This Is It! 2025
is Our 20th Anniversary
Whistler/Blackcomb,Canada
We Grow Old Because We Stop Playing, Never Stop!
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Our SST MASH Teams
At a certain point in your skiing, constant progression will become infinitely less important to you than the opportunity to ski in a safe, fun and supportive environment. The desire to be on a team with these objectives is as varied as the individual but they all have common threads.
Where "Age Meets Adventure" On The Slopes
Age? Just a Number. Mountains? Our Playground
Picture This: a group of ski legends (sometimes in their own minds) who refuse to hang up the boards and instead embrace every run and every slope as a way to celebrate their passion for the mountains. Welcome to the "Mash Teams" the elite senior squads for the over 70 crowd still hungry for the thrill of fresh powder and cool mountain air. But, at a certain point in your skiing, constant progression has become infinitely less important to you than the opportunity to ski in a safe, fun and supportive environment.
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Concept: the Mash Teams are more than the average Senior Ski Team; they are the leading edge of our program. Many of our current "MASHer's" have been skiing with us for 15 seasons and more. Over the years, we've created a community of experienced bold skiers who know that the joy of skiing doesn't end with age - it evolves. As part of the MASH Team, members proudly represent the idea that outdoor adventures are timeless. They're not just skiing for the sport; they're skiing to prove that age won't hold them back.
The Beginning: when people hear about our MASH Teams for the first time, they are mostly curious to know how they came to be?
The SST Program started 20 years ago with 7 intrepid seniors who enjoyed skiing together. After a couple of seasons, one of these skiers, let's call her Anne, and suffering from a failing knee issue was struggling to keep up with the rest of the team. She would often have to sit out the latter part of the morning and take a coffee break. And guess what? She wasn't alone as she often met other people in the cafeteria who were in a similar way; left watching skiers go by from the cafeteria window. After bringing this observation to my attention, she suggested to me that it might serve a purpose to consider offering a "de-tuned" version of a typical SST Team and see if there would be any takers.
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Not only did it take off from the first year it was offered, it has never lost popularity. It has also become a bit of a "catch-all" for people recovering from knee replacements to heart issues and everything in between; a place to ease back into the fray while being with other skiers supportive of each other or simply "age in place."
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Fast Forward The Concept: in today's SST Program, the "MASH Teams" are more than a concept or being a standard ski team, they're becoming a movement. We're creating in real time a community of experienced, dare I say bold skiers who are showing the world that skiing isn't just for the young.
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Staying Power Meets Adventure & Fun: This isn't about pushing boundaries recklessly. It's about embracing the outdoors with style, grace and that undeniable spark that only decades of experience brings.
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Community: skiing solo is fun but skiing with like minded people who get the thrill often despite the aches and pains is unbeatable. MASH Team members support each other, share stories and keep the spirit of skiing alive.
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The Benefits of Joining a MASH Team
20 years has gone by in a blink of an eye. Our original team members were 65 or older when they joined. Today our "seniors in training" can join the club at age 55 and we even have some people asking to join with fake ID's. Somewhere along the line, it became 'cool' to be a senior skier on Whistler/Blackcomb and we enjoy an incredibly high return rate to the SST Program greater than 85% for 2024; and that's approaching the all time high of 92% recorded the year before COVID.
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Yet, there's still a sort of stigma, perhaps self inflicted to some degree by the senior skier on themselves that there is shame associated to the sting of no longer being able to do this or that on their skis. It's as if we should always be getting better year after year just by virtue of staying active and engaged in the wonderful sport of skiing. After all, skiing seems be the fountain of youth; it sure makes us feel younger doesn't it?
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When our eyesight starts to fade or fail, or our dodgy knee or hip finally packs it in or a myriad of other natural issues related to our demographic become a nagging part of our reality, it must be time to hang up the boards, right?
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The short answer is so many of our team members simply wouldn't take NO as an answer, got the hip or knee replaced, cataracts removed became motivated to work on Number 1 and continue to reach new personal fitness highs season after season.
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On the SST Skier Profile Questionnaire, everyone is asked to tell us the number of days per week they do some form of cardio in the off-season. When we started recording this, 2 days per week was the norm; today that number has doubled and then some. I'll wager that overall, our group is fitter than they've ever been with no letup in sight.
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No matter what we do though to stay the course, the best we can hope for is that out health-span will exceed our lifespan. For many among us, the 'ol health-span won't be keeping pace with our lifespan and this is when we need to make it Okay to slow it down and reboot. Resolve it in our minds that it is infinitely better to join a MASH Team than simply pack it in. You know the old story that a bad day on the mountain far exceeds a good day in the valley.
Benefits of Joining a MASH Team
You've probably read about these seniors who are skiing into their nineties; if not, simply google "skiing in your nineties" and you'll find plenty of press and video clips.
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Truth is, even though we routinely have a dozen or more skiers in their eighties skiing with us every season, we've yet to have a skier on the SST Program aged 90 or older. However, this is a goal of ours and we're setting the stage for this to happen. Having the "Cool Special Teams" is definitely a start and along the way, we are keeping our eyes and ears open for things that may assist the "Super Senior Category" to enjoy their skiing longer and longer.
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One such item we are looking closely at is called the Ski Mojo. This is a device invented by a tinkerer from Jolly 'old England who was looking for a way to support his failing muscles and joints. Eventually, he came up with what would be called the Ski Mojo, an exoskeleton mechanism that uses powerful springs incorporated into a harness that creates a suspension effect, reduces the weight felt by the legs by 30% or more. Most of us over a certain age and well short of the super senior demographic, could use something other than ibuprofen to limit and reduce hip, back and knee joint pain and discomfort. Adopted early enough, they may even be the ticket for our younger seniors to become a super senior on skis.
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No matter what's on the horizon, if it's out there and assistive, we'll hear about it and you'll be at the cutting edge as members of the SST Mash Teams. Drop me a line if this sounds like something you're ready to explore and we'll look at your options.
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The Follow-Up
Getting old isn't for sissies is an expression we've all heard and attributed to Bette Davis and Mae West. Anyone who has or is dealing with some health issue related to being older knows only too well that it's a bitch and an inconvenient truth. What you do about it makes all the difference in the world; ask any of our current or past members in our MASH Teams.
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Short of doing that, simply ask me if I think you might be a contender to join a group.
Complete a SST Skier Profile that approximates you, send it in and we'll go from there.
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All the best to you in skiing and to becoming a skiing centenarian.
