Should you go skiing in your 60s, 70s and beyond?

Trying a new sport in retirement has mental, physical and social benefits, reducing depression and helping prevent disease.  The benefits of skiing in retirement include:

• Enjoying intergenerational holidays. Being able to ski with your grandchildren is a wonderful experience.   They don’t worry about how well or badly you ski, but they love it when you watch them.
• Skiing is great exercise and you get plenty of fresh air. It’s a full body workout and you get to rest on the chairlifts between runs.
• Skiing exercises your brain – improving memory and brain health. Skiing is a counterintuitive exercise:  you lean downhill to gain control instead of leaning back so your brain is constantly working.  Skiing means constant learning – no two days are the same, the terrain and conditions change and you have to adapt.
• Skiing is a very sociable sport – join a group lesson and you’ll make new friends. You will probably end up chatting to people in the bar about the day’s skiing.

If you don’t have any pre-existing medical conditions, travel insurance with winter sports cover isn’t too expensive.  For a three-month trip (January to March) it can be less than £90 for a skier in their early 60s. 

Websites like WeLove2Ski provide advice, but do make sure your insurance quote covers the type of skiing or snowboarding you want to do and any other activities.  Are you going to ski off-piste, in the snow or park or terrain park, or perhaps try snowboarding or heli-skiing?   Will your activities include ice-skating, reindeer-sledding or snow-mobiling?   You’ll need your insurers to know and to provide appropriate cover.   And of course you’ll need to cover your luggage and your equipment, either your own or rented, for damage or theft.  You’ll also want 24-hour emergency cover.

If you have stable and well-controlled conditions such as high blood pressure, cholesterol or diabetes, skicover.com will normally cover you as standard, provided you haven’t had your medicine changed in the last three months and don’t require more than two routine medical check ups or reviews each year.  You may not be able to get a quote online but you can call the company on 0330 880 5099 and quote ‘bespoke’ for your quote.

Another company that provides winter sports insurance for mature participants is skiinsurance.com.  At Saga ski insurance is available with no upper age limit for holidays up to 120 days long.  The policy holder must be over 50 but you can add friends and family of any age to the same policy.  You’ll need to select winter sports add-on when you take out your policy and you’ll have the winter sports cover for the whole duration of your insurance policy.

If you’re planning to spend most of the winter season – or all the season – at a ski resort, then you’ll need to look at seasonaire ski insurance.  One insurer that offers this is Big Cat Travel Insurance.

• Any good ski hire company will provide you with suitable skis – but why not consider renting a pair of heated ski boots? So nice to be able to keep your feet warm on the pistes.  If you’re considering buying, Salomon sell custom heated ski boots with an integrated battery and easy access to the controls for less than £350.  You can buy heated soles to put into your own ski boots with a control that clips onto the back of the boot.
• A good ski helmet is an essential. Gone are the days when we used to ski with the wind in our hair – and an accident waiting to happen!   Even experienced skiers have falls and you want to protect you as much as possible.   A second hand helmet from an unknown source (ebay or similar) isn’t advisable.  You need to know that your helmet hasn’t already been subjected to damage.