Getting taken out

A snowHead

I got taken out yesterday. A first in 30 odd years. I was skiing down, very predictably, left turn, right turn, left turn, right turn, left t.... Bang. Never knew what hit me, knocked to the floor. Still disorientated, I got up to see a guy regaining balance 150' (yes 150ft) below me, he wasn't knocked over but did a few pirouettes. He took a chunk out of the front of my skis and cut through my salopettes. Luckily I was just a bit tender, but I know I was 18" or so from him hitting me instead of clipping me.
No real end point to this, and know that I was lucky not to be hurt, just needed to vent I reckon. The wee toe rag even made me walk 20' uphill to get my hat....

A snowHead

@dode,

Did you catch up with him? Any hint of an apology?

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

@dode, hubby still doesn't really know what happened when he was taken out. Unfortunately the result was a broken neck, which he fortunately recovered from after surgery. Hit from behind we think. Son collected the stray goggles, hat and poles. He was on the other side of the piste when the accident happened. All we do know is that there was someone else involved who skied away unhurt.

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@dode, sympathies. Where were you skiing? Lots of skiers today in Les Arcs who were on the edge of control, skiing too fast as a result.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I was doing pretty much the same last season when I was taken out by one of my own mates. He had the good grace to look sheepish when I picked myself up.

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@rob@rar, sadly lack of control seems to be a problem at Christmas and New Year.

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@laundryman, never got near him.
@Hells Bells, I know from the suddenness of it all that I was lucky, glad yer man recovered. All I really remember is that he had white gloves and no poles....

After all it is free

@rob@rar, the Dolomites, Belvedere. It had the best snow in the area so over attracted really.

@dode, I'm glad he recovered too. Hope you're not too sore in the morning.

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I hope Bezthespaniard has an alibi.

@dode, glad you're ok. There are some fools out there.

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We were skiing very gingerly yesterday around Verbier with lots of nonsense about... rolling eyes

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? I don't get it... Why would you not apologise? Haven't been to France as said previously but not seen anything like what has been mentioned on here. Worse I've seen is out of control kids buzzing around cutting people up with parents oblivious, so much so I feel like just doing the same to the kids... Confused

@Levi215, I don't get it either, just like I didn't get the ski instructor who apparently asked said hooligan if he was OK but ignored my hubby who was, according to my son, obviously hurt.

You know it makes sense.

@dode, hope you're not too sore tomorrow.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Lots of out of control here in Saas Fee too. Yes the pistes are somewhat icy but the whole resort is open and skiable. Boyfriend got cut up by an instructor today despite being downhill and predictably turning. Staying off the blues and sticking to the blacks and toughest reds seemed to make the problem go away. @dode, Hope you are OK in the morning. The resorts that do have snow seem to be attracting from miles around.

A snowHead

@lampygirl, nice! Often less of a problem on the harder runs (unless it is the red/black back to resort - e.g Valentin in L2A where it is general carnage at going home time)

A snowHead

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

A few 'racing incidents' are to be expected in a sport such as ours but hit-&-runs are out of order.

I've been whacked, and I've whacked a few no doubt (although oddly they're not so memorable) - but things have always ended amicably

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@Hells Bells,

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I got taken out at high speed last New Year's Eve by a Brit doing a totally unnecessary sharp high speed left turn directly into me and lifting me bodily out of my skis, depositing me on my shoulder. I dislocated the shoulder and his boot and/or ski punched me in the belly (luckily for me lower left and I'm extremely well padded there). After trying for 6 months to avoid surgery, the rotator cuff finally completely tore and I was operated on in August as many snowHeads know. I'm still unable to lift my left arm unassisted which is a PITA as I'm 100% left-handed. But I am skiing again with my surgeon's and my physio's approval and permission.

Accidents can and will happen, but the consequences are sometimes more serious longer term. In future I will take all the details I need in the event of an accident. I've had to cover all the ancillary costs involved in this myself, as the person concerned is refusing to acknowledge his part as I did not take any details at the time. I managed to track an email address down and wrote him an email to inform him of what happened. I attached a read notification and the message was read the same day. To date, I've not even had a "sorry to hear about ..... get well soon" response.

Lesson learnt, nobody is perfect. I consider myself lucky in comparison to some here, especially Hells Bells's husband and Pedantica's BiL. But I still have at least another 6 to 8 months of physiotherapy to get through and no guarantee I will ever be able to use the arm properly again. Collect all the details you possibly can and report the incident to your insurer at the first possible opportunity, regardless of how innocuous the injury seems.

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Luckily I am ok, it could have been much worse, as is the testimony of others here. I never caught up with him as my OH and step daughter were waiting on a different route down and tbh I knew the damage to my kit and clothes was worse than the damage to me, I was more shaken than stirred. I would love to have known how fast he was going as I am not exaggerating about the 150ft for him to stop, a FIS downhill racer could have stopped in less distance.

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@dode, annoying isn't it. Mostly, I dealt with it by swearing, but I seem to take so much longer to heal these days. Hope you're okay.

After all it is free

Sorry to hear that Dode ..hope you are ok ... it is frightening when it happens .. it happened to me last year in Ischgl , skiing down with friends making nice turns, just like you , when a skier crashed in to me from behind , I do not remember anything , my friends heard the bang and looked back to see me flattened on my back ..the skier did stop and checked me out , he said he was a doctor and that I was fine !! my friends helped me in to skis I skied down to the end and I never remembered it ..friends called the mountain rescue and I was carried off to hospital , spent the night there and was ok next day to go ..but it was a scary experience ...We are off again next week and i must say I am kind of nervous ... Crying or Very sad

@dode, @Samerberg Sue, Glad to hear things are improving. I've been buzzed by very high speeders and it's scary; they come out of nowhere and you don't hear them til they're past you.

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It's doesn't have to be that busy even, this was a few years ago caught on my GoPro, if it had been my OH he'd hit I doubt if she could have body checked him and could have ended up with her injured.

http://youtube.com/v/RoXk9qY1fWU

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@Weathercam, he did well to pick you out on that empty piste.

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Fingers crossed everybody stays safe. I won't be skiing this week; chalet maid and transfer driver and waiting for some decent snow and no lift queues. but my daughter and family are out and about. 2 year old had first little ski, going beautifully on gentle slope, hands on knees. a skier came much too close, didn't hit her but upset her balance. she wobbled on a few more yards then fell, still grinning when the camera caught up with her. they'd found a quiet corner of the resort, it wasn't busy, there was no excuse.

hope you have no problems, dode.
sometimes muscle things aren't evident till the next day.

Hope you are OK. I saw plenty collisions and had someone skiing into me yesterday, luckily we both stayed on our skis. Conditions are challenging in the afternoon and crowds make them even more so. I try to finish skiing by 2pm to minimize the risk, it's also getting fairly shitty around this time, so definitely not worth the risk. Given the conditions high speeders need to get their heads checked, definitely not the best time for showing off. Hopefully some snow at the end of this week (if it indeed falls) will help to diffuse the crowds little bit.

You know it makes sense.

@Weathercam, That's mad! The place is empty and he still manages to hit you.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

[troll]So, as the uphill skier, I assume you accept all blame and responsibility for the incident @Weathercam[/troll] wink

A snowHead

Had someone ski into the back of me (fortunately a glancing blow) they left me a little bruised but their fall down the next 150M of the piste was rather spectacular, everyone who saw it held their breath until he got up then we all laughed as he had to climb back up the slope to collect skis etc. Apparently judging from his skiing afterwards he was a very poor skier who really should not have been trying to straight line a red run, I was fortunate in being twice his weight with a lot of natural padding, if he'd hit between my skis instead of to one side the outcome would have been a lot worse.

A snowHead

@D G Orf, he probably didn't know how to turn

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

I took someone out a few years ago. Totally my fault, even though she was doing something utterly unexpected. I ended up skiing across the front of her skis, which caused her to fall.

I stopped and helped her back to her feet, and she looked utterly terrified. It only occurred to me later that as it was very cold I was wearing a full face mask, and could have looked quite threatening!

I felt bad about it for days.

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@Hells Bells, probably not

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I got taken out just above meribel while standing still on the side of the piste with the group I was skiing with. As is my habit I was leaning on my ski poles while waiting. Some French bloke lost control and crashed into all four of us. We all hit the deck and I had that moment when you wait for pain to come. Luckily no pain and we were all ok. The guy just skier off. Then I realised the reason I was ok was that he has had hit my ski pole I was leaning on and snapped it in two. I suppose it took the impact instead of my leg. A lucky escape.

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I got absolutely clatterd from behind once by a border who I assume lost control on an icy patch and slid at high speed for some distance. It was the first morning of a week long holiday, it hurt and was black and blue but could still ski. I'm a pretty big bloke with lots of padding luckily Toofy Grin

But came down hard on them and they weren't in good shape.

Had a similar experience to @Weathercam, on the same week I caught the guy in the corner of my eye, the best thing of it was when he saw me he made a kind of Superman fist to cushion the blow but managed to deflect him. Both incidents were in St Anton which I believe carries the opinion of having a higher usual amount of tw@ts?! It's not confined to St Anton for me though I was coming down into Meibel on a piste that had no netting and a skier rejoing the piste wasn't looking and clattered me from behind-as a result and no barrier and a steep-ish drop I travelled a fair old distance before coming to a stop. I was very glad of the nice Frenchman who brought my ski down for me. I reckon it's the only instance if I'd have been within swinging distnace I'd have cracked the skier reasonsible.

There are some real nasty stories on here and sadly it does happen. Being taken out when you don't see it coming is a horrible experience-was crashed into while on my motorbike which really wasn't nice!

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My 15 year old lad was knocked unconscious last year in Montgenevere, and left lying on the piste; we were 100m ahead, and unaware that the Guy who caused it had just passed us. Helmet saved him from much worse.

After all it is free

I saw a what could have been a really bad one last year in Andorra. Coming down Mirador black run into Grau Roig there is a blue run (track run) which traverses across near the bottom. Some people had stupidly stopped just below the track out of sight of skiers higher up. It was march and warm and it was rather chopped up though it doesn't excuse the what follows. An out of control skier came down the black run lost control over the ridge, pretty much did a cartwheel, skies at head height narrowly missing these people. A few inches the other way and it would have been very nasty. Was not nice to see watch and see it play out.

@dode

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On a run back to the resort at L2A on the end of my second day and some french bloke straight lined it into the back of me Sad

Twisted my knee and flared up some old meniscus damage. Skiing for the rest of the holiday was a write off. Would have quite happily fed the guy my ski's considering he stopped for all of 10 seconds after!
On a plus I learnt how to use my SLR properly with all that time not skiing!

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Getting taken out

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