I see what you did here…
Add in a hip thrust if you gotta, lol.
-
For more information on how to avoid pop-up ads and still support SkiTalk click HERE.
Fall at speed - stop slide
- Thread starter AJB
- Start date
Add in a hip thrust if you gotta, lol.
Be careful digging those edges in to slow down. Tomahawking is easy to start, no so east to stop.
Last edited:
At my slide speed I kept the edges far from the slope as visions of tomahawks danced in my head.
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2016
- Posts
- 2,734
Yeah digging anything in on the downhill part of your body at speed is a recipe for the big hurt.
Going back tp the original post, learning to self arrest after skiing too fast and falling on a steep slope is not the first step you should be concerned with. First is being able to ski a steep slope with adequate skills to maintain control. Speed can come later in the learning process. It's a much less painful journey. Took me many years plus contusions, sprains and other injuries to learn this.
Self arrest options:
Ski edges if you have them first.. Pole grabbed at the basked if you have one,, Boot toe/heel lugs of all else fails.
Regardless you have to ease in to it gradually, Too much BITE is also a problem.
Try to keep yourself feet first no matter what.
Ski edges if you have them first.. Pole grabbed at the basked if you have one,, Boot toe/heel lugs of all else fails.
Regardless you have to ease in to it gradually, Too much BITE is also a problem.
Try to keep yourself feet first no matter what.
Like Jack said. It often pay big time to go back couple more steps to find the cause of failure rather than looking for remedial action after the CF.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention once the cause of failure is identified. Stop doing that.
Some context, not an expert but advanced and skiing steeps for about 25 years at what I’m comfortable with and not steeper than 35 typically but will hit 40 if it’s shorter. Definitely know my limits for my own good and for those around me. As to what happened, mid morning direct east facing slope with way higher than average temps (48+ by 10:30) turned everything to crud earlier than expected on the low end of the run, hit a pile in front of me while spotting next couple turns and the rest is history. Akin to missing a catch in football because you’re looking ahead at where you’re going to run.
While appreciating the humor here, this is actually a serious situation. I tripped over a downhill edge two years ago at Brighton, where a nice sun-warmed snowfield abruptly funneled down into two narrow, well-shaded, icy mogul sections. I was sliding sideways until I hit a group of smallish birches. I broke four ribs (displaced two of them) and gave myself a huge hematoma on my right hip. In fact, I was lucky; if I hadn't hit those trees, I would have still been accelerating when I hit some others further downhill.
One can THINK you have a plan, but when sh*t goes down, it happens really quickly with very little time to react.
One can THINK you have a plan, but when sh*t goes down, it happens really quickly with very little time to react.
Feet downhill, loose the skis and use your boot heels to slow/stop or try to control your direction until you can stop.
Never give up control.
Can't give up what you ain't got. If you are in for the slide of your life, you are not in control. You are out of control. The only type of control you have at the moment is the "out of" type.
Although you can work/fight like hell to regain a modicum of control.
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2016
- Posts
- 2,734
On a steep face, you've got a half second, maybe 3/4s, before you velocity makes catching your heels/toes/ski edges VERY problematic. Very few of us, if any, have the presence of mind to react in time. If you still think you can pull it off, it is absolutely mandatory that you do it with bent knees and only at a very low angle to the snow (say 15-20 degrees) and then be prepared to have those bent knees dislocate your jaw; you may still end up tomahawking. Unless you are headed for a rock/tree/cliff, I would recommend not sticking anything on the down hill side of your sliding body in the snow/ice at these speeds.
Last edited:
Sounds like the bottom line is 1) it’s going to happen fast, 2) you’ll be out of control, 3) you should plan for this eventuality 4) you should have a bag of tricks, and 5) never stop trying. Oh, and practice regardless if you’re the story at the bar for all who witnessed this odd lesson.
Ski edges if you can get them engaged before you speed up. If not, then jam whatever you can into the snow: poles if you still have them, elbows, fists.
Jamming downhill toes in is a desparation move, since it is likely to flip you.
Jamming downhill toes in is a desparation move, since it is likely to flip you.
If you end up rolling do you want your skis rolling with you?
- Joined
- May 2, 2017
- Posts
- 4,348
This happened to my wife a few years ago. She slid a few hundred feet spinning on her back.and eventually came to a stop, unharmed. People were staring from the top in disbelief and eventually a guy skied down to pick up her dropped poles. I missed it all since I took the trees to skier right- they were really good trees too.Hi everyone,
Looking for peoples experience on how they were able to slow and stop a slide after a fall at speed. At Mammoth this past week on a steeper groomer (~35-38) and at speed ended up on back before I even knew what happened (still don’t know) Slid for must have been 100 feet. Fell at speed and was able to rotate so head was uphill, and I kept skis up and edges away from fall line to avoid catching edge and going head over heals. Attempted to drag poles and arms but seemed to do little. Not sure if there was anything else I could have done other than let Mother Nature and Physics run their course. Thanks!
I haven’t had a good slide or fall for that matter in a while. Occasionally if I hook and edge or get a little too sideways on steep ice I am able to stop using my skis. Sometimes you can even pop back up. I would rather try to stop the fall at the risk of flipping rather than jiust accept and out of control slide. I skis in the woods alone a lot and am not too proud to sidestep or even take my skis off and slide a bit instead of hucking a yellow ice drop wrecking my skis and crashing into a tree full speed.
Last edited:
There is also, IMHO, a risk reward consideration. Racers ski steep icy courses at borderline control to maximize the chance of winning. And they have B-nets to minimize risk of fatal injuries.
But for us, recreational skiers, there is a choice. Personally, steep and icy (or even firm) is a combination I have no interest on. It is so much easier to self arrest in soft snow. I mostly ski offpiste so uncontrolled falls can be more consequential.
You didn't mention how the conditions were in your slide, so I have no idea whether firm conditions were a factor. But this is one thing we can control, when to hit that very steep groomer. Hero snow is a much better time than frozen.
My 2cts
