 Poster: A snowHead
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OK, I don't know where it came from -I suspect it was the Snowheads collective support and being nursemaided round the mountain each day by a selection of different stalwarts, but I think I've found that much needed shot of confidence and with it an ability that is getting closer to being able to ski.
Is it like riding a bicycle, will it still be there next February or will I have to re-learn it?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Megamum, I used to find that I was nervous getting off the first chairlift of every trip, never mind the first chair of my season. (What am I doing standing on a mountain? Facing downhill? With waxed planks on my feet? What if I've forgotten everything? HHHHHEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPP!). I was always OK after the first couple of runs, though, when the muscle memory kicked in. You will be too, honest!
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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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Megamum, you should get some skiing DVDs and watch them over the summer. Mrs P's skiing actually gets better over the summer, I force her to watch a few ski movies and while enjoying the skiing it's remarkable how much she learns...
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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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| Quote: |
I force her to watch a few ski movies and while enjoying the skiing it's remarkable how much she learns...
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Does Mrs P know that you are telling us these initmate details? 
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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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Megamum, in my (humble) experience, it will mostly last, and the little bit that doesn't will reappear after a few runs 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Megamum, if you find a formula for that confidence injection you got, please pass it over here, cos I need one!
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Sat 3-05-08 21:50; edited 1 time in total
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skisimon, OK, message received and understood, take the guts and determination with me and leave the self doubt at home - wouldn't want trouble with my baby sitters would I? Oooerrrr...... 
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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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| Megamum wrote: |
| .....will it still be there next February or will I have to re-learn it? |
If you do nothing in the off-season then there'll always be an element of re-learning but with regular off-season practice (dryslope or snowdome) you can easily improve during the off-season. Dryslope's & snowdome's are excellent places to practice basic exercises & balance drills etc.
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Dryslopes are not, however, great places for keeping confidence...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Butterfly, I haven't pinned it down yet, or even worked out when it set in. What I do know is, surprisingly, it wasn't the lessons, though the confidence helped me to get more out of them. However, I was right it was confidence that I needed to help with the technique, and it came in that order NOT the other way round as some on here thought it would.
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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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Butterfly, Bearing in mind the last post, you might wonder why I'm back so soon. I've just been an done something that has made thoughts coalesce and I can now tell you what helped me enormously.
I'm in no way discounting the patient baby sitting duties performed by respective snowheads - I would not have progressed without their encouragement to go beyond the comfort factor, but I now know what quality I had that meant that I could actually go beyond it when asked to.
In a single word 'fitness'.
Since starting to ski I have made an effort to get progressively fitter - esp. in the strength of my legs - more so for the last two holidays than at any other time in the past. I then learned, sod any technique (almost - see below) that if I shoved power into the outside ski as I turned I could control the speed to any degree I liked - from a complete halt (hockey stop) to just scrubbing off a little speed on a flat straight, by putting in a little wriggle on a straight line. I had become that fit that regardless of any lack of technique I could exert control on what I was doing by just shoving the relevant power through the relevant ski. It didn't make for effortless skiing (that I'm sure comes with technique) but it gave me control over my own skis and with that came confidence. Once I had the confidence that I could get myself out of a pickle I could then think about the technique.
I'm sure this is the case because the only surface that still bothers me is the ice - the one surface that seems to call for more technique than strength to control skis on. Also, that I remember consciously thinking several times that week how strong my legs were and how I could hold the downhill ski on even the really slushy, bumpy slopes.
Ducks beneath the parapet and dons tin hat as a dozen experts arrive to tell me that I must be wrong, but that is how it seemed to me. It might be worth working on leg strength and see if this helps.
And what have I just done? Yes, 10 minutes on the eliptical trainer
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| Megamum wrote: |
| I was right it was confidence that I needed to help with the technique |
I think most of us thought it needed to come in that order too, you already had the technique, you needed the confidence to use it without worrying about what would happen if something unexpected came up. That's where you fitness came in - as you say, having belief that you can get out of something is key, and getting out of a pickle doesn't have to be stylish (you're in a pickle after all, it's hardly likely to look stylish in the first place).
Anyway, keep up the fitness (plenty of squats, and that wierd thing where you sort of sit against a wall - I panned a Physical Training Instructor at that last year  ).
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You know it makes sense.
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| Quote: |
| that wierd thing where you sort of sit against a wall |
I think it's better to do lunges (with good form, no knee ahead of ankle...) than sit static against a wall. Fitness helps a lot to give you stamina but frankly, even unfit people with little leg strength have an "aha!" moment when they realise the need to shift the weight. Happened to a beginner friend of mine this year, over the space of one long gentle run. His ski instructor had been telling him, I'd been telling him, but he didn't believe it till he finally did it, and it worked. But I do think that being generally fitter and stronger does, in itself, give you confidence and helps make you less prone to injury (remember those stories about unfit, weak, middle aged women, being most likely to hurt their knees?).
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I forget how to ski during summer, and have to relearn at the start of each winter. Happily it doesn't take more than a day or two to work out what should be going on with my feet, but that first morning on skis after a long lay off is sheer hell.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| rob@rar wrote: |
| I forget how to ski during summer, and have to relearn at the start of each winter. Happily it doesn't take more than a day or two to work out what should be going on with my feet, but that first morning on skis after a long lay off is sheer hell. |
Absolutely agreed and the first day is one on which I pray for decent visibility, as flat light on that day just compounds the misery. Muscle memory has become rusty and, more particularly, 'balance memory.' I realised this, by analogy, when I went hill-walking last weekend. I hadn't had a walk on rugged terrain for at least a couple of months and, on the first day, I was really unsteady on my feet, particularly walking down hill. By the second day I was fine again, skipping over rocks at speed!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I was actually shocked at how bad my skiing was when I got off my first chair of the season (it had been a full twelve months though ). It did come back to me quite quickly, and all was well by lunch-time though.
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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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skisimon, try flicking between 3 and soon to be 4 disciplines . . . every day's a first day . . . like the time I tried to step sideways to balance my board instead of a wee hop 
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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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I tend to get so enthusiastic about going skiing again that my confidence gets a huge boost from all the fantastic skiing I imagine that I will be doing. Reality bites me firmly in the ass as I realise that I can't ski for toffee after the long lay-off but then it all comes together again and I just start to enjoy myself. I believe that all the dreaming and visualisation during the summer really helps the mental attitude of just going for it on the fluffy stuff. And as said above... watch as many ski dvds as you can 
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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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I used to be a very nervous skier, mainly because I didn't manage more than one week per season, and often had several years between ski-ing trips. Now that I have been able to ski more than once per season I think confidence comes from ski-ing more frequently and from having falls and realising that falling is not so bad - last season I skied 2 weeks, and broke my arm half way through the second week, but even so, was much more confident at Christmas this year, having realised that even ending up in hospital was not so bad. My 3rd week this season I managed to knock myself out on the 2nd day, but was back on skis the next day (but am definitely going to wear a helmet next season...!). Also, seeing my children are now able to ski things that make me nervous makes me want to improve and do it with them.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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gamekeeper, jeeze! You're even worse than me . . but not being ironic, trite or stupid . . . we do need to experience and practice falling in order to learn to minimise damage. there will always be factors out of our control like morons who think that DIN settings are just your body weight over 10, but going a'hole over mammary is part of our snowsports quiver and just as important to attempt to learn to do it the right way.
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| Masque wrote: |
| gamekeeper, jeeze! You're even worse than me . . but not being ironic, trite or stupid . . . we do need to experience and practice falling in order to learn to minimise damage. there will always be factors out of our control like morons who think that DIN settings are just your body weight over 10, but going a'hole over mammary is part of our snowsports quiver and just as important to attempt to learn to do it the right way. |
spot on i aim to fall at least once a week and if there has been fresh snow once every 5 mins
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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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Lou, A deadly snow snake will always catch you out in the end. I usually fall 2 to 5 times a day... much more if off piste on fresh deep stuff. Oh.. the jump park hits the over 40's with a vengence too.
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I agree with II, after a deep dump of fresh snow it is obligatory to fall over at regular intervals.
I had a couple of energetic falls in Val T. The first one I thoroughly enjoyed, I thought it was highly acrobatic too. It must have been a beauty to watch.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Falling over in really deep snow is great fun and compulsory, at Easter my daughter and me both did it simultaneously and we were both buried laughing our socks off. Agree with Scarpa, jumps for the over 40's can be seriously dangerous. I did one in in ADH this year which ended in a very spectacular wipe out. The young lad who returned both my skis and poles declared it to be "mental".
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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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There's a story in 'Skiing for Dummies', which I bought a few years ago, which has always amused me. A guy bought a ski resort in the US, ansd asked around to find out who the best instructor was. He was told by everyone that there was this one chap who was brilliant and who hadn't fallen over in years. So the new owner sought this chap out and asked him if it was true. When Bob, I think it was, admitted that he indeed hadn't fallen over in years, the new owner sacked him, on the grounds that if he wasn't falling, he wasn't challenging himself. I don't know if the story is gospel or apocryphal, but the point is good.
I had a couple of great wipe-outs off-piste at the bash, landing on my front facing downhill with my chin buried. Laughed my ass off!
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vetski, presumably it was the only bit that was free!
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