I’M STILL HITTING THE SLOPES AT 98
Britain’s oldest skier, George Stewart talks to DOMINIC MIDGLEY about the first time he put on a pair of skis and why he has no plans to hang up his poles
the city of Kandahar during Second Anglo-Afghan War.
The relatively late age that George took up the sport meant he couldn’t ski competitively. “At 24 I was far too old,” he says. “You can’t start at that age. I was a reasonably competent recreational skier.”
Perhaps with that in mind he took son Alan skiing for the first time at the age of nine at the Scottish resort of Cairngorm and discovered that he “obviously had a talent for it”.
Stewart Junior went on to represent Britain in two Winter Olympics, finishing in 30th place in the the downhill event and 33rd in the giant slalom on both occasions. And George, who lives in Scone, Perthshire, retains an interest in the sport’s premier international competition to this day.
“I’ve seen many a Winter Olympics from home and I’m as enthusiastic as I’ve ever been,” he says. “One of the competitors for the UK, Charlie Guest, lives not too far away and I’ve met her on the slopes a few times.
“She’s a great girl and has done very well to get there. We’ve got some great hopes for this year for medal contention and I’m excited SNOW WARRIOR: As an officer in 1944 he began skiing ‘from boredom’ to see how they’ll do.” But while Olympians have to train hard and watch their diet, George insists he has no particular exercise regime: “I just try to keep my legs supple through walking and gardening.”
Perhaps because of this he has had “remarkably few” injuries. “I have good technique and ski more slowly and carefully than I used to, so I don’t fall,” he once explained.
That said, he did take a tumble only recently. “I fell down and hurt my shoulder badly but it’s getting better and I hope it will clear up over the next few weeks.
“I try to go abroad every year for a week and that’s what I’m planning to do this year. In the middle of March I’m hoping to got to France for a week’s skiing in the Pyrenees.”
GEORGE spent his entire career working for the Forestry Commission, rising to the post of Commissioner, Forest and Estate Management, before retiring at the age of 60.
That same year he took up tennis for the first time and found he had a talent for that sport too. “I began to enjoy it and realised there were tournaments for veterans all over the world,” he says. “I started to play in France, Austria and Italy.”
He went on to become a senior world and European champion, as well as representing Great Britain in the veterans’ version of the Davis Cup.
But it’s skiing that remains his first love and he still takes to the slopes at the Scottish resorts of Glenshee, Cairngorm Mountain and Glencoe.
He admits, however, that he is a fair-weather skier these days. “I must have good weather. I’m not prepared to go and ski in bad weather. That’s just not on at all.
“But I love being in the wonderful beauty of the snow-covered mountains. It’s always such an invigorating feeling.”