Help Needed: How to move to Blue

[Natalie Blackburn]

Hi! I’m 44 years old and just finished 12 weeks of lessons. I can get down the green runs, have begun losing my wedge, and am mostly parallel, gotten more comfortable with speed, etc.
My issue is now getting started on a much steeper blue run than what I am used to. I ended my lessons with mostly getting nervous and sideslipping to where it’s more green -then start turning. Our instructor showed us how to lean more diagonal and lean down the hill- of course that terrified us all and most people wedged and side slipped for a bit before turning. Any advice for me on how to get a better start on my new terrain? Last week I fell as soon as I started down the slope- then got flustered.
Is it OK for me to just wedge turn down until I get comfortable with the steepness and leaning forward? How about just ‘starting’ over the edge? Thanks for your help, we may have a couple weeks more of snow here in the PNW and I’d love to end this feeling food about “getting going” down a slope.

 

[kiki]

Welcome Natalie!
12 weeks of lessons is a great start and yes the snow is looking good!
I'll let more experienced folks provide ideas and tips just wanted to say hi :-)

 

[Christy]

I'm sure the instructors here will have some specific advice, but I just wanted to say, keep plugging away with lessons and practice, and I think it's fine to do what you have to do (wedge/sideslip) if confronted by something that just feels too much. In fact sideslipping is such a necessary skill that it's always good to practice that! It will get easier. I started in my 30s and I remember being so scared to go down what is probably the easiest blue in existence. Gradually it got easier.

 

[CrystalRose]

Hi Natalie!

I'm a fairly new skier too. This season is the first time I've gotten consistent snow time and I'll say: You'll know when you're ready. For example, I started this season lapping the bunny slope, when that got boring I moved on to easy greens, to harder greens, took a few lessons, and now at the end of the season I'm doing blues of varying difficulty. At the beginning of the season there were greens that made me nervous and I would side slip down. Then I'd go down something I know I could do to boost my confidence and try again. A lot of skiing, for me, is mental.

As for is it OK for you to wedge down the blue run? I would say sure. That may be just what you need to get over that hump. To see that the trail isn't that difficult. Wedging is a useful skill even when we begin to know others. If I'm tired, or more likely: scared, I'll do wedge turns to get me to a place I feel comfortable again because I know it works. I'll still do wedge stops sometimes even though I can hockey stop just because... I can!

Things that help me get to Blues were:
1. Repetition- I know this is boring, but there becomes a point where the muscles know what to do even if you're not sure. I still want to look at my legs and feet to make sure they are doing the turns even though I can feel it. As an instructor told me: Don't look at your feet, look down the hill!!
2. Get Forward- Counter-intuitive, but this give you soooo much more control over the skis. Control makes you feel safe and willing to try new terrain. How I do it: Make sure you can see your hands in front of you. Hands in front generally makes you get forward. And/or pressuring the front of your boots.
3. Complete your turns- I don't know how much lurking you've done here to know what that means but essentially make "S" and "C" turns down the slope. Turning slows you down (generally), again giving you a sense of more control and less fear. How I do it: An instructor told me to hit the 10 and 2 positions and it just worked for me. I pretend I have a clock in front of me and make sure my skis hit the 2 o'clock position to the right and the 10 o'clock position to the left and just rotate/pressure my feet back and forth between them.

YMMV. Take this with a grain of salt because I am not an instructor, just another newbie trying to help.

 

[KarenD]

Is it OK for me to just wedge turn down until I get comfortable with the steepness and leaning forward? How about just ‘starting’ over the edge?

I agree with everyone who has said it is absolutely okay to wedge your way down the hard parts. It is also okay to make really wide turns and traverse across the run (uncrowded slopes are best for this, of course).

Sometimes the hardest part is dropping in off a ridge or road, so it may make sense to just do that quick, then stop and get your bearings before heading further down. It works for me on slopes that I know are within my skill set but which still give me the flutters. Once I'm over that lip, I'm committed.

 

[newboots]

I would practice, practice, practice on the green slopes, and do what feels safe on the blues. You'll be on them soon without so much fear! The stronger your skills are (and you improve them every time you ski, on greens especially!), the more comfortable you'll be on challenging trails.

And I'll second that thought about getting forward on the skis. I'm still teaching myself to do that, and I definitely have glimmers of that sense of great control, even hurtling down a steep (for me) trail.

I'm also a newbie. In my second year. I'm still happiest on green trails, but I regularly ski blues (and a black here and there) at Killington.

Oh, and !

 

[KBee]

I'd vote for side slipping until you are comfortable with the angle of the slope, and then transition to a turn in the direction of your skis, a large "finishing the turn".

Keep on the same slope until you are ready to turn all the way down, but keep practicing what you want it to be on the greens, while visualizing the steeps, and imagining your confidence/lack of fear.

 

[captain_hug99]

I'm at the same spot you are, I just did my first blue today. Woohoo! I totally wedged and made huge S turns from side to side. I figure, I got to the bottom and was a safe skier.

 

[marzNC]

Side slipping used to be a fundamental skill taught early on. Not sure that's true for adult beginner lessons. They teach the skill to kids in ski school because it's a really useful survival skill. Never know when a slope is scary for whatever reason. Being able to side slip even a few feet before starting to head down making turns is very useful. I think it's safer to side slip than taking off skis and trying to walk down to an easier pitch.

Turns out that side slipping is a skill that is taught and practiced in lessons for advanced skiers too.

 

[2ski2moro]

What they said.^^^

1. Leaning back will make you fall. Think of the front of your skis as the steering wheel of your car. If you would put too much weight on the back of your car, the front wheels would come up and lose contact with the road, making it harder to steer. Same with skiing. If you have more weight to the back, the front of your skis cannot keep you in contact with the snow and you won't go where you want to go.

2. Leaning back will tire you out faster than being centered over your skis. Do your quads burn? Lean forward and center your body mass over your feet.

3. As a thought for making the transition to skiing blues, I suggest you take a private lesson with a different instructor. Let her analyze your skiing and give specific tips based on your level to help you make the transition. The different instructor may just have some advice that will make things click.

4. Sometimes, it is helpful to ski behind someone who can make good, slow turns to show you where to turn. If you focus on the other skier, it often helps to clear your mind of some of the fear.

I wish you much continued success in the remainder of the year and all the years to come.

 

[MrsPlow]

Lots of good suggestions here.

I spent a good few years skiing everything (up to and including some easier double-blacks) with a combination of wedge (aka snow-plow hence my user name) and side slips - due to learning to enjoy steeper, off-piste terrain combined being a big chicken and wanting to ski slowly, and a lack of lessons. So it can get you around the mountain, provided the conditions are ok, and it did make me comfortable on much steeper, more interesting terrain. But I would've benefited from also spending more time getting technique right on easier runs - it's taken me years to get my technique caught up to the terrain I ski, if that makes sense. I'd recommend practising technique on nice wide green runs combined with getting used to steeper terrain using whatever technique gets you down the run, to get used to the feeling of being on a steeper run.

Another suggestion - look for short, steeper sections that have a good long run-out or where the terrain goes up hill afterwards. And then point the skis straight down the hill from as far up the slope as you can cope with, using the terrain to help slow you down. Short steeps with a run out are much less intimidating, but I found that going faster on these sections helped with confidence on longer steep stretches.

 

[Marta_P]

I'm in a similar boat and appreciate all the great suggestions!
I would really recommend a women's ski clinic. I did the 1-day at Okemo this year and it was awesome! I had skied blues at my local (Wachusset) but never at a "big" mountain, and was feeling ready. We did a lot of learning on the various greens and ultimately I ended up on a blue, which was a little icy and narrow. I fell, got up, sideslipped, and skied down. Wohoo! I was so proud of myself : ). I think prior to that clinic I would have taken my skies off and missed the chance to correct and gain that confidence. I've skied plenty of blues since then and some are amazing, some are awful - but the fear is gone, and that's such a huge win! Good luck!

 

[liquidfeet]

One thing I practice with my students is "Speed before Steeps."
On the flatter terrain, work on doing what you do well at higher speeds.
Do this before going to steeper terrain.
Gravity causes higher speeds when it's steeper.
Practicing initiating turns at a higher speed on familiar, non-intimidating, easy terrain is helpful.

 

[CrystalRose]

That's a great suggestion @liquidfeet! I hadn't thought about it before but I find the speed more intimidating than slope. Or the slope is intimidating because I know the speed comes with it! Something I'll work on next season for sure.

 

[newboots]

I love to ski fast on "flat" green runs. I think it's when I truly get a taste of what skiing will be like. It's easy to stop because the (lack of) gravity helps, so I don't get that "runaway train" feeling. I go as fast as I can, surprising the people who ski with me and leaving them in the dust! It is so much fun! I can't imagine doing that on a blue trail. Yet.

 

[racetiger]

Yet...it will come. How I learned to feel comfortable with speed and or steeper terrain was coach saying "Follow me!" and was forced to keep up with him and go wherever he went.

 

[newboots]

@racetiger - That's my dear BF and me! Unfortunately (?) for me, he has been skiing for 54 years, and I for 2.

 

[Skisailor]

I certainly agree that it's good (and fun) to get comfortable with more speed, and the place to start that process is on flat green terrain.

But steeps do NOT equal more speed overall. We should be able to ski steeps v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. If we want to.
That said, Liquidfeet is right. On a steeper run, gravity causes the skis to accelerate more quickly during that brief moment when they are pointed downhill. But if we learn how to stay over our feet (not let the skis run away from us) and how to turn with our legs (the fastest way to get skis that are pointed to the left to point to the right) we can make short radius turns without picking up any speed.

Being able to slow things down in steeps, bumps and trees is how we can gain a comfort level in that kind of terrain. I just want to make sure we focus more on gaining the necessary skills to ski steep terrain as slowly as we want, rather than thinking we must resign ourselves to getting comfortable with speed before we ski steeper pitches.

 

[Cascadia]

Where did you do lessons in the PNW? I’ve been doing ski school up at Snoqualmie for the last 3 years. It seems at all our major WA ski areas the jump from green to blue is terrifying. Like Alpine at Snoqualmie Central. Sometimes I call things Blue Plus and Blue Minus or dark/light blue. Everyone has touched on the practice aspect and it’s so true. And remember that some days the snow is more forgiving than others for moving up to the next steeper run. It’s taken me a while to really get out of my wedge on steeper pitches. One piece of advice from an instructor as our class just went to blue was “I’m sure you love shopping but when you’re skiing you can’t shop for turns” I would sideslip/traverse really far between my wedge turn until I found a patch of snow I liked and then I did what I cal a super supreme pizza turn. Like massive wedge that just slowly plowed me the other way. Counting to 3 between turns at least got me in a better rhythm and focusing less on the pitch.

And just know that it’s ok to wedge and sideslip down! Everyone has been there. Some days I was so frustrated taking forever getting down something steep with BF or friends waiting at the bottom but as long as you’re not causing collisions do what is comfortable. Eventually you’ll be a little quicker and a littler quicker and next thing you know at the end of next season you’ll be doing speed runs down that blue run!

 

[liquidfeet]

What SkiSailor said!
That's exactly it.