I'm not sure I actually enjoy skiing!

A snowHead

Over the last 10 years we, as a group, have numbered between 10 and 27. We split up either by ability or keenness to cover the piste. Some prefer regular pit stops, others have something to prove. We generally like resorts where you can travel and repeat the odd run that appeals. I think the message is to chill , appreciate the surroundings and do it at a pace you enjoy.

A snowHead

Ask 20 random Skiers why they enjoy skiing and you are likely to get 20 different answers:

- Some go to be in the mountains and like to ski between coffee stops and have a long lunch
- Some like the social aspect of skiing with friends and family
- Some like to give their Children a life enhancing skill
- Some like to put in the mileage, from first lift to last lift.
- Some like to head Off Piste
- Some like the adrenaline
- Some like working on their technique, while others are happy skiing the way they do
- Some are into their gear
- Some like to be the most stylish looking on the mountain
- Some hit the Nightlife
- Some go skiing, as it's a great way to clear the head.
- Some like the challenge of overcoming their initial fear.

So enjoying a ski holiday, can be about a lot more than just the skiing and it means concentrating on the aspects that you do enjoy and not feeling forced into doing those that you don't....It's a Holistic experience.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

All the resorts you have been to are "big" I think which means at the point you might want to duck out you could be a long way from home. Hubby likes at least 150km of piste, but we have tried in the last couple of years to look for resorts where there is an "easy" way home either on skis or on a lift so that its possible to stop earlier than everyone else without having to navigate a "dangerous" slope.

We went to Les Carroz at New Year - there were 2 blues back to the car park - ideal on paper and easy during the day - but in reality at the end of the day very busy, mogully and just not fun. After 2 days we would plan the day so that I could get a bubble down on my own, or ski to the town with son. From the town there was a bus to the apartment - husband would go and collect the car. Took about the same time to get home - but difference was that I wasn't getting overtired which would have ruined the end of the day.

Trip in March is to Valmeiner - before we booked the accomodation hubby checked the pistes/lifts for me - one reason we didn't go to Alpe D'Huez is the area where we found accomodation could only be skied back to on reds.

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Had a great trip to Ischgl in Jan but that run home was enough to put anyone off skiing.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I don't believe fitness is the issue for me I think laziness is. Skiing well (or Snowboarding my case, sorry) takes effort and after a few runs of effort I get lazy, stand upright more, don't put the level of pressure on the edge I need to. In turn that becomes poor technique and leads to poor experiences particularly when the going gets tough, that then messes with the mind and when the mind is gone you might as well hit the bar/hot tub and blame the day on ice or your equipment.

Additionally, I'm not to proud to say I suffer with a level of anxiety not just on the snow also in daily life that I have to overcome. I can tell you every morning before I've completed the first run I'm consumed with fear. I can't tell you why I continually go back to the slopes, part of me won't be beaten it's in my nature to never give up in anything I do, giving up would be the worst thing for me. Heading to the mountains is also something I longed to do from when I watched ski Sunday in the early 80's as a 5/6 year old and I absolutely adore the mountain environment. What I need to come to terms with is that I never will be some sort of Sean White, I don't want to be, I just want to enjoy the environment and not be too fearful.

I have two small boys who go off with ESF you can imagine the increase in blood pressure and stress that puts on someone who already suffers. I can feel it now writing this.

Really enjoyed reading this thread it's helped me a lot.

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@hang11, +1 . THIS
I got bored and fell out of love with skiing about 15 years ago.
I skied since 1986, and started boarding in 1999 so there were a few years of cross-over, but now I ski one day every 2 seasons, and board 45ish days per season.
There's no pressure go fast, to do amazing jumps to go down black runs or mogul fields. No agonising over a plastic avi shovel versus an ally one, you don't give a skinny rats @rse about merino mid-layers or which type of Go-Pro to use.
Just clip in, smile, be yourself and have fun.

@James77, +1 everything you said (except the having two small boys bit

)

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No one conquers the mountain. What nonsense. For what its worth I am 62, have skied since I was 12 (school trip). I am a holiday skier, for a holiday skier I am pretty decent, but as a lets say, a club skier from an alpine country I am totally crap. At my age I wont be having lessons, and I have no real desire to ski tour, ski in fresh powder, (except a tootle off on the side of pistes), or do moguls. I can come down most things, but really like clear blue days, freshly prepared pistes, where I can ski with total confidence and actually look pretty good. My main sport is golf, which I started 3 years before I first skied. I am 9 handicap at golf, and for golfers out there I put my skiing at a 14 handicap. For none golfers, I'm good enough to have won a number of club competitions over the years
The point is do whatever it is you enjoy. I will be going to Zermatt in early March, I will ski with my wife quite a lot in the morning till late lunch, then find a great restaurant, perhaps Findlerhof, have a good meal, enjoy the scenery, have a little alcohol, and then ski back down. Fantastic. oh and perhaps the live band in the Papperla at night.

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It's meant to be a ski holiday not an episode from Who Dares Wins. Enjoy yourself doing the things you enjoy doing and if that means skiing the easy stuff only, starting late and finishing early, missing a day here or there, burning the candle at one end or another -then so what? Don't be pressured by others into doing things you don't want to. Relax and enjoy...it's your holiday, you deserve it. Very Happy

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I actually think I enjoy the planning and anticipation more than the skiing - and its a holiday for those "winter" months. I only work so that I can go on holiday.

We're hoping to go to USA 3 weeks in June, 2 weeks sailing in Greece in Sept... maybe a long weekend around Whitsun, and hopefully some w/ends camping in August... but what to do between Xmas and Easter when you only have a week? As I am not a great sight-seer there aren't many places that you can go to for a week in Feb/March that are warm enough for me to lie by a pool. The one year I couldn't ski daughter and I went to Lanzarote - it was OK, she was studying and I sat on the balcony reading, but it was t-shirt and hoody weather not quite warm enough to lie out in swimwear. I can't be bothered travelling long distance for just a week, so skiing seems the best option - until I get too old/unfit.

You know it makes sense.

I echo a lot of the sentiments here, though I confess I have never “gone off” skiing. When you’re away for just a week with friends it does feel churlish not to ski one afternoon, but I don’t think you should see it as the start of ceasing to enjoy it. We all have good days and bad ones. Crowds and hardening pistes can make it feel very unrewarding. Time to think laterally! It’s easy to see a ski resort as a bubble and only from the perspective of the pistes when there is so much more if you widen your horizons.
If you love the mountains and solitude, go for a proper walk and take a picnic. Even from somewhere as bleak as VT are some great places literally metres from the crowds where you can drink in the solitude and atmosphere.
Stay in more picturesque traditional resorts. Snow shoeing is great. Ditto trying a bit of ski touring, or a beginners off piste lesson.
I hate the end of day ski bragger, especially if the person concerned is talking tosh. Being female, the dick swinging of the self styled alpha males is particularly galling, especially when it’s all bull. I tend to keep my counsel. FWIW, the better skier I have become, the more I realise how far down the scale of beginner to expert I really am. People watching (and earwigging Cool

) in bars and on lifts can be very entertaining!

Maybe, if you like skiing with your wife, take a trip without friends. I love skiing with Mr P...just the two of us exploring, skiing, finding a nice lunch spot or taking the odd lesson or guided session. He’s a bit faster and more gung ho, and I am more careful on the off piste and so we balance each other out.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

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@buchanan101, @LOTA, my wife and I may well take your snowHead

advice

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

It's an Alpine Holiday. Do what you wish! Mix the skiing with walking/Spa'ing/ski'doing

Personally I have taken a dislike to piste-skiing and plan to only do off-piste weeks. Pistes are scary places when busy. Try Italy or smaller Austria/French resorts in January/late March.

Done a few hundred dives now and find that boring now outside the likes of current dives in Maldives or deeper tropical wrecks. Too many excellent trips have jaundice'd me. Actually missed skiing for a couple of years to concentrate on diving back in the 90s.

Now for real fear try sailing. 50knts with just you and the wife n the Solent with all those big ships. Jump down a couloir anytime! Have sold the yacht.

You are so lucky to have a wife who loves skiing. I am planning to curtail my skiing as I miss being away from her (okay so it is five weeks a year).

My ideal ski day would be off-piste with mates then be teleported home after an apres-ski beer.

Snowboarding is a dangerous sport? Coming from the off-piste onto a slope last week and an elderly boarder came flying in front of me out of control and landed with a massive 'snap' - his tibia. Poor bugs are always falling over.

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I think early in my skiing days I got to a stage where it was about surviving the slopes and being happy to get to the end of the day. But that changed when we one day stayed having a coffee at the top of the mountain, the run home was a steep red that was always a challange, however when the place was closing as the last lift up had stopped we headed off home, there was nobody on the run and it was a pure joy to ski. I realised then it wasn't the skiing I didn't like, it was all the people , ( watching out for others who may just ski into me) . We started to go to less popular resorts, and with the advantage of less crowded slopes, no lift ques etc, skiing became a joy again. Sometimes it is just something small that makes a difference.

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Ive always played plenty of sports, football, cricket, table tennis, dinghy sailing, yacht sailing, skiing....

With some of them I just don't enjoy them that much as I get older, and ive started concentrating only on things I enjoy.
saying that I get a real buzz out of skiing and don't stop all day. I will add that skiing with other people does my sweede in....one other person is the max for me...personally I like to be on my own, dangerous or not. I can go at my own pace then. This includes the wife....

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There’s some people, like people who can’t bear the thought of cold toes, who will never like skiing..but they won’t get to the point where they are halfway good.

For those that do, if you find you aren’t having fun, you probably just need a different bunch of people to ski with every now and again.

I mean « skiing » means différent things to different people. So the birthday bash in arabba is totally different to the the off piste bash in la grave. Some people love both but there’s a fair few who would be miserable at one and deliriously happy at the other.

So I doubt that « skiing » is the issue, it’s usually just that people dont want the same things on their holiday.

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Brave post. Good for you.

I’ve had moments where I’ve had less of a ‘kick’ from skiing. Especially as I’ve now reached a point where my skiing isn’t really improving that much but some of my recoveries, wow!

I have started randoneeing and I’d definitely recommend that to get away from the crowds. Also cross country, really good for your health. And a counter point to the partying.

You know it makes sense.

You should not be afraid when you skiing.
It's ok to have shivers when you stay in top before committing yourself to steep or icey slop, but when you are actually skiing there should be no fear. Fear will affect your technic and make you worse then you are.

Just tell yourself I will trust my technic I focus on it and will do it. If you sacred before but not during run that brings satisfaction. If you are scared during run then you need to work more to get better.

And for me constant improvement is the most fun. For that I need to push myself a bit every time

I remember that bumps were very uncomfortable terrain for me.
Once the only slope was available with iced out bumps. It was scary and uncomfortable. I stick with it and in 3 hours I enjoyed it enormously.

Now I look for bumps. It's one of my favorite terrain. It also set me in right feel so I improve even on regular piste.
And it is simpler than it looks you just need someone to show you how.

There are a lot of challenges you can find and keep finding to keep it interesting.

And don't ski idle. Even in flat work your poles bent your hip keep improving and you will not loose your enjoyment.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

And it's like with sex. Don't keep it repetitive.
Spice it up. Take long multi-resort run on st.Anton-Lech or Ski-welt. Find some guide to find challenging off beat runs for you.

Or just make yourself a challenge to hit all restaurants on the mountain.

Make a plan!!!

A snowHead

For the nervous; there was a post/thread a few months ago where someone pointed out the psychology of singing favorite songs on the way down. Basically the singing fills your conscious mind, to block out (fear of) decision making, while your unconscious mind gets on with skiing as usual, and tends to smooth it out as a result.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Bit of a thread resurrect but this is what got me to join the site after lurking for ages.

I'm currently in Zell Am See. Been here since Saturday, skied every day. Hopped over to Kaprun today as well.

I'm... Just not enjoying any of it. Been skiing one week a year with in between dry ski since 2009, and been to France, Italy, Switzerland and Austria which is my favourite.

I just can't find any love for it anymore. I solo ski, I have no friends who ski and I don't like group skiing due to the pressure it puts on people. So I ski, stop for a bit at the side when my calves are on fire, ski for a bit, have some hot chocolate or Gluwhein, ski for a bit.....

I'm not entirely sure I'll ski again after this. Not sure what to do. Though actually I think it's probably more that I'm lonely than anything and I wonder if being in an environment with lots of people having fun together is reinforcing that.

I've tried group skiing though and I absolutely hated it.

I think another issue is the 'You've hired it, you need to use it's mentality. I'd much prefer to hire by the hour or something. I'd probably feel a lot less pressure then to get my monies worth!

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@Kilm, sunk cost fallacy. Take a day or half day off and see if you have more enthusiasm then. I often jack in early afternoon and have been known to get as little as 3 laps before calling it. Usually I come back with renewed enthusiasm. And there is stuff you can do to make it more fun ski with music in one earbud and "dance" with the tempo, try sections doing different stuff like rounding out your turns fully or keeping your upper body straight downhill while mincing around the fallline (bump skiing without the bumps).

And I'll write it as a subscript here because is sound like you're really not there at the moment but lots of people enjoy snowheads bashes precisely because they can choose their own adventure , group ski with people of their pace and ambition or do their own thing wih no judgement. No one skis alone who doesn't want to but there is very little peer pressure.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I think if I always went solo and always skied alone, I'd feel similar.

IMV. A big part of the enjoyment is the social aspect and the "Craic" (as us Irish would say). I think you need to find like minded people to go skiing with.

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I'll second the ski with music thing @Dave of the Marmottes, mentioned. When I've lost the will as it were, in go the earphones (I'm that old) and off I go, a renewed love found!

Also, I found in the past that when I think I'm losing my way, I have a couple of private lessons (with a native English speaking instructor). Generally the instructor gives me something to work on and 99% of the time their enthusiasm and love of the sport rubs off on me too.

Only done one Bash, and it is a good way to be on the mountain with others with no pressure right up to skiing with heros, everyone seems to be catered for.

Hope you find the love again.

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I think the social side of skiing is hugely important to continued enjoyment. I was lucky in that I first met my wife who'd skied a bit before just when I started skiing, and we both became hooked on it and shared the journey. Even so, after the first season and a half we'd run out of people to ski with and were in danger of finding it boring, but then someone told us about SCGB. Back then when it was good the on-snow leading, the 'social hour', the Freshtracks(as it came to be known) holidays really enabled us to make the most of our time and to find out what direction we were going in.

These days we've both become disillusioned with SCGB, after 20-odd years as a rep/leader. But the bashes organised here seem like they would fill a large part of the same role as we got back in the day. Group skiing should not be a stressful experience, just make sure you're honest about your own skiing level, likes and dislikes and you can pretty much guarantee finding like-minded souls to have fun with.

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I haven't read all the posts, because I am supposed to be working, so someone may have suggested it. But what about going to a smaller less busy resort, just you and your wife? I had a while when I just went skiing because my husband loved skiing, and I had the same feelings as you. I too find when you ski with others it can become competitive, but on our own he would be content to let me pootle at my own speed. Once though we went to Kapple in austria, ( beside ischgel) it was uncrowded, and I had great fun, I think that was my turning point, I realised I wasn't as bad as I thought, I practiced my skiing on wide uncrowded slopes, and of course once I had more confidence in myself, I was happy to ski the busier places. I still hate crowds, but skiing isn't for everyone, but when you do like it, it's addictive.

Help!!

I'm not sure I actually enjoy skiing!

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