How to let go of the fear?

[emmthorpedo]

This is expected of learning sliders. It is not berating when I call out my planned movement, it's for both of our safety. I never cut close to another skier; I am just letting the other person know that, for a brief second, I will be there. I always speak in a cheery, pleasant voice.

I totally agree. I was being humerous. I would much rather experienced people be decisive and clear if it means survival for me.

 

[marzNC]

This is my 5th ski season and I am now capable of skiing much faster than before. That being said whenever I start to go fast I become really uneasy with the speed and immediately slow down. I always feel myself in control at the speeds I'm skiing so I think that my technique is fine but I can't shake the nerves that something bad might happen. How do I overcome this?

Not sure the issues are quite the same, but might find some ideas in this thread about fear from 2017:

https://www.theskidiva.com/forums/index.php?threads/feeling-the-fear.21691

Since I learned long ago on straight skis as a young teen, two of the first skills I learned were a hockey stop and side slipping. Where I learned the easiest trail would be considered blue these days. So those skills were essentially survival skills. As an working adult only skiing blue groomers out west every few years, I generally didn't ski much faster than I was comfortable doing a hockey stop most of the time. When I started skiing more regularly, there were times that I practiced hockey stops at speed. Gave me more confidence skiing faster when a slope was more crowded or on a narrow side.

 

[Lmk92]

You are me two years ago. Not kidding.

Last year, I didn't feel fear once. You got a lot of really great advice. All I can add is what worked for me: the best skis and boots for me, and repetition. Oh, and my daughter's voice in my head: "We're all scared, mom. We just do it, anyway."

I'm actually contemplating the double blacks at Gore this year...

 

[Jilly]

@QCskier and I are going to have some fun tomorrow!! Let you know later how it goes!!

 

[Jilly]

QCskier and I met up at the top of Tremblant this morning. It's was just plain damn cold!! -22C. It did warm up later.

As she mentioned she has some fears. So we worked on those. One big one is ice. And that is something a lot of us have. And this year has been an ice year here. Everything gets scraped off by lunch. So we worked on stance and balance first, then some turn shape. On ice you need to flatten and skis and just steer the skis to where you want to go. If you turn the skis uphill, you will slow down even on ice!! Trying to carve or edge is impossible, so just steer the skis. Gravity is your friend because if you steer uphill, you will slow down. She was getting quite comfortable on the pitches using the turn shape. And even on some of the icier ones too.

We had a great day!! Sorry didn't get a picture. Too cold to get a phone out!!

 

[sibhusky]

Actually I found a 3° side bevel helps tremendously. Just the mental attitude knowing it'll hold pretty good helps. And planning turns on little mounds of shavings.

 

[Jilly]

This was white ice.....only skates are going to hold on it.

 

[contesstant]

Jilly, how awesome of you to spend some time with her helping her with her confidence

 

[Jilly]

We had a great day. And any day skiing is the best!!

 

[QCskier]

It was great meeting you @Jilly. Thank you very much for the tips! I really appreciated it and it was great to get out there skiing today!

 

[kiki]

So fabulous you got to spend the day together!!!!

 

[gardenmary]

@SkiBam totally agree. I have noticed an increase in people yelling “On your right/left!” as they approach someone from behind. SO obnoxious and counter-productive.

I most appreciate it on a cat track, and to me it's just smart skiing if I'M the one passing. I am always grateful when someone lets me know they're there and which side they are going to pass me on. I can usually hear them coming behind me, and if I know which side they are planning to pass, I'll give a wider berth on that side.

You can never be too careful, or too heads up.

This. I only call if I'm going to pass on a cat track; otherwise I need to use the width of the run. If someone likewise calls to me on a cat track I always call back a thank you.

 

[Serafina]

I was taught that it's good manners to call your turns if you need to pass anywhere remotely close to another skier on the run. If the run is wide enough, you shouldn't pass that close, but if there's no choice but to go close, let them know where you are. Like using your turn signal on the freeway.

Usually I say "Passing on your [right/left/heel side}".

 

[diymom]

I concede in theory. And I do give a directional heads up when joining someone on the lift, if I think there is any chance they haven't noticed me yet. I guess my main issue is with the timing of the call and the speed of the passing. If I don't have a chance to process and react to the notification before you have fully passed me, it isn't going to do either of us any good. Same as when people put on their turn signal when they are already half way into a lane. Some do a better job than others.

 

[Pixie Perfect]

Yesterday I felt like I was skiing faster than I have in previous seasons and it made me a bit nervous at first but then I decided when I felt like I was going fast that I would focus on long S curves. I still maintained my faster speed but I really felt more in control.

I’m really proud I didn’t let fear overtake me. In fact my ski instructor was one I had last year and he said my curves have improved tremendously. So maybe a little speed was what I needed.

 

[Randi M.]

This is my second season on these boards and I've noticed the topic of fear comes up over and over again. So often we talk about fear as if it is a bad thing. But I actually think that fear is one of the best parts of skiing.

Fear is the other side of exhilaration and sense of accomplishment on the slopes. Skiing right on the edge of, or just outside of, your comfort zone is where the exhilaration lies. If you weren't brushing up against fear, you wouldn't feel exhilarated. And if you didn't doubt your abilities -- if a run didn't look daunting or at least somewhat scary -- you'd never feel a sense of accomplishment.

So when fear appears, don't berate yourself, run from it or be afraid of it. Instead, recognize its function, edge into it ever so slightly and know that the best feeling is on the other side.

(And for the record, I'm not saying you should push yourself as fast as possible down an over-crowded run or a run that is way, way over your head. That's not exhilarating. That's reckless and dangerous to yourself and others.)

 

[Lmk92]

I agree, but I think the fear that many of us want to shed isn't a rational one. Case in point - I had a HUGE setback last Friday. I was skiing with my kids at Hunter, having a wonderful day, when I froze mid-hill. In my defense, and what may be the fear you are talking about, I had just hit a patch of almost slushy snow. On a double black. But I had been flying down hills all afternoon, so my overreaction really wasn't rational. Slow down? Sure. Freeze for 10 minutes? Big overreaction. Especially when I finally did decide to just do it, and realized it wasn't nearly as bad as my head was trying to convince me it was.

So, here I am, after a year with no freeze-ups to a freeze-up my first day out!

I'm going to take the rest of the day as a win, though. The most fun I had was on the double blacks, and we immediately went down a different double black right after my freeze, to give me some confidence back. It worked.

 

[Gidget415]

Agreed. But cyclists travel a more linear path than skiers, and roadways force proximity.

Yep, I think it's a cyclist thing. I bet the people saying it are cyclists because it's such an instinct to do that after awhile. (retired cyclist here)

 

[sibhusky]

At 67 I have a firm rule against double blacks. I hear they get full of snow by season's end and aren't that scary, but here's one: https://wmr-guide.com/nbc.html
I could definitely see me freezing in that thing.

 

[Lmk92]

Not all double blacks are the same, though. I think Hunter's double blacks are likely regular blacks elsewhere. It's one reason I love skiing with my kids. They encourage me to ski hills I wouldn't have even considered. I don't know if they'll be successful at Killington, haha.