Overcoming fear of speed.

My wee lass is quite confident snow-ploughing but on steeper slopes she loses it when she starts speeding up.

Any tips to overcoming this fear?

She is only 11 years old and this year was only her second time out.

practice practice practice!!

try doing the lower slope consecutively getting faster each time. once speed lower down is achieved move to a higher point and start slowly again. At beginner level it's all quite daunting and what isn't too advanced can seem very difficult.

I remember doing 100m sprints for my long distance running training and was told by a much more experienced runner than myself, "if you can't run fast over short distances, how will you run fast over long distances?"

This is very apparent in respect of what your daughter is experiencing.

All the best

Watch her ski to make sure that she is finishing the snow plough turn. Suggest to her that she turns the end of the plough into a little traverse, then she can finish the turn slightly uphill, which will slow her down. I believe that she will get more confident, and go faster, if she feels fully in control.

Reinforce the point made by bandit about the realisation of the feeling of control. I have had experienced skiers comment that they feel a bit too much on the edge, in relation to speed. I almost always suggest that they "complete each turn"

In reality, we need both, the feeling of control, and the surge of adreneline, as we experience a new edge of speed.

Souldrive used a good analogy of running drills. As an ex-cross country and fell runner, can vouch for the speed routines geared to gaining speed endurance. So be it with skiing, we learn and build on knowledge and experience.

Dave Mac wrote:Reinforce the point made by bandit about the realisation of the feeling of control. I have had experienced skiers comment that they feel a bit too much on the edge, in relation to speed. I almost always suggest that they "complete each turn"

In reality, we need both, the feeling of control, and the surge of adreneline, as we experience a new edge of speed.

Souldrive used a good analogy of running drills. As an ex-cross country and fell runner, can vouch for the speed routines geared to gaining speed endurance. So be it with skiing, we learn and build on knowledge and experience.

Great advice. Too bad the slope around ohio are getting gunked up and slow