In 2016, my wife, Gail, and I moved from Brooklyn, New York to Park City, Utah. I had been practicing real estate law in Manhattan for 35 years, and Gail was a director of an independent pre-school in Brooklyn Heights. We both grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts, so life in the City was a learning experience for us, and for me especially, it never came easy. But we found our community in Brooklyn, made lots of great friends, raised our two children, and sent them on their way when they graduated from college. By then, the call of the mountains, and life outside of a big city, began to pull at me. We began to spend more and more time in the West, often in Utah, and it didn’t take long for me to realize that it was time for a change. After 7 years of searching for a house, in early 2014, we purchased our home in Park City, high on a mountain with wonderful views, privacy and space, but in a neighborhood of friendly full-timers. It took me another 2 years to convince Gail to leave her job in Brooklyn and pull the plug on much of our New York life, and in June of 2016, we made the move. Gail took a job teaching 3 and 4 year olds at a wonderful school in Salt Lake, I continued my law practice remotely, and we embraced Park City life.
Since then, we have experienced adventures that we never had the opportunity to pursue while living in New York, including cat and backcountry skiing, long distance bike rides, dramatic hikes and exhilarating mountain bike rides. I can’t get enough of it. My heart is in the mountains and all they offer us.
Why another site about adventures? Aren’t there plenty? Yes, but…
None of them are told from the perspective of the Senior Ripper. They’re all by and for…kids. Or at least not Seniors. I like to read about adventures, travel and gear from my perspective, so I hope others will too. We’ll talk about travel and adventure opportunities, gear that we use and love (and some that we don’t), and share some photos and videos and opinions along the way. And we’ll also write about the challenge of balancing fun with work, and how we make the work work, the way we’ve been doing it for the past several years.
Why the name “Senior Ripper”? Shortly after our move to Utah, some friends got together and hired a guide at Powder Mountain in Eden, Utah, a 90 minute drive north of Park City. Powder is an unusual venue, perhaps the subject of a future post. But it is where the Senior Ripper title and concept was born. Our group consisted of 6 friends ranging from, at the time, 57 to 62 years old who love to ski and weren’t afraid of the steeps. Powder Mountain isn’t terribly challenging terrain, but included with a guide is a cat ride up to their most challenging area, at the top of their chutes. Typically, the cat ride is saved until the end of the day, when the guide has a good idea of the skill level of his or her guests. The six of us, together with our guide, had taken a break for lunch, and we were encouraging him to get us to the chutes. He took out his mobile phone and rang up some fellow guides, and we heard him say, “I’ve got some senior rippers who are ready for the chutes. I need back-up!” And we were henceforth known by that moniker.
I hope you’ll join us, and let us know what you think, and what you’d like to read about. And if it so moves you, please use our Contact page to submit your own adventures. We welcome fellow rippers’ contributions.
On to the first adventure…
Larry
Chief Senior Ripper
