Want to ski comfortably for a long time?

My hero, Klaus Obermeyer is quoted to have said that “The longer you ski, the longer you live.” Whether you buy this argument or not, if you want to ski comfortably for a very long time, I will share with you some of my personal rules for getting there. 

1. First, you need to more than like skiing, you must be passionate about it. If you are, you will want to ski for a very long time, no matter what happens along the way. How do you get to that state? Perhaps by doing it a lot (mileage) and getting improving along the way. 
   
2. Prior to this however, my rules requires a regular, year-round exercise regimen that can include walking, hiking, running or cycling, all leg-oriented activities and also assume that your joints are strong and in good condition. 
3. Continue working on refining your ski technique. Not for the gallery's sake (there’s none of that in skiing, as most people are too concerned by surviving on their skis instead of watching other practitioners. You will need that if you want to become more efficient as you age and compensate for a crumbling physical body. 
4. Understand how to harness speed variations to your advantage. Ski instruction is very deficient in recognizing and discussing the importance of speed management and, has a skier grows older, speed allied with good technique often compensate for weaker muscles and dwindling physical strength. 
5. Develop muscle-memory at every occasions. To attain this, do uninterrupted runs, even if you must feel lactic acid hurting your thighs. Try new runs, new itineraries to enrich your skills and your mountain knowledge; don’t ever settle into a routine or a rut. 
6. Also, remember to remember the elements of ski technique that for strange reasons never want to belong to muscle-memory by making a conscious effort to include them when the going gets tough. 
7. Keep on going! Go out no matter the weather conditions; thin snow, deep powder, icy runs, difficult, rotten snows, poor visibility or very cold weather. always make the effort to get out and in 95% of the cases you’ll end up having a much better experience that you thought you would, and in the process, you’ll have added more to your quiver of skills. 
8. Always push the envelope of technical difficulty while remaining prudent. Embrace mistakes, incident or even accidents as you’ll learn much from each of them. Don’t let them then down you. I you have a bad run, do it again to exorcise its negative impression! 
9. Don’t take unnecessary risks, always remain prudent, make room for some reasonable margin of safety and think self-preservation. 
10. Share what you know with others, technique, good spots, powder stashes. The more you’ll do it, the more it will return dividends to you… 

Always keep smiling, but obviously, if you do all the above you can only smile as you grow into the old and capable skier you wanted to become in the first place!