10 Great Places to Retire for Winter Sports Nuts

Ski and skate your way through retirement in these winter paradises

By Emily Brandon

Posted: December 15, 2008

Many winter sports havens also offer plenty of opportunities to warm up. After a day of skiing or snowmobiling in the San Juan Mountains, retirees in Durango, Colo., can take a dip in the Trimble Hot Springs, where those 62 and older get a discount rate.

There's even a place for winter sports nuts who balk at the idea of shoveling snow and defrosting their cars all winter. Residents of Clearwater, Fla., can take skating lessons or play pickup hockey at the Clearwater Ice Arena or take in a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game. There's another ice skating rink in the center of the local mall. Retirees could feasibly take a figure skating class offered by the Tampa Bay Skating Academy and get a tan at the beach in the same day.

Here are 10 great retirement spots for winter sports enthusiasts:

ski towns

Good article, but you only scratched the surface. There are many places where the living is reasonable, compared to places like Bozeman, and still have great ski areas and abundant snow fall. If you want to retire now and not wait until you’re richer (and also less athletic), you might want to look into places like Philipsburg, Montana. The local ski area is Discovery Basin and has more than 1,700 vertical feet, great snow conditions, and a season pass is only $225!!! Land prices in this part of Montana is relatively cheap. Other places to look into are near the Targee ski area in Idaho and near the many small ski areas in the Wasatch of Utah, including places like Snow Basin and Powder Mountain. So pick a small area with great snow and retire now! After all, we’re not getting any younger.

bob rennick of MT @ Mar 05, 2009 14:58:59 PM

Buffalo

We don't like to talk about Buffalo or the rest of Western NY because too many people might discover what a great area it is. The summers are temperate with everything from fresh water coastal plains, lakes and access to the worlds largest fresh water supply. Beautiful hills for hiking in summer and skiing in winter. The climate is more temperate than anywhere in the midwest. The finger likes are one of the worlds great wine regions and most beautiful places on earth. The Adirondacks, Catskills, Poconos, and every major city from DC to Boston is less than a days drive and only our hours to Cedar Point. If our political leaders to fix their ridiculous tax policies, there would be no other area in any of your Best Places TO: list which could compare. I've lived all over this country and in tavelled overseas extensively. Just let the weather channel keep talking about lake effect snow. None of them ever lived here anyway.

Joe from Scottsville, NY of NY @ Dec 19, 2008 17:31:36 PM

10 Great Places to Retire?

There are only 9 in the article.

Tom of WA @ Dec 19, 2008 15:40:45 PM

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