Can you ski?

An odd title on a ski forum at first glance, but serious intent.

I have a funny old thing happens whenever I am going skiing and I have decided to pluck up the courage to post on it.
:D
Maybe brave or even foolhardy - only time will tell.

I get to the slopes, up a lift or whatever - and I find myself having no idea whether I can remember how to ski!

This isn't being a bit rusty on the first day and, of course, cognitively - I know full well I can ski. 30+ years of doing it tells me quite clearly that I can ski!

But I don't seem to feel like I know.

I have shared this with a few people on holdays to mixed reception from laughter to agreement - "Yes, that happens to me".

I mentioned this last year to some laughter - one person admitted to something similar. A little later the ski instructor with us quietly spoke to me and said he gets this at the start of every season!

One year he was in a real pickle as he had to do a re-evaluation at the beginning of the season and, for one reason and another, the first time with his skis on and the first run since the previous year was part of this evaluation. He told me he was really quite scared!

Just wondering who else gets this?

Not looking for a solution - got used to it - just another little quirk of my nature!

lol! I'm not the only one then. I feel like the new kid at schoolfor the first run of every holiday. :)

Hi Old Andy I think I know what you mean, its those early ski legs.

From the first moment of clicking in the boots to the skis and pushing off to the ski lift the initial wobble comes then on to the lift looking forward to the first run.

next you push off the lift, get together, and then.... the first run..... Why do the skis seem to control you instead of you controlling the skis.

Being a confident skier I still wonder why that first run is so different to the hugely confident, attacking, downhill, exhilerating run 1 week later for the last run of the holiday.

Why? understanding the snow? confidence? early ski legs???

However, I do know what you mean.

It's that old 'riding a bike' thing I guess. It crosses my mind for a brief second, but I think we all do it!

I usually start in a snow-plough, before I believe I really can remember how to ski - it seems safer somehow :lol:

Plus - I hire my skis so they're always different from the last pair I had, and it sometimes takes me a few hours to get used to them.

This whole thread ring a bell with me...that first moment ..it takes an hour or so before I can convince myself that I've been on skis before!

Standing at the top of the first slope, I always pick something really easy but on first look it seems incredibly steep. Push off and then worry about whether I will remember how to make the turn. Mighty relief when I get to the bottom and realise, yes, I can!

My next problem is that some days I ski like a demon and the next I seem to have a proper senile moment and can't put a ski right! Why is that?

It is a good question, young Andy. The thoughts still go through my mind ~ of course they do. Nowadays for changing reasons ~will my knees be OK?
I always pick a steep drop off, and point straight downhill. After 2 turns, I check the births and deaths columns. If all Ok, I press on.
Result, iNNit?