MARS HILL, Maine — Helen McLaughlin of Presque Isle said Friday that she can’t remember one winter of her life when didn’t think “at least once” about giving skiing a try.
“But I always thought it was a sport that you should learn when you were young,” the 62-year-old said. “And the older I got, the more worried I became that if I tried it and got hurt, the injury I suffered would be a catastrophic one.”
That was until shortly after Thanksgiving, when she was having lunch with two of her friends who are “in love with the sport.”
“They are only a few years younger than I am, and they were telling me how they only started skiing a few years ago and now go at least once a week,” explained McLaughlin. “They encouraged me to go skiing with them just once, and take a lesson from an instructor. That was all it took. After just one lesson, I was hooked.”
McLaughlin said she thought she would be the “oldest person on the mountain,” but was surprised by the range of ages of people both skiing and taking lessons at the Bigrock Mountain ski area.
“There are some people my age there that are skiing just as fast as some college students are,” she said Friday. “I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.”
Gerri Nadeau, 45, of Presque Isle, also charted a similar path to the mountain. She said earlier this month that she had long dreamed of wanting to try the sport, but always put her job and family in front of such pursuits. When friends from work approached her about coming to Bigrock Mountain with them and giving it a try, she knew it was the right time.
“I have raised my family and put my kids through college,” she said. “And I am always telling them that you can never be afraid to try new things. So I agreed to go to the mountain with them and I loved it right from the start.”
Nadeau said she took lessons from “a couple of different instructors” and is still learning the basics. She said that she was surprised at how much better skiing made her feel.
“It is such great exercise,” she said. “Winter is so long here, and it feels so great to have a sport that you can get out and do for fun.”
Both Nadeu and McLaughlin said that “laughter” is the key to taking up the sport at a later stage in life.
“You have to learn to laugh at yourself when you’re learning to ski,” said Nadeau. “If you don’t, you won’t have fun out there. And having fun is the key to any sport.”
