Skiing, fear + mental blocks, and frustration

[liquidfeet]

One last thing, @fgor. You are determined, adventurous, and analytical. You are destined to become a strong skier owning all the skills you saw those other skiers using on that steep rocky slope. It will take some time, as it does for everyone, but you are well on your way. Your passion for skiing and your gumption will take you there.

 

[WaterGirl]

@fgor I think we all have moments where it feels like we can't turn or we are in over our heads or just plain stuck. I think @liquidfeet has a lot of great advice -- starting with boots and making sure your DIN is where it needs to be to give you the confidence that your skis will stay on and you are in control.

I will add one other factor - not sure how you were feeling that day - I had one day patch ski touring this spring where I just felt like my balance was a bit off and I was not feeling that great in terrain that was well within my comfort level. Not so much skiing, but the transition at the top was kind of wigging me out. Turned out I was getting an ear infection and was having allergy issues which played in to my perception of "balance" and comfort.

Falling leaf/ slide slip etc are all skills that I use especially backcountry, and I usually do these drills as my warm up on groomers when I'm skiing at the resort. I'm not sure if you have groomed runs available with visible groomer tracks" to practice on but you could start with a path that was two groomer runs wide and then narrow it down. Also while its good to watch videos of the "technical" application of these skills, I found these ski patrol videos to demonstrate the skills in the snow conditions you were facing. If you can achieve the controlled back and forth movement in a narrow corridor you are on your way to being able to navigate the terrain in your photo.

 

[fgor]

Below are my comments in black. Your quotes upon which I based my comments are in blue.

....

Thank you so much for the detailed response!

1a. I've been practicing falling leaf slips on non threatening terrain in the last few days. I think the tricky part with side slipping backwards is than when side slipping forward, it feels easy to quickly angle the ski tips up to stop immediately. It feels less natural to do this while going backwards so it may just be a mileage thing, where the more I do it, the more natural it feels. Reminds me of how in a lesson last year, i caught an edge weirdly and got flipped around so I was still upright but going backwards, and despite managing to come to a halt with no incident (was on very gentle terrain) was pretty upset about the whole thing. My instructors response was to immediately segue the lesson into teaching me to ski backwards, so that it would be a familiar sensation in the future!

Re: boots - I am at least fairly confident that they fit well. They could probably still fit tighter but as per my bootfitter, it's going to be hard to get a closer fit without going to something like a junior race boot. We've done our best with a narrow fit boot, custom insoles, and aftermarket liners with additional material added around the ankle and heel. Oh, and sizing down, as well

2. I'd say my separation is okay. It's better on one side than the other! And it's better on groomed than ungroomed. I have been working on short turns and fully completing turns in lessons. It's a surprisingly long process to really improve those aspects of my skiing! Some recent snippets of skiing:

3. That uphill lean is definitely something I do occasionally. It seems to be an automatic reaction to feeling nervous and wanting to shut down speed/increase security. Ironic since it seems to decrease traction a bit! It's something I just need to frequently remind myself about, mostly on steeper and ungroomed terrain. Generalized fear preventing me from moving my body into a good position sounds about right, too.

4. So when I got my first new skis last year, I was a very slow and nervous skier at the time, so level I skier was appropriate for the DIN settings. Then as I got more skis, demoed etc, I just maintained the same DIN. Basically I've just never updated it since I was a true, unambiguous level I skier. I figured at some point I'd have a dumb pre release and that would let me know to raise them, as I'm still not a very "sendy" or fast skier. I sprained my LCL on a late release last year (despite the 4.5 DIN - think it was because I had an awkward lateral release with my ski stuck in 12" of powder) which kinda solidified in my mind that I shouldn't raise the DIN at all. A friend told me to not raise my DIN until I had a pre release, but at this point i'd hate to have a pre release at speed or on scary terrain. I really don't know what to do. :(

5. I do need to find this book - although it's not available for my ereader (kobo) it looks like audible has an audiobook version of "a conversation with fear", same author, appears that it may be the same book but renamed?

6. Agreed. I've tried to get quite a few lessons this season - they are expensive but I've kinda decided to just throw money at skiing this year because honestly the better I get, the more fun it gets (excluding situations like this where I encounter scary stuff and start to question everything about skiing). My improvement really feels very slow at times because I have a lot of ingrained bad habits, but it's actually come along a lot this season and I've become a lot more confident overall. I've certainly worked on separation and fully completing turns but neither are embedded in my skiing yet. They do show up in my skiing more frequently than they used to though...!

 

[fgor]

@fgor I think we all have moments where it feels like we can't turn or we are in over our heads or just plain stuck. I think @liquidfeet has a lot of great advice -- starting with boots and making sure your DIN is where it needs to be to give you the confidence that your skis will stay on and you are in control.

I will add one other factor - not sure how you were feeling that day - I had one day patch ski touring this spring where I just felt like my balance was a bit off and I was not feeling that great in terrain that was well within my comfort level. Not so much skiing, but the transition at the top was kind of wigging me out. Turned out I was getting an ear infection and was having allergy issues which played in to my perception of "balance" and comfort.

Falling leaf/ slide slip etc are all skills that I use especially backcountry, and I usually do these drills as my warm up on groomers when I'm skiing at the resort. I'm not sure if you have groomed runs available with visible groomer tracks" to practice on but you could start with a path that was two groomer runs wide and then narrow it down. Also while its good to watch videos of the "technical" application of these skills, I found these ski patrol videos to demonstrate the skills in the snow conditions you were facing. If you can achieve the controlled back and forth movement in a narrow corridor you are on your way to being able to navigate the terrain in your photo.

Those ski patrol videos are really good, that second one especially looks like such a fluid and easy way to get down steep ungroomed terrain without actually skiing it! I have touched on pivot slips before, it's something I've improved slightly at but could definitely stand to get a lot better at.

And oh man. I was actually feeling okay that day until I hit that terrain - cloud was coming in and out but while I could see, i felt ok - but over the last few days I've done a lot of skiing in both poor visibility and high winds. I've discovered that both poor vis and high winds individually throw off my balance, and when they're combined (e.g. extremely flat light or skiing inside a cloud + wind gusts) I just feel like I can't ski at all! In fact I can barely stand upright, haha. I had this yesterday morning. I was about ready to quit for the day after only an hour when the clouds became slightly less dense and the snow got more visible definition, and I realised I did know how to ski after all!

 

[marzNC]

5. I do need to find this book - although it's not available for my ereader (kobo) it looks like audible has an audiobook version of "a conversation with fear", same author, appears that it may be the same book but renamed?

Yes, it's the same book. The original book full title was "In The Yikes! Zone: A Conversation with Fear." I guess the second time, it was decided to shift the title. Although Mermer's examples are from teaching skiing, the concepts can apply to other activities that cause a fear reaction. Such as a movement that feels like it's more risky after an injury.

 

[marzNC]

1a. I've been practicing falling leaf slips on non threatening terrain in the last few days. I think the tricky part with side slipping backwards is than when side slipping forward, it feels easy to quickly angle the ski tips up to stop immediately. It feels less natural to do this while going backwards so it may just be a mileage thing, where the more I do it, the more natural it feels. Reminds me of how in a lesson last year, i caught an edge weirdly and got flipped around so I was still upright but going backwards, and despite managing to come to a halt with no incident (was on very gentle terrain) was pretty upset about the whole thing. My instructors response was to immediately segue the lesson into teaching me to ski backwards, so that it would be a familiar sensation in the future!

During the Taos Ski Week I did with an advanced/expert group that was stuck on groomers because it was a low snow season, the instructor had us work on 180 and 360 turns on a couple of the days early in the week. For a few of us, what we did with our head and eyes made a big difference. For me, it was very clear that one direction was much easier than the other. I knew that. But the instructor told me something that really helped the poor director.

When you are slipping backwards, where are you looking?

 

[fgor]

During the Taos Ski Week I did with an advanced/expert group that was stuck on groomers because it was a low snow season, the instructor had us work on 180 and 360 turns on a couple of the days early in the week. For a few of us, what we did with our head and eyes made a big difference. For me, it was very clear that one direction was much easier than the other. I knew that. But the instructor told me something that really helped the poor director.

When you are slipping backwards, where are you looking?

That's a good question actually, I had to really think about it. When I'm just on ordinary terrain and trying to slip backwards/falling leaf, I don't think I even look behind me, I'll look up and above me to check for uphill skiers and then I might look straight down the hill or sort of in front of me...

 

[marzNC]

That's a good question actually, I had to really think about it. When I'm just on ordinary terrain and trying to slip backwards/falling leaf, I don't think I even look behind me, I'll look up and above me to check for uphill skiers and then I might look straight down the hill or sort of in front of me...

Look at the videos in Post #22 again. Pay attention to where the skier is looking.

 

[fgor]

Look at the videos in Post #22 again. Pay attention to where the skier is looking.

Looks like they're always looking in the rough direction that their skis are travelling in, sort of near the tips and tails of the skis. I'm gonna have to play around with this next time I'm at the snow. Hopefully in about 5 days time!

 

[liquidfeet]

@fgor, thank you for continuing to post about your skiing. Here in the US we don't have snow yet, but even when we do I probably won't be skiing this season, and certainly won't be teaching. I am enjoying thinking about your skiing, and hope I'm not overdoing the advice. This post responds to several off-snow issues you have mentioned.

Boots
You did a good job getting boots that fit. Sounds like that's not going to be a problem.

DIN settings
You do not want to have a "dumb pre release." Pre releases are not harmless. Your friend gave you bad advice telling you to wait for a dumb pre release before changing your binding setting. Take your skis to the repair shop at the mountain and have them adjust them to what the charts say when you claim yourself a Level 2 skier. Just do it. If you have two pair of skis, take them both and have them done at the same time. You can reduce the number of falls you have by improving your skill level, and you are doing that wisely by working on things on unintimidating terrain before moving up. But you can't reduce the likelihood of a dangerous pre-release if your DIN setting is artificially low. Take control of this and forget what your friend told you to do.

Generalized fear
Mermer's book has been published under a number of titles, as someone upthread mentioned. She gives all kinds of well-organized advice for dealing with generalized fear that's not justified. You'll enjoy reading it.

Slow improvement
Everyone develops bad skiing habits, and embeds them fast and deep if they take those habits onto intimidating terrain. Overwriting them is difficult. It takes awareness (thus lessons) and deliberate practice (bunny slope work) to replace bad habits with new better ones, which a lot of skiers can't tolerate. Friends resist, family resists, the body resists. You are not alone. Everyone goes through this battle to do the work necessary if they are determined to get better at skiing. Even when they do the work, it takes deliberate repetition to get the new stuff shaped and embedded. You have chosen to take this on. Welcome to the club!

Gaining mastery
The best book I've even found that talks in depth about how to get to the expert skill level (in any domain) is The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin. The first half of the book is how he became an international chess champion. He left chess and switched to martial arts in his 20s. In the second half of the book he describes how he applied what he knew about achieving chess mastery to achieving mastery in tai chi. He went on to become an international champion in competitive tai chi and has now created an organization dedicated to understanding teaching and learning, with applications to K-12 school teaching. Next best book on this subject is Mastery, by George Leonard. It can be found online for free. This martial arts teacher also established an organization dedicated to general learning. You could take a look at those if interested. I have no interest in martial arts, but both of these books have been influential in my learning.

 

[liquidfeet]

Here are some comments about specific skills you are working on that would have helped you get down that scary drop safely. I'll respond to the business of turn completion, leaning uphill, and separation later, maybe tomorrow.


Falling leafs
There are two major ways to make falling leaf work. One is to close ankles to move upper body weight over the shovels, then open ankles to move it back over the tails. The skis will change from moving forward to moving backwards. The other way is to rotate the skis with your legs to have their tips pointing somewhat downhill, then to have their tails to point somewhat downhill. The skis will travel forwards then back. Try both. Mess around with mixing them, then isolating them. And yes, @marzNC upthread mentioned looking where you are going. This is indeed important! So by all means do look backwards when you go backwards; twist your head and shoulders around so they are somewhat pointed backwards in a downhillish way when you slip backwards. Spend an hour or so doing just this, figuring out on your own how those two work, and how turning your head and shoulders impact how the skis travel. Own this!

Side slips
There are two major ways to flatten skis so they slip sideways down the hill. One is to untip with the legs. Roll the skis off their edges by moving your knees out over the skis. Then move them back. Keep the upper body stable; knees wag left-right, downhill-uphill, under stable hips. The other way (actually there are two more but I'm only describing one) is to lengthen the uphill leg; this will raise the upper body upward and tilt it out (Leaning Tower of Piza) over the skis, which flattens them. Then shorten it to re-edge the skis. Be sure you're standing with hips/shoulders pointing downhill-ish, not across the hill. Play around with these two methods of releasing skis and re-edging skis on unintimidating terrain until you OWN them both. Purge the fear! Want extra credit? Lift the uphill ski off the snow about one inch and roll/wag the downhill knee to do a one-legged side-slip (NOT easy). It will really teach your body to stay centered over the ski.

Skiing backwards
This is such an important thing to know how to do! You have an excellent instructor if he morphed the lesson into backwards skiing. Just use a wedge and make turns down the bunny hill, no need to work on parallel backwards turns. Flex one leg and you'll have a turn. Flex the other and you'll have a turn in the other direction. It's that simple. Do linked backwards turns every day to get over the fear. Keep turning your head and shoulders to look behind you. Figure out how much head rotation you can abide, and if that means turning to look only every other turn, so be it (this is my solution, or I get dizzy).

 

[liquidfeet]

@fgor, before making any comments on turn completion, leaning uphill, and separation, I want to ask you for confirmation that I'm understanding your turns accurately from those two videos you posted most recently. I took screen shots and wrote what I was seeing in the 9/11 video.

First, your turns are consistent and rhythmic. This is evident in the tracks you've left behind you. Congrats! Also your movements that make these short radius turns are smooth and consistent, not jerky nor hesitant. It's obvious you are working on your skiing.Below is my frame-by-frame analysis of how you are making these turns. I'm looking forward to hearing your comments about what I've seen. Let me know if I've gotten anything wrong, or missed anything, or surprised you with anything.

 

[kiki]

This is very cool, @liquidfeet , you will have a line up of us asking for your analysis!!!!

 

[newboots]

This is very cool, @liquidfeet , you will have a line up of us asking for your analysis!!!!

I'm on that line!

Amazing stuff!

 

[newboots]

For an amateurish, expertise-free analysis from yours truly, I think you ski like me! I am the stiff skier for weeks before I master one skill or another. I use my age as an excuse, but only last year (my 4th) did I start to feel loose and relaxed most of the time. (I have never skied anything that looked like your scary cat track!) So I really enjoy watching your skiing, feeling your fear, and reading @liquidfeet doing what she does so well.

 

[fgor]

@fgor, before making any comments on turn completion, leaning uphill, and separation, I want to ask you for confirmation that I'm understanding your turns accurately from those two videos you posted most recently. I took screen shots and wrote what I was seeing in the 9/11 video.

First, your turns are consistent and rhythmic. This is evident in the tracks you've left behind you. Congrats! Also your movements that make these short radius turns are smooth and consistent, not jerky nor hesitant. It's obvious you are working on your skiing.View attachment 13616Below is my frame-by-frame analysis of how you are making these turns. I'm looking forward to hearing your comments about what I've seen. Let me know if I've gotten anything wrong, or missed anything, or surprised you with anything.

View attachment 13617

Okay, that's an awesome video analysis! I'd say that's all completely accurate, especially on that side (my worse turning side haha). I had noticed that I do wedge into turns sometimes but didn't associate it with the inside ski not doing much, it always sort of feels like a more passive leg but in photo #4 I can clearly see the different in edging between the outside ski and inside ski, and then the skis matching in #5.

And thank you! I had to work on my skiing quite a bit to get to this point where I could calmly make turns in very shallow powder. Before, my body just really wanted to rush the turns which made skiing in 3d snow kinda panicky and ineffectual.

 

[fgor]

For an amateurish, expertise-free analysis from yours truly, I think you ski like me! I am the stiff skier for weeks before I master one skill or another. I use my age as an excuse, but only last year (my 4th) did I start to feel loose and relaxed most of the time. (I have never skied anything that looked like your scary cat track!) So I really enjoy watching your skiing, feeling your fear, and reading @liquidfeet doing what she does so well.

Stiff skiers unite!! That's awesome that you did finally make it to feeling loose and relaxed while skiing it gives me hope! I have had a number of people watch my skiing and tell me "just relax!" which, I'm sure you'll agree, isn't often the most useful feedback :P luckily no actual instructors have told me to "just relax", I think the stiffness is just a symptom of how difficult it can be to maintain balance both fore/aft and laterally while trying to improve skiing in varying terrain

 

[skiPTcynthia]

Thank you so much for your replies everyone, I feel a bit better about these dumb runs now. I've always been scared of pretty mild stuff in skiing all the way down to just doing turns on blue terrain with if the snow surface isn't 100% smooth (I'd end up hitting the side of the run sometimes out of "inability" to turn, and finally got past a lot of that turning hesitation this year with lessons), but it's nice to hear that at least I've worked my way up to being fearful of legitimate things!

I will definitely check out this book - sounds like a lot of divas have read it and found it useful!



That's a great blog post, thank you for linking that (and writing it). Interesting comments on men vs women mindsets when it comes to skiing, too. I'd say that definitely tracks with my experience. Of course, the person who attempted to lead me down the rocky chute was a man who, once I froze, just kept telling me to just stop being scared and stop thinking and get out of my own head. Typical!



Yes, the fall I had on that cat track last year involved catching an edge. Not fun at all! I'm kind of glad to see so many ladies here comment that it looks scary. So many people at my mountain will ski that cat track with no second thought so I start to feel silly for not wanting to go back to it. It's got some good runs off it but it hasn't been worth it for me. If I tried it again, I would take it extremely slowly...

To answer the questions about worries

I was definitely worried about turning, I was being told to turn a couple of times and I was worried that it would take me too long to slow down after turning or that I'd cross my skis and I'd end up in the rocks. I am actually reasonably comfortable with side slipping but I would have needed to have side slipped backwards to avoid turning and although I can do that I'm a bit less comfortable with it. I tried to side slip backwards a bit but it didn't feel comfortable. I also had a weird fear that I'd somehow cause one of my skis to detach and then I would fall into the rocks. I think that is also because I run quite low DINs (set to level 1 skier/4.5 DIN @ 5'3/110-115lb/265BSL, have not had a pre release, have had some well earned releases though). When I demo skis sometimes rude demo techs tell me that my skis will just fall off when I tell them what DIN I want. I've had them occasionally set the DIN higher than I told them, too. (One set it to 6!!!!!) Most of them are fine but the ones who doubt me really get in my head. Probably I should bump it up a nudge at this point but still.

6. Definitely concerned about the skis misbehaving while side slipping backwards

7 - 9. The skis actually looked ok while I was side slipping, I didn't have any uncontrolled slides, they might occasionally slide a few more inches than I meant over the slightly uneven terrain but they felt basically within my control while I was going forward. I was still worried about them losing traction for some reason though I didn't observe any of this.

10. I think if I could have kept side slipping down either straight down or "forward" I would have been ok

11. In retrospect, I think the point at which I really had to either side slip backwards quite a lot, or turn around, was the point at which I declared defeat and decided I couldn't go any further, I didn't want to do either and felt pretty stuck. I can do falling leaf slips but I guess I haven't done much of that, and it's always been on wide terrain where I didn't need to have any accuracy. Everyone else was just jump turning/pivoting but i didn't feel able to do that.

12. only once my brain told my legs to stop and freeze up





Mostly solo yes! This "adventure run" was with a skier I vaguely know who is much more advanced and has done a couple of runs with me. Not an actual friend or anyone I know outside of the mountain. I'm mostly pretty happy doing my own thing. I do feel like the adventure aspect of it was kinda undersold to me. I didn't see what the top of the run actually looked like until I was on it :/

Ah, I had to do rehab for a major ankle injury (not from a ski accident) two years ago. It wasn't a great experience and definitely increased my overall fear levels for a long time!



Fellow cat track haters!! Yeah, I have to admit I was a bit annoyed at my ski companion after that whole thing. They didn't seem to understand my fear on the run so I just felt bad about it. I didn't know what to say to them so once I escaped the rocky chute and was back on terrain I was comfortable with, I just skied off without saying goodbye. The mountain was closed by then so I just made a beeline for my car!

Thank you so much for your replies everyone, I feel a bit better about these dumb runs now. I've always been scared of pretty mild stuff in skiing all the way down to just doing turns on blue terrain with if the snow surface isn't 100% smooth (I'd end up hitting the side of the run sometimes out of "inability" to turn, and finally got past a lot of that turning hesitation this year with lessons), but it's nice to hear that at least I've worked my way up to being fearful of legitimate things!

I will definitely check out this book - sounds like a lot of divas have read it and found it useful!



That's a great blog post, thank you for linking that (and writing it). Interesting comments on men vs women mindsets when it comes to skiing, too. I'd say that definitely tracks with my experience. Of course, the person who attempted to lead me down the rocky chute was a man who, once I froze, just kept telling me to just stop being scared and stop thinking and get out of my own head. Typical!



Yes, the fall I had on that cat track last year involved catching an edge. Not fun at all! I'm kind of glad to see so many ladies here comment that it looks scary. So many people at my mountain will ski that cat track with no second thought so I start to feel silly for not wanting to go back to it. It's got some good runs off it but it hasn't been worth it for me. If I tried it again, I would take it extremely slowly...

To answer the questions about worries

I was definitely worried about turning, I was being told to turn a couple of times and I was worried that it would take me too long to slow down after turning or that I'd cross my skis and I'd end up in the rocks. I am actually reasonably comfortable with side slipping but I would have needed to have side slipped backwards to avoid turning and although I can do that I'm a bit less comfortable with it. I tried to side slip backwards a bit but it didn't feel comfortable. I also had a weird fear that I'd somehow cause one of my skis to detach and then I would fall into the rocks. I think that is also because I run quite low DINs (set to level 1 skier/4.5 DIN @ 5'3/110-115lb/265BSL, have not had a pre release, have had some well earned releases though). When I demo skis sometimes rude demo techs tell me that my skis will just fall off when I tell them what DIN I want. I've had them occasionally set the DIN higher than I told them, too. (One set it to 6!!!!!) Most of them are fine but the ones who doubt me really get in my head. Probably I should bump it up a nudge at this point but still.

6. Definitely concerned about the skis misbehaving while side slipping backwards

7 - 9. The skis actually looked ok while I was side slipping, I didn't have any uncontrolled slides, they might occasionally slide a few more inches than I meant over the slightly uneven terrain but they felt basically within my control while I was going forward. I was still worried about them losing traction for some reason though I didn't observe any of this.

10. I think if I could have kept side slipping down either straight down or "forward" I would have been ok

11. In retrospect, I think the point at which I really had to either side slip backwards quite a lot, or turn around, was the point at which I declared defeat and decided I couldn't go any further, I didn't want to do either and felt pretty stuck. I can do falling leaf slips but I guess I haven't done much of that, and it's always been on wide terrain where I didn't need to have any accuracy. Everyone else was just jump turning/pivoting but i didn't feel able to do that.

12. only once my brain told my legs to stop and freeze up





Mostly solo yes! This "adventure run" was with a skier I vaguely know who is much more advanced and has done a couple of runs with me. Not an actual friend or anyone I know outside of the mountain. I'm mostly pretty happy doing my own thing. I do feel like the adventure aspect of it was kinda undersold to me. I didn't see what the top of the run actually looked like until I was on it :/

Ah, I had to do rehab for a major ankle injury (not from a ski accident) two years ago. It wasn't a great experience and definitely increased my overall fear levels for a long time!
You may want to explore this old ankle injury, Proprioception/feedback from the foot and ankle are EXTREMELY important for your body to know where it is in space and then to respond quickly. Following serious ankle injuries that feedback system may need work. if you were getting great feedback from that far away joint it might allow your brain to quiet.


Fellow cat track haters!! Yeah, I have to admit I was a bit annoyed at my ski companion after that whole thing. They didn't seem to understand my fear on the run so I just felt bad about it. I didn't know what to say to them so once I escaped the rocky chute and was back on terrain I was comfortable with, I just skied off without saying goodbye. The mountain was closed by then so I just made a beeline for my car!

 

[liquidfeet]

....I had to work on my skiing quite a bit to get to this point where I could calmly make turns in very shallow powder. Before, my body just really wanted to rush the turns which made skiing in 3d snow kinda panicky and ineffectual.

Your work definitely is paying off. Isn't skiing wonderful? It's so beautiful out there, and we are working with our bodies and that gear on our feet to do the unthinkable, and to do it with grace and fluidity. Such a great enterprise this is.

 

[AJM]

Hello from a newbie I've thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread and seeing your progression and commitment, you're looking good girl !! Two things that made a huge difference to my skiing are 1) Joining a womens clinic, we started one at Porters a few years ago and met every week (regardless of the weather) and we'd start the day just having a few casual runs then a lesson followed up by us all rat packing around, its amazing how a little bit of healthy competition can push you and support you !! 2) If anxiety gets the better of you, and it does, I say outloud " just do it ", its got something to do with your left and right brain and as crazy as it sounds it does work. I'd love to have a ski with you next season, sadly this one is out for me due to injury but I will be raring to go next year <3