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Skiing with a fear of heights

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
I should clarify....I've never had a problem with chairlifts when the safety bar is down!
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
martski - you are a sadist!! stick2000 - I would have your husband shot if he asked me to hold his poles AND THEN started messing with his boots!!
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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?
FenlandSkier, Thanks for that - don't feel like such a wuss now Smile. We never tried the red run as we'd heard all kinds of horror stories of drunken people throwing themselves down it and witnessed a couple of carnage incidents from the gondola as we passed it. Despite my two scares, I still loved skiing in Soll - it was where I got the bug afterall. The whole skiwelt area was wasted on me though because of my lack of ability at the time and it's top of my list of places to visit when I'm good enough to 'conquer' it! Smile
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Heading to Val d'Sere in exactly four weeks... think Ill be pin-pointing that 'over the top' chair lift and avoiding it! Well definately in the morning anyway.

As for the blue home run in Soll, as a beginner Ive never felt thigh burn like it... snow ploughing as hard as I could the whole way down, terrified to try a turn. The red home run is so much nicer, thank God for getting a bit better so I could ski that one instead!... Although I did love the very end of the blue run
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
I don't have a fear of heights at all and will happily stand at the edge of cliff and peer over the edge. Helps to have good balance though Madeye-Smiley

One thing i do have a massive fear of when skiing though, is falling down a crevasse on a glacier. I just can't think of any way possible to get out. Even just looking at pictures and videos people skiing past glaciers with big crevasse's makes me tremble Puzzled


http://youtube.com/v/npsNHLetgBU

see why?
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 You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
Interesting to read these .....I'm not great with heights, and had a big fright during my first ever week's boarding - went out of control over the ice towards a huge cliff, which was fenced off but not very well.

I went back to climbing over that winter at the local wall to get over it, and still climb quite a lot - indoor and outdoor - now. It's really helped improve things.

For me, I find that the more you do something height related, the more confident you are in your equipment and ability to not mess up. Most people who know me are surprised when I say I don't like heights, because I do lots of things that involve exposure to them. But I'm generally very, very safe with what I do, in terms of procedures and equipment.

Last time I got scared (a couple of days ago actually) it was because I knew we were messing up a bit. I knew we'd been a bit foolhardy and then I found it very hard to deal with exposure that would normally be no problem, because I was tense.

But on the whole, I have found climbing to be a big help in getting used to heights safely. The majority of the stuff that most people encounter on a board or skis is nowhere near as exposed, so it really helps put it in perspective.


Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Fri 18-01-08 14:43; edited 1 time in total
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
shoogly, maybe try a crevasse rescue course? I've done one, it was excellent. That's a lucky guy in that video though Shocked
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Oh and that makes me remember my other fear - the tree hole. Shocked
I think this link was posted here recently anyway, but the more it's passed around the better...
http://www.treewelldeepsnowsafety.com/
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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.
Am I seeing that video right, in that they built a snow park on a glacier. I know it happened after he landed but surley any risk of skiing a glacier has to be multipled by the force of impact doing tricks?
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
i think the earlier jumps were in a different location from the final jump into the crevasse. it's like a kicker that they built on a glacier... silly thing to do!
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
firebug, sounds like a good, if worrying, idea...

imagine if i ended up getting this guy teaching me!


http://youtube.com/v/f-HuUWw5c9k&feature=related
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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.
NickB wrote:
and appeared completely unfazed when I took her on the up-and-over chair in Val d'Isère.


That would take her mind off it. Embarassed Laughing
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Well, you'd hope so, anyway.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Nick B

My wife suffers from exactly the same sympton's and it has got progressively worse over the years.

Like your wife she has been on the up and over in Val and was screaming , but more like she was on a fairground ride, not because she was scared. She has been on the Vanoise Express and it doesn't get much higher than that (but not this year). But take her anywhere near a shear drop and she is shaking like a leaf, I can remember this one time when I had to coax her down the mountain with me in a backward snowplough and her hold of my poles. She is even the same when we are out walking. She is quite a good technical skier and can tackle any red as long as there is not a shear drop to the edge.

If she is in any doubt about a Piste she will sit at the top with a glass of Vin Chaud, whilst I do a reccy and come back up. I know this sounds ridiculous, but it is how it is and at least I am not wasting my skiing time!!.

There is a name for the condition and I will ask her what it is when she gets home.

Don't know if this might help, but the sympton's are worse for some reason when she is wearing goggles, so she wears wraparound climacools instead.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
I have a terrible time with heights... so much so that sitting at home on the sofa watching the movie and the camera goes over the top of the large building and down the edge, my stomach does a flip and my brain goes 'oh poo-poo!'

The very first time on a chair lift in Avoriaz was a nightmare, but 10 trips on it's getting much, much better. I guess I enjoy the reward so much that I've learned to overcome the fear. If in doubt I look ahead/up, not down and never ever backwards...

I've even survived the 'scary chair' under the run way in ADH... but I still have my moments if we get stuck for a while or on horribly bump ones, like the bellecote glacier access in la plagne (pre-fire!)
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
shoogly wrote:
I just can't think of any way possible to get out.


I can ..... 20 years later dumped out with the terminal moraine! Rofl Wink
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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?
The thing I really dont understand, is that so many people who have a fear of heights and dont like chairlifts, gondolas, narrow paths etc.... will happily get on a huge lump of metal with rockets on each wing and be flung 37000 feet in the air for a couple of hours ???? Now, I really don't like flying, and given the choice would go for a chairlift over a gondola. I think the fear of narrow tracks and drop-off's is more a fear of wether your ability is good enough to heep you on the track.

I was once in ski-school in Kitzbuehel when someone in the class (a girl obviously wink) was crying on a narrow path. The instructor proceeded to fling herself off the edge of the track to show what would happen if she went off the edge (which was her fear). It took an hour to dig her out of the big fluffy blanket of snow which stopped her rolling down to the bottom of the valley snowHead
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
Strangely enough, I don't have a fear of chairlifts, but for some reason get vertigo/sweats in cable cars....maybe it is because they generally have much further to fall! (irrational I know).
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
[quote="stevo_the_saddler"] I think the fear of narrow tracks and drop-off's is more a fear of wether your ability is good enough to heep you on the track.

No your wrong it's not about ability. My wife even has this fear when she is out walking next to a shear drop, and it's not a vertigo thing she will not go anywhere near the edge Embarassed
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