The New Yawka in Arizona Thread.

raisingarizona wrote

Cody is 8 and she has fear issues too. Her skills are fine for skiing anything but she gets scared on anything steep. There have been days where I feel like a total failure as a father for getting frustrated and her reacting from that. Parenting isn't always easy and I really want her to love skiing, I think it's going to come together this year I hope.

How are you dealing with your daughters fear?

Neve's condition causes fear issues that go way beyond skiing. It now impacts all aspects of our lives, a constant battle.   With regard to skiing, I can only talk about what worked last year, this year is seems much worse, but I can tell you what I knew last year.

Matt is right, groups. Or maybe more accurately peers.  We've don't to push Neve beyond her comfort zone in skiing. (We do push her in other areas.)

The first and last time Neve had skied a black was the day in 2011 when she skied Sagamore at Gore. Since then her fears had kept her off black terrain.  We all know the trail rating system is a bit cocked at times but for Neve it's the RATING not the pitch that matters. (Gore skiers: Is Pine Knot really easier that Open Pit?)

Last season we learned something significant at Windham.  X and I became buddies when we met at Gore in March of 2010. (He took my avatar that day!) One thing we learned is we have daughters who are almost exactly the same age. His daughter Lana and our Neve hit it off right away the first time they skied together at Tuxedo Ridge.

Last March We set up a day to ski at Windham and on Neve's insistence stayed to the blues all day. As the day went on Lana really wanted to ski a black.  (So did X and I but we were silent).  Lana kept pushing. "Come on Neve I KNOW you can do it!"

She pushed and pushed and finally Neve relentless.  We hit this trail called "Why Not."  It's a series of steps where the steep parts are marginally black but the spots in between are true blue. Neve did it because Lana pushed and didn't resent the pressure.  Big high fives at the bottom and a triumphant ride home.

http://nyskiblog.com/windham-mountain-adapt-conquer/


"Why Not"

Let her peers do the hard work.

Major thread hijack RA. Thanks for the opportunity to share the story.

Harvey wrote

Let her peers do the hard work.

Yep. In PSIA, they're really hammering the children's education lately, and a big part of it is the "CAP model", or how kids' cognitive, affective, and physical abilities change as they age. Being scared of things, but being nudged by friends, fits right into what they teach about the 7-11 year old age group. Coach can elaborate on this I'm sure (if he's reading this thread).

Now back to the regularly scheduled stoke from AZ.

Have you guys tried getting these kids into groups? Especially in that age range, kids are starting to get pretty social and skiing in groups of other kids can really help ease fears. Some kids might be gung ho, and others will be timid, but a balance is usually found somewhere in the middle. Do they have any friends that ski? Or even friends that don't ski, but want to learn? Getting them to ski with other kids that are more scared than they are is a pretty good way to put fears in perspective sometimes.


dead on. packs of kids skiing together is great fun. very little whining. whether its you leading the pack or a group lesson
the kids will enjoy making new friends and hanging out with there peers

Yes on all of the above. We have had mixed results but I'm going to continue to work on skills with her this season and get her out with her peers. I also want to get her up with her peers without me, I'm thinking that might help but so far she won't go up without me, we are still working on her fear of unloading the top station! Baby steps I suppose. I need to work on my patience as well. It really does seem like it's going to be a breakthrough year though, she is just so much stronger, taller, and athletic so we will see.

mattchuck2 wrote

Anyway, love this thread and that Powder article was sweet. Cool that you were involved in it.

Thank you! Dream come true for this Nyack, New York born kid!

raisingarizona wrote

mattchuck2 wrote

Anyway, love this thread and that Powder article was sweet. Cool that you were involved in it.

Thank you! Dream come true for this Nyack, New York born kid!

I work in Nyack...NO I'M LIVING THE DREAM....

Harvey wrote

LOL I think the inkling was that monster huck photo that RA posted sometime last winter.  

That's what I was thinking as well. I've just been waiting for the other shoe to drop...nice work RA

Well with 60 degree temps here at 7k and a broken bike for the last two weeks I have spent my time focused on my studies and surfing the internet finding the most ridiculous stuff you can imagine. I did get my bike back yesterday from the shop and I'm headed down to Sedona for an afternoon shred. Standby for an actual worthy update but for now watch this insane woman violently molest this banana with her mouth. It's not porn but I'm not sure what it is.

WTF!!!

Kind of like Gallagher but hot and asian..

JasonWx wrote

WTF!!!

Kind of like Gallagher but hot and asian..

YES! Exactly. Her youtube channel is amazing. There are many more masterpieces just like this one there. I'm now a subscriber.

WHOA......apparently the acid they have in Japan is way better than what we have here in the US

she brilliant!

RA......I'd really like to know what you started with and how your progression of searches on Al Gore's interweb went such that it led you to THAT!?!?

Well you know what they say, a good youtube journey is a lot like falling into a K Hole. I'm not really sure how I found that highly talented artist.

Anyways, as I promised, here are some photos from todays ride. With a high of 70 in Sedona and glorious Arizona sunshine it was a fine day and I enjoyed getting some cool pictures of a few of Sedona's funky steep lines.

Sedona mountain biking legend Simon Bosman







Templeton Rock from The Perch on the Highline Trail.



Still Simon





Vance Peterson



Nature



A random breakfast pr0n pic from a few days ago. Pan fried poblano pepper boats stuffed with over medium eggs, bacon, cheeze, onion, and cilantro smothered in verde enchilada sauce. Man I love south west food.

The riding looks great, but above my pay grade..

Those stuffed chilies look  F'en amazing...

JasonWx wrote

Those stuffed chilies look  F'en amazing...

Thanks man! It was my first go at that and they were so yummy.

Well according to this guy things are about to shift into a more El Nino like pattern. He even claims it's the BIG ONE!

I needed this after three weeks of dry. I love biking but I need some legit powder skiing on a deep base in steep backcountry, it's been way too long around here!

http://www.weatherwest.com/archives/3677

Great bike pics, thanks.
RA  you run with all the big dogs it seams. ,  a real skl bum talent.
I enjoy all your reports,
Let it snow.

Thanks so much! The positive feedback gets me stoked, I will keep this thread going all winter. A buddy just posted this vid up of hiline on youtube so I thought I would post it up here following the last bike post.

Very cool..
Unlike skiing were the west has the east coast beat (it's the truth people)..
We have some pretty amazing MTBing around theses parts..

Keep the biking reports coming....

Well today's powder day sort of came out of nowhere. We were forecasted to get 1-6 and ended up with a solid 14-15 inches by this morning. It was Colorado feather fluff and with the under reported forecast the mountain was fairly empty. I did not take any action photos as I was too excited to just be skiing, it was awesome.