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Sharing my pain - Fibula + tibia fracture

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Had a rough final weekend of the year a couple weeks ago. Was demoing some skis from the on-mountain resort shop (ski area in VT that shall remain nameless). Was on my second run of the day (first non-transfer) and took a short black. Snow wasn't great (6-8" or so of light fresh on top of very hard chop and bumps) but no problem getting down.

Then on a flatter section on the bottom, my right ski pre-released. Wasn't going super fast but while attempting to stop with just my left ski on, my left ski somehow dug in and sent me to the ground. Ended up on my back with the tail of my left ski pointed to the sky.... oof. Was very clear I hurt something in my boot so got a nice toboggan ride down.

Long story short, I broke my fibula at the ankle and ripped a piece of the tibia off where the syndesmotic ligament attaches. Ligament damage meant surgery. Shockingly didn't rip my knee apart somehow,

I did have my wife check after, and sure enough, one ski had the DIN set at 8 instead of 9 on the toe. I don't know which ski obviously, but seems likely it was the one that prereleased. I was in no state to check forward pressure or anything given my situation so don't know if the other ski was set correctly.

Just got out of surgery today - 5 screws in a plate, a lag screw, and a titanium "tight rope" and suture anchor screw installed. Plus a lot of cleanup of soft tissue damage (synovectomy) and removal of that tibia fragment which was too thin to reattach. Have a feeling I'm gonna need some more boot work next year.

Fun x-ray/CT scans for your schadenfreude! No post-surgery imagery yet of my new titanium upgrades


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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Welcome to snowHead @Abt12, and OUCH ! that's not a good outcome at all.

It'll always make you wonder what truly affected this initial point of the incident, but with that difference of din it SHOULDN'T really prompt a "pre-release" as the torque requirement of either setting would still have to be breeched to facilitate. That's unless another fault or clip in problem was present, with skiing that black piste realistic evidence that the binding was competent.

Could be viewed as the first ski coming off was subjected to enough force reached to enact the mitigation and save that knee from damage, which is the primary work of the binding.

Unfortunate that it resulted in injury of the other leg for you. Hopefully recovery is well under way after the surgical procedure.
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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?
There was nothing remarkable about the run above. No close calls, no jumping, no fall line mogul bashing, relatively low speeds because there was a family with kids in front picking their way down, and it was my first real run of the day so I was just warming up. I'm also religious about knocking snow off my boot soles before engaging. Was truly an unexpected release.

Not sure just being down 1 on the DIN explains it for sure, but it certainly didn't help and makes me wonder if something else wasn't set correctly (forward pressure, toe height, etc).
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
@Abt12, If they were standard demo bindings, then I don't think many (any?) have a manual toe height adjustment, so it's unlikely to be that. If you took a photo or know what the binding was, you could check that for sure. However, the numbered notches aren't always the perfect setting for certain lengths of boot – it can be better to set the toe and then use the forward pressure to position the heel correctly, rather than relying purely on the printed scale. If the forward pressure was not checked (do you remember whether your boot was actually fitted into the binding in the shop?), then it could have been set too loose.

Because you were on the flatter section, is it possible that you had started to skate along a bit, or push sideways with your skis? Obviously, this should not matter, but I have had the same thing happen at the bottom of a red run when I started to skate, also on demo skis. I went straight down like a sack of spuds though, taking out my shoulder, but not too seriously. I believe the binding wasn't set properly, and the extra sideways force from the skate movement was just enough to release it.

Good luck in your recovery. As soon as you are able, see a physio and do what they say. You have time to fix yourself up for next season.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Unlikely to be the DIN setting alone. Possibly was fwd pressure but unless you knew enough to check and document hard to prove a case.

Your mechanics of injury confuse me. Always better in my view to flop sacrificially sideways onto the snow if you can. But sometimes poo-poo happens, it's not a risk free activity.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
Documented the DIN but wasn't in any state to explain to my wife how to check forward pressure. Luckily I have good insurance and work an office job with a lot of flexibility so my losses are pretty minimal besides general pain and short term loss of mobility (and less of a loss on paper but very impactful to my spring/summer Motorsports hobby), so I wasn't planning on a lawsuit or anything like that unless I have bad outcomes from surgery. More just a warning to always double check what a tech does to your gear!
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Had similar pre-release in La Plagne in March this year. Rental skis from Club Med. Fourth day of hard skiing. At the bottom of a run in thick slushy crud one of the skis just popped off. Over I went, landing hard onto the released ski where one of the binding posts assaulted the inside of my knee. Ouch, ouch and double ouch. The kind of pain you get when something has broken. After a minute or so it eased, so I got up and tentatively tested the banged knee. Miracle! No obvious damage. Skis back on and away I went. Bruised but no other damage. Checked the skis. DINs correct for my age, weight and boot length. Forward pressure correct too. No further issues with the skis on the last two days. Shrug…
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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!
Pre-release can't be the fault of 9 setting surely. I ski hard off piste on a 6.5 setting and rarely get a pre-release even in difficult snow. The other one failing to come off on a 9 or 10 setting, skiing slow... well I'm not surprised.
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