It’s all in the head

A few days ago, I complained that early season skiing felt pretty hard, and I really believed it. Monday saw my second “serious day” on the slopes, for just about three hours in the afternoon. I skied Thaynes, ma favorite spot in Park City. I love to run “laps” there. The chair only serves a 875 feet vertical slope, but in a special way it’s more than just very steep. It starts gently then plunges viciously before it compresses a bit then goes convex one last time with a lateral profile that's a tad concave, allowing for “rebounding” GS type turns. I know it’s a bit hard to fully grasp what I want to say, as my description may sound ethereal. As I was there, I tried to ski as I normally do, namely non-stop, and found myself out of breath after the first run; I thought it would again be very hard work. On a few occasions my skis kind of crossed each other while at times initiating new turns gave me trouble too. Then, there was a second lap, followed by a third and all started to come together. There was harmony, fluidity, speed and no more panting breath. I had reconnected with that run and with a smooth skiing style. In fact, my mind had “decided” that it was okay to let go of fear and that it was time to let the skis do the work. I had emptied out my bag of inhibitions, my head was clear and I was finally back! After 13 laps, I went home feeling whole and realizing – once more - that 90% of one’s skiing is just all in the head!