Off piste - technique and tactics

[NoCleverName]

It takes me a half day to get the hang of it after I've been away. The first few runs I'm hacking away to figure it out and find my balance in that stuff. If you ski it all the time it's actually fun, and never lacks for excitement.

Thank God it's not just me!

And no, I don't try to rotate my way out of the stuff. I can see where the tip pressure is important. There's a certain amount of "backing off" or "shying away" from poor conditions that always puts me in the back seat. I do recognize that I and try to jank the feet back to get back into position.

About Max's speed comment. Yes, I do remember a day a couple of years ago when speed did provide the needed energy to make things happen. I forgot about that. On the other hand, there is not so much room on narrow NE trails where the cost of error at speed is low.

OK, time to get in the car and head up north in front of this storm.

[Max_501]

On the other hand, there is not so much room on narrow NE trails where the cost of error at speed is low.

Master the Essentials so you can use momentum to blast through the mank or buy wider skis so you ski the mank at slower speeds. Skiing mank at slow speeds with narrow skis is tough on the knees.

[h.harb]

The slower you ski the more grinding you have to do, especially if you are not flexing with the release.

[MonsterMan]

Great thread.

Would someone put the slopes and snow conditions we're talking about in perspective for me please?

My problem reference runs are at Hintertux. 11b where it starts steep and gets steeper off Kaserer and also down through the bowl off Gerfrorene Wand.

I am interested to know if we are talking tougher conditions than this. These are runs that I must increase my confidence on.

On skinny short skis, SS Magnum 170's I tend to loose my nerve after say 15 turns if I catch an under surface bump. I don't think it's a fear of falling as much as of loosing a ski. (Note to self, use powder ribbons next time). Either way I get anxious for some silly reason and more often than not my body decides to bail out try to stop with an uphill turn even though the brain is saying this uses more energy in this chop and it would be easier to keep making turns.

Please advise mental tactics, thoughts to help me overcome my irrational fears.

Thanks for any ideas,

Geoff

Geoff

[Max_501]

Please advise mental tactics, thoughts to help me overcome my irrational fears.

Do you continue to gain speed with each turn?

[MonsterMan]

Do you continue to gain speed with each turn?

Not really, I link some nice turns, then the slightest knock jolts my balance and I loose the mental fortitude to commit to another release.

That's when I gain speed. Trying to stop.

[Max_501]

Not really, I link some nice turns, then the slightest knock jolts my balance and I loose the mental fortitude to commit to another release.

If your CA/CB is solid and your legs are operating as shock absorbers the knocks will be much easier to handle. Hidden bumps are just part of skiing off piste.

[MonsterMan]

If your CA/CB is solid

That's fair. I'm sure CB is the first essential to desert me when the going gets tough.

What thoughts do people use to overcome natural instinct?

I wonder if what I feel outside my comfort zone is what first time skiers feel on the flats?

[Ihamilton]

This is a great thread and I was able to use the tips today. I thought about "hammering the CA" as mentioned early on. I was in boot top to knee deep light Whistler powder in Head Rev80 skis. I was concentrating on the feel of my feet, especially the new stance foot. My skis would come to the surface at transition by flexing the old stance leg and I would feel the transfer to the LTE of the new stance foot. As I continued to flex and tip the old stance foot, I would "anticipate" the new stance foot going from the LTE to the BTE, sort of waiting to nail the CA, and as soon as I felt the BTE engaged, I hammered the CA, or another description might be I really exaggerated it. It worked great. We were in untracked, chopped up, bumps under the snow, all sorts of variable stuff in chutes, open bowls and slopes up to 45 degrees. We were skiing fast but always at the speed and turn shape we wanted. Very exhilarating, and we felt that pmts was the key to our turns and our preservation of energy. The pic's here and the descriptions were very helpful.

[h.harb]

What thoughts do people use to overcome natural instinct?

You have to believe in yourself and have confidence in your technique, that it will take over when the "thinking it through", approach doesn't work.

Everyone has to deal with their fear at some level. Even when you have tested yourself numerous times and been successful, you will still question. But when you have succeeded and you are at the bottom of the run, you look up and you know you just had a lifetime experience.

[MonsterMan]

You have to believe in yourself and have confidence in your technique, that it will take over when the "thinking it through", approach doesn't work.

Everyone has to deal with their fear at some level. Even when you have tested yourself numerous times and been successful, you will still question. But when you have succeeded and you are at the bottom of the run, you look up and you know you just had a lifetime experience.

Wow, thanks Harald, I will do this at 'Tux. I only wish your knee becomes miraculously better so that I can share the moment with you.

You've hit the nail on the head. It's the numerous times before success and then a loss of confidence failure that is most debilitating.

I threw up some video on the MA section so that others can see my loss of confidence last year.

[ToddW]

What thoughts do people use to overcome natural instinct?

I wonder if what I feel outside my comfort zone is what first time skiers feel on the flats?

Geoff,

In case you haven't seen it before, Harald wrote an article on fear and apprehension in skiing 10 years ago. Here's the link: http://www.pmts.org/index.php?option=co ... &Itemid=16

[MonsterMan]

Harald wrote an article on fear and apprehension in skiing 10 years ago

Nice find Todd. Thanks!

I owe you one large Zillertal Pills

[Max_501]

FLOAT like a butterfly, STING like a bee!

FLOAT - aggressively flex the legs so the skis release from the snow.

STING - apply the Essentials to harness momemtum and blast through the snow.



Ski a narrow corridor with enough speed to generate the forces needed to float and sting.

HH quote: Nice photos, great skiing. My favorite is top left, float. Skiers should look at the amount of flex Max is using, and it happens very quickly in real time. Hesitate in your flexing off piste and you are lost. HH

Sorry for posting in your post Max, but it has more relevance here than three posts later.

[h.harb]

I threw up some video on the MA section so that others can see my loss of confidence last year.

HH says: Hey Todd thanks or the reminder, that article about dealing with fear, I just read it, I like it.

First you have to be able to duplicate your movements in a corridor numerous times. Then you have to challenge that corridor on an aggressive slope. Geoff, when you have a sore knee or leg confidence will always lacking. Many times after my first knee surgery back in 1977 I had to use my racing background to overcome, questioning trust, it's done with practiced mental techniques. The bottom line on all this is you have to be totally honest with yourself, false bravado will only get you in trouble, can't cross that line.

If you read the avalanche tragedy article I put up on my Facebook this season, you know what I mean by the trouble bravado can get people into.