Horror of all horrors, I forgot how to ski!

[num]

I'm really only kind of joking.

Quick background: I'm on my first season. I'm not a faller, can count my past wipe outs on one hand (don't know what it is that keeps me upright, but I thank god for it!) I'm generally a level 6ish (depends on the description). Until this weekend, my skiing had either stayed constant or moved forward, I hadn't experienced a regression before.

Unfortunate circumstances made for virtually no ski time in February, and that made me extra excited to ski this weekend. Eagerly, I hit the snow. Since it'd been a while, I wanted to make sure to start small. Nice little green run. Skis wobbling, and I wipe out. I got up, got myself together and started to head down again. I feel like I have no control over my skis. It was like a flashback to the time (thank god it was only once!) when I skied in too big rear entry rental boots. Not as bad as that, but a smaller version of the same feeling. After a little bit, I wipe out again, and I think the fall is over, then I tumble over, thwack my head on the snow (pop sound-scary!) but thankfully I'm fine. I get up, ski to the bottom, and try to figure out what was up.

At its best points, my skiing was still pretty crappy. Looking at my tracks, my stance was varying greatly throughout each turn, and there was lots of wobbling and smearing going on. I really felt like I had nearly no control. I mean, I could turn, and avoid things and all, but it felt like my skis wouldn't necessarily do what I told them to, like there was some kind of delay or loss of information.

I know that time off the snow can hinder you, but were the two weeks since my last ski day really enough to set me back so far? Has anyone had an experience like this? I don't wanna blame my gear, but is there anything gear related I'm not thinking of?

 

[ski now work later]

Oh YES, I can relate. If you search through the posts, somewhere I posted about how I regressed (or so I thought) in Big Sky a few weeks ago. Turned out that my skis were too long and too stiff for the softer snow conditions there, but I still think there are days when I take a step or two backwards. Fortunately, I now feel like I'm moving forward again! Now when I feel shaky, I just stay on the less steep trails, and try to focus on carving and completing the turns....

Hang in there!

 

[liquidfeet]

Num, was the snow different from the last time you skied? I mean, do you normally ski on man-made stuff, or snow that has been ironed and pressed for weeks on end? And was the snow you just skied on the sky-given kind? That would do it. You have to ski differently. That happened to me this last weekend. It dumped snow up north, and everyone was on their butts.

OR, were your boots especially loose for some reason? If so, your feet might be wobbling around and not effectively telling your skis where to point.

OR, have you had your skis tuned since you last skied? A different tune (a bad one) can really mess you up.

OR, do you own your own skis? If you are on rental boots and rental skis, unknown changes can throw you for a loop.

I guess what I'm saying is that it will take relatively new skiers a while to get their ski legs back each time they ski. This still happens to me. It takes me about 5 runs to get up to par, and I've skied 34 days so far this season. But a big big BIG change in the same season might be due to other conditions, not just you.

 

[SnowHot]

All I can say is that some times you're gonna be in a weird funk!


When that happens ride it out and conquer the next outing with some confidence and zest because the funk is behind you!!!

 

[cyn]

I've been there, too. Some days, everything's working and you feel so strong and confident, then the next time you can't do anything right. I had a crummy day last month in chunky powder at Mt. Snow. I'd skied those conditions before, but this time I couldn't get it together. I was so frustrated - and angry with myself, too.
I've had some great days since then, though, so I guess the only soluton is to just get back out there, and keep at it!

 

[skigirl]

You can still ski

You say you had very little ski time in Feb. I know this is going to sound weird but what more than likely happened was that you were not fit any more. You would be amazed at how fast we lose muscle tone. Skiing requires a lot of strength and when we don't do it we lose that strength and when we ask our bodies to do what we did weeks before the body says, "excuse me but I don't think so." Take your time and work yourself back up slowly. Set backs are normal so don't beat yourself up. I train horses from the ground up and no matter how many goods days the horse may have in a row until the horse has a bad day or 2 they don't go forward with their training. People and horses are no different, we both need strength to do what is being asked of us. I hope this makes some sense.

 

[num]

Thanks everyone.

Liquidfeet, that my first time skiing since on this tune. It's funny, I'd thought of it, but not in that way. I'd thought to myself "I just got them tuned, so the edges should be nice and sharp, hmmm I wonder what's up" Gonna test it out with a run on a different pair of skis and see if that makes a difference. I also felt like my foot was sliding around in my boot. I dunno what's up with that, as I got them fitted in the first place, they've only got 25ish days on em, I've got footbeds, etc, but for some reason they felt too big. Dunno how to explain it, but I felt like I was using someone else's gear. I'm gonna drop in to see my bootfitter and ask him about both. If I'm crazy, I'm sure he'll set me straight. Gotta love a blunt bootfitter

Skigirl, you're totally right about how muscle tone loss sneaks up on you, but I don't think that's whats going on, as I've still been riding, trail running, crosstraining etc in the time I hadn't been making it out to ski, and didn't get muscle fatigue post ski. It's a good thing, too, cuz if my muscles were zapped on top of whatever else got me into that funk, I imagine I'd've spent alot of time on my face, hehe. BTW I love the fact that there're multiple horsey people on here.

Snowhot, how do you always manage to pull out an appopriate pic? I'm just glad I didn't get the long bra :p

 

[persee]

Oh do I know what you're feeling. I've had 2 of those type days.

First one was 2 years ago. I took my first 3 days of skiing (with lessons consecutively) right after xmas and I was doing great. Could make it down any green trail with ease and some speed. My form wasn't perfect but it was adequate. Then due to a catastrophe at home I didn't get to ski again for over a month and in that time I'd also bought myself skis. I was excited and figured I was gonna be really good now that I wasn't on those crappy rental skis. Big mistake. My husband took me up to the top of Cranmore to do the long green run from the top (it's also very narrow) and nothing was working. My posture was awful, I was crossing my tips, falling all over the place. It also was one of those super warm february weekends so the snow was slush which probably didn't help. By the time we got all the way down that trail I was so upset I wanted to give up skiing. Hubby decided to send me to a private lesson for 2 hours to see if I was sure I was doomed. Well the instructor pointed out all the bad things I was doing and got me to fix them so as you can see I didnt' give up skiing. The rest of the season I continued to progress at a remarkable rate and finally learned to laugh when I fell, not get pissed off and cry.

Last year (thanksgiving) went for our first day the day after thanksgiving to Okemo. I figured "ok. it's like a bike I'll just remember exactly what to do". Wrong. I fell twice on the bunny hill! I had absolutely no control - partially I think because it was very icy and I still had my soft first skis - but I just royally sucked. But I didn't let myself get too frustrated and just made myself remember that at least I was out skiing even if I was sucking. Next time out - in december - I was back to my normal self charging down blues and greens at Attitash (they'd even had 6-8" the night before) and not falling.

So yes you will have days when for some reason your body decides that it's never seen snow before, and it will be miserable, but try not to dwell on it and enjoy your time out in the snow nonetheless.

(speaking of days back - I was very worried that I would have another sucky day on my first day out this year, but amazingly I didn't. My first day this year was only a little less steady than my last day last year!)

 

[SnowGlider]

This happened to me just yesterday

Sometimes several factors conspire at once to throw off our skiing.

Yesterday I had new boots and newly tuned skis, and I was returning to skiing after a 6-week illness, in addition to the terrible skiing at the beginning of this season in the Northeast. Result of all that: I couldn't ski.

I solved this by first calming myself mentally, because I know that my mental status accounts for about 50% of my skiing ability. I'm a low-advanced skier, but I decided to go to the lowest beginner trail to get used to my new boots. I did each beginner trail twice, then moved up to an intermediate trail and did that several times. I finished the morning with one black trail so I could leave the mountain with a feeling of accomplishment.

That worked! By the time I got to the black trail I was almost back to my old self.

So I think the trick is to fall back to whatever level you can ski really easily and work up from there.

 

[SnowHot]

Snowhot, how do you always manage to pull out an appopriate pic? I'm just glad I didn't get the long bra :p

I have two sisters who both happen to have a great desire to take a lot of pictures!!!!
Seems they both find opportunities to humble me. Gotta love sisters!!
Say Cheese:D

 

[cloudpeak]

Sometimes a lesson can go awry and actually be detrimental to a skier's progress.

Today a woman and a man were taking a lesson at Stevens Pass on a blue groomer. IMO, the instructor should have taken his students to an easier run, either a green or an easier blue than the one they were on.

Both students were having trouble with the run, and we could see that the woman in particular felt intimidated by the slope and conditions. Both students side-stepped the entire first pitch, and they weren't doing a drill. The instructor was just trying to get them down the slope. The woman fell and lost her skis multiple times. Every time we rode up the lift, we could see her struggling mightily to make it to a place where she felt comfortable. It was hard to watch.

It took this crew two hours to get down the groomer, probably the duration of the entire lesson. At one point, we overheard the instructor telling the woman to revert to a wedge and forget about parallel skiing. Who needs an instructor who destroys a student's confidence and tells her to give up on new skills? The real problem was that the instructor moved the students too quickly to a slope that was too hard for them.

IMO, the instructor could have taught these students so much more on a green run where they would have felt more comfortable trying and practicing new skills, especially because they appeared to be beginners.

I don't think there's any shame in practicing on green runs. I find that green runs often offer a great environment for me to practice. In fact, today we spent time on green runs ourselves, practicing skiing switch and skiing on one leg at a time. I don't think anyone should feel any shame when practicing new stuff or honing old skills on easier slopes.

 

[Pequenita]

Just to be the Devil's Advocate, tho', there's also the possibility that these skiers got themselves stuck in too high level a class by misrepresenting their skiing abilities...I've found it best to be really descriptive when telling instructors my ski level.

 

[num]

I agree that there's no shame in green runs, green runs are always my friends, and that day green runs were my BEST friends ;)

 

[Jilly]

As an instructor I always error on the side of caution. I'd take that class to a green run first. If its below their level, then it won't take long to get down. Also if I see this right away, I say its a warm up run!! Good excuse, but it works. I like to see my students improve, have a good time and a positive experience.