Serafina
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
+1 to basically everything above.
I am learning to downhill and I am 43. I'm athletic and coordinated, and I was carving after my first lesson. I am that person you see blazing down the bunny slope without a care in the world...or at least, without a care until I got to the steep part on the green slope up the mountain that was all bumped up from people skiing over the powder, and it took me FOREVER to get myself down that without wiping out, and my thumb ached for 3 days after because I was gripping my poles so tightly from fear. Or until I got to that piece of the slope that crossed a blue-black run, and had more than one fall-line, and I had to make my way to the other side without causing a wreck, all the while worried that if I had to avoid one of God's Own Skiers I was going to accidentally launch myself down the adjacent blue slope and not be able to get off of it.
Mr. Serafina, now, will be 57 next month, and he is also learning to ski downhill. He is not a particularly coordinated or athletic person, and it takes him forever to learn new physical skills, and after 4 lessons they decided to let him keep his wedge-christy turns and just teach him how to do pole plants with that. And Mr. Serafina follows me down whatever slope I'm on, but he does it more slowly, with wedge-christy turns, and he doesn't ski anything like the Real Skiers on the slopes, but he does it safely and he has a lot of fun with it.
Don't worry about how other people are skiing, or about how fast you are not going. Focus on learning how to control your speed, focus on staying safe, and then have fun. If you never get off the green slopes, so what? You just have to find a hill that has some nice, scenic, enjoyable greens!
Forget about the little kids. They are made of rubber, and they know it. I am persuaded that humans don't develop bones and ligaments until they're pre-teens.
And for sure, try some different skis. I know it's difficult to contemplate, but I'd strongly suggest going and renting the beginner stuff from your resort - even though you have your own gear - just to find out what it is like for you when you ski on gear that is designed for someone who is just starting out. You never know - most of your problems could just be from the skis you are using!
I am learning to downhill and I am 43. I'm athletic and coordinated, and I was carving after my first lesson. I am that person you see blazing down the bunny slope without a care in the world...or at least, without a care until I got to the steep part on the green slope up the mountain that was all bumped up from people skiing over the powder, and it took me FOREVER to get myself down that without wiping out, and my thumb ached for 3 days after because I was gripping my poles so tightly from fear. Or until I got to that piece of the slope that crossed a blue-black run, and had more than one fall-line, and I had to make my way to the other side without causing a wreck, all the while worried that if I had to avoid one of God's Own Skiers I was going to accidentally launch myself down the adjacent blue slope and not be able to get off of it.
Mr. Serafina, now, will be 57 next month, and he is also learning to ski downhill. He is not a particularly coordinated or athletic person, and it takes him forever to learn new physical skills, and after 4 lessons they decided to let him keep his wedge-christy turns and just teach him how to do pole plants with that. And Mr. Serafina follows me down whatever slope I'm on, but he does it more slowly, with wedge-christy turns, and he doesn't ski anything like the Real Skiers on the slopes, but he does it safely and he has a lot of fun with it.
Don't worry about how other people are skiing, or about how fast you are not going. Focus on learning how to control your speed, focus on staying safe, and then have fun. If you never get off the green slopes, so what? You just have to find a hill that has some nice, scenic, enjoyable greens!
Forget about the little kids. They are made of rubber, and they know it. I am persuaded that humans don't develop bones and ligaments until they're pre-teens.
And for sure, try some different skis. I know it's difficult to contemplate, but I'd strongly suggest going and renting the beginner stuff from your resort - even though you have your own gear - just to find out what it is like for you when you ski on gear that is designed for someone who is just starting out. You never know - most of your problems could just be from the skis you are using!