 Poster: A snowHead
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My confidence is gradually increasing, but in Austria this year I encountered a scenario that had me literally shaking with fear and I wondered if anyone else has a nightmare scenario on skis and if so how they deal with it?
With me I was, thankfully only, on a simple blue path (it would have been even worse on something more challenging), and the light went flat - not just flat, but completely and utterly and totally featureless - as bad as I've seen it. It wouldn't have been quite so bad if I had been somewhere I knew, but I was on a strange piste, with the knowledge that it wasn't very wide and there was an edge on the RH side. Within moments the confidence evaporated and panic set in. The skiing went to pot as I skittered and snowploughed down the path a turn at a time almost stopping with every turn. I am not entirely certain what I needed to do to get my head round it, and in the finish the approach of some trees just knocked the edge off the flatness enough to settle my brain and I was fine, but for a good few minutes I was like a frightened child. So there is it, that's my worst case scenario really, absolutely, incredibly, featureless flat light on a strange piste.
Does anyone else have a nightmare scenario?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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People who randomly and pointlessly slow right down or stop on or on the middle of a piste, especially in flat light.
Feckers 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Crowded slopes.
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No depth perception and no reference points, just white top to bottom. Don't be afraid to snowplough slowly! Flat light in general quite quickly makes me feel dizzy and seasick. The only real way to cope is with experience of what you're skiing down or taking it slowly. The first comes with time and makes you more confident as you know where and what the slope is. The second is just avoiding the feeling you suck picking your way down something you'd be cruising otherwise. If you know where you are skiing like its normal actually works very well.
But with anything scary just doing more scary stuff works. The proper term is stress inoculation but it basically boils down to doing something worse and then everything else seems okay after that. The fear itself will also screw over your confidence so you will perform worse than you otherwise would. Try sticking it in the back of your mind and concentrating on getting on with it.
Being scared is much better than being overconfident and getting yourself killed. 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Are we confusing flat light with white out here 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Quote: |
Does anyone else have a nightmare scenario?
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People who want to stop for a mid-morning coffee break after the first three runs? 
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Magamum - yes defintely been there
It is absolutely amazing how a confident and pretty good fast skier can turn to an incompetent fool - yes it is exactly the same situation that gets me - narrow boulevard in white out or very flat light
i find that snow plaough is my best friend and i'm not proud
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Schuss in Boots, well in a white out the light is pretty damn flat. 
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Not wanting to scare you anymore but I did actually fall off the edge of a track in a whiteout, luckily no harm was done apart from a ski buddy following me over the edge! I must admit I've been wary of such tracks since, but gradullay getting over it.
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people on the chair who manage to break both their ski poles coming off a lift, leaving me stranded mere cm from disembarking myself.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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My shoulder was dislocated while skiing of a track in a featureless white out in Soll many years ago! The conditions refered to above were just as bad, it certainly got my attention too!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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People who crash into others - especially when they get angry whilst being the one at fault.
(Crowds of) People who ski stupidly (and fast, whilst being crap) and then fall on steep icy runs, then instead of doing anything to help themselves, or shout to warn people below, just carry on sliding, often into other people. One red run in PdS a few weeks ago, genuinely the most scared I've ever been on skis (thank Christ for moguls at the side where they can't get to you).
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poo-poo skiers, getting down (not skiing) runs way above their ability and invariably wearing "WED'ZE" goggles.
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You know it makes sense.
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Schuss in Boots, I would describe a 'white out' as blizzard conditions causing a lack of definition and flat lighting conditions as a result. You sometimes seem to get flat light when its foggy as well, but I found that the foggy conditions didn't seem to make things as bad as this light we had back in February. It wasn't really foggy, and nothing was falling from the sky, it was just really overcast and the light just developed a quality that wiped out any definition whatsoever. So no, by what I understand a white out to be, i.e. a blizzard, it wasn't a white out.
Thank you for all those who have said that they are also wary of such light conditions, it doesn't make me feel quite so bad about being freaked out by it.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I was skiing with Ronald in Wengen 2 years ago in really cruddy whiteout/flat light conditions... Ronald skied off down what he thought was the right side of some piste markers and promptly disappeared, fell down a 2m drop! I then completely freaked out at invisible cliffs and was not a happy bunny!
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Poster: A snowHead
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You always gotta look at positive and try to get best out of situation. In white-out or fog just practice your short turns. You don't know exactly where ground will be so your legs have to do it by "feel". It's great practice! Just make sure you are on piste. Moguls will be a complete balls but if you know you can make it down mogul field when you can't see the moguls, it is great confidence.
I do agree with crowded piste wrecking my head tbough, but particular pet hate is aggressive skiiers (usually not very good) who think they have right of way and think slower skiiers don't have right to make wide turns. It doesn't bother me as much as if someone is overtaking me they are probably genuinely good skiier and in control, but my OH got very badly hit by a schusser on a blue run, thrown in the air, couldn't get up for 10 minutes, and her knee is still very bad, she can't even walk. I wasn't there, very very lucky for this character. Worse has happened to kids. If you want to go fast go on black run, if you can't go fast on black run, don't be going fast on blue.
Seriously though, flat linking blues are invitation for trouble. You wanna go fast so you don't have to pole to next lift. Resorts could do worse then have more moving ropes or drags, eg that deadly flat bit after santons in vald'I.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Back seat billies bombing busy blues before beer.
Can't clamber on chairlifts competently c*nts.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Few years ago in Meribel I found myself trying to ski uphill as it was the only piste pole I could see in a whiteout.
We ended up snowploughing down the mountain behind a beginner ski school.
I know it's a can of worms, but snowboarders unerring ability to sit down in the middle of the piste immediately over a blind brow or summit is infuriating as well as dangerous.
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Not much scares me these days, I'm almost back to my old self. But I don't like it when I hit a slushy patch, my skis stop dead and the rest of me wants to keep going.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Another thing that does my head in when skiing is seeing huge queues at lifts and empty spaces on chairs and gondolas; this is my ski time they're wasting 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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80 degree staircases comprised of about 100 treacherously slippery steps to get to a gloomy toilet where I have to do a wee in front of a lady washing her hands, with nowhere to put my gloves.
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Ski instructors leading their ducklings from one edge of a piste to another, often on very wide pistes, leaving no room for anyone to get past infuriates me. Just a metre gap at one edge would be sufficient to allow other slope users to use the slope.
Something else which got to me last week were the Friday "let's go down a black run, it'll be soooooo cool" types who were really out of their depth. They all stop at the top of any incline on the slope, thus making it impossible to get past, and we saw a group of skiboarders slipping down the nicest part of the run on their back edges, thus scrubbing all the snow off. Skidding down on one edge isn't skiing a black run and being amazing, though I'm sure they'll all have said that it was and they are on facebook.
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| Spannah wrote: |
| We saw a group of skiboarders slipping down the nicest part of the run on their back edges, thus scrubbing all the snow off. Skidding down on one edge isn't skiing a black run and being amazing, though I'm sure they'll all have said that it was and they are on facebook. |
This is also why skiers should NEVER be taught to sideslip. Because otherwise they're able to get down a slope that's slightly too steep for them, rather than falling over and hurting themselves.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Actually that reminds me. I boarded down Face in Val d'Isere last week, pretty much flawlessly apart from ONE daft pratfall, which had me chest-sliding to an undignified halt near a lady who was stood still. She very sternly told me I was dangerous. Whereas, clearly, standing still in the middle of an olympic downhill run is really safe and sensible yeah?
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Spannah, having spent a while stuck behind them I considered my timing and popped very safely around a line of those taking up the whole of a red run in Austria and the female instructor yelled 'hooligan' after me. Me a 'hooligan' my skiing must be improving!! 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Megamum, Love it! 
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Megamum, I was confused as I read it that you and meh were describing different things, thanks for clarifying.
From our own glossary:
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FLAT LIGHT - Visibility conditions in which viewed objects are not obscured or hazed, but their shape or perspective is distorted in relation to background. May occur in different ways and be mitigated by differently coloured optical lenses:
1) The light source is very diffuse, such as from an overcast sky. Because the light rays do not come from one easily defined source, shadows are distorted and significantly reduced from the accustomed ones, and the contrast is very low. (Blue lens conditions.)
2) The light source is in an unusual position in the sky (eg on the horizon at sunset or from low-mounted lamps during night skiing). Shadows and glints are very prominent, making for high contrast but distorted perception shapes. (Yellow, amber, persimmon, pink lens conditions.)
WHITE OUT - An atmospheric optical phenomenon that severely restricts visibility in which the observer appears to be engulfed in a uniformly white glow as a result of a lack of contrast between a sky obscured by snow, fog or cloud and unbroken snow cover. Neither shadows, horizon, nor clouds are discernable; sense of depth and orientation is lost; dark objects in the field of view appear to "float" at an indeterminable distance. |
So yes, you were right to describe this event as flat light, but a whiteout doesn't necessarily involve a blizzard.
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You know it makes sense.
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Big ques at the lifts lengthened by a whole class of 6 year olds being pushed to the front, then unable to get on by them selves.
Bloody kids
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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Many posters seem to think this thread is about things which annoy you (an old subject). The subject is things which really petrify you.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Tue 3-04-12 9:23; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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People who set off without looking up the hill behind them. Is this basic courtesy not taught these days?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Poor visibility (hammers the knees) - Find some trees or find some essy, smooth piste.
Crowded Slopes (crowded anywhere TBH) - Find a piste or area that is quiet, try to avoid peak weeks or busy resorts.
Dangerous skiers - See above. Also abuse them roundly whenever possible.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| paulio wrote: |
| Spannah wrote: |
| We saw a group of skiboarders slipping down the nicest part of the run on their back edges, thus scrubbing all the snow off. Skidding down on one edge isn't skiing a black run and being amazing, though I'm sure they'll all have said that it was and they are on facebook. |
This is also why skiers should NEVER be taught to sideslip. Because otherwise they're able to get down a slope that's slightly too steep for them, rather than falling over and hurting themselves. |
Nice flame paulio! As any fule know, Spannah has typed "skiboarders" instead of "snowboarders", on the basis of the OP's reference to "back edge" which I guess means "heal edge" so it's your lot that needs to stop sluffing off all our snow
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Schuss in Boots, Maybe I should have checked our own glossary before just ordering expensive Hi yellow lenses to cope with flat light, maybe I should've got blue ones - a suitable epithet comes to mind!! Mind you I've got an additional set with pale grey light amplifier lenses in they might do the trick.
The conditions we experienced were such that I couldn't even see any texture in the snow just beneath my feet only 5'9" away! let along what I was skiing onto or any snow to either side of me - and seeing the edge of the piste was the stuff of dreams. Yet, I don't recall that there was no real precipitation in the air. Maybe a slight mistiness - it was like being engulfed in a white sensory deprivation chamber. So much so that when it eased just a fraction although it was still very bad (such that I still wasn't impressed) it was such a relief that it made a 100% difference to me. The only time I've been in a similar situation it wasn't so bad as I was in that wide open area where all the pistes meet above the knife and fork in VT. and although I knew there was a slight increase in the slope ahead I also knew there was no danger of skiing off the edge of the piste just there. Encountering it on a strange blue, one edged path was a completely different kettle of fish. Quivering heap of jelly just about summed me up.
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Tue 3-04-12 9:38; edited 1 time in total
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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snowball, Yes, that was the point of the thread - as a relative novice it is a reassuring (perhaps wrong word) to hear if more experienced skiers ever find themselves in situations which results in them quivering like that heap of jelly I described. i.e. am I getting scared because of inexperience, or are there always situations that cause even experienced skiers to 'lose it'
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Tue 3-04-12 9:26; edited 1 time in total
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I was once in such fog that I couldn't quite even see my own skis. That was pretty bad. 2m vis.
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Walking anywhere in ski boots. It's only a matter of time before I do a reverse cartoon run and land flat on my back!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I'm still trying to make sense of zammo's post.
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Megamum, everyone has a limit beyond which they get more and more uncomfortable, even very experienced skiers. I had a bad moment sideslipping down a ridge with "no-fall" steep faces either side. At one point the ridge was so narrow that the tip and tail of my skis were in fresh air rather than in contact with the snow. At that point I heard myself muttering "if my Mother could see me now..."
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FAQ
