 Poster: A snowHead
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After taking on board lots of advice from you lovely lot here, I went to Xscape,Cas today with 2 of the ppl I am going to Vallandry with in Feb and tried to put some of it into practice.
So what was different today?
- Shorter skis. Normally have had 160, today had 150 (I am 166cm tall). They're also different skis this year, Rossignol not Salomon, but that's not likely to make any difference.
- I decided to play very cautious and skied from the half-way point. I did so because last time I went (August I think) I scared myself silly on the top section because I felt out of control. Today I decided to focus on reinforcing positive, good experiences. I did manage a good controlled full-slope run when fully warmed up, but didn't do it again - wanted to be sure not to have any bad/scary runs at all today - and I didn't  .
- I remembered to lift my head and not keep staring at the ski tips
- tried to relax and absorb the little bumps not go rigid!
- tried to consciously push down with the big toe side of the new downhill(outside) ski & point the other knee where I wanted to go (this really seemed to work and made turning the uphill ski so much easier than when I was trying to swivel it under my foot. I guess it took my focus off my foot/ski and turning my knee made me lighten the pressure on the ski naturally. Dunno - but it worked!
- when going faster than I wanted, turned further rather than slamming on the biggest snowplough possible!
- travelled across the slope using much of the width, managing to get the skis something like parallel between turns and kept the plough narrow too
- when traversing, I actively tried to sink a bit into the downhill hip and push my hips a little towards the uphill side - I was totally shocked when doing this made me start to turn slightly uphill!
At coffee time, my friends remarked how much more relaxed/confident I had looked!! They also pointed out that there were a good no of ppl on the slope who looked LESS confident than me and I could see that for myself too and it made me feel I might be getting somewhere, albeit slowly! 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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well done Butterfly, glad you're making progress!!
I'm supposed to be going to Xscape to practice every other week until VT now
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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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excellent butterfly, i sound a lot like you in my skiing ability/confidence so will try to remember your pointers. I'm planning on skiing at glenshee as often as i can this season, even if just an hour or so and will do some sessions at xscape over summer to keep up the fitness and muc=scles before our trip next year.
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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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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hi butterfly,
when I read your article it sounded so familiar. I went to Xscape -- Cas on friday for the 3- hour morning session - meant leaving home 5-30.
I did my first week skiing in Andorra last year and to be honest it was not much fun. X-scape at Cas gave me so much confidence. Like you started at half way and just built up
slowly. By the end of the session coming down from the top under control and was even impressing the t and strife. Would recommend it to anyone struggling or nervous, Early
session off peak 9am-12 only £25 including ski and boot hire. Got to be good value.
see you flying down the slope next time
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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crazy_skier_jules, parallel lines, let me know when you next plan to do Cas - if free I might come! According to their current leaflet, there is supposed to be an instructor available for "casual instruction" during Freshtrax - Mondays for over 50s, Tues for ladies and Weds for all. There was no sign of one there yesterday though, so I suppose they could have quit doing it.
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try snowblades/skiboards and all your fears turn to fun 
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