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Things I wish I hadn't done

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
But... Pointless.

The only run-aways I've ever witnessed were the result of dropped boards... precisely the time you wouldn't be wearing a leash. You'd be better off putting the leash around your wrist and attaching it to the board than your foot. A regular leash is less than a handspan, long ones maybe a foot or two. You CAN'T clip one on without putting the board on the deck and sticking your foot in the binding at which point it's going nowhere without you attached.

Bloke in video above was riding no-footed or, *technical term* cocking-about - a process which seldom takes safety precautions into account.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Allowing myself to be talked into taking some mates down the itinery off Cresta Youla in Courmayeur, in warm weather, after a dry couple of weeks.

That's a day of my life I won't get back!
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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?
@Richard_Sideways,

only good leashes i have seen are from the binding release & up through your trousers.
Used incase you end up in a tree well.
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Lilledonmarco wrote:
Mr.Egg wrote:
Lilledonmarco wrote:


I thought that you guys had to wear a safety strap that went from your board binding and around your ankle to avoid these situations?


Its not mandatory. At least not anywhere Ive been in Europe.
I hear things are different in the US though. I do carry one with me.


Mandatory in Scandi-land...for the scenario that the user posted above..

Mandatory in US too.

Anyone ever wonder why skis have brakes? It cost money to put them in but it’s on ALL ski downhill bindings.

Sadly, snowboards have no such automatic device. And the free spirited European resorts allow numptys to do stupid things to themselves and others (a flying board can really do damage to soft body parts).
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Taking the wife off piste for the first time (and last time!!) when she did not want to ..... did not go well
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You'll need to Register first of course.
@abc, but skis (often) release in a fall whereas snowboards don't and so leashes are far less useful than a ski brake
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
taking wife down badly cutup narrow piste (the goat) section she did not want to go down in Italy....that did not go well either
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
I sense a recurring theme here...
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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.
mmmmmm.... needless to say wife not often skis with me anymore
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Ski the Net with snowHeads
injure my knee in December Sad
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
abc wrote:
...
Mandatory in Scandi-land...for the scenario that the user posted above..
Mandatory in US too.
... (a flying board can really do damage to soft body parts).

I'm sure there are some places they're mandatory, but this is not true:
  • They're not mandatory in Finland at least in the Helsinki hills.
  • They're not mandatory in almost all of the US hills I've been to, and I've been to rather a lot of them.

They are mandatory at Turner Mountain https://www.skiturner.com/.

They're such a stupid idea, dreamt up by the sort of people who like "safety" without actually thinking through how things really work.
Loose skis on icy slopes may well be more of a risk - ski bindings actually release, don't you know!?

If ever assaulted by the boy-scout jobs-worth idiot people, just take a lace out of your shoe and tie it between the boot and the binding.
It's dangerous as you may fall when untying it and the board my be lost as a consequence, but that sort aren't amenable to reason.

rs wrote:
Bloke in video above was riding no-footed or, *technical term* cocking-about - a process which seldom takes safety precautions into account.

He should have known you can't edge a noboard on hard pack. However looking at their riding style "edging" isn't really a concept they will ever worry about.
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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.
Kind of regretting/feeling guilty about taking my second week/trying to master parallel turns down a blue run this afternoon. I mean, how bad can an area of blues called The Valleys of the Little Prince be?

Harder than most of the reds it turns out...as you watch your friend wash out on his first turn on the steep section of sheet ice, and do the flat-on-the-ice full body slide to the bottom. Embarassed
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
Skis can sometimes shoot quite a long way, but generally the fallen skier ends up lower down the slope than his skis - I once gathered a pair of skis left scattered around the hill by a French guy - one of two who had overtaken me at speed on an otherwise empty red run in Praz sur Arly. He was unhurt despite a spectacular fall - and suitably grateful and polite - but the other skier, who had stopped, enjoyed taking a photo of an elderly English woman delivering his mate's skis. When I learnt to snowboard it was drilled into us that we should always put the board down on the bindings to stop it escaping. I don't remember any talk of leashes. I don't think that video was faked - if so that guy's heartfelt expletives were good acting!
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
philwig wrote:
rs wrote:
Bloke in video above was riding no-footed or, *technical term* cocking-about - a process which seldom takes safety precautions into account.

He should have known you can't edge a noboard on hard pack. However looking at their riding style "edging" isn't really a concept they will ever worry about.


I can't quite work out where it fits in relation to Rule 7. He was definitely being a t**t, but it was definitely funny. I think because it wasn't deliberate that the t***ishness outweighs the funny.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
We missed a scheduled Sunday flight from Gatwick, to go family skiing near Briancon. It was the annual clocks go forward weekend, we forgot to change the two clocks/alarms at home and so missed Easyjet’s checking in deadline by about 2 minutes. They wouldn’t even discuss it.

Gatwick have a special desk, where someone arranged 4 BA flights for us from Heathrow for much later that day.

Together with the Gatwick to Heathrow taxi, the alarms mix-up cost us £1,700. Ouch.

Since then, we’re no longer last minute Charlie’s.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
O wow, @Snow&skifan, that really was a big one! Embarassed
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Ruka over Xmas. Skied Christmas day got back to cabin about 5.30pm. Locked out. Key in cabin door firmly shut behind us. Couldn't get hold of management company so Christmas night in hotel in Ruka village. Fortunately there was room at the inn! Got spare key boxing day to get back into cabin. Holiday we won't forget!
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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?
Not myself having the "Jerry" moment but I remember coming down to midstation in Blackcomb about 7 years ago and a girl about 18 stopped in-front of me on a cat track just where I was about to "jib" off of it... damn she's in the way I will stop and take this moment to change music.

I watched her undo her board bindings and kinda "aim" the board in a specific direction and push it off down the mountain!!!!!! I shouted what the hell you doing?!!!! She replied I accidently let go of my hire board this morning stood here (no leash) and I wanted to let this one go the same way but this time I will watch where is ends up!!!!!!

You couldn't make this up!! I told her the error of her ways and quickly headed after it to try and catch it luckily it stopped about 200 meters later in a tree... the first board wasn't there or around the area.. hope no one get hurt rolling eyes
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
...


Last edited by You need to Login to know who's really who. on Tue 2-08-22 18:04; edited 1 time in total
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Skiing in a white-out, went off the side. That sudden weightless moment and the 'oh poo-poo' feeling. Actually no injury or even bruising, as landed on a nice deep, steep, powder slope. Took me 20 minutes to get back up though and I was a hot mess afterwards. Couldn't get my goggles clear for next 2 hours, skiing in a white-out. I was team clown at the back.
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Avoriaz big park about 15 years ago, was an angry young snowboarder and snapped my board falling on the last big kicker. Took off my board and had a bit of a paddy throwing it into the floor and swearing a lot...
Recovered midway down the red run that heads down to to Prodains. It was a long, long walk of shame, bricking myself that I was going to be sued for taking out a gaggle of ski school kids, or never see my board again.
Luckily an ESF instructor stopped it, gave me a proper dressing down (in excellent English), then let me on my way. If my kids did this I'd have them off the hill. Never make the same mistake twice.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Eating a consignment of sub-prime gammon the evening before to going to St. Anton.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Went out to do a bit too much celebrating following a great day skiing. Had 2 pairs of gloves with me during the day. Returned home with 3 right hand gloves. And a sore head.
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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.
Hurt my heel apres skiing and could not put any weight on it. Only got one day on the snow on a 10 day trip. Embarassed Sad
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Richard_Sideways wrote:
Eating a consignment of sub-prime gammon the evening before to going to St. Anton.


Was that the Esprit trip in 2013 ?
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Yep. I fear my impression of St. Anton is severely skewed by that forevermore...
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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.
Richard_Sideways wrote:
Eating a consignment of sub-prime gammon the evening before to going to St. Anton.


Inducing a different form of Brexit, no doubt!
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 So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@AL9000, oh, what I'd have given for an agreeable backstop back then!
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@Richard_Sideways, Laughing
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
As a teenager, early on in my off-piste career, following tracks down somewhere steep and covered with trees believing that if there were tracks it must be safe. Got a sense something wasn't right so stopped abruptly only to realise that I was on a cliff edge and what I'd stopped on were the branches of a tree above the cliff edge. Getting out of that was 30 minutes of pure adrenaline which leaked out of my bottom.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Did something I would not normally do. Before taking a reasonably sized jump I normally do a reccy. This time I didn't, landed on my face, broke my glasses under the googles (polycarbonate lenses, just cracked), the metal bridge wacked into my nose and I have a scar from the episode. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly the error I made which is annoying, from the moment I was going up the jump to the moment I picked myself off the ground it has been completely wiped from my memory. I assume I landed tips down? I saw coloured blobs (rather like small pixels) in my vision for a couple of hours, rather psychedelic and not really unpleasant, probably a bit of concussion. Went back out a couple of hours later, I didn't want to lose my confidence and wanted to get back on the horse. First time I had to clean blood out of my googles! Shocked Very Happy
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Landed late at Calgary after delayed departure (fault on plane, wait for new plane) and longer flight (new plane too small to do one hop so stopped top refuel at goose bay)

few from our party called into customs as we exited, possibly as we were all piling bags onto the same same trolley. more delays, but nothing serious

then set off north on the freeway and drive 15 minutes to then nearest fast food stop before having our mistake pointed out to us - we should have been driving south

Awoke the next morning to ski Fernie and couldn't find my boot bag. "It was there" I said, pointing at a space

"That was my boot bag, not yours" said my pal who had the same bag

Yes, I'd left my boot bag on the carousel at Calgary. The airport staff were adamant it couldn't be collected by our holiday rep.
"No, YOU have to bring it through customs".
"OK, put it to one side, I'll collect it in two weeks when I come to get the flight home"
"NO, it will be destroyed if not collected in five days"
"put me through to baggage handler and i'll beg them to keep it safe"


Baggage handlers said "of course your rep can collect your boots, jjust tell them to knock on our door"

3 days in hire boots. Never again. I now take MY stuff off the carousel. I will point out friends' bags and help them, but I will always double check EVERY bag I brought before leaving luggage reclaim...
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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?
Richard_Sideways wrote:
@AL9000, oh, what I'd have given for an agreeable backstop back then!


Laughing

I don't think anything can stop rancid gammon.
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 You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
In 1995 I was doing part time photo stuff in VdI for Mark Junak. You know photos for travel agents, snow and rock etc. Paid well. On my way home from one of these in a flush of being a young idiot I dropped a drop in the wrong place which added about 5m onto and already decent drop. Firked my back which i proceeded to Drink through for the rest of the season. 24 years later every time I stand up and stretch my back I think about it.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Almost exactly two years ago. Skiing Santons blue run back to Val D'Isere (for those who don't know it's a narrow valley that forms a natural halfpipe). I have skiied it literally dozens of times. On this particular occasion there were dozens of beginners snowploughing down. I was making pretty decent progress by staying down the left side, but as it flattened off I figured I could cut the corner and go straight across what looked like a nice piece of soft powder off piste. I figured that I need to keep up some speed as it was about 30cms deep. I was doing just fine, until about 100m in I went over a 2ft drop that I didn't even see. I can remember the first two complete flik flaks as I double ejected. I remember being in a curled up ball as nice French people rushed to help. We spend a couple of minutes slowing pulling myself together and I was generally thinking that I'd dodged a bullet. And then I tried to put my skis back on and collapsed in a heap again.

Turns out I had torn both my left and right groin muscles. I missed the next 3 days skiing. Only managed two hours on the last day. Then came home for 8 weeks of physio and, two years later, I still get the odd twinge. but that might just be old age.

Honestly, I think I'll ski Le Face instead from now on.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
Putting suncream on before contact Lenses! More times than I want to remember.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Too many to list here! From following tracks through trees to the tops of cliffs to leaving gloves at overnight stops and all sorts of embarrassing things in between.
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
First time in Val going (about 25 years ago) off piste with some people I’d just met and not checking to see where we were going. Ended up at the Gorge de Mal Passett. Still scares me thinking about it.
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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.
Joining Snowheads, because every time I log in I feel such a pull to the snow covered mountains! Laughing
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Baby sat my granddaughter when she had chicken pox and a cough/cold.

She passed a severe chest infection onto to my wife and I and I have had to pull out of S15BB.

But I loved spending 3 days with her.
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