I just can't get the hang of park skiing

HomerPimpin

HomerPimpin

Member
I don't wanna sound like a little bitch with this thread, and I hope I don't make it too long either, but I just don't really know what I'm doing wrong. I also have no idea how to really progress. I started skiing about two years ago, this being my second season, and I remember having trouble linking my turns without lifting up my uphill ski. Now I rip the entire mountain, spraying snow everywhere and hitting shifty's and 3s on whatever lip I can find. But park skiing is completely foreign to me. At the start of the season I was set on progressing in park, and hitting my first 3 in the small park felt so good. But now it's like I've hit a roadblock. I rarely ever even hit jumps anymore, even when I'm with my friends and we just run park laps the entire day. I end up just pussying out and going off the knuckle, and on the rare occasion that I feel like going for a 3 on the medium line, I don't commit and end up stopping at a 180 and sometimes flat out eat shit because of it. I can barely even mute and my body always tilts when I try a tail grab, it's like my awareness and composure disappears as soon as I'm in the air.

Maybe it's the fear of getting hurt that's holding me back. I've gotten 4 or 5 concussions the last two months from trying things in the park over and over again. Maybe park skiing just isn't for me. And yet, I feel like if you want something bad enough, you'll do whatever you need to do to make it happen. To be honest, landing a 3 doesn't give me anywhere close to the adrenaline rush a solid run down the mountain does. Maybe I only wanna ski park for the ooo's and ahh's from other people. Fuck, maybe I just want to feel like I belong on ns and have a reason to rock my goggles under my helmet and ride park skis.

I don't know what happened. Just a few weeks ago I was having fun and enjoying hitting the park with my friend; legitimately spending a good 6 hours just riding park. Whether I landed the trick or ate it, I kept going back for more. Maybe today was just a bad day.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my rant.
 
don't be a pussy and just send it bro. na for real tho park skiing can be very hard mentally to get your head around when your already an all mountain charger but honestly it's just spending lots of time in the park and you will start to feel more comfortable. if you feel uncomfortable in the air then just keep hitting those jumps till you start to relax. believe me i've been doing almost 70 days of skiing park for 3 years and only last year i started to loosen up. when you put the effort in the rewards are the best feeling in the world.
 
Everyone sucks at one point and skiing has a pretty steep learning curve. Eventually, you'll start progressing like crazy but for now, don't worry, just do what makes you happy. If you really want to progress just try new things and get out of your comfort zone.
 
I don't want to be too much of a downer here but you might just want to consider taking a break from park for a bit. Obviously, concussions can vary in severity and I'm not sure how yours were diagnosed or who diagnosed them or how severe they thought them to be but 4 or 5 in just a couple months is a fuck ton. When I was in high school a couple years ago the rule was three concussions in the same sport and you couldn't ever play that sport for the school again. Concussions/head trauma is a very developing field and a lot of doctors won't give a specific number but just an example to make a point. You kinda seemed to run over the concussion stuff quickly which is why I brought up the how/who stuff over the diagnosis but head trauma is not something to be taken lightly, especially if you're young.
 
Honestly, sounds look too much pressure on yourself and fear. Take a few steps back. Bit smaller stuff. Try to flow with it. Learn to enjoy the process, not just the end goal (trick). Learning muscle memory on smaller jumps will help with bigger jumps. Just try to have more fun, honestly. It’s not a race. None of us are going to x games.

As for off season. Sounds silly but tramp helped with air muscle memory. Take a skateboard and loosen trucks. Then run up to it and work on approach/spinning on, going a bit, and then pushing off/spinning off. It will help muscle memory for rails.
 
Came here to say this. Not worth the long term brain damage to throw a 3 off a medium jump. Just straight air stuff and have fun. No need to stress skiings supposed to be fun.

14422018:Skier_Javarius said:
I don't want to be too much of a downer here but you might just want to consider taking a break from park for a bit. Obviously, concussions can vary in severity and I'm not sure how yours were diagnosed or who diagnosed them or how severe they thought them to be but 4 or 5 in just a couple months is a fuck ton. When I was in high school a couple years ago the rule was three concussions in the same sport and you couldn't ever play that sport for the school again. Concussions/head trauma is a very developing field and a lot of doctors won't give a specific number but just an example to make a point. You kinda seemed to run over the concussion stuff quickly which is why I brought up the how/who stuff over the diagnosis but head trauma is not something to be taken lightly, especially if you're young.
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Kinda weird but I have no balls and can’t progress by lapping the park. If I wanna learn something, it’s almost always by hiking (even for jump tricks).

Similar to if you’re learning to kickflip on a skateboard you shouldn’t do a mini-ramp line, board slide and manny trick in between every attempt.

Also take breaks
 
Sounds like you're forcing yourself instead of relaxing and having fun with the park, it's not a race, have fun with it and you'll find it easier and easier to get out of your comfort zone, set realistic goals, atleast that's what worked for me, when you have fun you relax and when you relax you ride better and when you ride better you get more confident and when you get more confident it's easier to progress in the park.
 
If you’ve really gotten 4-5 concussions in the last 2 months maybe you should take some time off. Your lack of balance might not be anything except good old fashioned CTE
 
Just work on flow for a few days. Don’t do any spins or grabs or anything, just hit some straight airs. Do some carves off the lip both directions. Try popping off the lip, and also just glide off it without popping. Do some big shiftys and daffys and just get really comfortable hitting jumps and being in the air. You’ll fall in love with it and then you can go for some tricks. Just take it easy and don’t rush it
 
Na I feel you like something abt park features just scares me like I could hit natural features or side hits as big as like the medium jumps at my hill easy but the park jumps scare me and it pisses me off
 
I took some time off and mostly skied moguls and woods this season. Spring hit and a couple of the kids I know from the local hill got me back into it. learned a tin of new stuff and its been maybe four days so far. Breaks are refreshing if things aren't clicking.
 
Yo man I really feel this. I am a mid 20 adult who decided to try to learn park two years ago. After two injuries (one pretty gnarly last season) I think I have learned that the point is to have fun. Progression happens and you want to be ready for it, but don't push it if you aren't feeling it. Your value as a person doesn't change regardless of what you can throw down. I ski at woodward PC and have seen some crazy cool shit from the chairlift this year. But by far the most inspired I have been was watching this 40 year-old guy hiking a flat tube and eating shit just about everytime with a big smile on his face. He was skiing for himself and I try to emulate that mindset.

On a more practical note I can not say enough about rollerblading in the off-season. It helped my carving, spins, and skiing switch a TON. Trampoline is also huge. Good luck with your progression and finding fulfillment in skiing homie:)
 
topic:HomerPimpin said:
I don't wanna sound like a little bitch with this thread, and I hope I don't make it too long either, but I just don't really know what I'm doing wrong. I also have no idea how to really progress. I started skiing about two years ago, this being my second season, and I remember having trouble linking my turns without lifting up my uphill ski. Now I rip the entire mountain, spraying snow everywhere and hitting shifty's and 3s on whatever lip I can find. But park skiing is completely foreign to me. At the start of the season I was set on progressing in park, and hitting my first 3 in the small park felt so good. But now it's like I've hit a roadblock. I rarely ever even hit jumps anymore, even when I'm with my friends and we just run park laps the entire day. I end up just pussying out and going off the knuckle, and on the rare occasion that I feel like going for a 3 on the medium line, I don't commit and end up stopping at a 180 and sometimes flat out eat shit because of it. I can barely even mute and my body always tilts when I try a tail grab, it's like my awareness and composure disappears as soon as I'm in the air.

Maybe it's the fear of getting hurt that's holding me back. I've gotten 4 or 5 concussions the last two months from trying things in the park over and over again. Maybe park skiing just isn't for me. And yet, I feel like if you want something bad enough, you'll do whatever you need to do to make it happen. To be honest, landing a 3 doesn't give me anywhere close to the adrenaline rush a solid run down the mountain does. Maybe I only wanna ski park for the ooo's and ahh's from other people. Fuck, maybe I just want to feel like I belong on ns and have a reason to rock my goggles under my helmet and ride park skis.

I don't know what happened. Just a few weeks ago I was having fun and enjoying hitting the park with my friend; legitimately spending a good 6 hours just riding park. Whether I landed the trick or ate it, I kept going back for more. Maybe today was just a bad day.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my rant.
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Just do enough reps, 2 years is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Most of the good kids you see riding have been skiing for a decade and riding park for ever half a decade. Just keep going
 
14422719:Farmville420 said:
Just do enough reps, 2 years is nothing in the grand scheme of things. Most of the good kids you see riding have been skiing for a decade and riding park for ever half a decade. Just keep going
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I know, but it just feels like I should be progressing more. I see literal 12 year olds that either match my skill but do the tricks cleaner, or just flat out throw 7s and switch 3s. It's one of those things where it gets discouraging at a point, especially when the park is packed on a saturday and I just do a shifty so I don't eat it in front of everyone. for all mountain skiing there's just so much more terrain to practice on. I get what you're saying though and I'll keep at it, probably after a short break from park.
 
Eating shit in front of everyone is a badge of fucking honor. I’ve been skiing park for 2 years also, and I still suck. However, I go out there every day I can and take my lumps and I’m a way better skier as a result of my will to learn and push that shit. I wouldn’t suggest you start trying to push it due to the head injuries, but forcing yourself out of your comfort zone is absolutely necessary when it comes to progression and learning new tricks.

edit: I’ve been very very very lucky with avoiding injuries in my sports career, and I want to emphasize again the importance of cognitive health, but there’s no way to get good at this sport without taking risks pretty consistently, as much as I wish that weren’t the case

14422721:HomerPimpin said:
I know, but it just feels like I should be progressing more. I see literal 12 year olds that either match my skill but do the tricks cleaner, or just flat out throw 7s and switch 3s. It's one of those things where it gets discouraging at a point, especially when the park is packed on a saturday and I just do a shifty so I don't eat it in front of everyone. for all mountain skiing there's just so much more terrain to practice on. I get what you're saying though and I'll keep at it, probably after a short break from park.
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**This post was edited on Apr 5th 2022 at 1:30:12am
 
Started skiing when I was 2. Started park skiing when I was 10. From there it took me 6 years of park skiing to learn a cork. 9 years to to hit rails switch. 10 years to 2p2. I always wanted to get better but my priority was def having fun skiing with my friends and my interest in park skiing came and went.

One thing that can be super helpful is learning how to fall without getting hurt. Seems dumb but practice front rolls, back rolls, misty rolls etc if you have a chance. Doing a roll instead of hitting the ground loose can absolutely save your noggin and other body parts.
 
This right here too, OP. Keep your momentum going when falling. Hard impact aka quick stops are when you get hurt. Energy has to go somewhere. Better if it’s not you.

14422841:jompcock said:
One thing that can be super helpful is learning how to fall without getting hurt. Seems dumb but practice front rolls, back rolls, misty rolls etc if you have a chance. Doing a roll instead of hitting the ground loose can absolutely save your noggin and other body parts.
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