Mind over Matter
Mind over matter is very powerful. I hit the slopes again today after making a much needed upgrade yesterday or new boots and bindings. Also, the weather is more like spring skiing today. I am a total fair weather skier.
I ski and I board. I can basically ski anything as there was a point in my life where I made the ski leap. It wasn't that my abilities changed it was more that my state of mind changed. Not sure I will ever get to that level boarding.
Jess, Josh and I went out together this morning. We ended in tight trees with steep moguls. I went down a bit and bagged. I took off my board and walked down. Jessica said to me, I have the skills why don't I go for it. Why? State of mind. I fear the pain and agony I will go through to get my comfort state of
mind.
All I can think of going down a trail like that on my board is my back, my knee, my life. Promised Jess I'd ski
for a few days in March where my comfort level on a narrow tree mogul slope still remains high, at least for the moment.
This is a picture of Josh and Jess at the top of one of the lifts. The other one is an area where you can see where the tree line ends which reminds you how high up you are.
Comments (Archived):
I used to snowboard back when they were wood and Jake Burton, himself, competed in the snowboard championships on The Face at Suicide Six in Vermont ($25 entry fee, open to all). Long time ago. But I eventually went back to skiiing. More freedom and control, I feel. So, like you I know both.As I get “older” I find it harder and harder to imagine snowboarding with all the requisite physical punishment one’s body takes.What changed my experience with skiing, itself, was the introduction of parabolic skis. Since the edges are curved a shorter ski has the same edge length as a longer straight ski. Edge length is the key determinate in speed.I recommend highly that you try and ski a pair of slalom skis with the smallest radius possible. I demo’ed a bunch of skis last Winter and absolutely fell in love with Stockli’s Laser. I also use a binding plate (“riser”) to give myself more angulation (i.e. edge control). The new skis are to my old 203 Giant Slalom Rossignol’s like a Porsche is a Chevy Suburban.In the old days I’d ski 203’s cm but today I ski 175’s cm with the same performance (i.e. speed) but with sooo much more control. I’m 6′ tall.These skis have actually made skiing “joyful” again. Completely changed the experience for me.The best skiers are now skiing the shortest skis and having oh so much more fun. Fun is why we ski in the first place, right?
Great advice. I will be skiing in March. I had skiing on the short skislast year and really had fun. I too were skiing on 185’s at one point andnow I am skiing on 150’s.My biggest issue is that I love the long blue/black cruising trails on aboard and hate that on skis. On skis, I am all about the moguls. Sort ofhard to balance the act.