Question: How do people get over the fear of going fast?

[gardenmary]

I skied nothing at Snowbasin that bore any resemblance to anything I skied at Liberty in PA on January 12th, which ranged from ice sheets to death cookies to slush. Of course, Liberty is mid-Atlantic, not New England. YMMV.

Ice patches at the top of Strawberry, yes. Scraped-off areas by mid-day before the snow came on Wednesday, yes. But that was Sunday and Monday; Tuesday we had that beautiful ultra-fine sugar. It also beat the heck out of not being able to see ANY differentiation last Sunday Feb. 2nd over on Strawberry!

By the same token, however, because I know that mountain pretty well I am less thrown by adverse conditions than at any other mountain. I noted that by the end of the day at PowMow, the run "Drifter" that takes you down to the Timberline lift was basically washboard, and that affected my skiing.

 

[gardenmary]

And I may have mentioned this before, but one of the big factors in getting over my fear of speed was realizing that it was a LOT easier to make turns with some speed behind me.

 

[Sami]

Adding my two cents! I am a pretty fast skier. When I get scared I tell myself two things (as I'm flying down a hill).
1. "Your skis won't let you down." (repeat as necessary). I have very stiff, carving skis. (Dynastar Exclusive Elites). They are MADE for skiing fast, icy steeps. So I tell myself to trust my skis because I KNOW that if I don't screw it up my skis can handle whatever I put under them. And by screw it up, I mean lean back, try to slow them down too fast, or otherwise freak out physically and throw my balance off.
2. "Stay low." When I get scared, I get into a super-tuck. It forces your arms in front of your body and fixes your center of gravity. I think of Olympic skiers and try to channel their body position. I am still cutting turns, but getting really low helps me feel safer and also, if you do fall you are so close to the ground it will be more like sitting than falling.
And a third thing:
I also count when I get scared to time my turns, like "One-two-three, one-two-three" and I'm turning on the "three". It forces you to stay in a rhythm and also gives your mind something to do other than scream "I'm going to FALLLL!!!! HEELLPPP!!!!"
These things really work for me!

 

[bounceswoosh]

And I may have mentioned this before, but one of the big factors in getting over my fear of speed was realizing that it was a LOT easier to make turns with some speed behind me.

As my instructor Sunday said, "Faster is easier. Faster is scary, but faster is easier."

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I stumbled upon this thread as I have the same issue. I have the same problem with the boyfriend who skies way faster and is always waiting for me. He never complains and in no way do I feel pressure from him but I’d just generally really like to ski faster. I am terrified to go fast. I am snowboarder turned skier who transitioned via short 94cm short skis. I very quickly jumped up my ski length and now ride Volkl Viola 148cm skis. I now have atomic hawx boots which seem to work well with my volkl skis. I feel confident to a degree and ride blues and blacks on our home mountain at Ski Butternut in Great Barrington, Mass. When we go to Vermont I very comfortably ride the blues. I am a very conservative skier and control is my middle name.

I think part of my problem is I am not good at getting up once I fall so I do my best to never fall and this means ski in a very conservative fashion. I have taken a couple lessons in level 4 and 5. I think the other part of my problem is confidence. I turn to the right much easier than the left and when I turn left I have some drag with the one leg. I don’t wedge any longer and always stop with a swift hockey stop to the right.

Whenever I go to take a lesson they find out I ski all over the mountain including the blacks and they immediately throw me into a level 5 class. I feel like I am a good skier but I never took a basic/beginner lesson so in my mind there are little tricks/tips I was never taught that will make my skiing better. I am thinking of taking a level 1 or 2 ski lesson just to see if there are any little tips/tricks they teach which I never learned. I am hoping this picks up my confidence.

 

[volklgirl]

I think a low-level lesson is a great idea as you likely missed some very basic skills that are impeding your further progress. As far as getting up when you fall, there is a really easy way to do that regardless of the incline: Roll over onto your belly, legs spread with toes (and tips of skis) facing out in a V. Lift up onto your hands and knees then straighten your knees keeping your bum up in the air and head down. Let your feet slide back and together and you'll be standing in no time.

 

[litterbug]

That last trick world great. But if you forget it, unless there's a safety-related reason not to do so, there's always the option of taking one or even both skis off. I always say this just in case someone really can't do it another way and, like you, is avoiding taking risks just to avoid having to get back on their feet.

 

[Cruiser123]

Great useful information. I too struggle not so much with fear of speed, just that I may not be able to control. I try to work on it while on a run I know well and just letting the skis go to get the feel of speed while it's not busy and then controlling turns to slow down after letting it go.

 

[gardenmary]

I am thinking of taking a level 1 or 2 ski lesson just to see if there are any little tips/tricks they teach which I never learned. I am hoping this picks up my confidence.

When I need to do a make-up lesson in hula, I usually end up in the beginner/keiki (children's) combined class on Saturday mornings. It's a really good way to clean up my technique and remember the detailed specifics for each step or combination.

One thing my coach and I have worked on this year is carefully shaping the turns to control speed. We've broken the process down step-by-step and it's been really helpful. Since I started skiing late in life (age 47) it's been harder to instill muscle memory, but we've made good progress. Once I had the mechanics down to his satisfaction, we started working with different widths and lengths of turns so I could understand how speed control happens with properly-executed turns.

 

[Tammy]

What's helped me get over my fear of going fast is taking more lessons on carving, turn shape, and the race training has also helped a little. Also, when I'm in an aggressive and athletic stance, it gets me in a better mind set to handle the speed and to control it.

 

[FoxyRoxy]

Gardenmary, you said, "When I need to do a make-up lesson in hula". Are you from the Hawaiian Islands? Or do you live there now?

 

[ZealouslyB]

I have not read through the entire thread, but seeing your list above what I'd add IF you want to go faster or at least feel more confident to handle terrain at a higher speed is to find a trail you know well and are comfortable skiing on, and work slowly on building up your speed. You start to gain quicker reflexes, ability to recognize changes in terrain and how to approach them, etc. It's easier to do on a trail you feel comfortable/confident skiing on. Take several runs in a row, if you can on a day/time when the trail is deserted so you can turn/stop when you need to.

I'm a former racer who loves to ski fast- but doing it off a race course was quite the learning experience for me! I spent so much time analyzing courses, when I knew where to turn it was easy but left to my own devices it freaked me out- I've met other racers who have the same problem. Years later I've learned to read the terrain, avoid whalebacks that will send me flying in the air (NOT my skill set), use parts of the hill to gain or slough off speed, etc. Divas are right it comes with experience. But don't be afraid to try and push your comfort zone a little!

 

[volklgirl]

Learning to do side slips, falling leaves, and hockey stops any time and any where will go a long way towards giving you the confidence in knowing you can stop Right Now. Once you know you can stop, it frees your mind from the panic mode as the speeds get faster. So....learn to go slower before you go faster.

 

[Janis Williams]

Learning to do side slips, falling leaves, and hockey stops any time and any where will go a long way towards giving you the confidence in knowing you can stop Right Now. Once you know you can stop, it frees your mind from the panic mode as the speeds get faster. So....learn to go slower before you go faster.

THis ^

Plus learn to mix up turn shape(radius and degree of turn), amount of slide. Learn how to mix it part way through a turn - start long radius finish short (Your turn will look quite odd but the skill to not be locked into the turn shape you start on is valuable) Start short radius finish long. Start with minimal sliding or a carve finish with lots of slide(Wide track steering). Start wit wide track steering finish with a narrow track or a carve.

Work on garlands using your edges -start in a traverse roll on(turn uphill) roll off(slide)... Spin....

Ski on one leg- outside... ski on one leg-inside... ski balanced aft, fore, start one finish the other... be able to recover from one state to the other at will! (Ever get knocked back? )


All this helps you not get the deer in headlights "I've started THIS turn so I'm stuck in THIS track" type of mentality... All that ability to vary your skiing will help a lot with your comfort at speed.

 

[Janis Williams]

Another reason I want to ski faster is because I know the more tight turns I do the quicker I get tired.

You can go quite slowly doing longer turns - just add a lot of skid angle... I would not usually do it in spring slush but works fine much of the time.


I had a trainer from The Canyons make me do this. I was in a lesson with a couple of much stronger men - but with old style skiing habits. he was trying to get them to carve. He had us following him in his tracks at the start and he kept lengthening turns, we lost the guys by the time we stopped. He looked at me and said "Edges for you are like crack cocaine time to shed the addiction." My task for the lesson was to ski behind those two guys but not catch them. Same turn shape but skidding to make crescent shaped smooth tracks. I did better than he thought I expect, because he spent the lift ride trying to tell me I should not downplay my skiing so much and why did I not go with the top group. I replied "because they THINK they are ski gods I don't like dropping cliffs I like to learn" He smiled and we just kept trying to get nicer control. Good lesson given the mix of skills and needs. When the lesson was over he caught me chatting with some of the aussie instructors I knew. He was muttering about my edge addiction when the aussies piped up "if you knew where she skied you'd know why she likes to ski that way" Horses for courses - I had the skills to ski differently but not the experience yet in different conditions.

Learn to mix it up - then learn when it is useful. Being stuck in only one method of speed control(turn radius) is very limiting - check out some of your other options.

 

[Janis Williams]

Some of this is your size, probably.

Some is size - as a smaller person is just at a disadvantage.... but I used to play games matching turns with a couple of the patrollers and they got really confused when (smaller) me would catch them a bit on each turn despite being smaller... You can pump the turn exit and gain a little on the other person even if you are both carving... and carving clean will always be faster than even a small skid at initiation... then you have degree of turn, as well as turn radius... so speed top to bottom is affected by a lot of things...

After all the FASTEST way is straight-line in a tuck. (Then the bigger guy wins)

but same turns (like exactly in tracks) then you have two things - how cleanly you carve, and if you can harness that previous turn energy into your release to the next turn... perhaps 3 - your skis and wax... when I had race room stocklis I caught everyone on traverses. Those skis had better bases than retail skis. They were also waxed every 2 days. FAST even with my crappy technique!

 

[gardenmary]

Gardenmary, you said, "When I need to do a make-up lesson in hula". Are you from the Hawaiian Islands? Or do you live there now?

No, I live in Southern CA but take hula at a halau in Temecula. I have a lot of friends and colleagues in the islands (in Lutheran ministry) and am trying to arrange a required cross-cultural experience there for January 2016. It is a culture with which I've found an amazing amount of resonance and connection.

 

[Pinky Smash]

Learning to do side slips, falling leaves, and hockey stops any time and any where will go a long way towards giving you the confidence in knowing you can stop Right Now. Once you know you can stop, it frees your mind from the panic mode as the speeds get faster. So....learn to go slower before you go faster.

Agree! Learn to do side slips would really help! It's just a matter of present mind. Make sure all your senses are active. And your eyes should be wide open too!

 

[Janis Williams]

I am not sure I can agree that edging provides speed. The fastest travel is always along the straight line, not the bent one. Edge angles are for control, not for maintaining speed.

True. That is why speed skiers (eg Flying K) ski in a straight line FLAT skis in a tuck - fastest way from A to B is a straight line

Edging definitely does provide control, but the only speed control while carving comes through turn shape. Turning by staying on your edges is always faster than turning on the flats of the skis.

YES. This is one of the cons of carving - you are limited in speed control as you have turn shape as your only method to control speed. You are also limited in the available turn shapes you can carve on a particular ski - the largest radius turn you can make is somewhere close the the ski radius... the smallest limited by how high an edge angle you can get to... but even if you can crank a really high edge angle turn there is a realistic limit as to how much you can tighten the turn.... want a tighter turn than that and you need to do something other than carve

Yes - BUT.... NOT turning - going dead straightdown the fall line and really 'floating' those skis along on their bases will always be faster... That is why speed skiers go straight on flt skis

When we skid or smear a turn, it might feel like we are using the edges to slow down. But another way to think of that is we are using a lower edge angle (hence the reason why the skis will break away or skid). And a lower edge angle means more of the flats of the skis are engaged. And that provides greater speed control than staying on a pure clean edge. Pure carving is very fast!!!

OK - think about a hockey stop to slow down.... as you dig those edges in more you stop faster... lower edeg angle you stop less....

The thing that makes carving fast is moving ONLY in the direction of those edges. So the tip cuts a small groove and the rest of the ski edge follows that tip along that groove.

Higher edge angles in carving change your turn shape - just as you said above - so that you ski a smaller turn. You then go slower as you spend less time actually facing down hill with gravity accelerating you.

 

[Janis Williams]

Edging definitely does provide control, but the only speed control while carving comes through turn shape.

Ok back to this...

When you carve you have 2 portions of turn shape you can control.

You can control your turn radius. Within the limits of your skis radius though. You cannot carve a turn larger than that radius. So if you have a 15 metre radius ski you cannot clean carve a turn with a radius larger than that 15 metres.

here for stuff on radius
https://www.yourskicoach.com/glossary/SkiGlossary/Radius.html

Here for carving radius
https://www.yourskicoach.com/glossary/SkiGlossary/Carve_Zone.html