Retired professor still skiing at age 91

At 91 years old, or young, Wayne Rich just purchased a new pair of Rossignol skis for the upcoming season. He plans on using his new skis at Beaver Mountain ski area where he has been skiing five to six days every week for the last 14 years.

“I got new skis, bindings and boots,” Rich said. “I’m ready. I call Beaver every snowstorm to check how many inches it reports.”

Rich said all the guys he started out skiing with have passed away. The people Rich will ski with this season are the kids he taught at Logan Junior High.

“They told me if I was going to ski with them I had to get new ski pants,” he said. “So I went and bought myself a pair.”

Rich recalls the beginning of his skiing experience on the family skis – they were tall and over his head with a toe strap.

Rich grew up skiing but didn’t always go as much as he does now.

“I really got into skiing after World War II and after I got married and had a family,” Rich said.

Rich’s wife, Gene, said she doesn’t worry one bit about him skiing.

“I’m happy he’s healthy enough to go,” she said. 

“She’s so happy I leave every day,” he said, while looking at his wife with a grin.

Rich taught in the math department at Utah State University for 35 years. He said he would set up his teaching schedule so he could go skiing on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“I’ll see you up there,” said Rich, on what he would tell students who skipped class to go skiing.

Rich thinks the new generations of skiers have been just fine.

“The equipment is so much better,” he said. “People can become a better skier in much shorter time than they ever could before. The new skis are so easy to use it’s hard to believe.”

Rich taught all four of his kids to ski.

“He wouldn’t take them skiing until they knew how to lace up their boots and put on their own skis,” Gene Rich said. “It made them learn quick.”

Rich said his favorite part of skiing is “going down.”

“I think it’s also the speed,” he said. “I shouldn’t be doing it but I think once or twice every time I ski that I’m really going to cut loose and go wild. I’m just a little bit beyond my ability but it’s kind of fun.”

Rich believes that skiing is not a sport – it’s an addiction.

“I haven’t tried to quit though,” he said.

Rich said he would have to die to get rid of that addiction, but he’s not ready for that and won’t be for a while. He said his 92^nd birthday in March will “just be another year” full of skiing and laughter.  

(Some of Wayne Rich's skis he has used over the years.)