I can't stop fallling down when I go cross country skiing. Help

Everytime I try to go down even the tiniest hills, I immediately fall and I am unable to get back up. Today I fell and my friend had to take off her skis and walk down this mild slope and help get my bindings to release. I was unable to get them to release so I could get my skis off. She also had trouble with them. Had she not been there I would've had to untie the boots and slip my foot out. She had no trouble with the hill and is a beginner skiier.

What could be goinf on?

I used to be able to handle huills, even ones much larger than this one.

The exact same thing happened two years ago. Fell. Couldn't get up. Couldn't get skis off. Had to have help.

I feel so ashamed right now...

I can't help you, having no experience skiing, but I want to point out that the fact that you have actually made the attempt to ski, which puts you waaaay ahead of me. So if anyone should be ashamed, it's me--definitely not you. Maybe someone else here is or knows an expert and can help. My one thought is that maybe some lateral muscle strength is needed to help with balance. I know that downhill skiers do all sorts of things such as going into a sitting position with one's back against a wall (or something like that) to strengthen and protect knees. I bet there is an equivalent set of cross-country exercises.

Totally on a different scale, but I do a lot of walking. Last week during a windy afternoon, a big gust of wind (felt like 30 miles an hour at least) sprang up at my back and almost pushed me into the street (where a car was coming) or down onto the ground. Because I have been doing so much walking, I was able to tense my legs and push back at the wind. Whew! So toning really does help.

I am 44 and have been skiing since I was a child. Now, I can't ski down any hills, which are bound to be on any cross country ski trail in this area.

Today, I tried to ski down the portion but the hill untouched by snowmobiles or trucks. So, really, no excuse. As soon as I started to go I fell, and every attempt to get up made my skis slide further down the hill.

I honestly looked like a horse with two front broken legs trying to get up only to pitch down again. I could tell my friend was embarrassed for me but didn't want to make me feel worse.

She went down the section that was slicker from snowmobiles and trucks going out on the lake. She didn't lose control. The part of the hill she was on had snow packed down and much slicker.

http://www.crosscountryskier.com/2009_10/features/pre_season_strength.htm

The above is about preseason training for cross country skiing.

Getting up-
Everything on earth is on youtube these days
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpZunq2Z_Zg

If there's a hill, use the hill to help you get up-have your feet and skis downhill of your torso-you're part way up all ready.

I always found it easier to go down hill where the snow was flattened down already, like the part your friend went down; so while it may look harder, you might find it easier; I did back in the day.

Cross country ski centers often offer lessons; you might find it worth while to take one.

(The Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT, offers cross country ski lessons (yes, that is the Sound of Music von Trapp family).

My wife and I XC ski but we are shufflers, not skaters. I have trouble getting up too. You may have heard me screaming as I go down steep hills. One thing that helps older people such as myself is BC bindings and boots (Back Country)They give way more ankle support and therefore control. My wife still uses those old three pin bindings and low cut boots. I find doing limbering stretches helps me get up, but it is still not easy. Sometimes I just give up and take the binding off the boots. I find my balance isnt what it used to be, too.
Old age isnt for sissies.....
http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd385/CoyoteChris303/dogs/barb3small.jpg

dorispulaski said:

http://www.crosscountryskier.com/2009_10/features/pre_season_strength.htm

The above is about preseason training for cross country skiing.

Getting up-
Everything on earth is on youtube these days
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpZunq2Z_Zg

If there's a hill, use the hill to help you get up-have your feet and skis downhill of your torso-you're part way up all ready.

I always found it easier to go down hill where the snow was flattened down already, like the part your friend went down; so while it may look harder, you might find it easier; I did back in the day.

Cross country ski centers often offer lessons; you might find it worth while to take one.

(The Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT, offers cross country ski lessons (yes, that is the Sound of Music von Trapp family).

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Thanks so much to those who responded; CoyoteChrs--you certainly can relate to my problem. Being flattend out on a hill with people watching you try in vain for 10 minutes to get up sucks. The big hills I went down as a kid, teen and younger adult I wouldn't even try now.

Not that I was ever any kind of athlete (I think my athletic Mom must have found me under the gooseberry bush and not given birth to me), but one thing I've been aware of in my reading and have tried to keep up with is balance. They say now that balance is the "sixth sense" and that it's crucial for everyone but especially for older adults. I try to do some moves and things that test my balance and sharpen it, like that yoga tree pose. A lot of improving one's balance is muscle tone. But it's important for all of us to keep that sense in fighting trim, and as an extra benefit, balance exercises might actually end up helping us with sports, too.

One thing I can promise you. While you are young now, when you get to be my age, you worry less about what others think...I mostly worry about others running over me when I go to public areas. Yes, it has happend to me before. Ironically, the ice dancer Jennifer Wester took up skating to improve her balance so she could shoot better....we both are involved in a sport where we knock over steel animals at long range with rifles, only she is so much better at it and prettier than I am....

Johar said:

Thanks so much to those who responded; CoyoteChrs--you certainly can relate to my problem. Being flattend out on a hill with people watching you try in vain for 10 minutes to get up sucks. The big hills I went down as a kid, teen and younger adult I wouldn't even try now.

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