 Poster: A snowHead
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But if you never crap yourself either, that's when you're not pushing your limits.
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Hmm. This is maybe, in part, a question of age. There is a fairly wide margin between trying to do something new, and falling in the attempt (for example, I recently fell several times on piste when trying to ski on one leg) and "crapping yourself". I was not remotely frightened by that exercise, but it was pushing my skill/balance limits all right. The falls weren't a problem.
As for skiing faster, then I would certainly tend to hold back for fear of really enormous, damaging, falls. I can ski fast enough for my liking, and faster than is sensible on busy pistes, and that will do fine. I am more interested in things like skiing on one leg, which fine-tune balance, or practising on bumps, at controlled speed. Those skills will make it more likely that I will be able to continue skiing into my '80s. "Crapping myself" isn't on my wish list; my son, however, an enormously skilful skier, "craps himself" from time to time and has a much greater developmental push. And falls more than everyone else in the family put together.
However, I am certainly aware of not pushing my limits enough in trying off-piste, because of the likelihood of big falls. It's just so exhausting recovering from them, and the snow goes down your neck..... Some days are better than others. But I "know", perfectly well, that if I am to get better at skiing off-piste, there are many falls along the route, and that at present I am tending to hold back. I go up in a lift, spot the lines I can take to practice some steeper powder - then I do the run, look over the edge, and think "maybe I'll just do a few more turns on the piste before heading in there". Sheer cowardice.
I think one knows oneself, really. If money were no issue I would go off tomorrow and do an off-piste ski clinic. But I don't think I'd do a racing/gates course - for the simple reason that I would be afraid of really hurting myself, and would be "holding back" the whole time, and therefore not learning much.
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