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When I started snowboarding I had a lot of fears - I was afraid of getting up early, apprehensive of being cold, anxious about getting stuck in the snow, frightened of going too fast and being unable to stop, scared of leaving the ground, and terrified of breaking a bone or receiving another injury. Starting board sports in your 30s when you're naturally more averse to hurt can be testing.

 

Overcoming these fears has been a very positive and enjoyable experience for me. It's made me younger and more active, in areas besides snowboarding.

 

But fear is still a big part of snowboarding. Will I make it through the trees without hitting one? Will I wipe out at this unbelievable speed? Will this next jump be the one that puts me in the hospital?

 

Sometimes I do things boarding with a completely blank mind and it goes perfectly and feels very natural. This is only a tiny fraction of what I do though. The rest is accompanied by the nagging feeling of fear.

 

So what about you? How much fear do you experience in your sport? Are you rational when you overcome your fears and do something hair-raising? Does it matter?

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powder magazine ran a spread on fear a couple years back and they had a pretty interesting approach to it. there was some great imagery accompanied with each articale and it gave you a better sense of what they were talking about. they basically came to the conclusion that fear is subjective. it is whatever you make it to be and it is whatever you allow it to do to you. some of the best athletes in the world (nobis on skis for instance) can see beyond the fear and actually nail everything. it is because they look beyond the fear that they are able to control their actions and thus hurtle themselves down a 50 degree alaskan face at 60 mphs with slough racing all around them.

 

for me, the older i get the more fear i have. not mentally but physically. ya see my brain tells me to still do the stuff i used to do but my body is telling me otherwise. and usually it doesn't tell me until the following day when i can barely walk or bend my back.

 

sometimes music helps over come fear. groups of riders at the same level DEFINITELY helps. so does safety sessions before.

 

but in the end controlling fear is all about gaining confidence and achieving a higher confidence level. Once i get that i feel like i can push it further. eek.gif

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Just a few years ago I would say that I had no fear. Now I worry about my wife and what she would do if I got injured.

 

I think as you get older you look even more to your future but respect your past. I know I wont throw a double twisting flip DSPIN.

 

I still push myself but I know my limits and wont push past them without enough practice or confidence.

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you bring up an interesting point about family....

 

a friend of mine was on rainer last summer getting some summer turns becuase there was a late june storm that dropped about a foot of fresh. he got completely buried in a freak slide that was not that big but button holed so he was completely covered. he was under for abot 8-10 minutes and said that the entire time all he could think about was his wife and two kids. when he made it out he said he nearly puked from the incident and said that it really put things in perspective.

 

it is always tougher on those you leave behind

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i learned to live with pain starting skateboarding at an old age, and am a firm believer that confidence is more than half the game in the park, but fear is a wily foe indeed ...

 

if anyone remembers 9/11/2001...that was the day i dislocated my elbow, 2nd day back on the slopes after a month out with a bung knee. needed surgery to remove loose bits of bone from inside the joint...this season, first season back, has been a slow and steady fight to lose the fear ridin on my shoulders. ive had some plenty good tumbles and come away smiling, but one wipeout when trying to go big, really messed with my head, i didnt like the precrash knowledge of imminent disaster. since then im still trying, but not pushing the limits, and that has taken the edge off my last few outings.

 

fear wages war with fun. but i think i have a reasonably strong fun (stupid) gene so my battle is far from over.

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great topic \:\)

 

fear is great and I like to crash. . .

 

There have been two times this season, when I was genuinely afraid. On the road from Nagano to Hakuba there is a childrens playground with a covered slide. You have to climb up onto the top of the slide cover. stand on your board at a 90 degree angle, then jump onto the slide cover (there is a small picture of this feature at the bottom of my members page). The fall is about 10 feet onto flat earth. Both times I got ready to do this, I was shaking all over, and my heart was pounding. There was nothing to base my slide on - I just had to see it in my head. When I tried repeatedly to jump onto the rail, my legs would not move - I completely locked up out of fear. Tried everything, visualizing the trick and then quickly following after, tried turning my brain off, nothing worked. Finally, I just got tired of standing up there looking like a moron and went for it - first time I fell hard which made the second attempt even scarier - I didn't want to go to the hospital that day. But I somehow made it on and then off.

 

The second time is really everytime I try spinning off of the big kicker at Hakuba - I nearly piss myself everytime, and everything has to be just right. I have done 360's off of this jump maybe 12 times, and I don't have it dialed yet. It's a really difficult trick, because the jump is big, but you need alot of speed to clear the lip, so instead of just going right into a spin, I have to jump up, then start spinning in the air. It is completely unnatural for me, and I just don't have the landing figured out yet.

 

I have landed this jump maybe 7 times and fallen 5 times - hard - so thank god for slushy spring landings. After the initial - "Oh f--k did I concuss myself?" stage, I am actually quite relieved when I fall on a big jump - If I survive without injury, it makes the jump much less scary. Of course I know that hurting myself is possible - but there aren't many ways to crash that are worse than a 540 to faceplant on the lip, so I feel good about that.

 

all of that said, I think it is the best feeling when you overcome your fears and ride out something smooth. The bigger the fear, the bigger the rush. cool.gif

 

Deep breathing and relaxation are key.

 

As for fear of the unknown, or uncontrollable - avalanches, cliffs that suddenly appear out of nowhere - I don't know much about those things yet.

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I love fear as well.

 

I love the sensation of flying through tree's thinking that i could quite easily hit one. The couple of small jumps that i have gone off have caused me a certain degree of fear. As have the couple of easy rails i have done. I found that my fear level in Japan was a lot lower than in Australia. I think this comes down to the snow. If you fall hard in Oz, it is far worse because in general the snow is harder and icey where as in Japan its a lot softer and fluffer. I had a couple of monumental crashes in powder and loved it. Didn't hurt at all.

 

When i first started boarding i definatley had some kind of fear pretty much all the time. Like you mention Ocean - "Am I going to be able to stop in time?". I had the same fear as well when going really fast. It comes down to a lack of control. Once you get used to the sensation of going fast and stopping and the basics then the fear starts to diminish.

 

Fear is healthy! It reminds you that you are indeed mortal.

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Concern for my family is certainly at the front of my mind sometimes when I'm doing something potentially dangerous. I used to think, hell, boarding is dangerous enough, I'm not going to do crazy shit like jumps and tempt fate -- where would that leave my family? Now that I'm technically up to it though, I can't let a kicker or table top just slide by...

 

I find that fear is much more potent than real danger. When the things that I'm frightened of happen, they're not scary at all. Times when I've been sliding backwards out of all control towards a big fat tree, or coming in for a bad landing, something seems to come loose in my head and I relax, while taking what usually turn out to be sensible physical measures. But the fear before I take a risk feels like bad things are happening already.

 

There was a program on TV the other day about genetics. They were saying that more Japanese have genes that promote feelings of anxiety and fewer have genes that promote feelings of euphoria in the face of danger, as compared with Americans. Hence the difference between the two peoples. I wonder where the Japanese who make the big big air stand in all of that... (Canadians and Brits and the like were of course not mentioned.)

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I like fear also, I checks my stupidity sometimes.

 

Most of what you do when ridin is preplanned. The golden rule in the park is straight air or just do a grab first and get comfortable. When sking wild terrain scout it first as best you can so you can be prepared.

 

The best guys at first decents climb up the place to check the conditions. This goes along way in helping tham control their own fears I supose.

 

I had a huge fear of flying 10 meters backwards last week. After stomping the jump the rush I got was high that lasted an hour at least. Fear gave me the respect to make sure I had the speed and the balls to do it.

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I have to agree with snowboard_freak - I haven't felt much fear here in Japan. I've gotten the occassional butterflies, but that just got me more amped to do a steep chute. I've definately been fearful in situations in the NW US. I used to do a lot of climbing and glacier skiing in the summers. That led me in to some really weird positions on mountains. I've almost crapped my pants a few times before dropping in to some tight chutes where the jumps are the upper lips of bergschrunds.

 

I learned to ski at a small but very steep resort in Oregon. I was scared sh*tless most of the time, but I think the fear was healthy in helping me learn quickly. Fear is a very good compatriate on the mountain in my opinion.

 

I'm reliving it all again out here with my surfing. Some of the breaks up here are pretty crazy on big days.....

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I experience a lot more fear in the surf than i do on the snow. Especially when its big and im surfing a reef or rocky point break. It's always a worry when you drop into a 10 foot wave and you can see the rocks and the boils in the water. Scary shit. It makes me feel so damn small and weak.

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Slight fear is great.

 

Intense fear not - I had a bad experience last year (!) when I was scared for my life out of control. Now that wasn't fun.

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I see people who seem to have a total disregard for personal safety. I think they still feel fear, often a great deal of it. However it doesn't seem to diminish their performance.

 

My guess is that fear management is key in performance. If fear leads to hesitation then damage can happen. Where as if fear leads to commitment then good things can happen, at least more often than not.

 

My greatest source of fear comes from things that I can't control. I manage the fear by making a plan. Knowing that I have a plan helps me beat the fear. I still feel fear, but it is enjoyable part of what i am doing, not a random variable.

 

Fear is also a diminishing entity. I think you build up a tolerance to it from the environment you operate in. So with increased exposure to a certain environment and focus on fear management I think one can improve faster than if you only had sporadic exposure and refused to apply fear management. To be in the former group I think you need a higher risk appetite. Your level of risk appetite differentiates yourself from others. However, having said this, I do not think people are mentally wired to understand risk. I regularly engage a one or two activities (not necessarily physical activities) that are regarded as high risk, yet I regard myself as quite risk averse, which is what allows me to do them within a sensible limit and thus continue to return to do it again, day after day.

 

Fear will 'keep you alive' if it stops you from doing an activity. However, once you decide to start the risk event (run across the road in heavy traffic, for example) it is fear management that drives teh likely outcome. This goes back to hesitation v's commitment. Never hesitate and never let hope determine the outcome.

 

I really cringe at myself when I write shit like this!

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db you are spot on when you that fear diminishes with exposure. I have a terrible fear of flying. A couple of years ago it was terrible, it stopped me from travelling for about 2 years because i simply could not bring myself to get onto a plane. Eventually, i went to my doctor to see what could be done about it. He suggested several things but i needed something quickish because i was going overseas in about 2 months. He prescribed me Valium for the panic attacks that i experienced. Not fun those attacks.

 

Anyway, i took a couple of those before flying and while it didn't take the fear anyway it did help to control any panic attacks and i felt less anxious. I still felt the fear, but i (with the help of drugs mind you) was able to keep it in check.

 

As i travelled more and more i need less of the Valium to help with the anxiety attacks and the like. Also, i believe that the amount of flying i was doing was also helping. I was getting more used to the sensation of it all.

 

Today, i still take a Valium or two before hopping on a plane, but because of the increased exposure to the fear, it is no where near as bad as it used to be.

 

db, you also mentioned that yuor greatest fears are those that you cannot control. It's the same deal with me and flying.

 

Damn, i wish i wasnt a control freak!

\:D

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control is definitely a big thing... whenever anyone is on the back of my bike (pushie) they r always screaming...

lookout,

slowdown,

right, im getting off.

 

but i stand by my record, no one knocked off their feet, no fatalities, no punch ups.

 

whatever happened to a sense of adventure?

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i`m scared of natto!

 

great topic this!!!

just rememba: whateva doesnt kill ya, will only make ya stronger. and, if ya have no fear, your not goin hard or fast enough.

 

just a thought... :p

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This weekend I realised that fear has been holding me back. When I didnt let the fear rule me I could do what I wanted to do. The possible repercussions were still there but they werent as much of a worry as perhaps I had been making them in my own mind and as a result I could push myself harder and bigger and realise that it actually wasnt as freaky as I had imagined.

 

Now if I could just translate this into other parts of my life!

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