 Poster: A snowHead
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If I fall its usually on the easy stuff in front of a restaurant or something  Probably lack of concentration. I rarely fall on the hard stuff but when I do they tend to be more spectacular. Thank fully I have not had a serious injury just pride and a few aches and bruises.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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And my fave non-fall? Going quite quickly and catching a little air off a series of rollers. Hit one a little hard, took off, both rear bindings pre-released, spent a couple of seconds mid air with skis detached then landed square in the bindings and carried on. Would have been great to watch I suspect, felt very odd landing with two "clicks"...
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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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| GrahamN wrote: |
I'm another in the "if you're not falling you're not trying" camp, to the extend that I normally fall over more in a week than the rest of the group I'm with put together. I've had some great falls off-piste including some stunning head-plants  but only hurt myself to an extend that would interfere with skiing when falling on-piste.
I think being an ex-skydiver may well have helped ameliorate the severity of falls, and of course practice makes perfect  - first working out how to keep your feet out of the way, then how to self-arrest etc..... I often wonder whether those who get worried about falling do so because it's the fear of the unknown - not realising that even big falls can be quite innocuous. If anyone wants any tips I would say the most important things are: a) at all costs jam your legs/feet together immediately, so stopping your skis going in different directions which could generate enough leverage to twist knees or possibly break legs; b) try and fall on your side, with a bent body, so you roll into the fall rather than falling straight - you then stop over a much longer time and the impact is much less - also tuck your chin onto your chest to stop any head impact forcing your neck back; c) if you're still sliding once you've hit the ground, get your feet/skis in the air - stopping them catching and causing you to tumble - once you're sliding straight roll onto your stomach and use knees and hands to arrest the slide. Not sure whether you'd have time to do much of this though if catching an edge at 50mph  . In general don't worry too much about actually hitting the snow - it may hurt for a few minutes but doesn't usually cause serious damage, even though the bruises may look bad in a few days. Do try and stay out of the way of your poles though - I've had a few badly bruised thumb joints through falling on my pole on a hard piste.
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I think I also fall into the "not falling = not trying" camp - I provide great entertainment for all I ski with as I've pulled off some quite spectacular crashes!! In fact a great (but slightly mad) coach I ski with regularly encourages me to ski more 'creatively' and if this involves a few crashes - well it happens (by creative lines he generally means the ones not many attempt!!  )
Most of the above falling technique above sounds pretty good (and I test them regularly!) - I'd slightly disagree with the skis up in the air thing - if you're sliding then getting your feet below you is a good idea, then if you've still got your skis on use them to stop the slide, if not the press-up position digging the toes in (gently at first!) works pretty well. This technique is pretty important to stop yourself as quickly as possible on the steeper slopes where a slide over rocks/cliffs/trees,etc is a bad idea! Relaxing and waiting until friction does the job for you in these situations is not likely to be relaxing for long.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I always fall if I'm showing off. Particlularly if that little swedish blonde's in the oh so retro but tight race pants is watching
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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GrahamN, sadly not...
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Now, I also fall usually only when I'm trying hard. Fell at MK doing stubbies a few months ago. Fell this season in Peisey/Vallandry practising skiing on one wrong leg only (still can't do it properly). Don't really care anymore who's watching. A couple of falls early on in my skiing history: I fell on the slalom slope in Flaine (shouldn't have been on it with my lack experience) and slid straight down on my back, ploughing what I remember as a huge trench down the middle of it as I went. The proper skiers practising there weren't amused. The other was with ESF in Val D'Isere when the class had come to a rest on the right near the bottom of a run before the lift and I was coming down the left. Unhappily, there was a series of rolling humps of increasing size on that left side. I had deferred success at absorbing them adequately. I was thrown up high, did a backflip and landed in a heap in front of an appreciative audience. It felt like just everyone on that mountain was wetting themselves laughing.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I probably fall a little more than I should although not often when its at all serious. I find I mix up a few idiotic "just kind of lose my balance in front of the ski lift when I turn round to admire my tracks" episodes with some more spectacular ones when I'm charging the bumps. I do seem to release quite a lot when I don't really expect it. I'm always loath to blame the bindings (or DIN settings) because I KNOW it's generally heavy footed skiing but I suspect I could crank them up a bit.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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D G Orf, perhaps as you said blond rather than blonde? Just a guess...... 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I think it's good to do a lot of falling while you're young and flexible, it develops the instinct for crashing in a safe and relaxed way.
Pushing boundries is great, though it doesn't need to involve falling. If you ski in very steep and icy places, falling is never a good option.
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Cathy Coins, ok fair enough, arghh I was a bit busy when I posted earlier, rush job, now finished for the day
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You know it makes sense.
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Back to the title of the thread..."How often do you fall when skiing...": How does twice sound?
One of our party last year in Meribel took a fall from ski'on the second day - taking quite a nasty bash to the wrist. After a sleepless night of booze and painkillers she decided that this skiing thing wasn't for her, so she had a snowboard lesson instead. She thoroughly enjoyed the lesson until taking a tumble on the last run before lunch, which resulted in a piggy back ride to the medical centre.
She spent the rest of the week in hospital. The broken ankle needed pinning, but she was allowed to make do with a cast for the broken wrist she'd been boarding with from the day before.
I don't think she's coming this season.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Most days at least once. As others have said, often when not concentrating on an easy bit. Main problem with that is that as you get older trying to get to stand from fallen is a lot more difficult on flat bits than on a slope.
Manda, have also done my best to injure myself on a dry slope (presumably yours was at Soton too?) when I managed to do two "Skiers' thumbs" in the same fall. Haven't felt the need to try to repeat the experince since as snow is usually more forgiving.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Having tried snowboarding for a few weeks, with no great success I might add, I found that I became steadily less bothered about falling - it's simply not possible to learn to board without falling, even the teenagers fall a lot to begin with. I watched good boarders from chairlifts and particularly the way they fell - try to get onto a buttock (not the coccyx for God's sake...) and keep hands well in, not flung out in vain hope of breaking the fall. I had some major plants, but did learn a bit about how to fall. then, for no reason at all, I tripped on the edge of a perfectly normal pavement the other day, in June, no snow for hundreds of miles. Fell heavily but - the defensive snowboarding reaction, in particular to keep my hands in and not try to stop myself, rolling into it, kicked in. I was very pleased - at least those painful days snowboarding had taught me something. Adults, particularly older ones, can be so paranoid about falling that it causes a lot of stiffness, tension and over-caution. As a bonus, if you are ski-ing with kids, they just love it when the grownups fall over. But it is exhausting clambering up again, especially off-piste, and I fell so much during an off-piste lesson last year that I could hardly move by the end. All down to very poor technique, and then with added exhaustion, and the answer has to be to have more lessons...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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GrahamN,
I'm no extreme skier but I have been in a few situations where a fall could be fatal, namely over rocks where the fall isn't the problem so much as stopping yourself hitting something that will hurt or worse. Guides will prudently make you traverse here and even that can concentrate the mind somewhat. Couple that with the type of trip where a malfunctioning binding could at the very least leave you with a long long - 5 hour posibly - walk out means that simple things take on a potentailly whole new meaning, ie no straps and a pre-release and lost ski..!!!!! So easy to do. And thats without injuries..!! You don't need to look far to get that sort of thing....take one of the variations off the Vallee blanche and end up miles from nowhere or at least help....others might not come you way. Incidently thats where I saw a telemarker fall into a crevasse but thats another story. All this just means accidents can happen anywhere but its how you deal,with them thats likely to count more ..
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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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Oh, and worse fall was on the home run down to Les Brevierre, straight lining it - turns weren't my thing in those days - and completly missed the jump...nope, didn't even see it. Really bruised my ribs but still went skiing next day, albeit a bit stiff. That hurt and taught me a bit of a lesson..!!
Another was showing off and trying the spray the chalet girls sitting on a terrace, we all agreed to swoop down and cover the terrace with a a big spray when I over-cooked it and went straight in the skis parked outside. Knocked loads down like slalom poles. The germans - whose skis they probably were - almost filled me in, and my mates were falling over and wetting themselves
up the slope. They didn't even follow me in.....!!!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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JT, I would have payed big money to be there. I wish it had been a mate of mine that had done it. Can see it now, Incandescant Germans brushing tables & chairs out of the way to get to you before you ski off
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I ski far too much in control, and most of my falls come on relatively gentle terrain when I'm not concentrating on what I'm doing. Example? First morning of first day of the first trip of the season. Short little blast round a road to the lift. One minute I'm trying to decide whether we should do one more run before lunch, the next I'm in the middle of a mini yard sale thinking ouch! it's not a good idea to land on your thumb! definitely time for lunch. couple of runs in the afternoon and I have to call it a day because I can barely grip my pole any more. thumb is black, blue and twice it's normal size by now. not good. convince myself it's just a sprain, stick it in ice. go to pub. try to drink beer. drink beer from uninjured hand. drink more "liquid painkiller". and somehow escape the next 12 days of skiing without any more injury.
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FAQ
On the rare occasions I do fall it's usually a very slow or stationary fall, the only exception is if I catch an edge at high speed 
