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How Long Has It Been?

skibum4ever

Making fresh tracks
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Nov 18, 2015
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871
My most spectacular fall occurred about 30 years ago at Mammoth Chair 9. Yard sale, pinwheeling, long slide - fortunately in powder. Thought I thought I might die. I had only minor bruising and continued to ski that day and the next.

Worst results occurred about 14 months ago at Mammoth as well. Demolished my right leg. Still haven't skied but hope to try again in early May.

I will be thrilled to ski again this season and will continue to rehab all summer in the hope of having an actual ski season in 23/24.
 

firebanex

Making fresh tracks
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Apr 16, 2018
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1,090
Location
Fairbanks, Alaska
I usually have one good crash a year. So far I've been very lucky and only received very minor injury from any of them. Notable crash last year doing some really high angle carving at speed on spring snow, my inside ski punched through the solid base in the soft snow , folded in front of the binding and stopped in the snow. Momentum ejected me from the ski and I remember tumbling through the air looking back at the one ski twirling through the air and seeing my other ski still on my foot. Thought to my self, this is really gonna hurt if my other ski doesn't come off when I hit the snow again. Thankfully it popped off and I just had a bit of a sore neck and shoulder for a few days. My wife was skiing behind me and though I was gonna die, it was a scary looking crash.

Had two instances of skiing across the North Face at Alyeska while attempting to traverse some avalanche debris only to miscalculate the solidity and steepness of the debris and double eject faceplant into them when my skis didn't make the transition. Also did a nice double eject when I hopped a wind lip and found another one right behind it.. that was a bit embarrassing as I had my patrol coat on for that double ejection face plant.
 

François Pugh

Skiing the powder
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Nov 17, 2015
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Great White North (Eastern side currently)
"Thought I was Gonna die" is a different topic, but thread drift happens. I thought I was going to die in two crashes. Once when I was skiing along at my then usual high speed, I saw a half pipe on a run leading off to the left near the bottom of a black run. I had never been in a half pipe. I decided on the spot to give it a try. Approaching the lip of the pipe, I saw it was right against the trees. Not wanting to go there, I gave a little push off the lip. BIG MISTAKE. I landed on the hard ice in the middle of the pipe with huge impact. My wife who saw it from below (we had separated for an hour or so as she was a beginner and not into skiing black runs), also thought I was going to die. I managed to land it without falling. Alignment was not perfect; it was hard to keep my feet from separating. Both my heels hurt a lot for about 5 weeks.
The other time I thought I was going to die was when I crashed my bike at a buck ten. I forgot to slow down after slowing down for an elevated bridge deck. That was a long slide. I thought I would live when speed slowed to about 30 mph. Not planning on repeating that internal speedometer recalibration.
 
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Andy Mink

Everyone loves spring skiing but not in January
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Also did a nice double eject when I hopped a wind lip and found another one right behind it
Usually that second wind lip is a seated snowboarder. :ogbiggrin:
 

givethepigeye

Really, just Rob will do
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Nov 13, 2015
Posts
1,705
Location
Charleston, SC
Mine always happen with flat light and both really bad ones involved the cat-track or compression - one was @ Vail storming down Ouzo in Game Creek hit the compression near the bottom in flat light and though I had broken both tibia's. Second was in JH coming down a little off-piste section from the Gondola and hit a cat track - was a big snow year, so it was quite a drop - think I bit my tongue IIRC. The last one was skiing with industry clients - on a demo binding (adjusted in the parking lot, btw & dins were set at 8) cranked a turn on Nabob @ DV and boot came out going pretty fast. Sore shoulder for about 6 months. <- won't ski demo bindings anymore, but that's just me.
 

dan ross

Making fresh tracks
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Dec 27, 2016
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1,287
It’s a toss up. First, a H.S. race, a girl and a kid who thought he’d impress this girl (me). I basically had two speeds in H.S. , DNF and overcompensating for the last DNF. N.E., late 70’s, G.S. course, doing well on the top, pushed it too hard and messed up my line , corrected then over corrected booked a gate and was spun around shockingly fast , sliding downhill headfirst on my back with a windmilling 207 tethered to my leg. Girl says to me-“ well that didn’t turn out like you planned” Bruised ego , bruised shin. Fast forward to 2016, Mammoth. Last run of the day, about half way down from the summit, I slide under a pile of heavy wet snow. ( Flat light strikes again!) I try to get out from under it but I’m having trouble when out of nowhere some guy with a British accent sticks his arm out and pulls me out saying … “ us old guys have got to stick together “ and skis away as fast as he appeared. I was simultaneously grateful and insulted ..” who are you calling old? :roflmao: All that said, it was my ego that took the bruising in both cases,luckily nothing much more.
 

dan ross

Making fresh tracks
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Dec 27, 2016
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Ah, that's the problem. You MUST NEVER ski the "last run of the day". Announce to the world that this is the second to last, and then fool Ullr by stopping after you have finished it. Also, I've never been to Mammoth so it wasn't me that rescued you @dan ross.
Yes, that is ancient wisdom and I should know :D . I didn’t announce it - it was decided em route- the fall told me the day was done.
 

François Pugh

Skiing the powder
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Nov 17, 2015
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Great White North (Eastern side currently)
Yes, that is ancient wisdom and I should know :D . I didn’t announce it - it was decided em route- the fall told me the day was done.
What? You fell, nothing injured but your ego, but you decided no more skiing that day. I don't understand that at all. :huh:
There must be something you're not telling us. Were you falling-down drunk and wired for sound, and the fall made you realize it? What?
 

dan ross

Making fresh tracks
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What? You fell, nothing injured but your ego, but you decided no more skiing that day. I don't understand that at all. :huh:
There must be something you're not telling us. Were you falling-down drunk and wired for sound, and the fall made you realize it? What?
It was around 4:00-15 Hence the flat light. 6.5 hours hours give or take that day. Also, as of then an un diagnosed neurological issue that effects muscle and motor control. One of the effects of that are what’s commonly referred to as “sewing machine “leg , which is what I believe precipitated the fall . Of course I thought it was dehydration or something at the time. A 7 hour surgery corrected 95% of that. Don’t drink at altitude- I’m a flatlander .
 
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markojp

mtn rep for the gear on my feet
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Nov 12, 2015
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PNW aka SEA
It's going on three years since my last, and worst crash. I wasn't even going that fast, just carving some really tight clean SL turns on ice and booted out. Can you say concussion, boys and girls? I knew you could.

WC'ers dont boot out on hard snow, but you do... hmmmmm.
 

Tricia

The Velvet Hammer
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December 12, 2022
IMG_3062.jpeg
 

justplanesteve

Getting off the lift
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Mar 6, 2021
Posts
287
Location
Elmira, NY
I'll turn 70 in April.
3 crashes so far this year, all mentioned here on skitalk mostly in the ski school posts.
#1 on a blue, being coached skiing backwards with one of the kids. Jammed left shoulder
#2 a week or so later, free skiing after classes, ski brakes entangled while playing in the loose stuff at edge of run.
Jammed same shoulder again. (Ski-talk diagnosis based on photos: brakes are wrong/too wide for skis. For technique I need to open up stance and ski like it is 2023 and not 1973 anymore.)
#3 was by far the most spectacular and wowed everyone in the cafeteria. Head lady still teases about threatening to bar me:
loaded tray with 5 hot chocolates, cups of ice and water, turned, levitated to counter height tossed drinks into the air with a deft wrist twist to fan them out, body slammed to floor in the flood. Glad i decided not to take my helmet off before prepping the students' sugar-fix.

smt
 

Tricia

The Velvet Hammer
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That looked so posed. :duck: :ogbiggrin:
Lets just say, it took me a bit to get back up after that faceplate and what you don't see is the huge indentation of my head in the fluffy snow. I left quite a hole.
 

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