>>15957Right ... It's one thing to sit down and putt around on the trails logging hundreds of miles in a day... mountain riding's a whole different beast.
Sidehilling took me a while to get down to where I got comfortable doing it. It's like countersteering on a motorcycle. Basically you're shifting your weight the direction you want to go, and turning your skis the opposite direction. So I want to hold a line across the slope of a hill, I'm shifting my weight to the uphill running board and pointing my skis almost full-lock down the hill. The back side of the uphill ski is the only part doing the "steering". (Pic related, from sunday afternoon)
That's the kind of thing that won't come to you your 3rd or 4th (or 20th) time out. Takes a lot of seat time to get some techniques like that down to where you don't have to think about what to do when you're presented with that terrain.
There's a ton of self-confidence involved too. Biggest thing for me was getting over the mental block that the throttle might be a better alternative in a tricky spot than the brake is. And the first time you toe your skis up to a 10-15 foot cornice drop, then have a buddy tell you to grab the throttle and don't let off till your track's in the snow ... yeah. Gotta have a lot of faith in your abilities as well as your friends.
