Scariest moment ski=ing

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Matteo, well I think I'll leave that marketing line to others, though I'm not sure how useful they would be to a skier vs Cougar, big cats tend to kill by neck breaking or skull crushing so the helmets might give a bit better protection. Mind you I think snowy's idea is a better one, ski with someone slower and preferably smaller, so more tempting

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DGO, see my edit snowHead

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Matteo, I recently saw a tv programme where they gave a set of tigers a large plastic ball to play with, the tigers teeth went straight through 20mm of solid plastic which is much thicker than the 4-6mm or so of a kevlar helmet

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Cymru am Byth, in the past years I've seen also offers from mountain restaurant operatos for a night ride to their Restaurant by SnowCats (talking about big cats eh!) or Snomobile...
You don't even have to ski down, they'll take you down after dinner...don't know if it is offered in MAdesimo or La Thuile though. Certainly it was, at a price, offered in Colfosco.

After all it is free

D G Orf, No skiing in India for me then.

Cymru am Byth, in the past years I've seen also offers from mountain restaurant operatos for a night ride to their Restaurant by SnowCats (talking about big cats eh!) or Snomobile...
You don't even have to ski down, they'll take you down after dinner...don't know if it is offered in MAdesimo or La Thuile though. Certainly it was, at a price, offered in Colfosco.

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Scariest moment I has was being stuck on a chiar lift in Avoriaz, The weather had closed in and the wind speeds were reaching 60 mph plus. The snow was horizontal and covering us faster than than we thought possible. The lift hadn't broke it was just to windy to offload passengers. The lifties were running the lift when the wind dropped so you would move about 5 or 10 metres then stop for 4 or 5 minutes. We were on the lift for about an hour. Even with full gear on it was freezing. You got so cold you couldnt hold on properly when the chairs were swinging in the wind. The weather closed the resort and next day blue skis and fresh snow snowHead

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

I bought a round of drinks in Courchevel when Peter B & Beanie were on toffee vodkas - SCARY Laughing

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First time off a BIG mountain at the age of 12, I stood there about 30 minutes trying to summon up enough courage for the first turn.
Another occasion, climbing with skis, we met a brown bear on a ledge. Luckily he wasn't hungry.

Spyderjohn, I can top that, I paid for dinner at Le Cloche in Courcheval 1850 for me, my wife, daughter and her boyfriend. A seriously scary moment.

You know it makes sense.

David@traxvax,

Didn't your wife mind you taking your boyfriend Puzzled

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Scariest moment was on first week skiing in Pas (Andorra). Mates of mine had taken us on holiday - they were pretty experienced skiiers. We're coming down the main piste past our hotel when they veer off to the right to avoid a group of skiers and the ski lift pylon. My turning wasn't that great, so I decided to go left as there seemed to be more room that side. Within about 10 feet the ground feel away from beneath me - it was snowing quite hard so I couldn't see the contours of the ground - and I went straight down the snowboarders half-pipe.

It wasn't scary for long (I wasn't hurt, and we all had a good laugh afterwards), but for that split second it was absolutely terrifying.

Possibly only matched by another run later on in the week skiing a red home in a driving blizzard, where I couldn't see more than 15ft ahead. That was scary but also great, and probably hooked me on skiing.

A snowHead

On the cougar theme when I was in Bannf three years ago the guy on the desk at the motel was a keen mountain biker and took a close interest in the natural scene.

He told me a couple of things, one amazing and one scary.

The previous summer he had been riding a trail when he became aware of another presence and he found he had a wolf pack running alongside him.
They actualy stayed with him for quite some distance before returning to the forest but he said that at no time did he feel threatened.

The scary fact was that there had been several instances where the piste patrol had found the tracks of cougars and were able to see where they had stalked skiers as they had moved between pistes.

Certainly food for thought (or cougars).

A snowHead

This wasn't particularly scary for me but it got a lot of screams from others.
We were on a long chairlift with large gaps between pylons. Suddenly the lift stopped then started then stopped then started in perfect timing with the swing of the chairs which by now were doing an impression of a garden swing travelling through almost 180 degrees. The yelps up and down the mountains were quite amusing.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Jean Claude Killy tells how he once decided to jump off a chair lift where it passed very low over a ridge. However his jacket somehow got snagged on the chair and he was carried out over a rocky canyon, dangling by tail of his jacket!

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Nothing to do with bears or cougars, but once we went off piste in Wengen (back of the Mannlichen) in hard spring snow. Having successfully traversed (one at a time & no noise) an avalanche slope, we got to a super, untracked, steep pitch. I fell on about the second turn, lost my skis, and even sitting up, digging the tops of my sticks and heels of my boots into the snow, I was sliding towards a cliff. I don't think it was very big, but certainly big enough to be seriously hurt. Scared - it's stayed with me for 30 years! Crying or Very sad

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Heels of your boots! You must get on your FRONT and then do a push-up on your hands, so your boot tips take most of your weight, (or alternatively grab a stick at the base with both hands so your weight digs it into the snow, but thats not as effective. The first method (as long as its not icy) will stop you on a 40º slope or even 50º if you're lucky (You probably already saw my Alagna story) To put this in perspective the steepest black runs are normally 35º or less.

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snowball, It was hard spring snow, way off piste and pretty steep. I just happened to end up sitting on my a**e! I didn't think of flipping, but if I had I don't think I'd be around now! BTW I had to walk back up for my skis. My local friend refused to collect them. Crying or Very sad

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Definite scariest moment was on a chairlift above a double-black in NE USA and seeing my 14-year-old son below me ski right over the edge of the run. He somersaulted at least twice, lost both skis, goggles, hat and even gloves. Meanwhile, just to compound my sheer terror the chairlift stopped to give me an even better view! Huge shouts from everyone behind "Did you see that kid fall?" , "I've never seen anyone take a fall like that", etc... With me shouting back "That's my son". Anyway, saw him land and get up - so far so good. Then he collapsed again! Meanwhile chairlift starts going again and I still don't know how badly injured he is. After what seemed like hours I got to the top - the mountain rescue had already set off for him but the slope was too steep for the rescue vehicle and the rescue chap had to go down on skis with the stretcher behind him! I can't ski a black at the best of times so couldn't get to him - I had to ski down a blue down the side of the mountain and wait for him at the bottom.

Turns out he'd broken his shoulder but it could have been a lot worse. Unbelievably I still ski and so does he - albeit a bit more carefully now! But I still hate seeing him ski below me!

After all it is free

well thankfully my scariest moment is very tame in comparison (i dont get afraid buying rounds or paying for meals, i lived in london far too long to be phased by extortionate bar bills). my 6th day of snowboarding, (so pretty much qualified to instruct *grin*), and i go to a blue run on the highest peak in kopaonik. its very windy, and hasnt snowed in a while. so up until that point id always been in the valleys or at least in fairly sheltered high points.

i stumble off the chair lift, and my friends are all skiing - they decide to get down quickly because its so cold - so they head for the what appears to be verticle red run leading off to the right sloping away. i have to head down, but aim left to move under the lifts and onto the lovely kilometer or so of gentle blue (ending in a terrifying drop away that noone told me about!) but the wind was really blowing, so im being pushed backwards by the wind. my so called friends ski off pushing themselves away with their poles. so i try making some headway, and eventually get going on the windswept ice, straight into the red - in the end i steered myself behind a tree, unbuckled, composed myself and crawled the 20 odd meters to the relative shelter of the blue run.

the next year in the same area there was a whiteout - i was fooling around on a training slope teaching some friends how to snowboard (told you i knew enough to be an instructor) and use the drag lifts, when i get a ring from my friend and his terrified girlfriend. they are lost - cant see more than a meter in front of them and dont know where they are apart from "up and cold". a bit of a panic later i find out what run they were last on and start calling around to get some people to keep their eyes open for them - and the snow lifts and they call me back saying they've figured out where they are and are following some people home.

Scariest moment was in my first week skiing, on the 3rd day where my friends took me out for the afternoon. It was in Val D at the top of the olympic run, and visibility fell to about 15feet, needless to say we hit the mogule field, and i went head over heels time and time again, until on abou the 4th time i slipped, and ended up sliding through a mogul field on my front, unable to stop or see where i was going! Took out a french skier half way down, apparently i slid about 135feet in total..! Needless to say my friends got rather told off for taking me somewhere beyond my abilities...

The only other scary moment was when i crashed doing a jump, and i thought i had broken both my legs, turned out they were just very badly bruised!

Neither, anything like Plakes though!

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A friend of mine was skiing an easy blue run, to see if her husband could ski it, in Homewood CA, when she came across 3 bears - mother and cubs - right in the middle of the piste. Trouble is, she hasn't let us forget it since! Smile

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I think her name was Tiffany.

Didn't seem at all scary with beer goggles on.

But Seriously...

An acquaintance had a scary one trying to find a short cut in Avoriaz. He was a bit high and in a complete white out. He fell and slid a bit head first. Decided to do the "roll on back to get skis below body" manouevre.

Imagine his surprise when -

the clouds cleared -

just as his feet went past the point of no return -

and he rolled off the edge of a 100 feet cliff onto sharp rocks and scree below.

All to the horror of packed lift queues waiting to go up Chavannette. The pisteurs assumed he was dead (you would, wouldn't you). Mercifully broken pelvis, ribs and arm only serious injuries.

You know it makes sense.

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David Murdoch, Unfortunately your story comes across as amusing although I'm sure it wasn't for your friend. Pleased to see this thread is still alive. No doubt there are many others who can add to it.

A snowHead

The first day teaching my fiance to ski (1983/84).

I had told her if she didn't like skiing, I'd quit!

Fortunately for me, she liked it. This year, we celebrated our 20th anniversary, and she's going back to skiing for the first time in over a decade (pregnancy and children have gotten in the way).

A snowHead

Deciding to do the Swiss Wall (Chavanette) in Avoriaz, Jan 04. Encouraging my nearest and dearest to follow me, then realising that it is even steeper than it looks from the chairlift. Discovering that there are things in life that you only need to do ONCE!. Does anyone know what the gradient is?

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snowbunny, not more than 50`

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snowbunny, the Wall isn't that steep. But...(oh, there's always a but isn't there)...it is consistently steep for a very long way.

And it has too many people on it (IMHO).

So you run a reasonably high risk of falling, or colliding.

And I have seen someone slide from near to to bottom through a combination of collision and slick conditions. It wasn't pretty. I heard it was fatal, but that was never corroborated.

And the VW beetle size bumps at the top are intimidating.

I know much steeper runs in the PDS that I'd do at the drop of a hat rather than risk the Wall...

BUT my little brother sitting beside me mentions that he skied first tracks down the wall in December 1990 (behind the opening pisteur) in 6 feet of powder and had a rather heavenly experience...

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snowbunny, The scary thing about the Swiss wall is the drop to the first moguls its was almost like an over hanging cornice when I did it Its such a rush went back and did it again. snowHead

After all it is free

I had a real shocker in Lofer, Austria in 1989. It was my 13th birthday and the first day of our holiday.

Visibility was down to about 30', and high winds had closed a great deal of the lifts. With the attitude of "it's my birthday and i'll ski if I want to..." I insisted that my Dad took me and my brother up for one run down. At that stage I'd been skiing since I was 3, my brother since he was 1 and my Dad the same.

The only chair we could take was one which essentially ran up a deep cut valley to the top, thus not too badly afected by the wind. It was a knackered old wooden 2 seater with all of the pull-down-bar's frozen up. We later found out that the only reason it was still running was to bring people down from the mountain, not take them up.

We got on the lift fine and started the ascent. I was on with my Dad, my 11 year old brother in the one infront. Every minute or so we would see someone coming down the lift, skis in hand, shouting not to go up! At that stage we thought we would just see what it was like and if it was too tough would take off our skis and take the same lift back down.

Well, distster struck when we got to the top. As the lift reached the top station it came up and out of the valley and into the full force of the wind and blizzard. My brother was immediately blown off the chairlift and fell about 25' into deep powder. He shouted he was ok but needed help as he was stuck in the snow. This meant that my Dad and I had to get off at the top and ski about 100' down off piste in waist deep powder.

We started down andI fell almost immediately. My Dad made it about half way before disappearing under the powder. I can't really remember what happened as we were worried that Dad had gone down a crevase and we'd never see the old boy again.

Luckily 2 mountain rescue guys skid past on their way to rescue someone (a pisteur who had got trapped it turned out). As I was explaining to them (very tearfully and in poor school boy German) that my Dad had fallen down a crevase, my brother was stuck on a sheer cliff in deep powder, and I had lost both of my skis the visibility came back a little and I could see my Dad had resurfaced. He'd then decended on foot to my brother, and carried him, his skis & poles 75'+ up a near 45 degree slope in waist deep powder.

While the 2 mountain guys were pissing themselves laughing and putting us all back on the chair to go down it didn't seem like such a bad idea to spend the day sledging on the bottom runs.....!

After all of it the only casualty was that my Dad had lost his wallet and I had lost my hat. Obviously it was me that was the most pissed off!

Benjj

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nearly falling into a hole with icy cold water on my tabogonie
yup
i nearly hit a group having a picnic on the snow at the bottom of the hill

Help!!

Scariest moment ski=ing

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