Do you downhill ski regularly as a hobby?

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I bet almost everyone here ski's, because everyone knows all people with AS have a love with skiing. duh.

Theres not much snow downunder, but I used to make a yearly pilgrimage to the mountains. Some friends showed me the basics, and I sweated and strained and exhausted myself skiing slopes way beyond my ability for several years.

One day it just clicked and i'm now quite competent on skis (although i haven't mastered skiing backwards yet)

I think it was partly obsession that kept me at it.... that and being able to crash and burn without too much damage

I haven't skied for a few years now... mostly due to financial problems.
But the muscles are programmed now... i should be able to pick it up again

I can't ski backwards, either. My instructor says its just like skiing forwards, but I disagree. I think that I need to use different muscles and make posture adjustments, especially if it is wedge skiing (note: I ski parallel going forwards, usually). Yeah, I have to think about it that much in order to do it.

Maybe I have difficulty reversing things in my head when it involves my own body. When I change the direction I face, I can't figure out what else has to change to reverse things without a lot of thought.

Does that make sense?

I took ski-ing lessons once.After falling down continually,I was then so
amazed at finally staying on my feet while speeding downhill that by the time I
thought about how I was going to stop,I'd landed head first in a peat bog.

Am not sure whether am have motor skill problems or not as have too many other possible causes-am have a physical impairment in leg,and also severe sensory,information processing and visual perception problems which can look like motor skills problems.
But am have been skiing a few times before on an outdoor dry ski slope,and liked it-fell over a lot but that was due to not being able to stop until hitting the netting,would have done that one every week if could but it's outside Manchester/too far.
Now the chill factor/indoor real snow ski slope has finally opened and is only down the road from here,am hope to try that one out,and want to try snow boarding to,but reckon will be falling on the floor with that one most of the time as am unable to use a skate board.

There was a thread on cycling & swimming recently where several people suggested that motor coordination skills improved immensely when they clicked, stopped 'trying' and started letting their subconcious minds do the work,iyswim. Would apply equally to ski-ing, i think.

there are other threads about martial arts too, where Aspies talk about the benefits they have gained through it.

I'm ADD'er, but to get where I am in snowboarding, I had to really understand this whole concept of 'the edge'.
I have to visualize what the edge is doing before I can really feel it and control it.
After several years, I think of myself as more than a beginner but not quite a good intermediate.

Although I can go much faster now and actually CARVE my turns, I am still concentrating on the mechanics of what my edge is doing with the snow at the time.
I enjoy the ride, and the cold for me is exciting and stimulating.

When living in Faribanks, Alaska, I used to snowshoe and cross-country ski alot. That town has a couple of really good groomed X-country ski places.. Birch Hill and UAF.
We lived outside of town so we had a few acres I 'groomed' at home as well as the surrounding countryside.

My daughter, who says she hates sports, does quite well on BLADES.
These were introduced years ago and are still found in the rental department of some ski hills.
They are very short and you do not use poles with them.
She tried the long skis and lessons but didn't enjoy them as much. She also fell down a lot and couldn't get herself back up very easily.

Blades are so much different. I wish they still sold them to the public... we got her some that were used rentals.
With Blades, both she and I can go through the terrain parks and feel like expert skiers!
They are that maneuverable.
I can't handle long skis except to ski backwards.
I actually 'taught' beginning downhill skiing on Birch Hill at Ft. Wainwright, for a few years.
Basically I just took the kids up on the hill and taught them to snowplow down, working in the basic turns as well.
Then I passed them off to the next instructor.
I spent almost all my time skiing backwards downhill so I could watch my students and correct their tips when needed.

Anyway, with the blades, I can ski like I never have with long skis.
I'm total snowboard now, and since I've quit packing the snow on the hill with my head so much , I'm enjoying it a lot more.

I hated alpine skiing until I taught myself how to snowboard. I can now ski because i now know how the surface of the ski works in relation to the snow (something every ski instructor had failed to properly explain to me - maybe they're now better at explaining this). Wsmac's post explains it well - it's all about knowing your edge in relation to your direction of travel. I can ski backwards, as well as do 360s on the snow. What now keeps me from the slopes is a combination of expense and the part which involves sitting still, on the cold bench that carries me all the way up the mountain. I can handle double diamond slopes with ease, on a snowboard. I'm also a pretty good downhill skateboarder, and do that more often since it's sohhh much less expensive than skiing/snowboarding at a resort.