Good genes keep her going

Last winter, Penny Pitou took 37 skiers each on two trips, to Italy and Austria. She skied in the back, telling stories and being optimistic about when the sun would come out. A year ago, she took 20 people hiking in Austria, but this year, she’s going only with one friend.

She still skis pretty well, she says, and has mastered turning right as well as left. “And I can ski in four New Hampshire resorts free because I’m so old,” she says.

Downhill racing with a vengeance as a young person and hiking and skiing all year long for decades hasn’t taken much of a toll on her; Pitou suffered one major injury while skiing in Switzerland and was hit by an out-of-control skier, fracturing her vertebrae in three places.

Before that, her most serious injury came when she was 7 and damaged the cartilage in her left knee — playing football.

That leg still gives her trouble, but she hasn’t had surgery on it since she was 16. And she’s kept that piece of cartilage in a jewelry box since the surgeon returned it to her 40 years later as a birthday gift.

Pitou had a knee replacement in 2016, and another procedure recently to treat carpal tunnel syndrome in her left wrist, but that injury was caused by “her stinking little phone,” not her active lifestyle.

Pitou can’t imagine slowing down much more. “I think I was born with a lot of energy and curiosity,” she says. “I worked on a farm. I hauled water and hayed with my father. I helped with the cattle. Growing up in Center Harbor and Gilford made me who I am.”

— Janice Beetle