Bitter Betty OR I sucked at my lesson last night

[SnowHot]

:ROTF:

SnowHot -- of COURSE there were stems! You were in TREES! Trees are giant stems. You got back to the groomers and no more stems -- that's cuz you were out of the trees!

Kano

 

[retromaven]

Everyone has a bad day and/or evening, for sure. As Scarlett so succinctly stated: "After all, tomorrow...is...Another day!"

Funny, I just watched that movie on TMC two nights ago, and was reminded that I share that attitude with Miss Scarlett, even though I hope I am nothing like her!

As for bad days and slow progress, don't be too hard on yourself girl! PS. I just came back after many years off from the sport, and I am considerably heavier (you are lucky you lost all that weight, congrats!) than I was back then.

The first few weeks I skied, I had good and bad days too. I have been fortunate enough to ski at least two days a week since just after the holidays, and that regularity of time on the hill has helped and so far I am happy with my progression. As you feel your technique and skills progress you will be less afraid to tackle steeper terrain. The older you get I think the more we fear hurting ourselves, but once you feel solid and reach the next level, it may not be so intense. Just keep practicing on runs you feel good on and as you build confidence in your abilities, you will also be less afraid to tackle new terrain.

In my ladies clinic, the instructor was very good about knowing when to ease some of the women into the next step or push their boundaries. She NEVER did it on icy or less than ideal days as she knew it would make something that was potentially scary into something that might undermine the confidence of the skier trying to improve. If they let's say had to move from a green to a blue slope and the blue slope was icy and filled with chunks of ice to navigate, she'd wait to do it until the next week when it was a nice, well groomed run, then have them push to the next level and work on other things on less intimidating terrain on less than ideal conditions. If you are in a weekly clinic, this is possible, and it's the mark (to me) of a good instructor who thinks about the big picture. If you are in a one time individual lesson, sometimes that is not possible and so you just have to "go with it" unless your body (too tired, injury) or mind dictates you just shouldn't.

That being said, I have skied all terrain so far, but locally, none of the black diamond runs rise to the challenge of the bigger resorts, so I know that in the next few weeks as I am able to ski other places than my local hill, I will have to push myself past that mental boundary too. Although I was rated a higher level skier when I left the sport, I feel that my technique, fluidity and fear level are less, probably because the new ski technology makes things easier (at least for me). That doesn't mean that when I am truly challenged, I won't be fearful and have an awful day I just get upset over and gripe about too. There was a good thread about overcoming fear recently, and it was good for ME to learn that healthy fear is normal, and you are not odd or a "less than" skier for feeling it. There are techniques to get you through it, and those suggestions were helpful. Also, there is no shame in skiing your comfort level, if you are happy being there. We ALL have bad days, don't feel badly, just continue on as like MSL and Ms. O'Hara said, "Tomorrow is a new day"!