The CURSE of ‘Just one more run...’ myth or reality?

A snowHead

Just one more run....

Now....let’s get the nonsense out of the way first. Yes, I know why ‘...it’s the last piece of the jigsaw which always is missing....’ - yes, it’s because it’s missing that it’s the last piece. And yes, I know that if you have a big stack skiing or mountain-biking, it does tend to become the last run of that day. But there’s also something else lurking in here.

Last Friday - as the intensive mountain bike season begins to wind down and the ski prep begins to wind up - I promised to pick young ValaisGrom2 (now 14) from school, with our hardtail rigs in the car and all the necessary kit to do 90mins of pump track and jumping. Which I duly did...all the timings worked well...leaving work, and switching to the car which had been loaded the night before with Cotic (130mm front suspension hardtail) and Ragley Marley (140mm front sus hardtail) all checked over an ready to roll. What then unfolded was 90 minutes of excellent training, with ValaisGrom2 clearing the double jumps cleanly for the first time, and me still whanging the rear wheel into them...duh. We were by ourselves on the jump and pump track, and were really hammering round, including some timed laps. Yep, I was still 10per cent slower each time, even though getting faster. The only other guy was over in the main bike park...a seriously fit and competent Scotsman who sure knew what he was doing.

End of session - feeling good.

A peppermint tea (me) and hot chocolate (ValaisGrom) in the Phoenix Bike Park cafe wound us down nicely, and as the drizzle started I rode over to the car to pack bikes and kit. ‘Just one more run....’ said Alex, and off he went. Now, in the back of my mind I was thinking, yes, he’ll just think I am a boring old git to say ‘no last runs..’ but I suppressed it, and carried on with removing the front wheel.

‘He’s down!’ Was the shout from the Scotsman next to me...and yep, going into a simple turn which we had ridden literally hundreds of times before, he had strayed onto the rubble at the bottom of the berm, and the front wheel had washed out. Classic error. And he was staying down. S h i t. His Bell fullface MIPS helmet had done its job...no damage to his head despite a slam on the ground. But it was another story with his shoulder. He was grimacing like hell, and when sitting up shaking involuntarily. Big compressive force up through the shoulder....AC tear? Rotator cuff? Socket or humerus fracture? Collarbone? My guess was a fracture, given the shaking, and four hours in A&E with us sitting in full I’m an Alien gear confirmed torsional fracture in the clavicle - phew...a simple break and so a good prognosis.

And so we discussed ‘one more run...’ and the fact that we ban it. Why...because as our friend and ski school director Yves Caillet says - adrenaline levels up, muscles rested and less active, ambition to go big and fast as a ‘last thing’, senses depressed from sitting and relaxing at the ‘end’ of the session - a rich combination of physical and mental factors. I should have listened to my inner voice and followed the rule of Staying Alive and Fit you Eeejit (SAFE) ... no ‘last runs’. Not ever.....

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A snowHead

I always avoid the last run of the day by saying to myself that I'll do one more and then changing my mind after the penultimate run.

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

I would think though I've no figures to prove it that Fridays in ski resorts have more injury's than other days.
Both Mrs G and myself have been taken out on Fridays ( Mrs G had stopped at the bottom of last run and was removing her skis at the time)
No serious injury's though

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Bad luck, @valais2, horrible for you both. My sister used to curse her OH who tended to take tired kids for "one last run" as light failed. They had no bad accidents but he often turned satisfied, happy kids into overtired, grumbly ones. I always like to be down and finished before the "one last run" warriors are heading up.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I try to use the last run home as a definite cool down. Much slower pace, perhaps stopping for a coffee If the weather is nice, before sliding home to the apartment. I once had a ‘last run’ accident, resulting in a cracked rib and a shore shoulder. Lesson learned.

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Only apocryphal evidence for you to go on, but I was in a group of holiday skiers two years ago which split towards the end of the last day. One lot (us) went back to the resort for a beer, the other lot went for "one last run" on piste 68 in Saalbach, an often closed south facing, wide, gentle run that leads to a bus stop, not uplift.

An hour later we got a call to say that the other lot were waiting on a helicopter coming to pick up one of the group who had injured his back in a fall. He was immobile and in such pain that he couldn't go on the ski patrol's bumpy stretcher. Very luckily it was just a heavy fall, with no permanent damage except to his wallet/his insurance company.

Never have a one last run...

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Personally, I think it comes down to a mixture ability and fitness - often lacking in the average holiday skier.....so I think the "Last Run", is often a bad idea.

It's a bit like the "Third day blues", which often happens when learning - where fitness can become an issue and things often fall apart.

After all it is free

It's definitely a watch out for me if I know I'm skiing with people of a higher ability than me.

Many years ago, on a trip with my brothers friends (better skiers than me), I'd skied hard all day and knew my legs were tired but didn't want to lose face so did 'one last run'. I fell and really struggled to get up on a steep slope (it felt like my legs had just turned to jelly). No damage, just to my pride - but I now know to quit while I'm ahead and will often finish half an hour or so before those guys if I know my legs are tired.

Sadly reality for this guy ….

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I have quite frequently taken a last lift down in Val d'Isere, rather than skiing (or more likely hacking) down a run which is often not in great shape. It helps being old - with nothing left to prove!!

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ha I thought it was just me who refuses the last one run ! Sorry to hear about your son, hope he's ok.

No where near the same as you guys but I do about 2 x 4hr sessions per week at hemel (over the summer) and when I get to the point during the session of thinking I'll do one more run I know I'm knackered and then stop immediately. If my body is telling me that I should be stopping then I stop as its generally because I'm not as stable and in control as I should be.

As for the myth..my son was learning boarding at hemel, cleared for the main slope, went up for the last run of the day (since they were closing the lift as he got on). Fell over and broke his wrist …. so yeah last run is a mofo

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"Always stop when you still want more" is not a bad guide to many things in life!

@pam w, someone should mention that to Sasha de Pfeffel Johnson.

Johnson by name ...

You know it makes sense.

99% myth.

Put it this way, had ValaisGrom gone out and done that last run with no issues, resulting in you packing the car and drivng home in good spirits would you still have come on and posted this thread...? It's only because something went wrong that the 'review and learn' part of your brain has analysed what happened and tried to work out if there was anything you could/should have done differently, and because our brains are basically pattern matching machines the only thing it's come up with is "It was the last run, and if he hadn't done that last run it wouldn't have happened. QED it's because it was the last run".

The 1% non-myth is the fact that ValaisGrom would have been more tired and less alert on that run than an earlier one, just because it was later and he had done pervious runs. As a result he sould have been slightly more likely to make an error than on the previous run - but by the sounds of it he wasn't about to collapse and it was just bad luck.

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

A snowHead

A snowHead

The “more tire” part applies to latter part of the day, any day. It’s also well known there’re more injuries in the afternoon than in the morning, on average.

But psychology definitely contributes a big part too. “Last run, go big to end the day in a bang”, good memory etc. People tend to ski faster, take more risk on their last run. It’s often a concise decision. Hence the increase chance of “big” stacks!

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

Definitely. Last April spent a brilliant powder day up on the Zugspitze creating one line after the other. At the end of the day my mate says lets just do one more... so we did. Found an untouched powder field, skied down it only to find it was full of sharks! I went absolutely flying through the air and hit my knee on something on the way down, maybe my ski, not sure. Skis destroyed, knee badly swollen and painful. Result. So lessons learned: 1) Don't do last run 2) Don't do untested powder run on Zugspitze with less than 5m snow on it.

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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I still suffer occasional shoulder pain after a one-last-run race against my then 16 year-old son down the black Rhone-Alpes in Val d'Isere. I overtook him, turned around to laugh at his lack of speed, and wiped out in spectacular fashion.

It was nothing to do with skiing beyond my ability. Absolutely not. It was all the curse of One Last Run. Not my fault at all.

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All bad injuries happen on your last run of the day by definition.

I too tend to go for the "Oh I'll probably go up for another if the lift is still running" approach

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

I don't avoid the last one. But it's just a last run, not "one more".

And I also use rob@rar's approach, a take it easy "cool down run".

After all it is free

I do the last run thing too, usually after the last lift closes and most people are off the mountain but I don't race,. My husband got himself in bother in Flaine last year doing a bit of off piste , one more run, and half way down the run his legs just wouldn't work, so it was a miserable trip down rather than a fun one. He had been skiing hard all day so should have left it earlier.

In terms of skiing/hiking - mentally I like to do all my serious skiing by mid-afternoon at the latest. Then start to ease down and go to home territory - do some relaxed fun stuff. Often ski until last lift. I like the vibe towards the end of the day.

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For us the last run is invariably a deserted, freshly groomed, 4km piste at around 5.30pm, after an hour or two in a mountain hut that does little to discourage the habit by offering two-for-one on all drinks after 3.30. Would hate to miss it - and, if you don’t do that last run, how else are you going to get down?

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@tatmanstours, getting home doesn't count as a last run although of course spend too long in a mountain hut & you suffer the obvious Mosserwirt/FolieDouche syndrome inability to ski.

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The last run is the last run ... One more run (other than an amble back ) after youve sat and relaxed and finished for the day is another story ..

yep to abc and Rob@rar

You know it makes sense.

Interesting. There’s always a last one, it’s the extra one I suspect can be the problem. A few years back a group of English guys did one last run on the front side at Le Tour in poor vis. At the car park one was missing. Dispite all the lifts having been closed the liftees did an extra run down all the pistes but no sign of him. Next day he was found just off piste under a small avalanche which had followed him over a roller. I suspect fitness has a lot to play in all this but I also have a strong sense of the finite nature of luck.
Valise2 hope the little one is up and about soon.

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

I think there is some truth in risk being a little higher at the end of the day - tired, crowded home runs, psychological reasons (switching off or wanting to "go big"). Plus any serious injury is likely to be last run which then can be overanalysed and blamed on being "last run". For example:

A snowHead

Confirms there's some valid reasons on why "last run" have higher injury rate.

If you can find reason for it, it's not a "myth", is it?

A snowHead

I know when I've done enough skiing for the day. I made the mistake of skiing Sache in Tignes when I was too tired last year and I was so annoyed with myself!!

I'm usually done by 3.30, I simply can't do the "last lift" every day, my knees ache too much.

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

This is just a truism.
The run on which you hurt yourself badly will nearly always be your last run of the day, as you will stop at this point.
It's like when you find something in the last place you look, as you stop looking once you have found it.

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Yeah but come on, if I take a tumble on my second run of the day and have to return to the shed you wouldn't say you were hurt on "the last run of the day".

And anyway the title and opening line of the OP says "Just one more run".

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

'No last run ever' is a bit too draconian for me. Messing about or easy going crusing on empty/emptying chopped up pistes is too much fun, especially in spring. Althought these days I slow down and enjoy the easier scenic routes.

In my teens I injured myself on a last run and it was an important lesson. It made me conscious of tiredness, flat light, route planning (crowds) and changes in temperature.

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Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

I've got a simpler rule: keep skiing until the lifties won't let me on. The "last run" decision is out of my hands Very Happy

.

After all it is free

I shouted "one last run" to the boys a few years ago as they headed to the Schneekar for a cheeky glass or two of Sekt before skiing back to base. Off I went down the back run two turns in catch an edge and rip my trousers in two. I returned to the Schneekar wearing what looked like a pair of black chaps to a round of applause from all on the terrace. Never again Smile

I must've done about 80 'last runs' without injury. My one skiing injury was mid-afternoon and mid-lesson, and resulted from skiing like a tit.

I agree that many of us with the 'one more' mentality are probably more prone to injury due to being tired, but that won't stop me because I love skiing down when the pistes are empty and the sun is setting.

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The "last run" sorts the men from the girlymen.

Winners vs. losers.

Help!!

The CURSE of ‘Just one more run...’ myth or reality?

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