 Poster: A snowHead
|
Saw quite a few near misses yesterday, late on. Of course there's the obvious ... more people about than in the morning.
And something we've talked about ad infinitum - a couple of beers at lunchtime causing people to ski too aggressively, and beyond their ability.
But I thought I would mention this because I think there's another important factor. As the day goes on, even if you've only been drinking water, in most cases confidence - and thus speed, and risk-taking - increases. You test the limit of your ability to ski in a controlled manner. At the same time, often without realising it, fatigue is setting in. Your speed of reaction, physical strength, concentration, all begin to suffer towards the end of the day.
I've noticed it with my skiing. Just something I thought worth mentioning.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
I would definitely agree with that PG,
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
Yeah, I would say fatigue more than alcohol (but then again, alcohol can lead to increased fatigue), plus the deteriorating conditions (both the light and the piste).
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Certain resort bound pistes can also be much more congested in the afternoon as everyone heads for home. That doesn't help either.
Fatigue is my biggest problem though.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
There is also some thoughts on the last run on the last day of one's holiday being the worst for accidents 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
People are more magnetic in the afternoon. Most people are repellent in the morning.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The last run of the day is definitely the one when you are most likely to have an accident. We've all done it - just one more run before we finish for the day. Half way down, you realise you should have given up earlier as you just don't have the energy left....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
David Goldsmith, ahem, but like poles of a magnet repel. It works better if you replace "magnetic" with "attractive". </nerdism>
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
I suspect that most siers are not really fit enough to ski all day, thus those who do ski until the pistes start to close will be the ones suffering with some measure of exhaustion, they tend to only be concentrating on getting back to the resort and thus get careless, though alcohol may play its part in some accidents I suspect that over exertion is the biggest cause
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PG, I imagine that for the most of us, you've stated the obvious. Then again, we all see people that stop on corners, over the brow of a hill, at pinch-points, etc. even though those, to me, are obvious "don't's".
|
|
|
|
|
|
brian
brian
Guest
|
|
Plus the nice groomed corduroy of the morning may be cut up and heavy by close of play.
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
I've noticed that people in dodgem cars collide more in the afternoons than the mornings.
Maybe it's the 'last run of the day' syndrome, driver fatigue etc. You'd be hard pushed to see a policeman breathalyse anyone in a funfair, but there's a good chance that booze comes into it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| hyweljenkins wrote: |
| PG, I imagine that for the most of us, you've stated the obvious. Then again, we all see people that stop on corners, over the brow of a hill, at pinch-points, etc. even though those, to me, are obvious "don't's". |
Yes - apparently it wasn't obvious to a considerable number of people on the hill yesterday afternoon, so assuming we represent a typical cross-section of skiers here on SH, it seems worth underlining the point.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
| David Goldsmith wrote: |
I've noticed that people in dodgem cars collide more in the afternoons than the mornings.
Maybe it's the 'last run of the day' syndrome, driver fatigue etc. You'd be hard pushed to see a policeman breathalyse anyone in a funfair, but there's a good chance that booze comes into it. |
Have you retrained as a dodgem car instructor, DG?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
PG, people are too busy ensuring that their rights are not infringed to bother with responsibility and common sense.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
I would say its fatigue and the mix of advanced & beginner skier on the same slope, what a good skier considered a safe pass might scare the crap out of a week 1 skier who them gives it big wobbles into another skier.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
Fatigue for me - I have to ski much slower in the afternoon than in the morning (or ski fast but take breaks every 500m or so). I'm off the slopes by 4 latest usually - between being knackered, the crowds, the dodgy light and the cut up piste it's not fun at all...Can't say I'm unaware of it though, if anything I'm very careful in the afternoons. For me FIRST run of the day is probably the danger zone - with the nice new courdoroy, fresh legs, less people and good light it's easy to end up carving along VERY quickly indeed....
aj xx
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
Fatigue as to be the main culprit.
If like me most people only get to ski for one week a year then you try and ski every available minute of the day. This then tends to mean skiing late in the day after lifts have closed and light is fading. What made me think about doing this in the future was the two accidents I had to attend too during my recent trip.
The first was a 1st week skier who on day three and along with her partner who was also a 1st week skier had after ski school gone to the top of the mountain with the intention of skiing down having only just learnt to snow plow. Obviously egerness had got the better of them both and having only gone about 100 mtrs through a schuss section with too much speed and no control went airbourne and took a nasty bang to the head.
The second was a German guy who although seemed to have good technique as he passed me, just caught an edge and fell badly and ended up with what looked to me as a dislocated knee cap.
Has the lifts had already closed on both accidents it also meant that the piste patrols and rescue services had also left. The recovery time for both accidents was horrendous due to them having to wait for paramedics from the local hospital down in the valley.
A lesson to be learned for all of us
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
Personally, I get tired at the end of the day. Mind you I used to get tired at the start of the day. I tend to avoid the last run home as its usually too congested (the blue under the gondola in Soldeu for example) by leaving the mountain early and going for a diet coke !
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Super Eagle, I always thought that piste patrol did a final sweep down the mountain to ensure that there were no skiiers left? Or it that just America?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You guys can ski a whole morning and carry on in the afternoon? 
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Only if given copious hot chocolate / vin chaud stops 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sue S, at some of the larger resorts I would have thought it almost impossible to cover every piste from the top down after the lifts have shut?
Super Eagle, Thats a very sobering thought, I like many kind of assumed that the ski patrol would be around for a while after "closing" just in case. Certainly put a new light on things for me!
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
|
Definitely fatigue. Not sure about over-confidence, or am I the only person whose confidence nose-dives when I'm tired?
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Lo-ridah / Sue S
Certainly in the resort I was in the piste patrol would generally ski down the main run about 10 or 15 minutes after lift closed. As they would pass us on the way down sometimes.
It is true that you could not expect them to have checked that all pistes were clear before they went home.
I was also surprised that the Piste bashers don't carry first aid kits or if they do they were not forthcomming with their help other than radioing down the mountain to make sure the alarm had been raised.
I know it always sounds over protective when you read threads about skiing with transceivers even on piste and carrying particular types of equipment but I always have a First Aid kit in my rucksack and I can honestly say that in both cases it was lucky for the people I attended too that I had one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
lo-ridah, I know at Saalbach they publish times of the last lift and then the times that the pisties do their patrol. I assumed they covered every piste although of course that might not be so.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
PG you mean "near hits". Near misses mean you nearly missed hitting someone i.e. you actually did hit them.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
(O.E.D.) near miss: "a situation in which a collision is narrowly avoided".
If you come across a dictionary with the expression "near hit" included, do let me know.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
PG, I had my first proper collision (at Arcs last week). A 50/50 senario with no injuries. A French lass came from the middle of the piste (I was coming down at the empty right side) and closed me down so I had no space left - we both saw each other and turned in the same direction. We slowed a bit and I let her hit me in the chest in a semi grab as she was smaller than me. We were both laughing afterwards but I have seen this happen a couple of times over the week, where someone decides to arc across the piste without looking to see how many paths they cross. They can easily hit someone sking at the same speed as themselves as they are often in a blind spot.
If I remember correctly it was indeed in the afternoon in my case.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
|
Give the falling down water a miss - unless your next move is to the skibus! What other extreme sport would you try with the aid of alcohol?
|
|
|
|
|
|
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?
|
|
My only incident last week (although Charlotte may disagree) involved an out-of-control idiot brushing past me (actual contact) as I proceeded down a green slope on one ski. The contact was light enough for both of us to remain upright. If he hadnt been moving so fast and I hadnt been stopping, I would have chased ad shouted at him. Another instructor came over and discussed the incident with Charlotte (easiski, for those who are looking for an excellent instructor in Les Deux Alpes) Apparently the idiot was with an instructor from another (third) ski school !
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
Oh yes, the above incident occured in the afternoon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
Are the pistes busier in the afternoon?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
get up early.. get your miles/off piste done early.. lunch early .. get off the slopes at three pm this time of year.. get your apres in early and get to bed early.. avoid the crowds! 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
