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

Janis Williams

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
So I said there are 2 portions of turn shape you can control... the last post was about the radius. I think we were all agreed that larger radius = faster turn and shorter radius = slower turn. Higher edge angle = tighter radius = slower turn.

Onto the second part of that. What we like to call the degree of turn.
It is all about how much we "finish the turn" as ski instructors like to say. Silly words because when I stop turning I've finished - even if I'm pointing straight down the fall line!
Back to it. So I can chose to stop turning soon after I turn out of the fall line, or to continue on until I'm facing across the hill (at 90 degrees to the fall line) or even until I'm facing uphill.

https://www.yourskicoach.com/glossary/SkiGlossary/Degree_of_Turn.html

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As I said earlier the fastest way to ski in straight downhill in a tuck. This is beacuse gravity acclerates us more when we are pointing skis down hill. If I really want to slow down when I'm carving a way to do it is to have my skis point uphill at the end of my turn. Then gravity is working against me for part of the turn and I slow down.

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If I do this 120 degree of turn my ride will be a little like a rollercoaster - I'll accelerate while in the fall line and slow down a lot as I turn back uphill. Make large radius turns like this - even steered ones and you will soon discover you can go faster in one bit of the turn but not so fast in "down the hill to lift" terms of reference.
 

Janis Williams

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
.

It's just that one of the things that comes to mind is that "Perfect practice makes perfect". If you're just out "practicing" the same old bad habits, they just get more and more ingrained. Sorry if that sounds harsh. Obviously we're not all out there trying to make it to the Olympics or something either - so it's not like everyone needs to be out doing drills all day long. Go have fun! But if you've got skiing goals, your approach should be (IMHO) more than just "skiing a lot".

Yes

We have people write to us all the time. They have been skiing for years. Mileage is NOT an issue. They try doing the drills on the DVDs and a heap of them are easy and then... OOOOOOOOPPPPPS suddenly they hit the one they cannot do.... and the light goes on! This is the thing they have been doing for years. They have years and year of practice doing the same movement - they have perfected doing an imperfect movement. So much so it is often hard to change! Amazing the difference it makes to fix those things. Suddenly people are saying to them "wow what happened to you you ski differently now!"
 

Janis Williams

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I'll echo this as well - just as SkiBam posted earlier. This happens to me all the time, and I can often catch people who are bigger and heavier on flat cattracks by riding edge to edge instead of skiing on the flats of my skis.

Sorry to single you out Skisailor - Ijust needed a quote and got yours first...

yes cattracks are different -they are usually mostly across the fall line. runs are down the fall line(mostly)... down the fall line is where gravity pulls - where you accelerate... turning out of the fall line slows you down somewhat compared to going down the fall line even if you carve...
 

Janis Williams

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I don't agree. My fear of speed has to do with the fear of catching an edge and having a disastrous cartwheel/garage sale fall.

Yes - more versatility drills with switching from carving/sliding and back etc and low/high edge angles and controlled sliding in turns really helps this a lot... as you develop more finesse you feel less like you will suddenly engage an edge inadvertently... Also balance drills help with recoveries if this does happen(eg inside ski edge engages - pick up one or other ski and continue... if you can ski on outside edeg of inside ski you can choose to pick up outside ski - more choices if if cannot pick up inside ski)
 

Janis Williams

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Other than race-tuned skis, I'm not sure much would have held an edge on that. I don't actually think the run should have been open. Admittedly, my skis needed a sharpening - that's happening now, so we'll see how things feel next time.

My fav canadian instructor got one free pair of skis a year at the start of his Canadian season... by the time he got to the middle of an Aussie season there was not much edge left... so he did not sharpen them very often...

Now aussie skiing is man made slush that then freezes and thaws every day... so first thing in the morning the repeatedly refrozen base is kinda nasty....

His prescription - you are going to slide unless you have well tuned skis and good tchnique... so make sure it is a controlled slide... Forget trying not to slide - but chose to slide instead and control how where and at what speed....

Seemed to work pretty well for me... I'd just think about skiing with him and making those gentle slow round turns like you were skiing across eggs... just enough edge to make the ski turn... medium radius... smoooooooothhh...

Got me down the race course at Whistler the day after the Canadian championships when I made a wrong turn onto the ice injected course (ooops)
 

Janis Williams

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Ok back to maximum edge angle - where does it happen in a turn... Well actually you should be able to dial it on or off as you want...

This is part of truly versatile skiing... being able to get out of the "locked in" how to make a turn mentality...

If turning is still Do A then B then C then D then E then F then G... then you are locked into a certain turn once you start... Instead you need to be able to do A then B then Z then Y then C then D then M then W then Z then F as or when you like...

Try carving the top half of the turn - then making the bottom half a wide track steered turn. Yes you are going to have to drop your edeg aangle right back to do that... and you'll do it right at the apex of the turn! keep the turn shape identical for top and bottom so you have nice smooth half circle type shape still - but with 2 clean tracks at the top and a smear for the bottom....

As you usually need to flatten skis to transition(change from a turn one way to a turn the other - eg one with left leg as outside ski to one with right leg as outside ski) you usually add edge angle after this and decrease edge angle before this - leading to maximum edge angle somewhere near the apex of the turn. (SKISAILOR - like your picture)
 

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