done on the golf course. It would seem that skiing could achieve similar results.
Skiing is great family activity since everyone can join in the fun. I can't see an entire family playing golf but I guess it happens.
As for your new friend, skiing at 88! Wow. I hope that I can do the same someday.

Some sports I can do solo and others I can't. I've only skied twice on my own and didn't really enjoy it - maybe just didn't have enough time to get used to it. Sort of wish I enjoyed skiing on my own more but I'm just so used to the family clustering at the bottom after a run comparing notes that i feel all lonely when I get to the bottom and there's no one to tell how I almost wiped out or what not.

Hunting on the other hand, well, I love it when my boyz can join me but if no one wants to get up at 3:30 I'm more than fine to go by myself!!

I find I enjoy lift chats much more on weekdays than on crowded weekends in the Mid-A.

I enjoy lift conversations too, especially at Alta where you can run into some real genuine characters. I have met my share of 70-90+ year old skiers on the lifts out there who were a joy to talk with. Gives me some hope for when I get old. My favorite was an old British woman who had me cracking up the whole time (later that evening I saw her in the GMD dining room regaling the dinner crowd with a story while walking around with her own personal bottle of wine -- like I said, a real character).

Denis, I'll be out to Alta in the coming weeks, and it would be great to meet up for some runs, and hear another New England accent and trade NASA talk on the lift (though you're still too young to compete with the real Alta old timers for entertainment). I'll PM you some details when it gets closer. I see the weather is slowly turning around in my favor....