I posted this thread last season after having to give up on a run that I was just too scared to ski down. I felt miserable about how many things I was scared of while skiing - technical runs that didn't seem to phase others, cat tracks, any amount of powder at all. Everyone here had great advice and pointed out that I was being a bit hard on myself as well. I just wanted to post a bit of an update
The scary technical run - I still haven't tried it again, and to be honest, I don't have any real burning need to. I'm sure at some point, when the snow conditions are good and I'm feeling up to it, I might give it a go, but I've had some awesome successes elsewhere on the mountain and skied other new challenging runs!
The scary cat track - I've skied it a few times! I just take it mega slowly, side slip down the steeper parts, pizza a
lot on the flatter parts, and keep to one side so faster skiers (literally everyone else) can get past me. I probably look like a fool to people watching from the lift that passes directly across the track, but oh well. It means I can get to some cool runs and I don't mind looking like an idiot, because I know that I'm a better skier than a scary cat track makes me appear!
All the advice and commiseration in this thread really helped a lot. Remembering how to ski again this season came back a lot easier than I thought it would, all my lessons last season had helped a ton and I started feeling more comfortable on skis again after a couple of days. I find that it took quite a few days to feel
confident again on skis, but then again, last season it probably took me fully half the season.
We had a nice day with 15cm of new, slightly wind-affected snow that had been left sitting overnight. I've still never been able to make turns in powder - too much of a mental block, unless it's like 3cm on top of groomers - but after a very slow, hesitant run, I was able to start linking together some big nervous turns in the powder! Huge achievement for me
Somehow, this next one is just as big a milestone. This is a part of the mountain I've never been to before. The snow conditions were really cool, but challenging for me - off piste is still not my forte - and honestly really quite steep. I managed to make hesitant turns all the way from top to bottom, and even linked a couple (not many)! It's marked as a black on the current trail map but the physical sign when you traverse across to it actually says double black. I nearly backed out when I saw the sign
but I figured I'd go and have a look at it at least!
The bottom part isn't as steep but the snow was a little choppier.
It was an enormous achievement and definitely a mental breakthrough for me. I was absolutely nervous - you can see that in the video nearer the top of the run especially - but I didn't break down and freeze up, I kept moving and shuffling around and tapping the snow and planning out my next turn. It felt like an epic quest to get to the bottom and it was pretty cool enjoying the views out that side and the nice snow conditions!
(must point out that even if I had been too scared to continue, it would have been ok, I could have walked up and out or side stepped the entire way down
)