Sam Bauman: To ski or not to ski another season

The ski resorts are shutting down now, and as local senior skiers start backing off the springs in their bindings, they may well ponder how the recent season was. Did they ski better this year than last, did they have fun, did they do nose plant?

Perhaps most importantly, do they think they will be up to tread the slopes again next year? One more season on the snow up the mountains?

That’s the important question for senior skiers: Am I up to skiing another season after this one? And the decision probably should be made now while memories are sharp and vivid, not when summer has softened the less successful runs.

Personally, until this year I never doubted for a schussing second that next season would be just as good as in the past. This despite a lackluster season. I pretty much kept to the easy blue runs, skipping the blacks and the mogul bumps. But it was great fun, the snow was fine, the weather, for the most part, sunny and the crowds friendly.

But will I be up to another season on the slopes?

I’m very much an older senior now and I’m taking therapy for loss of balance and continue my exercise workout.

I no longer ski free since I don’t teach skiing anymore and skiing can be expensive. My present shaped Rossignol skis are fine, the boots still fit well (I just went and tried them on) and the parka more than adequate.

I’m sure the same question of another season dogs other senior skiers. But if you’re sure you’re going up the slopes now, let people know today so you won’t back out.

If you’ve decided this season was enough, perhaps you want to pass your shaped skis to family members. Of course, you put your old 7-foot wood skis over the fireplace and added ski photos to the scrapbook.

I’ve skied all over the world, at five Olympic sites, all over Europe including Scandinavia, in Japan and even North Africa’s Atlas Mountains, so my memories of skiing are rich. I’ll never forget the friends I made skiing, including the family that ran the Greenlando Hutte at Shiga Kogen in Japan.

So seniors, make up your minds. Another wonderful time at Heavenly or Kirkwood, Mt. Rose. Afternoons around the fireplace telling stories of a great runs.

I think I’ve talked myself into trying one more season on the snow.

‘Fast and Furious’ fun

If you’ve the time on your hands and nothing better to do, you might want to take in “The Fast and the Furious,” No. 8 of the franchise. It’s car crazy movie with “zombie” cars and Vin Diesel turning down “Cipher” (Charlize Theron) offers of a job. Vin is loyal to his family from the opening scenes of a mano-mano car race in Cuba where Vin wins with a car that’s burning up as he drive it.

Charlize Theron forces Dom to turn his back on family and help her steal nuclear codes. With the passing of Paul Walker, there’s a bit of a gap that may never truly be filled again without Brian O’Conner, but they did the best they could in spreading out what would have been his screen time. The Rock certainly gets a boost to second billed, after his limited presence in “Furious 7.” Between him, Diesel, Statham, Gibson, and Ludicrous, there’s close to 200 one-liners. And unlike with Triple X early this year, this Vin Diesel film actually made one laugh.

The scene roves from Cuba to Iceland’s snow and ice and a submarine that Cipher is ready to blackmail the world with a scene where Vin grabs a speeding torpedo and sends it back to destroy the submarine.

The car sequences are stunning with computer images creating spectacular crashes and a squadron of cars out on the ice.

Don’t expect and great acting or plot twists, just ignore Hollywood at its weirdest.

Sam Bauman writes about senior affairs, among other things, for the Nevada Appeal.