Old Man Park Skiing

[DGamms]

Well, my luck finally ran out... after a full season of pushing it doing this:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1raE...nFf8oSh6l/view

I then turned 40yo and promptly tore my MCL on the trampoline the next day.



Oh well. I suppose it falls under Rule #1 of Old Man Park Skiing: acknowledge the risk.

My surgeon is pretty confident my ACL is intact, so hopefully I’m good to go when the lifts spin in December. If anyone has great MCL rehab tips, please send them my way!

[GoldMember]

Ouch! That sucks but, you picked a good time to do it for recovery before the season starts. Hopefully not ACL or that's a different story.

The best tip is to do exactly what your PT tells you; nothing more, nothing less. One other thing, once you turn 40, nothing's as easy as it used to be.

I don't know what your surgeon or PT told you for recovery time but MCL is usually about six weeks. You should be good to go for skiing.

[Any]

Well, my luck finally ran out... after a full season of pushing it doing this:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1raE...nFf8oSh6l/view

I then turned 40yo and promptly tore my MCL on the trampoline the next day.



Oh well. I suppose it falls under Rule #1 of Old Man Park Skiing: acknowledge the risk.

My surgeon is pretty confident my ACL is intact, so hopefully I’m good to go when the lifts spin in December. If anyone has great MCL rehab tips, please send them my way!

still building up the guts to go full hog like you have! every year i say ill try this time, but still dont. seeing your video gives me confidence that I still can.
i have damaged (and in some cases torn) both meniscus, both MCL's, and the left ACL. youll be just fine. i ski quite fine so long as my leg/knee muscles are not too tired to continue to compensate. i get by on copious amounts of omega 3, glucosamine, and stair work. pre season i often wear leg weights to stress my legs a bit more too.
my thought is that old style sking heavily relied on acl, and somehow its ingrained into our memory that its still required. well maybe for beginners, but for an experienced skier with modern skis and the required techniques i don't seem to rely on the ligaments at all and torque the skis correctly instead. im not doing 360's every day tho.
I can't ski stiff long skis still, they push back too hard when I hit a lump or something.

interesting story, I tore left mcl and acl at the same time in a horrendous crash when 7 out of control angry skiers attacked me. they charged and knocked me down, pinned me against a fence whilst coming off an 8 seater chairlift and all of them piled on putting all the weight on my leg while attacking me with their ski poles. eventually it went pop ... i usually leave out that they were all 8yr olds tho

[SumJongGuy]

Well, my luck finally ran out... after a full season of pushing it doing this:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1raE...nFf8oSh6l/view

I then turned 40yo and promptly tore my MCL on the trampoline the next day.



Oh well. I suppose it falls under Rule #1 of Old Man Park Skiing: acknowledge the risk.

My surgeon is pretty confident my ACL is intact, so hopefully I’m good to go when the lifts spin in December. If anyone has great MCL rehab tips, please send them my way!

Damn that does suck. I can say, with some experience and age (I'm 54) that you're still young enough to bounce back pretty quickly. It's in the very late 40s, early 50s where injuries come a lot easier and rehab takes a lot longer. That's also why the DIN changes at 50. Follow the ortho instructions to the letter and watch a lot of ski pron. We're pulling for you!

[DGamms]

Well, despite two physical exams to the contrary, my MRI showed both my ACL and MCL to be torn, and a significant hit to the lateral meniscus. Damn.

ACL and meniscal repair today, so I’ve got a lot of this slotted for my non-season this winter.



Consequently, I’ll be skiing vicariously through others for a bit. If any of you old guys are getting after it in the park this year, please post it here so I can see it and we can analyze technique together!

Lastly, for any maggots in the Park City/Salt Lake area, I’ve got a bunch of skis available for demo since I can’t use them for awhile. Anyone with a BSL between 295mm-315mm that wants to take some twin tips out for a spin, don’t hesitate to ask! All the skis are mounted with either old STHs or STH2s (or Wardens or Shifts) so fairly adjustable for different boot sizes.

186 Rossi Sickle
185 Rossi Scimitar
184 4Frnt Devastator
188 Faction CT 4.0
186 Volkl Two
185 Line Blend
178 Line TW Pro

[Self Jupiter]

++vibes DG++

[DGamms]

I know the TGR crowd is not usually inclined to look to Newschoolers for advice or knowledge. But these summaries are really good, and they are a perfect starting point to begin your own old man journey as a jong in the park.

https://www.newschoolers.com/news/re...ki-Park-Part-1

https://www.newschoolers.com/news/re...ki-Park-Part-2

And when the text summary above is not enough and you need more detailed video help for a certain trick, I still think Stomp It tutorials has some of the best content out there

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OHtq_ofsyUs&t=6s

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZLzckGPMPU

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JlzRv3Jw_Vw

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9rx769ZQVhw

[Vitamin I]

Keep rehabbing, buddy. Been there, done that with an ACL.

Doesn't really count, but this winter this old man will mix things up by hitting the park jumps occasionally, just to get my 180's back from years ago, then progress to reliable 360's for my first time ever---then intentionally quit progressing right there. My old concussed brain is mush by now, and it concusses again nowadays even on soft impacts to the helmet, which means 2-7 days recovery every time for me---so I've given up on any real tricks, no rails, no boxes, etc.

...Lastly, for any maggots in the Park City/Salt Lake area, I’ve got a bunch of skis available for demo...

I will hit you up when I roadtrip though PC a few times. Lending skis is a theme that I am trying this winter.

.

[SupreChicken]

This is how it looks from my helmet. I'm going to land a 3 next park day.

Still grateful to Dgamms for starting the thread. Heal fast, my man.

[SupreChicken]

Sigh. Try again. Was a mistake to add music.

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Subscribed. My boy is 4 but already stoked on park skiing. I have a lot to learn.

[DGamms]

This is how it looks from my helmet. I'm going to land a 3 next park day.

Still grateful to Dgamms for starting the thread. Heal fast, my man.

Hells yeah Chicken!!

That 360 will come around no problem, you look plenty comfortable on those 180s and straight airs.

And cheers to Vitamin I, great to meet you Saturday. Sorry we didn’t get to ski a lap together.

To anyone else coming through Park City, hit me up if you want to borrow some twin tips.

[SumJongGuy]

I'm steadily losing my air feel and nerve as I hit mid 50s but here's a photo of me about 4 years ago at age 50. I'm only getting out a few times per season past couple years so I'm not going nearly as big as I did back in the day. But, use it or lose it fellas!


That's on SL skis LOL!

[DGamms]

Yeah SJG!! Go out there and git sum again!

I’m relying on you guys to keep the old man park stoke flowing... I’m hoping it will prevent me from going out there and trying shit before my knee is ready.

I already broke down and gave the baby park a go last week. Knee felt fine but my soul told me I had sinned...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb3KCrxImIw

My old man park partner had a nondisplaced humerus fracture in the baby park already this season too.

All that to say: be safe out there! And may the stoke be with you.

[Vitamin I]

...
And cheers to Vitamin I, great to meet you Saturday. Sorry we didn’t get to ski a lap together.

To anyone else coming through Park City, hit me up if you want to borrow some twin tips.

Yes, it was great to meet you on Saturday! Thanks again for letting me try your skis. I didn't hit the park that day, but...

I like surprises, and the Faction CT 4.0 delivered a lot more edge when tipped over than I expected. And the Atomic Shift performed just fine for me (220 lbs) for a half-day in firm-ish inbounds conditions on a 118mm-waist ski. Fun ski, but slightly too high stiffness per low weight for my personal preferences.

Then the 186 Volkl Two performed as I expected, and I just love how its somewhat heavier, softer design can make a lot of rough surfaces feel smooth.

Keep up the knee rehab!

.

[margotron]

Right the fuck on!!!!


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[DGamms]

Well, I didn’t get the season I was hoping for this winter, but I was grateful to get any season at all post-ACL repair.



I hope some of you other old men got out there and made progress in the park this year. And if anybody’s got tips on dialing in their switch 360, post them up. I struggled with that this year...

[wooley12]

I'm 70 and got my park pass last year. Threads like this tend to migrate to Gimp Central. Be cool, not core. That's about it.

[Jacques Strap]

say switch

Uh.... it's pronounced "skiing fakey"

I have nothing to add to this thread except that yall are bad fucking ass. Do yall sport the tall-t park rat look or are yall out there in you Dad gear of relaxed fit jeans and golf shirts?

[MiddleOfNight]

Right the fuck on!!!!

+1

[DGamms]

Uh.... it's pronounced "skiing fakey"

I have nothing to add to this thread except that yall are bad fucking ass. Do yall sport the tall-t park rat look or are yall out there in you Dad gear of relaxed fit jeans and golf shirts?

Hmmm, let’s see: when I’m in the park, I wear MTB pads under my Arcteryx shell, my boots have tech fittings and a walk mode, and I smell like Icy Hot with a whiff of desperation mixed in. So I guess that’s closer to relaxed fit jeans and golf shirts than Tall Ts?

[detrusor]

Icy hot and desperation. My favorite cologne.


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[Jacques Strap]

desperation

The true key to sending it, I think.

[sheddd]

I have an axis of rotation problem on 360's too; so trying to get some repetition on 180's, switch takeoffs, and switch landings. Hopefully next year I will get good 360/540's . Thanks for the link to empire tutorial and the T, and hope you heal well!

[auvgeek]

if anybody’s got tips on dialing in their switch 360, post them up. I struggled with that this year...

Where is your issue? Can you take off and land switch easily? Assuming you can switch 1, what goes wrong when you try to add the extra 180? Are you comfortable popping switch? Can you comfortably zero spin the same jump?

Not being snarky, it's just hard to help without more info. I watched the video to see where you might be going wrong but had trouble telling since it was all in reverse...

My guess is that it's a balance issue. You're probably just rotating your hips when you switch 180, but you're not comfortable actually spinning your head without getting off balance. (If you skate/snowboard, it's kinda like the difference between frontside and backside 180.) If that's true, you could practice blender sw 1s -- where you look over the opposite shoulder than the direction you're planning to spin. This might help you get used to rotating your head and spotting your landing from a switch take off. And you could also practice switch unnatural blender 1s and zero spins (try it looking over each shoulder, and then switching shoulders mid-air) to get the balance down.

One weird thing -- at least for me since I ride rails right foot forward (skate/snowboard goofy) but naturally spin left -- is switch onto rails means a switch unnatural/right 1 on to slide the rail right foot forward. So I actually found it easier to dial in unnatural switch spins for a while because I spent a lot of time going switch onto rails. YMMV. I never learned how to ride rails unnatural.