Unlimited Passes in Hand, Retirees Make ‘Off Peaking’ an Art Form<br />A 2003 study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found<br />that group exercise classes focused on flexibility and relaxation in retirement villages can prevent debilitating falls “and maintain physical functioning in frail older people.”<br />When Joanna Mezzatesta, a retired newspaper copy editor living on Staten Island, was choosing Medicare plans, a top priority was one<br />that included unlimited exercise classes for no extra charge.<br />“I used to have back problems,” she said in a telephone interview from her home in Amagansett, “And they went away.”<br />Unlimited passes can be good for you.<br />“And I always have my pass in my wallet.”<br />Mr. Miller, 63, buys one of Vail Resorts’ unlimited Epic Passes, priced this year at $859 for adults who purchased it before Labor Day.<br />“I keep a lot of my gear in one of my vehicles,” said Mr. Miller, an avid skier<br />and a retired oral surgeon in Colorado who owns a cabin near Breckenridge.<br />Not only can the retired use passes more than those with jobs and other responsibilities,<br />but they can use them better — hitting gyms, golf courses and the slopes at off-peak times when there is space to breathe — and plenty of steep trails begging for sexagenarians to lay fresh tracks.<br />As a result, sales of the passes — good at 2,000 federal recreation sites including national parks, wildlife refuges and other lands — tripled
