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CalG

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The cornice that is. ;-)

With the thread started by D. Egan "Be the skier ripping through it" , A personal ahh ..err.... "difficulty" came to mind.

When I pull up to a cornice , doesn't even have to be an overhanging one, with anything more than four feet of straight down that progresses into a vision of challenging steeps narrow or wide. I have a hard time getting over the edge. Gulp!

My Mind sees me tumbling head over tea kettle with one ski still glued to the cornice. My ego (and competence) won't allow me to "be that guy" that cuts a traverse right under the edge (unless one is already there ;-)

When I was young, Lover's Leap at Vail was just a kick in the butt. But now, (being so much ahh..err... wiser) I'm having a spot of difficulty with the leap of faith. Getting into that chute above "The Apron" at Bridger Bowl must have take me three minutes that seemed like three hours.

Sure, time in the saddle would build up confidence through familiarity. I just wonder about a useful visualization tool for this particulate situation.

note, a couple of feet to drop into a slope not too hollow is no issue, and of course, a foot or more of soft and light powder changes everything in a good way.

What tool do you use?
 

Fishbowl

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Maybe you should listen to your inner voice. There's a reason we sometimes loose a little of our confidence as we age.
 
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CalG

CalG

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Maybe you should listen to your inner voice. There's a reason we sometimes loose a little of our confidence as we age.

Positive re enforcement keeps me from that path.

Once over the "leap", so far so good, and what a HOOT!
Honestly, I have no desire to give that up. I just don't like waiting for "when the time is right" .
Maybe Viagra?
 

geepers

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I can cash them, It just takes a while to clear... ;-)

:):)

Maybe use the no-visualisation technique. That's where you pre-inspect, then just go do it without thinking.



Personally I use the visualise then don't do it technique. Make the image in the mind very real and have all the thrill/scare without any of the risk. After a certain point in life beer bragging rights are over-rated.:cool:
 

surfsnowgirl

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I get very freaked when I'm skiing up to something where I can't see the other side, down the trail, etc. If it's a trail I know well I'll just go right over albeit slowly but I don't stop. If it's a unfamiliar trail I'll go VERY slow and once I can see the ground over the lip I'll keep going. The trick for me is to not stop because if I stop, I think about it and often the flask comes out which isn't always a bad thing.
 

Kneale Brownson

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I revert to a question I always raised when my dad, a physician, came home with some sort of medication in the form of an injection: "Isn't there some other way?" I hate needles and I like my feet planted on the ground. On the rare occasion I've encountered cornice situation, I've managed to traverse at least the entry.
 

tch

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Maybe you should listen to your inner voice. There's a reason we sometimes loose a little of our confidence as we age.
Interesting how this works. When I was younger, I would do stuff w/o ever really envisioning anything going wrong. Now that I'm older, I find myself thinking all the time about how something could quickly go south. OP mentions cornices; I think about speed. I've slowed way down, turned into a careful, short-turn descender. In the old days, I'd just rip. Now all I can envision is hitting something I don't want to and sailing out of control into the woods.
Perhaps the wisdom of age -- perhaps the timidity of age. I'm not sure.
 

James

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^ That and don't go straight off. Land across the slope. But, you probably already knew that. Look for small ones and build up maybe?
 

Doug Briggs

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Don't overthink it. Start easy and small.

Stand perpendicular to the edge with your tips in the air, then just slide forward using your poles until your tips start to drop. Then all you have to do is land and immediately turn. By slowly sliding in, you don't have to 'recover' from any 'move' you made to get started and you can be thinking about your landing and turn, not your 'take off'.

As you get more comfortable with landing it, you can add some speed coming off the cornice/ledge rather than just tipping in.

NOTE: this technique only applies if there are no rocks you have to clear. But that is part of the 'Start easy' in the first paragraph.
 

Andy Mink

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Perhaps the wisdom of age -- perhaps the timidity of age.
I'm going with wisdom. I used to like to go fast. Now I'm usually the last one down. And I'm ok with that.
 

Uncle-A

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I get very freaked when I'm skiing up to something where I can't see the other side, down the trail, etc. If it's a trail I know well I'll just go right over albeit slowly but I don't stop. If it's a unfamiliar trail I'll go VERY slow and once I can see the ground over the lip I'll keep going. The trick for me is to not stop because if I stop, I think about it and often the flask comes out which isn't always a bad thing.
We probably all have some stories about this topic, going off a drop without seeing what it looks like on the other side or stopping at the top and looking for too long before going over it or finding an alternate route down. Some times it is a real concern and sometimes it is in your head. I think we have a thread on paralyzing fear that talks about this subject. Yes, I think it may get worse with age or maybe we get a little smarter, I am not sure.
 

Andy Mink

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sometimes it is in your head
This. There are times I know I have the skill to do a line but my brain keeps reminding me "remember what happened last time". It doesn't matter that what happened last time was years ago or that I'm a more competent skier now. So I go find another line and have a good day.
 

surfsnowgirl

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This. There are times I know I have the skill to do a line but my brain keeps reminding me "remember what happened last time". It doesn't matter that what happened last time was years ago or that I'm a more competent skier now. So I go find another line and have a good day.

Exactly this. I do this sometimes. I do need to be challenged and pushed at times by someone other than my SO because otherwise I will just stick to what I know. Michael always tells me never to stop at the top because I will visually see the steep and panic. I have been known to get spooked and chicken out leaving others waiting for me at the bottom of the trail wondering what happened to me. I don't like to go over the lip blind so I will approach slowly with a committed mindset about going over the top. I know that if I'm moving I'm less likely to stop, analyze and chicken out.
 
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François Pugh

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I get very freaked when I'm skiing up to something where I can't see the other side, down the trail, etc. If it's a trail I know well I'll just go right over albeit slowly but I don't stop. If it's a unfamiliar trail I'll go VERY slow and once I can see the ground over the lip I'll keep going. The trick for me is to not stop because if I stop, I think about it and often the flask comes out which isn't always a bad thing.
I have developed a couple rules over the years. Only fortune (the grace of God) saved my butt before I developed these rules.
1) Never take a blind jump. I always skim along the edge and have a look before turning down a blind cliff or rise or what ever.
2) Always pre run the course at slow speed, even if it makes me look like a wanker, and forces me to ski very slowly with side-slipping involved, unless it's not the sort of line that permits that, in which case it's observed carefully from above and below and any other vantage point I can get to before taking it at speed.

As to getting over it, it's all about what you are used to. If you haven't been skiing a lot of steep gnarly lines lately, it takes some time in them to get used to it again.

Also if your predicted line involves a jump, just land the jump first before thinking about any turns.
 

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