 Poster: A snowHead
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Six oscar-quality wipeouts from Ski magazine - click here to start - and they even come with captions!
There's a feature to go with the show, by Jackson Hogen.
The best one I ever experienced was in Wengen, jamming the tip of a monoski at a fair speed, releasing from both heelpieces and somersaulting, landing on both boots. There was no photographer to hand, so you'll just have to believe me.
Anyone else experience any life-changing wipeouts?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Someone I know was doing the "Grande Raide" (off-piste race) in very flat light with a friend, He saw a sudden dip and bump in time to absorb it but his friend hit it hard. They both had their bindings cranked up to maximum and his friend was a big guy. The bindings didn't release but he ripped both heel-pieces out of the skis!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Plan de la Gabba in Courmayeur, caught edge and crossed skis on the easiest (and hence for me fastest) stretch. Several complete somersalts later I finished up sitting up and facing in the same direction, but with both skis several metres behind me. The only person who was there to witness it was my brother. I could take you to the exact spot it happened (both start and finish). No injury but the image of the snow coming up to meet me is still fixed in my mind.
And I bet it wasn't even that spectacular - though my brother didn't stop laughing for about ten minutes. 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Completely lost it in an unexpected icy patch on a fast blue-black at Breck. Somersalted, bounced twice and by pure chance got thrown upright onto my skis. Carried on hurtling down the mountain as if the stunt had been deliberate.
My wife was well impressed.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Bottom of the Cime de Caron (?) in Val Thorens. Looked a bit flat at the bottom and didn't want to pole so straight lined it. Saw two depressions a lot too late. First one launched me into the second, I think. Don't really know exactly what happened but when I picked myself up, 40 yards behind me was one of my skis stuck up to the binding into the piste. I also had a very impressive snow burn on my face which I'd used as a brake.
The people I was with decided to ski down a bit more sedateley, once they'd stopped laughing.
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Quite a good one in the speed trap at St Anton, too many to mention off piste, quite a few when carrying a bit too much speed into a mogul field.
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Off piste on an icy, bumpy Mt. Joly, Megève. Ended up minus skis, flat on my back, sliding down the mountain whilst simultaneously in a flat spin: ie, rotating around an imaginary axis running through my navel. From my vantage point, it looked like the sun was orbiting my head. Kept thinking I was about to stop, but would then accelerate away again. I knew I was uninjured and not about to go over a cliff so it was quite fun - apart from the trudge to recover my skis.
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