# Poll: What age did you start Riding?



## Zee (Feb 21, 2008)

27
Started really late.


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## Glade Ripper (Nov 12, 2008)

Started last year at 23 and immediately fell in love. Rented once, then bought and have quickly progressed and bought better gear. Started so late because I was a competitive swimmer and had a scholarship for it so my coach never let me near a mountain


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## Guest (Jan 5, 2009)

ya this is my senior year and it's basketball season. It's killing me, I just want to be on the mountain and I'm stuck running suicides in practice. I rented once, borrowed once, and then bought. I plan on getting a season pass next year since I've decided not to play sports in college.

I'm not a big fan of team sports. I also use to be a swimmer and was great at it but my school didn't offer it so I dropped out of my club. I inline skate in the summer and was looking for something new to do just one on one competing against my friends and myself. That's why I love it so much I think.


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## Guest (Jan 5, 2009)

Started last winter when I was 20. Rented for a week and then bought my gear this year before thanksgiving. Went w/ very toned down gear so I wouldn't be one of the noobs showing up w/ all this crazy looking stuff and not be capable of linking turns. 

Wish I'd started earlier but such is life.


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## nitroboarder22 (Apr 16, 2008)

i think i started when i was about 7 but i didnt start getting serious about it until 12 or 13 
i just wish i was more serious about it earlier because some of my 13 year old friends are just as good as i am and im 16
and my love for snowboarding seems to be growing exponentially every year if that even possible any more


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## Guest (Jan 5, 2009)

Started at 15, 20 now. Didn't really ride a whole lot until now though.


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## Guest (Jan 5, 2009)

started at 15 and now I'm 17

Picked it up really quick, loving every second


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## Guest (Jan 5, 2009)

Started at 13, christ I'm getting old that's 15 years ago. First board was a Liquid 151 that I bought with my paper route money. I gave it up from years 17-23 because of college, girls, booze, whatever you want to attribute it to.


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## Guest (Jan 5, 2009)

Started at 21, now I am 25.


I just need to get more days out there...


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## Guest (Jan 5, 2009)

Started when I was 15, now 33. Amazingly I still ride like a beginner


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## Penguin (May 30, 2008)

21. I am 24 now.


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## Vlaze (Nov 12, 2008)

Started at 15, same story as jonny from 18-26, got back into it 2 years ago. Was like jumping back on a bicycle riding again.


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## kri$han (Feb 24, 2007)

started at 24... which really sucks cuz I'm too old to recover quickly, so I'll never progressin the park as much as I want to.



ah well, better late than never.


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## Vlaze (Nov 12, 2008)

Too old? Puleaseeeee, spare me! The way I see it, only reason we feel we're "too old" is because we're no wear near as cardio active like we were when kids. If we were active everyday I bet we wouldn't feel "too old" You're gonna make me feel like grandpa with that


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## Guest (Jan 6, 2009)

23; just started this year and trying to get into it. Still shopping for my first board.


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## Alexander (Apr 7, 2008)

I started seriously last season at 23, I'm 24 now. I went once or twice when I was about 8 or so, and then a few times when I was 17. Wish I had kept it up then though, I quit when I moved to Japan six years ago because I thought it would be too expensive and crowded. Went last year for the first time, and it turned out to be the opposite. It can be crowded, but it's comparable if not better than the States. Relatively cheap, too.


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## Guest (Jan 6, 2009)

Pfft. KIds.

Started at 39.


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## mag⋅net⋅ism (Oct 26, 2008)

Started a week after my 27th birthday. Haven't looked back.


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

started at 43 and now 50, envious of my daughter we started at the same time...7 now 14 and doing 540's and backflips.


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## Guest (Jan 6, 2009)

kri$han said:


> started at 24... which really sucks cuz I'm too old to recover quickly, so I'll never progressin the park as much as I want to.
> 
> 
> 
> ah well, better late than never.


ohh pulllleeeeze nothing at all stopping you from doing park, now you probably have the money to buy some protective gear if you're that worried. 
Man I have smashed and been smashed all over and still going strong! The only thing I change is I am smarter now and wear a helmet 

If anyone out there thinks they are too old, fat or out of shape to do what you dream of, let me say I came from being a flabby lazy POS drunk back to doing all the sports I wanted to and 100x better then when I was a kid! If you want it bad enough you can do it!

Ok enough pep talk...sorry bout the rant anyways...

I started skiing at around 9, then ditched it for snowboarding I THINK around 14.. had to learn myself as noone I knew snowboarded.

Never took a lesson till I was in my 20's lol.. the first lesson I took was when I did the L 1 instructors course for fun, never taught though I dont really have the drive and people loving skills to teach well.

Anyways I too took the route of ditching boarding for booze and partying, I can say now going back to boarding has been one of the things making me enjoy life to the fullest again and I dont need liquid courage this time


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## Extremo (Nov 6, 2008)

Started at 13 in the back yards of NH


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## Guest (Jan 6, 2009)

tried it once when i was 13 , next year i did it like a week and fell in love
since than i have been bitten by the boarding vibe,
i like to sport alot and am a competitive guy , so i progress alot
and hurt myself alot..
no pain , no gain


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## Guest (Jan 6, 2009)

Started at 17, now 18 :laugh:


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## Guest (Jan 6, 2009)

Started with Toys-R-Us snowboards in the backyard when i was like 10 or so, didn't touch a real board until 15 maybe, gone once or twice a year since then. This is my first real season with my own gear and going often, wish I had started earlier though, it kinda sucks being 20 and having 10 year olds show you up terribly


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## Guest (Jan 7, 2009)

I started when I was 18, I'm 20 now. My dad had promised to take us since I was like 10, never happened. Then I got lessons and a pass for Christmas when I was a sophomore in HS, but had to return it cuz I had hip surgery. So finally some friends took me up when I had some money, and I've been addicted ever since.


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## Guest (Jan 7, 2009)

7-year-old snowboarding-starters UNITE!

haha, so glad to have a mountain 10 minutes away from me my entire life


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## Guest (Jan 7, 2009)

you guys are lucky to have started at such a young age


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## BigC_ 13 (Dec 28, 2008)

started when i was 9 on an oldschool one directional, pointed tip flat tail board that i got for $10 at the turkey sale in whistler, 
didnt really get into it until last year though ebcuase before that i could only go up 3 or 4 days a year and never got any better. Finaly got my own gear last year and now im up every weekend i can afford to go


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## Flick Montana (Jul 9, 2007)

Started in my 20's. I was born in Indy, so it wasn't a readily available past-time. I intend to take my kid(s) to see if they like it at least once.


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## Guest (Jan 7, 2009)

I started when I was 33. Until last year I was only getting on the hill once a year. I started my son boarding at 6 and my daughter started skiing at 5. 

I am going tomorrow with a friend in his 40's who skis but he will be strapping on a board for the first time.


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## Guest (Jan 7, 2009)

Started at 10. Now 13. I'm decent I guess.


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## Guest (Jan 7, 2009)

I started some time in highschool, 16 years on this earth? before then, i was skiing. I don't remember when i first skied, maybe in kindergarten? maybe before?


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## Guest (Jan 8, 2009)

26 (28 now). Friends dragged me along... hated it for the first 1.5 days, got addicted when I linked my first turns. I really, REALLY wish I hadn't grown up in Florida!


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## Triple8Sol (Nov 24, 2008)

Started skiing around 11, got pretty good, and taught at a local ski school. First tried boarding around 17, only skiied a couple times after that, and made the switch for good.


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## Guest (Jan 10, 2009)

when i was thirteen my family and i went to go see the warren miller film and afterwords i knew what i wanted to do for the rest of my life.


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## justdust (Jan 27, 2009)

Started at 40 and it has only made me younger.


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## jardo56 (Mar 6, 2009)

Started when I was... oh about 12 yrs old. Did it for about 3 years. Took 7 year girl/booze/drugs/party haitus and just got back into it this year at age 25. Was like riding a bicycle.


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## Airbourne (Aug 25, 2008)

started at 16 (now 20) and still loving it! if only I could afford to chase snow year round


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## Lousixyz (Mar 11, 2009)

Started at 33 and I am now 34.... Next season will mark my daughter "debut" on snowboard (she is 6 and did a first year on ski (blame her mon, not me :dunno: )


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## nzboardlife (Mar 25, 2008)

15 and am now 19. But i only went 3/4 days in my first two years.


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## Guest (Apr 17, 2009)

39.

I wanted to start 2 years ago, but had to wait til my knee cap healed after being cracked in half.


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## twin89 (Jan 21, 2009)

started @ 18 and really wished i started younger, but in high school i had a chacne to play tennis in college so yeah my coach wouldn't let me near the slopes and none of my parents skiied or ne thing so ddin't goto mts much but now im 19


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## Penguin (May 30, 2008)

Started when I was 20, I am 25 now.


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## Birk (Jan 28, 2009)

started at 11, i'm 21,5 now. whoa, thats a long time..


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## Guest (Apr 17, 2009)

i started at age 18, im 19 now... i definately wish i would have started way sooner!!! but there is hope!!!! Hana Beamen joined the Ride team (age 24) at after blowin up in '06


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## COtoUT (Apr 1, 2009)

started when i was 12. i'm 36 now...and broken.


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## markee (Jan 1, 2009)

had one day on the slopes when I was 13. Really started to get into it at 15. Now I'm 18.


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## arsenic0 (Nov 11, 2008)

Actually went for my first time when i was 24..first time i got my own season pass and board and took it seriously i was 25/26...now 27 and doin good...

Got a good 11 days in last year, and im probably above 25 this year...next year im gonna keep better track of how often i get up and document it


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## Vorn (Oct 1, 2008)

Was on skis a few times when I was 11, 12. 

started boarding last year and loved it, im 21 now and only got 2 mouths till our session starts. 

looking forward to it!!


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## laz167 (Nov 27, 2007)

Started @ 35 now im 38.


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## Reede (Feb 16, 2009)

First boarded at 17 but didn't go again until I was 24. I've taken up the sport for real now tho so for the sake of this poll, I started at 24.


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## burritosandsnow (Nov 22, 2008)

surfed and skated since i was 11ish but lived in alabama so really didnt get much of an opportunity to board. moved to utah in 96 and started in 97 i was 26 .. 37 now and probably just had my best year ever


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## killclimbz (Aug 10, 2007)

Started at 18. Been at it for 20 years now...


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## Guest (Apr 17, 2009)

First attempt when 15 but didn't have a good board.. Started again this year at 23 with a new great board and I'm loving it! Parking ftw:thumbsup:


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## kraig4422 (Apr 9, 2009)

Started at 12, I am 30 now. Been riding for 18 years. I think I have missed a year or two because of financial obligations (having kids, buying houses, etc)


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## dharmashred (Apr 16, 2009)

28. late bloomer i suppose. :dunno: been skating since i was 12 though.


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## danielle (Apr 2, 2009)

I tried it when I was 19, found out drinking and actually learning to snowboard do not mix. I finally got on a board again this year, um, I am way older, 32. It is fun though. I wish the first time I went out and took lessons, I took it more serious. We are teaching our kids, they are 5, 6 and 9. The 6 and 9 year old girls rock, the 5 year old boy, not so much.


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## lilfoot1598 (Mar 7, 2009)

This is just my first season, so I started at 27 (now 28). I skied a few times when I was younger and actually bought skis with the intention of learning this winter. After about five ski trips to the mountain, I ended up switching to snowboarding and haven't looked back since.


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## Rufus (Nov 7, 2008)

I started just over a year ago, I'll be 45 in a few weeks. I'm having a blast riding with my 10 year old daughter.


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## sedition (Feb 8, 2007)

Started at 12. Now 35. That is 23 years of riding.


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## jmacphee9 (Nov 11, 2008)

started when i was 18, im just scared to see the day riding park is that much hard to recover from falls...


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## twin89 (Jan 21, 2009)

same here jmac... give it like 5 or 6 years and im prob done with park cause falls will start to have real consequences lol...


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## jliu (Jan 20, 2009)

did the ski thing back in elementary school...started when i was 22 (went only once)...now 24...and like everyone else...wished i started younger cause the park is a scary place for me...haha


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## Method (Apr 3, 2009)

Started skiing when I was like 5 or something stupid like that, picked up boarding when I was around 12. Still need to pickup skiing again.


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## rjattack19 (Nov 7, 2008)

18, too late.


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## Guest (Apr 23, 2009)

I'm 26 and just started snowboarding this year. Can't wait for next season, got a late start this year.


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## Dcp584 (Sep 10, 2007)

Well I probably started around like 9 or 10 with a snurferesk device in my back yard. Then moved to a Toys'r'us board still in the yard. Around 12-13 actually made it to the mountain and got my own board that christmas. I'm now 25 so....carry the seven.....somewhere in the range of 12 years now. From 8th grade through the end of high school I made it like 10-15 days a year after high school it jumped to like 30 or more.


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## Noodle (Mar 10, 2009)

15.
Whenever I see the little kiddies (usually on skis you notice?) I always wish that my parents took me at that age, learn better then. Imagine where we could be if we all started at 5


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## Guest (Apr 23, 2009)

started at 15 years old now i`m 19, i wish i had started sooner.


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## max_tm (Dec 7, 2008)

I started at 9 or 10? Will be 20 come next season.


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## RVM (Jan 31, 2007)

I started at 27. I wish I had lived somewhere more accessible to snow and mountains so I could have tried sooner.


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## BlackhawkDriver (Dec 25, 2012)

Started when I was 26. ;,Really wish I had started earlier but then again I did Live in Texas until I was 18 with no Access to mountains or tolerance for cold LOL
(And I know this is an old thread lets bring back for this season)


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## jennifer (Dec 18, 2012)

I am 32, just started this year. Never been on skis or a board before this year. 

Some of you are making me feel damn old! lol 

The truth is that I was morbidly obese most of my adult life...and in all honesty still have plenty of weight to lose. I have lost 115 pounds since August. Still losing. Snowboarding is part of that. I was super active in highschool and never had a weight problem. I was even a catalog model for a while. I was in fantastic shape. Then college came, then my daughter came, then life happened. So now I am making fitness a part of my life again, and snowboarding is a part of being active for me. 

The biggest push that got me started though is that my 7 year old daughter started skiing last year.(she was 6 at the time). My husband has been snowboarding forever as well. So it was time for me to join in on the family fun. 

I find it funny that someone commented that they do not heal as well or as fast at 24. Are you kidding? lol My father in law is 60 this year...and he went with us last season and tried boarding for the first time (He is a skier). He wasnt scared to fall, neither am I.


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## Donutz (May 12, 2010)

Started at 51.


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## Clayton Bigsby (Oct 23, 2012)

19 and my first powder turn is as memorable as the one I did the other day, even now at 46. 

My daughter started at 3


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## Backcountry (Nov 27, 2012)

About 3 months ago, 12.


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## longboard16 (Dec 4, 2008)

Well guess I was not the oldest to start (thanks Donutz), but I did wait until I was 50. Had a pacemaker installed a week before turning 50 and went boarding for the first time two weeks later. My boy saw me ski, which I started at 48 and had about 6 days in and he just shook his head and stated it was time to switch.

Now twelve seasons, three boards and another pacemaker later (hey batteries do wear out), I go all the time and my boy hardly gets out.


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## CJR (Jan 7, 2012)

Started at 19, Just turned 24. First two years didn't get out much, the last few have been averaging 20 days a season.


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## Varza (Jan 6, 2013)

I started this season, at 26. I've been wanting to go out and learn to ride since I was 12, but it just never came together. Now I want to go out as much as possible and collect my own gear. My bank account already hates me :laugh:


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## brucew. (Dec 4, 2012)

Started last year at 27. Kicking myself for not starting earlier and want to kick my parents for putting me on ski's when I was like 4 years old and not a snowboard


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## 306stang (Nov 17, 2011)

Started at 9 or 10. Almost 32 now. 

Grew up skiing and one year saw a bunch of people on boards and said hey can I try that?!! Got a rental and went to the top of green. Never had a lesson to this day. 

After 4/5 years got on a pair of skis, did two runs and exchanged them immediately for a board.


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## BlackhawkDriver (Dec 25, 2012)

jennifer said:


> I am 32, just started this year. Never been on skis or a board before this year.
> 
> Some of you are making me feel damn old! lol
> 
> ...


Thats awesome that you're riding to stay active. Its one of my favorite aspects of the sport you get to be outside and its damn good exercise. 
to many excuses to stay indoors and not do anything nowadays. My wife just started, she went for the first time with me yesterday and had a blast. :thumbsup: I just turned 28 and these guys are making me feel old too. haha


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## chomps1211 (Mar 30, 2011)

Couldn't find that Zombie thread smiley, but it would have been appropriate for this thread,.. in more ways than one! :laugh:

I like hearing from all the Ol' Codgers like me who started in and around their 50's!! :thumbsup: Was 50 when I started,.. 52 now,.. never skied!! Wish I'd started 25 years ago when I was still living in CA.!!!


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## firstx1017 (Jan 10, 2011)

I'm with Chomps! - I started at 50 and will be 53 in May. Wished I would have started in MY 30's! lol 

I'm on my 20th day so far this year - up here snowboarding for a three day weekend. Will be coming up every weekend until 3/31/13! Just watched a video of a 75 year old woman, cancer survivor, who learned to snowboard - who'd a thunk it! I can only wish I will still be doing this at 75!!


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## nread (Dec 27, 2012)

I'm 34, my wife is 35. We both started again this year after going MAYBE a half dozen times between the two of us. My son is 7 and starts ski lessons today, and I can't have him telling me how much better than me he is...not for a few years at least.


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

BlackhawkDriver said:


> (And I know this is an old thread lets bring back for this season)


Yeah old post but fun topic!

I started skiing at around 6/7 years old. Luckily my grade 6 class had a 4 pack field trip to a local hill, and you could choose skiing or boarding. It came with rentals, lessons, and lift tickets. One day a week for 4 weeks.

I chose snowboarding. So that was when I was 11 in '92 or so, and 21 years later here I am! :yahoo: Still love the sport every bit as much as day one, if not a lot more!


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## seriouscat (Jan 23, 2012)

First at 20. Occasional riding for 5 years. Then 6 year break and took it more seriously last year at 30.


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## TintedOut (Dec 21, 2009)

started when I was 24 or 25.


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## poutanen (Dec 22, 2011)

seriouscat said:


> First at 20. Occasional riding for 5 years. Then 6 year break and took it more seriously last year at 30.


Yeah it seems like there's a lot of people that sort of hit a hiatus in their mid 20's... I had a time from about 20-25 that I only went a couple times a winter. When rented a house with my buddy at 26 and left the nest, we bought passes to Blue Mountain and since then I've had a seasons pass every year! :yahoo:


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## Noreaster (Oct 7, 2012)

Skiing since 3. Switched to boarding at 13. This is my 27th year riding.


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## RedRomo (Aug 17, 2010)

Started when I was 37 and I'm now 40.


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## corneilli (Nov 26, 2012)

Started at the age of 12, now almost 18


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## everest (Jan 20, 2009)

Started at 13, managed to break a couple bones early on in the season, took a couple years off, started again at 16 and had no money and no one to ride with stopped again. I again, got back into it at 18 and have been riding ever year since, now 25. :thumbsup:


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## destroy (Dec 16, 2012)

26, I guess? 

Skied a few times a season in elementary school. Tried snowboarding for the first time in early 2008 when I was 21. My first time out I rode everything but the blacks at Cypress. I loved it but the band I was in started to get real serious shortly after that so I never bothered picking it up. Playing music that seriously in an underground band playing some pretty extreme stuff is about as expensive as snowboarding pretty seriously so I never had the time and money. Got kicked out of the band and lost all my friends so now I have lots of money in the bank and as of the start of this season - a growing addiction to the cold, white stuff


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## hoodrat (Mar 22, 2012)

Started at 13 with a used M3 Capwide (which I still have). Now 24, man time has flown by...


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## t21 (Dec 29, 2010)

started skiing at 34, then snowboarded at 42


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## JeffreyCH (Nov 21, 2009)

I started at 37 as a way to cure my winter wakeboard jones...now at 43 I love the snow way more then the water


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## AIRider (Dec 25, 2010)

Started at 25, now 28. 

Just realize how many youngins we have on here.


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## jdmccright (Apr 8, 2011)

Learned how when I was 15 but took a ten year break because no one would go with me. Now at 28 I could care less who goes.


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