How to get over my fear of speed?

[Okemotracey]

OK I started skiing as an adult and am now 46. I ski about 30 times per year with my family in Vermont. I am so frustrated that I can't get over my fear of speed! I am not a wimpy person either! I probably go as fast, maybe a little slower than most women I see. But I ski with my husband and teenage boys and want to keep up. I am 5'4" and ski 150's. Would a little longer ski help? Any suggestions?

 

[Jilly]

Sounds to me like a confidence thing. Take a private lesson sometime with an instructor and try for a weekday when things aren't too busy, since you're in Vermont - WAWA - check into Lola's trip report about this group adventure.

 

[Okemotracey]

I've done wawa for 2 years with tcarey as my instructor. Confidence may be part of it but I don't that's it entirely...

 

[CMCM]

OK I started skiing as an adult and am now 46. I ski about 30 times per year with my family in Vermont. I am so frustrated that I can't get over my fear of speed! I am not a wimpy person either! I probably go as fast, maybe a little slower than most women I see. But I ski with my husband and teenage boys and want to keep up. I am 5'4" and ski 150's. Would a little longer ski help? Any suggestions?

I seriously came to skiing at about age 55, and avoiding speed was pretty much a #1 concern with me for a long time. In fact, it still is to some degree....I accept at this point that I will never be one of those really fast skiers. However, what helped me was just lots of confidence which came from mileage. I committed to skiing a LOT, and I've probably done 100+ ski days over the last couple of years. That has definitely helped me become a much better skier, which in turn increased my confidence to go faster than before.

You mentioned ski length. For my first couple of years I had a pair of 150's, fairly narrow skis which allowed easy turning. However, these skis really lacked stability which in turn, did not help me feel good about going faster. These skis always seemed a bit squirrelly or something. (They were 112-68-98). Last spring I demoed a much longer, wider ski and was blown away by the new sense of stability it gave me...those skis were 162's, and 124-74-106, so that's a huge difference all around. My skiing immediately improved, the stability gave me the confidence to go faster and feel better about it. So I'd say YES to you, maybe a bit longer, wider ski would help. I'm a bit taller and heavier than you, so perhaps as much as 162 wouldn't work for you, but I would say you should try something longer and perhaps wider than you have now. That extra width/length most definitely gave me more stability all around, which is important.

All this said, I'm much faster now BUT I still don't really keep up with my husband. Oh well.....that's just the way it is! I don't think going real fast = being a good skier. We all get different things from skiing. For me, I want to go reasonably fast because it makes for better and easier turning, but I like to maintain a comfort level with my skiing, and for me, that doesn't include a desire to go super fast.

 

[Bing]

I share your pain <g>.

I started skiing at 13, but out west, in BC, where we ski on this stuff called SNOW. Now I live in Ontario and well, ice is their idea of snow " machine groomed granular" is the technical term. I digress.

I have taken lessons for three seasons to get faster for the same reasons as you. This year I nailed it, the guys in my class last week said I had gone from an ice cream truck to a ferrari.

So, here is why, in part, because my instructor said if I didn't stick in the middle or better of the class he would move me down a level (this was his solution to my " goal " of increasing speed this year).

More technically it was:

1. I embraced my Roxy Joy Riders - this ski won't let me down ever, it hugs the ice and lets me turn without thinking, by controlling myself rather than slowing myself down, I'm going faster.

2. bigger turns on my edges - totally helps with speed.

3. focus on a point down the mountain - ie. if I'm looking at a tree at the base and keying my turns off that point, I'm focussed on the tree, not the speed and I go faster.

I hope this helps, it has made a big diff in my family skiing life this year !

 

[toughgirl]

No worries, you're not the only one out there. I'm also fear the speed especially if it's a steep part or a big tight turn w/a drop next to it.

It's confidence for me and my over active imagination seeing myself cart wheeling down the mountain... lol

 

[plainjane]

I've learned to embrace going fast in the past few years, now I love that feeling. For me it came with confidence in my ability to control my ski edges and the knowledge that it is actually easier to turn when I have some speed. For me, once I had the confidence in my control the fear of speed decreased.

 

[abc]

I am so frustrated that I can't get over my fear of speed! I am not a wimpy person either! I probably go as fast, maybe a little slower than most women I see.

Are you sure you REALLY want to go faster?

You know God make us a little more prudent than men (and A LOT more prudent than teenagers! ;-] ) So if you're going as fast as other women...

 

[plainjane]

Oh yes, I agree with the comment on the fatter skis and stability. My first venture into a fatter ski was a quantum leap in my confidence for going faster. Fat skis aren't only for powder, many do great all-around. My Pocket Rockets took me to a new level and so much fun. Demo some wider skis and see what you think.
I'm 56 and my husband has a hard time keeping up with me now!

 

[volklgirl]

There could be several issues at work here:

• Skis too soft or too short - easily fixed with different skis.
• Skis to narrow for conditions - easily fixed with different skis.
• Boots too big - easily fixed by a professional fitter and/or new boots.
• Skidding rather than carving turns - lessons, dedication, and drills required.
• Turning to slow down rather than turning merely to change direction - this requires an entirely different state of mind. You need to embrace the acceleration in the fall line allowing terrain features and full turns to control speed with the innate knowledge that your skis will continue the turn back up the hill to control speed if you just "let" them. This is the jump from the "intermediate plateau" to true advanced/expert skiing.

 

[marge]

I was the same way on my old skis. I HATED speed. I was convinced that I just didn't want to ski fast anymore. :( Then I demo'd and realized it was the skis I was afraid of, not the speed. I got some new skis (the Volkl Fuegos) and IMMEDIATELY felt so much more stable and in control. I now probably ski at twice the speed on steep stuff then I did before.

If you have it available I would try some new skis and see if you don't see a difference in them.

 

[SkiMo]

If it's any consolation, I am also afraid of speed. We play 'follow the leader" with the family on our hill, and everyone know I am the slowest one. My 12 year old blows past me...on my old skis! I have new skis this year, Roxy Biss. They are awesome for me. I have only fallen once this season when a kid ran into me. But I think the previous sentence explains it all. I don't take risks. I ski what I think I can ski..at a speed I think I can ski without falling. I hate pain. It's as simple as that.

 

[fatoots]

There could be several issues at work here:


[*]Turning to slow down rather than turning merely to change direction - this requires an entirely different state of mind. You need to embrace the acceleration in the fall line allowing terrain features and full turns to control speed with the innate knowledge that your skis will continue the turn back up the hill to control speed if you just "let" them. This is the jump from the "intermediate plateau" to true advanced/expert skiing.
[/LIST]

I "triple" this. Once I really focused on not "trying to turn the skis with my upper body", instead really keeping myself squared to the fall line, instead letting the skis do what they are supposed to do, I crossed a threshold and can't believe the difference it made in how "in control" I feel going downhill. I no longer fear the scrape and ice, I totally feel the change in my turns, and how I am controlling my speed. My hubby can't believe the change in my skiing. My new focus now is getting on edge even more, leaning on that uphill ski.

Oh, and another thing/mantra to keep in your head as you carve---don't hold on to that turn too long! Let it go. That was something I was totally doing.

And I know you say you are working with someone, but this all came from my most recent lesson. I try to take about two privates a year. I like to take from different instructors, because different people explain things differently, have different perspectives, etc, and you'd be surprised how things can click for you that way. I also bring a goal to a lesson, so the instructor knows what it is I want to focus on and can use whatever drills in their arsenal to the trails.

Also, it isn't only length that helps with ski stability, no? Core construction and weight play a part. Read reviews here and at online ski sites. They often talk about stability and "chatter".

 

[MaryLou]

You HAVE to have 100% faith and comfy on your ski gear. If you feel your equipment would fail you, then you will not feel comfy trying to go faster. When I demo skis I go as fast as possible, and as soon as I feel a chatter, forget it, they go back. Which is why I always get volkls lol (ymmv, but for me they are ideal). Recently while skiing down a steep I discovered my edges were dull as can be, the rest of that run (and day) I was very pensive and careful, would not let myself go b/c I didn't have comfort in my equipment.

Try a demo and see how other skis feel. Once you get equipment you are comfy on, then you can concentrate on new skills.

 

[altagirl]

Vision is the biggest thing that helps with speed (aside from lack of stability caused by ill-fitting gear.) What I mean by that is looking ahead.

I just did a mountain bike skills clinic this weekend and we were working on this. If you look down or just ahead of you - your perception is that you are traveling very fast. When you're riding in a car - look down at the pavement. It looks like you're going scary fast at a moderate speed. But drive through the desert and look out at the mountains on the horizon and you can be traveling 75mph and it doesn't feel very fast. The same is true on a bike or skis - if you look down, you want to slow down. Things are disorienting and moving by you very quickly. Your peripheral vision is designed to react to those things, but you're not letting it work - you're trying to look directly at everything right in front of you as it's speeding by. If you look well ahead, and keep adjusting your focus ahead of you and let your peripheral vision do it's job, you will naturally move faster and naturally be able to react to whatever comes your way better.

We did a drill on Saturday where you lay a 2x4 in the middle of the parking lot. And then you look up at the mountains on the horizon and ride your bike towards it, and lift the front wheel of the bike over the piece of wood without ever looking at it. EVERY single woman there was able to time it perfectly without actually looking at it. But if you look down at it, sometimes you get it, sometimes you don't - it's much harder to get your timing right - if you're looking directly at an approaching obstacle - you're probably over-thinking it, not letting your body react to it, which is much more effective.

I know I have this problem when visibility is poor. When you can't see very far away, you obviously start looking at whatever the first thing that's in focus is - and it makes you start skiing very defensively when you're looking just a few feet ahead.

 

[drjoyous]

i seem to be hitting on your stuff today! I also began late in life, but advanced quickly. I too had a thing with speed, even though i had been a motorcycle rider and was used to speed! I am 5'8", 130 pounds, and ski metrons at 152 and 164 lengths, depending on the day, etc. I think the other posters have excellent advice about chatter--be sure your skis are solid (i love the atomic metrons...).
My suggestion? One year, i decided that i would tackle speed as my issue. I didn't head for the steeps for this; i simply stayed on the blues when i wanted to tackle this, usually a couple of times a day (never a lot of runs with speed in a row, or I was afraid I would have a heart attack!). I just bumped up the speed a little bit on each run, did that until i was comfortable, then bumped up the speed a bit more, etc, until i was fine with speeds. It might take an entire season, but so what? Don't scare yourself silly...
Now, as for the question why would you want to go faster? Simply put, for control. I don't like to be a speed skier, but I want to be able to handle the speed I need with powder with comfort and, more importantly, if i EVER end up in a condition where i suddenly speed up (like on ice and a double black), I don't want to freak out. Also, there are those moments, like after a cornice jump, when the landing is very fast until you turn--I didn't want to bail on that, simply out of fear.
Just have fun with it. If it isn't fun (i.e. anxiety), dial back a bit until it is. Take your time to gain speed (oh, the paradox in that. how zen of me)

 

[drjoyous]

excellent advice, altagirl. same as with motorcycling...

 

[Okemotracey]

Drjoyous since you have skied the atomics-what do you ski now?

 

[perma-grin]

I think Alta girl has hit the nail on the head! When you combine looking ahead with being balanced over your skis, you own the mountain! Pick a point and ski to it, keep reajusting you focal point down the slope. This will also help you keep a counter in your stance especially on steeper slope.

 

[SnowHot]

Its all in your feet!
As many of the divas have said, there is a lot of that stuff between the ears that gets in the way of what your body does.

I was taught to ski by my boyfriend(now husband) and his farm boy buddies.
They said,
"Ya turn ta slow, ya don't slow ta turn. And.....Keep up! We ain't waitin' at the lift!"
Fear of speed was not an option for me, therefore I never really experienced it. My fear is mostly of air time. I really want to be more comfortable with air.


That being said, I started getting more comfortable with my speed and more controlled, when I learned that (I think it was weems who said it) A bad move with your feet is more controlled than a good move with your body.
Once I started paying attention to my feet, and started to quiet my body, a ton of control came in to play and my grins got bigger