Old-timers find skiing prime

Up on Mt. Spokane, older skiers are trading in their rocking chairs for chairlifts.

The Mt. Spokane Prime Timers, a group that brings skiers older than 55 years old together on the slopes, met for their first lunch of the season at the Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park on Wednesday.

Member Jacquelyn Crowe, 67, said the group meets weekly to ski and share stories up on the mountain.

“It gets us out of the house,” Crowe said. “It keeps us young.”

Former ski patrol member Donna Larson started the group in 1998 to make skiing more of a social activity. Larson said she wanted to help skiers who had to go to the mountain alone after friends or spouses lost interest in the sport.

“So many of the seniors didn’t have buddies to ski with,” Larson said.

Prime Timers had plenty of company Wednesday as approximately 180 members met for hamburgers, cake and conversation in the ski resort’s Lodge Two.

“This is probably the most we’ve ever had,” Larson said.

Skiers stomped the snow from their boots, rubbed the goggle rings around their eyes and scratched at their gray beards as they lined up for their meals and quickly filled the lodge.

“It’s kind of nice to have something to look forward to on Wednesdays,” member Kirsten Fehlig said as she waited for her food.

Skiing four times a week and working with the ski patrol, Fehlig said she has met all sorts of people in Prime Timers. Though there is a minimum age, members still range from beginners to experts, she said.

Four-year members Peggy and Al Ostness, ages 65 and 71, ate with their 4-year-old grandson Nicholas Akins after spending the morning on the slopes.

Nicholas has skied with his grandparents for two years.

“They try to keep up with me,” Nicholas said.

Prime Timers come from many different backgrounds, Crowe said. Retired pilots, doctors and construction workers with the group trade stories in the lodge between runs.

“There’s lots of inspiration when you see these people and what they have done in their lifetimes,” Crowe said.

The Mt. Spokane Prime Timers formed from a small group of ski patrollers and grew to more than 300 members through word of mouth. People would see the group on the mountain having fun, and they would ask how to get involved, Crowe said.

“It just sort of took off,” Larson said.

A season membership costs $15 for a single and $25 for a couple. It includes five lunches with the group and evening drinks. The lunches are held every third Wednesday, Larson said.

A smaller Prime Timers group gathers at Idaho’s Schweitzer Ski Resort on Thursdays to enjoy many of the same social perks. Several members belong to both groups.

Crowe said members range from a few exceptions younger than 55 years old, usually spouses, to some members pushing 90.

Jerry Wagner, 63, said he had been skiing for 35 years. Prime Timers offers friendship with older skiers, but he doesn’t mind young skiers or snowboarders.

“It looks like a lot of fun,” Wagner said of snowboarding. “If I was young, I think I would enjoy doing it.”

Several other Prime Timers picked up on the trend and now snowboard regularly.

When the snow melts, members organize summer and fall events on the mountain. They arrange picnics in the summer, and they head up to help clear brush from ski runs in the fall.

“People enjoy going up and helping the mountain,” Larson said.

Members from both Mt. Spokane and Schweitzer occasionally arrange dates to ski together at different resorts in the Northwest.

“We’re over the hill,” Larson said, “but we have a lot of fun.”