 Poster: A snowHead
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I had a long slide the other week in a narrowish chute. Conditions were firm chalk, and it was when I started to relax (having done the top third) and open up my turns a bit that I hit a bump wrong and lost my edges. Despite keeping both skis on and below me it was they had crossed and it took a long time to arrest during which time I was concentrating on staying centred in the chute to avoid trees and rocks. It freaked me out to the extent that the next time I skied a mellower chute it took ages to stick each turn and I skied it like a beginner.
Do I have to accept that if the consequences of exposure are high enough I'm always going to not have a good time? The payoff of a nice apron doesn't seem to be worth the trauma of the high consequences mentally to me. I have to acknowledge I'm no Fransson but equally don't really want the faff of being top roped in relatively innocuous terrain.
Alternately what hippy BS/NLP/tantric chanting can I adopt to make it easier? Or is it just going back to drilling jump turns?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Dave of the Marmottes, welcome to getting old and paranoid.
I still have problems with certain types of innocuous snow (off piste) all going back to when I ruptured my ACL on said innocuous snow 
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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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@Dave of the Marmottes,
perfectly natural fear isn't it?
You will get acclimatised to it again if you expose yourself to those kind of situations. ideally build it back up gradually
Bear in mind that you didn't fall on the difficult section but rather when you got a bit sloppy as it got easier. That should give you some confidence that you can control the situation when you need to.
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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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@Dave of the Marmottes, it will improve with time. I would go out and ski easier terrain aggressively and gradually ramp back up. The important thing for me is to rediscover the feeling of absolutely nailing it and then trying again.
But there are some things I can't fight. A combination of having children, getting older and skiing much, much less has knocked both my head game and my (limited) technical ability. I had an absolute shocker in the Felsental about three weeks ago following overnight rainfall. I skied difficult snow like a Jump contestant and managed a cartwheeling fall above the ravine on the exit. I was not in any real danger but went and had lunch when previously I would have pushed through. That's just the way it is.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@spyderjon, 
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That'll do the job - will at least make it harder for me to get tail of my left ski in front of right boot and back parallel.
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| Dave of the Marmottes wrote: |
| That'll do the job - will at least make it harder for me to get tail of my left ski in front of right boot and back parallel. |
I've also got 'em in pink 
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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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Rule 5.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I don't know - I was rather thinking snowlerblades or perhaps carrying a whippet to embed through my other forearm in case of emergency. Only saving grace was that there we no super furry animal holes to fall in or possibly a schrund to tomahawk into.
Whippet is the obvious answer but looks like overkill for the rest of the time punting around on blues in my super camp manner.
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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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@spyderjon, I might get one of those for my daughter, I will see how she progresses first
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You know it makes sense.
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I had a nasty tumble in the first couloir on the left as you come off the Schindler chair in St Anton. It was twenty five years ago and I remember it still. It has been fenced off in recent years, although some people manage to climb round it, but when I did it, it was easily accessible via a gate under the lift station. The danger is that the couloir divides part way down and if you were to go over the rock that creates the divide, there was a very nasty drop.
Luckily I remembered the press up technique and even though I had never practiced it, I tried it and it worked. It's amazing how quick the mind can work in a crisis.
It did put me off couloirs for along time however I did get more confident again gradually and am never embarrassed about side slipping the first few metres as it is usually the entry that is the most difficult. For me I think that having the knowledge that I could control my side slipping both forward and backward on hard packed snow, that has given me more confidence to ski couloirs.
The lesson I think from my fall and probably that of @Dave of the Marmottes, is that really is essential to concentrate hard when you are in a position where the consequences of a fall can be serious.
I did eventually get my confidence back and in fact have probably skied about six couloirs this season, which I like to think is not bad for a bloke who will be seventy in May.
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