 Poster: A snowHead
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Has anyone here ever had a fear of steeps? How did you get over it?
I've been skiing for 23 years, and I've developed a terrible fear of steep slopes in my old age. I've started to avoid black runs, and feel panic rising in me when I get to one of those ridges where everyone stands along it, looking down.
I used to go down steep black runs without a second thought, but some kind of self-preservation instinct has now kicked in, and I'm afraid to pole plant and make that first turn.
This season I'm going to book a private lesson on steeps, see if I can get over it.
Any tips? Similar experiences?
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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 found that skiing in a group where peer pressure overcame fear pressure was invaluable in moving my skiing up a notch or three.
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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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Don't stop at the edge. Just ski right over the transition as though it wasn't there.
If your technique is solid in the shallower pistes, it should work just fine even in steeper piste. But if not, that's something that needs fixing before heading down the black.
Perhaps you should pick a short black and see if you can ski from top to bottom at the same speed, without going fasster and faster... If you can control speed, there's nothing to fear.
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Piccadilly, I suppose there is a bit more to know about you and why you are getting scared.
Recent falls / injuries?
Just how much skiing and how is you skiing otherwise? Age, sex, number weeks skiing?
Group you ski with - are all th epeople you ski with much better than you and do they leave you way behind?
Conditions- were you frightened by a particular bit- steepish , icy, busy etc?
Terrible floppy hire skis and steeepish icy piste is a not very nice way to start a holiday.
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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 don't have this fear, and am pretty comfortable on 40-48 degrees.
But six things I have seen help people are:
1) As ABC says - don't stop on the edge with the sheep...
2) Don't go last of a big group
3) Do not head in to a steep bit in a "cross-the hill-traverse-of-death" going slowly, as making a turn is then almost impossible. Instead start with your skis nearly downhill, then you have already have done half your first turn. Go perhaps 5 yards, turn, and then make your next turn almost immediately.
4) Keep your vision up and concentrate on looking where your turn after next is going to be.
5) Plant that pole downhill, really downhill, and you will swoop round it under control
6) When you get to the bottom - look up and see what you have achieved
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Whiskey?
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ooops
7 things... 
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For me, not stopping on the edge is crucial. Not going last is also helpful. Plus I suspect that my idea of steep is quite modest. 
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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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find a very steep pitch between two pistes maybe only 30m to 50m long , then you can practice making two or three turns over and over with no exposure , then as the above posts say, dont stop at the edge just carry on with the knowledge you can make turns on much steeper pitches, also good for practicing that tipping over the edge feeling cause no real problem if you dont make the first turn as you are down before you know it 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Like this thread. I get a bit wobbly with the very steep bits too.
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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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| Piccadilly wrote: |
| Has anyone here ever had a fear of steeps? |
Yes. I think that is normal for many skiers, perhaps for most. It probably isn't any immediate help but you have to convince yourself that most of the trouble is in the mind. Skiing is much easier when you are relaxed; if you tense up everything is more difficult. The suggestions given above all seem useful to me - I'll have to try them 
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It's definitely in the mind. I'm usually last or near last in our group (they are too quick for me), so when they stop and wait for me at the edge of a steep pitch, I carry on and tell them I'm not stopping else I'll poo my pants...
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You know it makes sense.
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+10
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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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ed123, I'm female, 38 and probably have more than 50 weeks' skiing under my belt.
The group I'm with, we are all of the same ability, but they don't have my fear of steeps! What usually happens is some will go down the blacks, and if I don't know or can't see the run, I wimp out with a couple of the others and do a red instead.
The root of it comes from some years ago; I had a major panic attack on a very steep, icy slope in Les Arcs and ended up side-stepping all the way down with jelly legs.
My old skis were also AWFUL at gripping on boiler-plate, they had no rigidity and were like spaghetti. No matter what I did, they'd slide away from me, helping to reinforce my fear. I always thought my technique was to blame, I never considered it might have been the skis!
I now have different, much stiffer skis which grip like vices - so I don't need to be afraid of hardpack/ice anymore - now I'm worried about catching an edge!
I know it's all in my crazed mind, I just need to learn a solid technique for steeps, and resist the overwhelming urge to lean back.
Thanks for all the suggestions, I like the idea of trying a short steep bit between two pistes. I know I shouldn't stop, but I can never help pausing to take a look....
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Poster: A snowHead
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Piccadilly, There are lots of helpful suggestions above, but it might also be helpful to have a lesson on technique for steep slopes on an indoor slope. Inside Out Skiing (rob@rar and skimottaret) are doing a couple of clinics at Hemel at the beginning of November, but I am sure there are other opportunities/instructors. You could then take those skills onto the mountain, gradually working up the steepness of the slope as you feel comfortable. It's just an idea, but I've certainly found that building up technical skills has improved my confidence and ability to enjoy skiing a wider range of terrain.
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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 also have a fear of steps, it was that H bloke who always got me worried. More than happy when they split up, but getting worried now they are having a reuninion tour.
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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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| Piccadilly wrote: |
| ........I now have different, much stiffer skis which grip like vices - so I don't need to be afraid of hardpack/ice anymore - now I'm worried about catching an edge!........ |
Piccadilly, if you think about it you can't catch an edge on steeps as you're either on one edge or the other, never with the ski flat on the snow.
ansta1
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
Perhaps you should pick a short black and see if you can ski from top to bottom at the same speed, without going fasster and faster
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good advice, and something to focus on in your private lesson - I enjoyed a lesson on quite a steep, and slightly bumpy, black piste, following an instructor and aiming to emulate his beautifully slow and controlled descent. I couldn't, really - he just flowed at the same speed all the way down the hill, and I did a lot of jerky things in his wake. He told me I needed to be more "tonique" - more up and down. You do really have to "Dare to dive" down the hill - done a bit of that with easiski yelling encouragement, too. Lessons, definitely.
I also often try to do short, controlled, constant speed turns, on red slopes (not much point taking them to the steeps until you've really got them nailed on the reds). I think the trouble with hooning round the hills in a big group is that it's always fast - spending a few hours on your own, doing your own thing, away from the gang, is a good idea. It's quite common to see groups of skiers, especially in the big resorts, all coming down rather faster than they should be, with some of the group on the very edge of control.
Once on the steep (not that I ski anything very steep, I have to say...) I generally try to ski as though the piste were much narrower than it is, down a narrow corridor, to avoid that "wimp out traverse". Keep turning. But as for real steeps - I know my limitations.
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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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Ha, oh yes, I'm only talking about resort steeps!
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I used to have this too - Always used to stop with the sheep and scare myself half to death.
I know I will be shot down in flames for suggesting it but sofa ski school really helped me. Watching the lessons a lot at home helped me visualise what to do on the snow/muscle memory and this was backed up with lessons. - It certainly beats watching x-factor.
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Interesting that some people don't like to stop on the edge. I love steeps, but nearly always stop just before a lip so that I can survey the slope and plan my path down. I particularly look out for natural obstacles - rocks, bushes, big drops, etc - but I'm also on the lookout for any timid intermediates who've been suckered into trying something beyond their ability and are side-slipping their way down just out of sight.
I'm not sure that getting into the habit of plunging blind into the abyss is altogether wise! Otherwise, there's much wisdom in stoat of the dead's advice.
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Jonny Jones,
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plunging blind into the abyss
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There is a happy medium between that and hanging about at the top.
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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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Jonny Jones, I think most of us are talking about rather less gnarly terrain.
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pam w, that too!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Iski wrote: |
| but it might also be helpful to have a lesson on technique for steep slopes on an indoor slope. Inside Out Skiing (rob@rar and . |
To what extent is it useful to have lessons on steep skiing but doing it on a very gentle slope?
Might it help to learn how to stop easily if you fall on a steep slope? Is part of the problem a fear you will keep sliding?
Last edited by snowHeads are a friendly bunch. on Sun 16-10-11 18:18; edited 1 time in total
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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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| Quote: |
To what extent is it useful to have lessons on steep skiing but doing it on a very gentle slope?
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very useful with the right instructor, I'd say. If you need to learn some new techniques it's hard to get it right on a slope which is outside your comfort zone. Maybe not "very gentle" but certainly at somewhere like Hemel.
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I'll take your word for it, but I'd have thought at least a decent red was what you would want (I'd class Hemel as a blue - between 10 - 15 degrees?)
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You know it makes sense.
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snowball, I suppose it all depends where you start from. But if you're focussing on making really smooth, steered, short turns with a strong pole plant, and aren't very good at it (that's my category.....) then yes, I think a blue slope is just right.
If you can already do those really well on a blue slope, shouldn't be any trouble transferring them to a black slope (we're not talking couloirs here, are we?)
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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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snowball, Hemel is blue, but as I said earlier, I think you can learn and practise the technique needed on a less steep slope where the fear factor is not likely to kick in, before transferring the skill and resulting confidence to steeper slopes. Also, I have been on one of these clinics and Rob and Scott devise exercises that simulate the forces experienced on steeper slopes and teach the techniques needed to deal with them..
Last edited by Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name: on Sun 16-10-11 19:13; edited 1 time in total
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Poster: A snowHead
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I think the first third of Hemel is steep-ish.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Pedantica, It is when you are skiing on one leg!
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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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Sorry. I know there are a few inside-out groupies on this thread, but I'm with Snowball. I think the place to practice steep stuff is small pitches of steepish stuff where you have a clear run-out. It.s the psych thing of committing downhill many people seem to have difficulty with.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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For me private lessons with Easiski helped with this issue for me... she had me doing 'silly' (ie not at all but if you saw/heard us you would have thought slightly crazed) which we did on gentler stuff and then headed back to the place I had previously come a cropper at the end of the lesson. Any time I feel the grip of fear getting the better of me I do the silly drills and concentrating on that means I just get on with turning rather than stiffening up and freezing. Must say having two kids with me who don't appear to have even thought of being scared gives me a lot less time for fannying around.... am more bothered at them leaving me behind than worrying about whether slope looks steep!
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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stoat of the dead,
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there are a few inside-out groupies on this thread,
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What's that got to do with anything?
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I think the place to practice steep stuff is small pitches of steepish stuff where you have a clear run-out.
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Agreed, but difficult to find in England! Learning some technique in Hemel is better than nothing.
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a.j.,
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in extremis some internal swearing
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Or, in my case, external swearing.
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| Pedantica wrote: |
stoat of the dead,
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there are a few inside-out groupies on this thread,
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What's that got to do with anything?
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I think the place to practice steep stuff is small pitches of steepish stuff where you have a clear run-out.
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Agreed, but difficult to find in England! Learning some technique in Hemel is better than nothing. |
Agree with all of that!
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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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| Quote: |
I know there are a few inside-out groupies on this thread
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I'm not an Inside Out groupie by any means (I'm too far from Hemel) but practically every ski lesson I've had has been on relatively "easy" slopes, and for me, that's the best way to learn. It depends on the reason WHY someone is afraid of steeps. It might be a perfectly rational awareness of inadequate technique. Maybe as we get older we are more keen to be in control - and perhaps that applies more to women. Perhaps the OP already has a superb short steered turn technique and just has a mental block about steep slopes. But if she doesn't have the required techniques then learning them on manageable terrain might be the best next step. If she just has a mental block then yes, being out on steep slopes with a trusted instructor is a great idea. I used to ski black slopes with a lamentable lack of technique, but these days I'm more keen to be in control - and I won't ski anything where I don't think I'm going to be pretty well 100% in control. It's an old lady thing.
I agree that leading less experienced people down a steep slope can be very helpful - makes you try to think like an instructor and try to set a good example!
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Wouldn't say I'm terrified of steep slopes... I'm just totally crap on them. Can seem to get and edge and end up on my back bottom with the ski's sliding away form me.
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FAQ
I have booked a lesson 
