Skiers Perceptions of Themselves: The Reality Gap

Young people, especially young males, have always been known to somewhat overestimate their abilities. This must stem from some survival instinct, perhaps a powerful ego is necessary to defend the cave from a bear or to have the courage to chase after that maiden from the hut next door.

In sports though, usually that sense of invincibility is tempered by the reality check of competition. In competition one usually gains a wider perspective on their skills relative to the skills of others. No matter how big their egos, you will find few young men who have any illusions about how they would fare playing one on one against Michael Jordan. I asked a few avid Basketball playing friends about where they think they would stand against Jordan and they all agreed that it would be a bloodbath – no comparison between themselves and he.

I asked some football players how they would fare in a throwing accuracy and distance contest with John Elway. They each admitted that they would not even come close to the power or skill John displays.

This is all pretty obvious isn’t it? Not just in sports, in all walks of life. Nobody with an EMT would think they are on the same playing field as a Surgeon in medical knowledge. Any rational person with a private pilots license and single engine rating would know there is not a chance they could successfully take off and land a 747.

This is all common sense, yet skiing somehow seems different to people. There is an amazing reality gap between skiers perceptions of themselves and harsh reality. Go out and ask a few young men, avid skiers, how they think they would fare against some top skiers. How would they do trying to follow Scott Schmidt, Glen Plake or Shane McConkey down some extreme terrain? How far behind would they be in a race course against Alberto Tomba, Picabo Street or Tommy Moe? How would their scores in a mogul competition fare compared to Nelson Carmichel, Donna Weinbrecht, or Johnny Moseley?

I went out and asked some good recreational and professional skiers these questions, and asked for their honest opinions. The answers were what I expected, pretty delusional! Usually they went like this, “well I’m sure that Picabo could probably beat me in a downhill, but I’ll bet that when just skiing around I could at least hold my own”; and “with a little more experience in that kind of terrain I could probably give Schmidt a run for his money”; and “I’m not quite as good in the air yet as those top mogul competitors are but I’m getting close in my turning”. All of these skiers truly believe what they told me, and I didn’t rain on their parade – hopefully they won’t read this, because I’m going to rain on it hard now.

The skiers who earn the right to compete in the top competitions are not on the same planet as the rest of us when it comes to skiing experience and skill. Every one of those athletes was skiing at least five days a week by the time they were teenagers, and skiing right through the summer as well at ski camps in Oregon, New Zealand or South America. There were getting personal coaching by the time they were 12, and they were winning most of the competitions they entered from when they were little kids. There are no shortcuts for this kind of experience. The only way you ski as well as somebody who has been skiing 250 days a year for fifteen years is to have skied at least 250 days a year for fifteen years. Incidentally the top extreme skiers and moguls competitors all had an intense racing foundation like this as well, with top coaching and year round skiing.

I’ve had recreational skiers ask me before “are you ever going to try out for the Olympics” – it would seem flattering but its actually a very sad comment on America’s general knowledge about skiing. I gently explain to them that I’m 28 years old and that I would have needed to ski like I ski now by the age of 12 if I was to even have had a prayer. The other thing is - you don’t just go and “try out” for the Olympics, you need to be a member of the US Ski Team who consistently turns in good results on the World Cup (at least good results for an American – which means at least an occasional top fifteen finish).

The World Cup incidentally is the true proving grounds for a skier. To win a gold medal at the Olympics you have to be the best competitor on that day, to win an overall World Cup you have to be the best competitor all year long.

The main reason that many skiers seem to have such distorted opinion of where their skill is relative to the worlds best is that they: (A) have never competed before, or if they have it was in more of a NASTAR type situation where no professional caliber racers compete; (B) have never gotten a chance to actually even just free ski with any top level skiers; (C) don’t have the movement analysis skills to even be able to tell what truly masterful skiing is . . . its been said that you have to climb to the top of Everest’s foothills (up to at least 18,000 ft) before you can even comprehend how much bigger Everest really is.

So what? So what if on every mountain, every day there are at least fifty people who are convinced they are among the best in the world? Who cares, let them have their illusions if it makes them happy! Well – I care for one reason, I’m sick of seeing America get whipped in competitions every year. Sure the media really focuses on the occasional Olympic victory or World Cup race that we win, and now and then we have a flash in the pan racer who wins several events. But overall we consistently, even with one of the biggest ski teams in the world, get shamelessly beaten year after year. Once somebody’s cup is full, they no longer can learn anything, skiers who think they are already masters will never actually become masters – they are too convinced they have nothing else to learn. One has to first empty their cup for anything else to be poured in so that they might continue to progress.

I’m like a reformed smoker, I’m adamant about this because I’ve been there. Six years ago (or around 1,000 ski days ago) I was convinced I was the hottest skier around. If I could send video of myself showing how I ski now back in time to my younger self – I would not have been capable of appreciating the difference anyway, I would have said “heck, I’m skiing about as well as that guy”. Now I look back on video of myself skiing then, and cannot believe how poorly I skied – yet at that time I knew I was great, nobody could have convinced me otherwise. Letting go of this illusion has been very freeing: I now look forward now to continuing to become a better skier, I’ve climbed just high enough to be able to crane my head back and see how much higher up the summits are. They are very high and I know now that I will never be able to hold a candle to the worlds elite competitors, this is not a giving up – its an acceptance of reality. I’ve skied with some of those guys and gals and invariably eaten their dust – but that’s OK they give me something beautiful to watch, and it means I will always have more to learn.

In the martial arts it is said that every master has a master. To truly enjoy your time on skis to the utmost, the toughest skill to master is not a technical skiing skill – its the ability to let ones ego loosen its grip upon you. Ego is not bad, it is sometimes a great motivator but it also is often the greatest impediment to learning. The people who have made it to the top of any sport or profession are usually the first to admit that they have a great deal to learn. Any skiers out there who are feeling like they are at the top of their game, I would encourage you to take the biggest step you ever have towards continuing to improve – empty your cup.

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(Old footer) Todd Murchison is a professional skier, writer and computer technician. He also dabbles in music composition, is a member of search and rescue, and is a closet physics nut. In other words, to his families shame, he still hasn’t decided what he wants to be when he grows up.