2 part question:private ski lessons/overweight skiing? (safer, best)

[piperspal]

Hello all, I grew up in Colorado & did some skiing in my teens & 20's. I am older & heavier now & have not put in a pair of skis in over 15 years. I am losing weight although not as fast as I would have liked. My original goal was to be thin enough to come out this winter, visit the family & get some private lessons on the mountain.

Are any of you skiers who are a bit heavy? I'm wondering just how overweight I can be & still ski without problems to my knees; lower center of gravity , etc.

Secondly, does anyone have a favorite area to suggest as far as private lessons for older people? I've been to all the major resorts in CO (not recently) & like them all as far as getting there, ambiance, cost, etc. But do not know anything about which areas offer the best private lessons.

Thanks for any info!

[esya]

Depends on what you mean by overweight and how good your joints are to begin with. I am not really much overweight, about 10-15 pounds for 5'5", but my joints are already too bad to ski due to arthritis.

A guy I know who is 5'10" was doing all that stuff every weekend until last year when he went up to 180 and said it started to hurt. Who knows? You can get a private lesson anywhere and find out, the safer way would be to pay the money to a physical therapist for conditioning training and see how you do.