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British Man dies in Italian ski resort

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
According to sky news. Dont know anything more about it.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1303799,00.html

Shocked

CD
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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?
Mattress?

so he was fooling about.

near susa? that could be in a very small place called Frais or could even be in the milky way.

Not nice news all the same.
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Slip down slope on an inflateable mattress, apparently. Accident waiting to happen - death a bit harsh though.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Doesn't sound any worse than 'bumboarding' (depending on the location chosen to do either!). It's quite sad to hear about Sad
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Berk.

I saw a rep sacked for doing that once.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Christopher, Darwin has a theory that covers this sort of accident - not meaning to sound holier than thou, I've done a million silly things too.
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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!
They now say rubber mat, do you think the BBC should make a comment in next weeks ski sunday about the dangers of such activities (for those less astute than ourselves of course, common sense is not evenly distributed rolling eyes )
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mosh, this the same BBC that just ran a feature on Ski Sunday about the joysa to be had sliding down the mountain on a mat?
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mosh, no mate I don't... pointless really as stupid people don't listen to good advice anyway, so a waste of time
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
nbt, yes the same one, hence the warning next week for those that watched it and think it would be fun to try it.

red 27, fair point.. waste of air time wink
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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.
Could this have been one of the mats protecting the chairs/snow blowers?
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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
Not much more from the BBC. Seems to have been some messign around that went horribly wrong
Sad
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7225389.stm
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
Are you sure it wasn't an Airboard like the oens Ski Sunday were promoting today?
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Makes the airboarding seen on Ski Sunday seem a bit irresponsible.

(But still great fun though... Wink)
ski holidays
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Lizzard,
Quote:

Berk.


Nice! So you've never been down a slope on a tray for example?? Facts aren't clear but sounds like a horrible accident arising from some fun that went wrong.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
lizzard : Agreed. Berk.
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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?
Paper this morning says it was the orange protective matting that they use to cover the base of lift supports. Apparently they removed the mats, slid down the slopes on them and crashed into the exact same fencing that they removed the mats from!! Not that I believe much that I read in the papers but, if true, then the Darwin Awards have a top contender!
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Lou, I've never done anything quite this moronic even when drunk:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=5ZXPKBSALPXUNQFIQMFCFFOAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2008/02/04/wmat104.xml

... not that my behaviour is even remotely relevant.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
One of the groups I've skied with in the past used to take a rubber raft for similar purposes. I've always avoided taking part but one year when I wasn't with them PT bounced of the piste onto a road and cracked his ribs.... Told his wife that he'd skied into a tree. They didn't take the raft again! I'll have to email this onto him!
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According to the paper it sounds like pure vandalism to me.

I just hope there is no innocent skier/ boarder crashing onto the exposed metal stripped away by this group. They might think their fun worth more than others' safety.
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Yep agree was stupid - what I am saying is that I think calling someone (who is dead) a berk on an internet forum is harsh.
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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!
awksquawk wrote:
Paper this morning says it was the orange protective matting that they use to cover the base of lift supports. Apparently they removed the mats, slid down the slopes on them and crashed into the exact same fencing that they removed the mats from!! Not that I believe much that I read in the papers but, if true, then the Darwin Awards have a top contender!



woah woah woah! That "story" or more accurately "pile pof crap" has been doing the rounds for several years now, just like the headlines last month about the twins who got married.
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nbt, it's been 'doing the rounds' because drunk people do it with monotonous regularity. Sometimes they die and sometimes they don't. I have first hand knowledge of two similar incidents.
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Lou wrote:
Yep agree was stupid - what I am saying is that I think calling someone (who is dead) a berk on an internet forum is harsh.


He's not going to sue, is he?
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
richmond, no, but maybe haunt
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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.
Have just come back from souze, the mats were not attached to the fence, we sat and watched various people(drunk or sober) use them to slide down the slope with,
on the last night we were there, there were a group of lads having fun with the mats, all in good fun, maybe a bit pissed but then havent we all done stupid stuff when we were under the influence. If this is so frowned on by everyone, then why when all this has been happening have the police just stood there watching. we watched them from our room, watching people comming down on the mats !!!!!!!... It is just a tragic accident, something you dont expect to happen when you are having fun with your mates. my sympathy to his family and friends.
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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
Put me off completely going back to Milky Way.

My wife when she started to learn skiing could not avoid running into the rubber mats. May the the ornage colour catches her attention.
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 You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
souzeskier, it's a bit like setting off the fire extinguishers and then expecting them still to be useful when you need to put out a fire, isn't it? Don't suppose anyone would consider that to be 'all in good fun'.
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 Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
souzeskier,

I doubt if the police was present and even if they did their non-intervention does not constitute an approval. May be they were not in a sufficient strength to stop the act.

That must be a line to be drawn for having fun. People who throw darts to a football crowd in a terrace must consider the act is fun too. Those on the receiving end may think differently though.
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 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
saikee,
Quote:

Put me off completely going back to Milky Way.

Puzzled is this something that you have to do there? Me thinks you have a choice........
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
I remember a rep organising after dark rubbish-bag sliding down the lower slopes. Stupidly dangerous - one girl crashed and had suspected spinal injury - though was found, at hospital, to just have bad bruising.
Yes, Sauze d'Oulx (Benidorm on Snow) is part of the Milky Way area.
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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?
He was 46; worth remembering the next time someone bangs on about the irresponsible youth of today.
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Lou wrote:
saikee,
Quote:

Put me off completely going back to Milky Way.

Puzzled is this something that you have to do there? Me thinks you have a choice........


Me thinks he was expressing worry about the protective mats not being there when they might be needed. Particularly if his wife has a habit of crashing into them.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
My wife doesn't crash into the orange mat now but I think there are beginners who depend on the orange mat, properly installed, to crushion their mistakes. She did it in a path off a piste area in Norway. The path was a link to another area but was formed by ice stone bashed down by a piste machine. One can loose direction control because of the abnormal piste condition.

May be it is me but if I have to pay a ski pass for skiing a resort then places like Lech, Zermatt and Ischgl etc appear to be better-disciplined. May be skiers there value the safety of their own and others more.

Also I would not like to be identified with such behaviour when visiting a foreign country. Call me chicken if you like.


Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Mon 4-02-08 15:23; edited 1 time in total
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snowball wrote:

I remember a rep organising after dark rubbish-bag sliding down the lower slopes.


Yep, it's called 'poly-bagging' and IMHO you'll struggle to find a winter climber who has never done it (mainly as, unlike skiers, all climbers will have at least one large polybag in their rucksacks). Of course there is the added advantage that a climber having a bit of fun at the end of a day on a mountain is probably sober.


Quote:

Stupidly dangerous


Certainly isn't !
There is only one risk and that is collision with someone/something.
As with any similar activity, risks need to be assessed - an obvious example is learning to ice-axe brake when winter climbing. No-one would dream of practicing/teaching this technique without checking for a safe 'run-out' at the bottom of the slope should things go pear-shaped.
Had the rep that you were watching checked for a safe run-out - looks like they hadn't ?

Please don't let’s have a spate of ban-the-bag do-gooders just because of this poor chaps accident.


Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Mon 4-02-08 18:05; edited 1 time in total
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Lou wrote:
Yep agree was stupid - what I am saying is that I think calling someone (who is dead) a berk on an internet forum is harsh.


Agreed. Especially someone who is recently dead.

I will admit I am not usually concerned by whatever people are called on internet forums.
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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!
Trying to be useful to suggest lessons that can be learned after this tragedy

(1) If the act were committed in a sober state and not under the influence of alcohol the danger of the act could have been better evaluated if not obvious.

(2) If instead of midnight the act were committed in day time with a good visibility then the group could have been able to see the obstruction and able to steer clear of it.

(3) If the mattress were used by one individual instead of four persons the downhill force could have been cut down to 1/4 making the survival rate considerably higher. The reduction in weight also slows down the descend and everyone has to fetch the mattress back uphill.

(4) If you have to remove a rubber mattress to slide down "sourced" it from the uphill and leave those in downhill alone.

(5) If the there were 4 of you and all must go down as a group, pick the tail-end Charlie position.

I am not condoning such act but as many snowheads have been doing it and regard the case as an accident then the above may be useful considerations as selecting any one may just be enough save a life.
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I too took part in the poly-bagging but decided that the tour reps were irresponsible to organise it. You can't steer them or stop them easily so several people ran into objects. The person with suspected spinal injury had gone up in the air on a bump and landed hard on ice. This was at the bottom of a steep bit of piste with not much stopping area so there were lots of things to run into - including a steep bank with buildings at the bottom if you couldn't stop.
Despite skiing steep couloirs and trees it was the most dangerous thing I did that holiday.
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The hotel we were in in Val Thorens had those plastic bum boards hung up by the door - it was more than a lubricated bunch of old-enough-to-know-betters could resist one night. The speed you can pick up is terrifying - we did have a big run off area (lucky - not planned) and I agree its the most dangerous thing I've done on a skiing holiday - nobody hurt and luckily we were too knackered walking back up to do it again. I read stuff like this and think and there but for the grace of god...

However, if the bit about using crash mats from lift pylons isn't urban myth then it is another dimension of recklessness.
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