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Teaching on the slopes comes naturally, even later in life

Yakima man was nearly 50 when he took up skiing; now he's an instructor

By Scott Sandsberry | Yakima Herald-republic • Published January 31, 2009

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D.K. Watson had lived in Yakima for a dozen years, barely 45 minutes from the White Pass ski area, when he finally decided to give the slopes a try.

Someone less adventurous or open to new experiences might say Watson had three things working against him that first day on skis.

For one, he was 48 years old, an age when people are more apt to bring their grandchildren to the mountain for skiing lessons than sign up themselves.

For another, Watson had never exactly been an outstanding athlete.

"I was a real klutz in sports in high school," he says, laughing. "I couldn't make the debating team, let alone anything else."

And, finally, he wasn't very physically fit because he simply wasn't active enough.

"I played a little golf," he says.

Needless to say, then, that first day took a toll on his body.

"My legs were like spaghetti by the end of the day because I was in such terrible shape," he recalls. "I spent that winter with a huge bruise on my right hip because I always fell on my right side. And I was leaning so far back in my boots that both of my big toenails just basically fell out."

So then, all in all a miserable experience, right?

Well, not exactly.

"I was hooked instantly," he says.

But Watson wasn't an instant success as a skier.

For someone who has never done it, staying upright while sliding down snowfields in heavy boots attached to long, skinny extensions can be a daunting challenge.

But every small success along the way — connecting a couple of decent turns, perhaps, or managing to reach the bottom of a run without falling even once — helps keep a struggling neophyte optimistic about his or her progress. Watson wasn't able to ski every one of White Pass' groomed runs until his fourth winter.

But he kept coming back, because he loved it.

After he got good enough on the slopes to feel comfortable skiing by himself, he found there were a lot of youths at the Job Corps who were either already recreational skiers or wanted to be. So every other Saturday, Watson started taking a busload of the them to White Pass, using it as a motivational perk.

"And it was always full, too," Watson says. "They would vie heavily to be able to get on that bus, and I had very strict rules. If you got in trouble at all during the week, you didn't get to go."

Watson, though, would be one way or the other. From that first winter on, even with the spaghetti legs and the big toenails that got mashed so badly that they defected from his foot, he couldn't wait to get up on the slopes.

"I spent every spare winter moment I could up there skiing," he says, "until I got good enough to become an instructor."

Yes, it's true: D.K. Watson, who didn't take up skiing until he was nearly 50, is now 71, the oldest ski instructor at White Pass. In 1994, in fact, he quit his other job so he could be on the slopes full-time in winter. Now he's up on the White Pass slopes for at least five days every week during the winter-sports season, teaching young and old how they might best enjoy skiing as much as he has.

"I've been going up to that mountain every winter day that I can for the last 23 years. And every single day, that scene is never the same. The whole scene — the clouds, the sun, the snow, the trees ... it's just unbelievable. I can't understand how anybody cannot simply literally fall in love with that in itself."

No toenails and all?

Watson smiles. "They grow back."

Scott Sandsberry can be reached at 509-577-7689 or 800-343-6052, or by e-mail at ssandsberry@yakimaherald.com.