 Poster: A snowHead
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Just thought i"d share this one.
Long story so here's the 'short' version.
End of the day near Violettes lift Montana - very empty. At a cross roads, my 6yr old son following 3-4m behind, luckily wearing body armour and helmet. 60 year old Dutch guy comes straight down not looking and piles straight into son. His mother and passing ski instructor we know tend to son and are doing a good job so I get address and details (which I believe is a legal requirements) and give him mine. Only he refuses. So does his wife and four friends, who have now arrived. Quite large group now gathered, pisteur called. Son still being tended to and saying his head hurts. I ask for a phone number from them. Aggressively refuses. None admit to having a mobile (!). At that point he starts to put skis on and tries to ski off. I simply take one ski and walk back to son where pisteur is now in attendance and checking pupil dilation etc. 60 year old comes straight over and gives me a full and hard punch to the face. I laugh, and say if he wants BIG trouble, carry on. Wife comes over and calms him down, he then gives me three incomplete phone numbers, none of which work. I give up and hand him over to pisteur, who gets it out of him.
I shrug it off, assuming he was himself stressed, but pretty shameful behaviour. But 60 year old ex-boxers clearly pack a punch since mu cheek came up nicely a few hours later.
Helmet and back protector worked (POC) - son fine, but interesting dent in helmet (Giro Ricochet).
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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sucks that you had to go through that. Plonkers in all walks and ages in life eh. Hope your son is feeling better.
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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?
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Sorry to here that. What a shame. Hope a cold beer helps.
Funnily enough there is a growing collection of go pro footage of people behaving rather unpleasantly cropping up on the internet (starting fights on piste, etc). I think the telly tubby look is daft on most people, but that's another thread, nevertheless it's showing up some pretty shocking behaviour (including massive overuse of the word dude).
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Surely someone should have called the police ?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Quote: |
(including massive overuse of the word dude).
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Always thought to use the word "Dude" really meant "I am a knob!"
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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valais2, glad your son's OK, and you too. I would have called the police, probably before the punch and certainly after it.
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I think I still would with the pisteur as a witness.
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| Colin B wrote: |
| I think I still would with the pisteur as a witness. |
You are right. I've had run ins with aggressive Dutch in the past. A nasty small minded bunch of cocks. They suffer from "small nation syndrome".
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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.
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valais2, I also think that this should be taken further. However, it may be that he has now gone home as it is Sunday. Glad your son is OK and hope he hasn't been too frightened by the twunt, and hope that your black eye goes down quickly.
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I applaud your restraint. I think I would have thrown the first (barrage of) punch from what you describe. But probably would have let to more regret.
I think this shows we need a bit more US-style security. The pisteur should have threatened to or actually confiscated lift pass for failing to comply with obligations.
I do disagree with generalization re Dutch. I have always has very positive experiences there. But you were lucky he wasn't a Russian, you probably would have been knocked out cold
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Couldnt the Pisteur take his lift pass off him and get details that way?
Glad your son was OK, hope the bloke gets his comeuppance.
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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.
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patricksh,
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But you were lucky he wasn't a Russian, you probably would have been knocked out cold
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I haven't punched anyone since I was about 5. Talking of generalisations. 
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You know it makes sense.
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Pedantica, ...I thought twice about posting this up but glad I did since there are some useful insights in the replies. I wonder if the existence of cameras on phones etc might help build a better culture, ie just everyone aware that incontrovertible evidence is easier to get. That's the first thought. Second is that I really mithered about whether to call the police. Pisteur was good, calm, but you're right, should have taken pass off the guy. I think we all just felt the guy was a fool and shameful. Swiss police can be a bit funny about conflict between different nationalities - if one is a Swiss and the other non-Swiss they tend to be a bit more interested. I wondered about writing via the lift company to the guy to say 'good job I'm not taking it further' but didn't. Should have though. Might drop into the pisteurs' office and see if I can get the guy's address. Many thanks all.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I think I'd still hand the phone numbers over to the police. Maybe I'm glad I didn't say anything in that 'bubble'!!
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Poster: A snowHead
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that video just makes everyone involved look like a knob
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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valais2, I think you showed remarkable restraint too. How's the face?
Someone skied into my little girl last season in Les Gets when she was 7. Quiet, reasonably wide piste, 3 of us on it plus the Frenchman who ended up on top of her. Although I didn't hit him I did lose the plot a bit and had a good shout at him as he seemed to be a tad reluctant to give me his details and I couldn't believe why he was saying that she turned in front of him (she was making nice, regular turns behind me). Anyway, the guy did stay until a patroller arrived, checked her out and established that she was OK and nothing broken or badly hurt. I was very glad that the other person we were skiing with is a nurse and was more calm than me! 
Where did you get your son's back protector from? My daughter has a Giro helmet too - I like them as they fit well with her goggles and there's usually no gap between the top of the goggles and the helmet (hate seeing that!) but I hadn't thought about the back protector.
Glad your son is OK.
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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?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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valais2, Thanks very much for that. Given her love of moguls I think one of these would be good for her. I'm off to have a shop!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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valais2, that's weird - posted up twice - sorry
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| Megamum wrote: |
| I think I'd still hand the phone numbers over to the police. Maybe I'm glad I didn't say anything in that 'bubble'!! |
so because on this whole site one guy gets punched in a completely different scenario then every skier must be viewed as violent thugs?
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| valais2 wrote: |
| valais2, that's weird - posted up twice - sorry |
And now you're talking to yourself! How hard did you get hit?
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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.
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valais2, they wont be able to give you the details - data protection
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valais2, There's a serious lack of sizing chart on their website. How tall is your 6 yo? I just measured my daughter this morning and she's 125.5 cm so not overly tall for an 8 yo. Would you recommend a small or a large? Shame there's no medium. TIA
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I'd have thrown his ski as far away as possible to ensure he couldn't ski off. Even if he was in the right originally, which it doesn't sound like, in a collision with a 6 year old kid there are no winners in getting aggro about it. By the way the phenomenon isn't limited to the Dutch - I've come across lots of older skiers who believe that because thay've been doing it longer they must be in the right.
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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.
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valais2, What is the legal status of pisteurs in Switzerland ? Most of my experience of dealing with skiing accidents is in Italy where the pisteurs were the police.
For the most serious one, their advice was not to press charges as it would have meant returning for any trial. In hindsight we probably should have taken things further as the victim needed a fair bit of physiotherapy.
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valais2, duh, ignore me - just wasn't using my eyes. It looks like she is *just* into the large size or the very top end of the small.
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You know it makes sense.
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geetee, ....I'd go with the large - my eight year old is around that and the large fits well and will do for a few years yet.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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rjs, ....not sure of exact status of pisteurs in CH - will ask them. Good point.
Note your point re physio ie long term injury and thus the importance of getting addresses. I have a friend who was hit, the other skier saw he was still conscious and so skied off, he then saw growing blood pool on the snow - had 5 cm length deep cut on his knee from her edges, needed hospitalisation and 25 sutures, and he was two weeks off skiing.
I think exchange of addresses should be just a formality and no one should blink an eyelid at doing it.
Contrast all this with the time I was in the air off a jump and then a boarder hit me, in the air, from the side - he immediately started apologising while we we still airbourne and we landed holding each other upright - he was in the wrong and was so apologetic that we both laughed it off. And I think that's it -it's all about caring for others frankly.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I clicked the tail of a snowboard on the first day this year on a steepish bit hill - I suspect it was about 50/50 he was blind side on and was making a turn and with my mind down the hill and my own turn mirroring his I think our angles collided - neither was higher on the hill than the other. The guy was part of a group (mixed boarders and skiers - not English), who all stopped - picked me up, chased my missing ski and got it back to me, offered a shoulder as I put it back on and generally we checked that we were all OK and all skied off. No injuries, but no details exchanged either - I think it all depends on the severity of the incident. I also got took short on somewhere to go and ended up zooming through a couple of parents with a learning child. I was closer and faster than I myself would have found acceptable in the same situation, I missed everyone and no-one fell, but in terms of stopping there and then it wasn't about the happen with the current angle of the slope and I felt a bit guilty. When I spotted them at the bottom of the slope a few minutes later I went over and apologised and they said they were fine with it and no harm done - honor satisfied all round. Why do people forget that a little bit of politeness can go a long way in redressing the balance of a less than perfect situation? valais2, your last comment has it spot on IMV
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Sun 4-03-12 14:33; edited 1 time in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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valais2,  hope your little un isn´t put off by this, it is an unforgivable way to act, that man, and all in his group should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. I would have gone totally ballistic.
A few years ago a similar thing happened to my daughter at Kitzsteinhorn, she was about 8 at the time, a completely out of control snowboarder ploughed into her( she is a handy little skier, been racing since she was 6) but she had no chance, she went about 10 meters losing everything, helmet, goggles skis and poles. My OH was skiing behind and saw it all, and he saw the guy look back up at her, saw the carnage he had caused and decided to ski off. OH chased after him and pushed him over, made him take his snowboard off and walk the 100 meters or so to where my daughter was and pick up all her equipment and apologise. It happened just above the Alpine center so there were a lot of people watching and cheering.
Another time, a completely drunken older Austrian man tried to overtake my son on a cat track in Flachauwinkl, he actually pushed my son over the edge and just left him( son was about 10yrs old then) OH skied after him and actual punches were thrown, the pisteurs were called and took the pair of them off to the lift station where the old guys lift pass was confiscated and he was put in a room to sober up. The police were also called.
Unfortunately these accidents will always occur, there are too many people trying to ski beyond their ability, and that goes for ALL nationalities, not just the Dutch.
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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?
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valais2, thanks again - I know what to look for now.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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valais2, he's a lucky man he met you. Some of us (me especially) would have absolutely kicked the fluck out of him! 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| patricksh wrote: |
I applaud your restraint. I think I would have thrown the first (barrage of) punch from what you describe. But probably would have let to more regret.
I think this shows we need a bit more US-style security. The pisteur should have threatened to or actually confiscated lift pass for failing to comply with obligations.
I do disagree with generalization re Dutch. I have always has very positive experiences there. But you were lucky he wasn't a Russian, you probably would have been knocked out cold |
I agree, well done on the restraint, I think I would've blown my lid too, disgraceful atitude towards a small child's well-being
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| valais2 wrote: |
| ...... Pisteur was good, calm, but you're right, should have taken pass off the guy..... |
Tough situation - but I doubt that the pisteur would have had the authority to do that.
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achilles, that's interesting - as I understand it, they have that authority in Italy and the 'States - is that correct? Do you know the situation in Switzerland?
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valais2, hmm yes, if a pisteur doesn't have the authority then who. Hope your son is ok.
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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.
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Lou, ....thanks for asking re son Alex - and for others who have asked - he's fine, monitored him for 8 hrs re pupils (fine), headache (subsided quickly), vomiting (none), consciousness and awareness (normal). He was fine, and we'd organised rides on the piste machines that evening with the local pisteurs so he had a great time driving a 250,000gbp machine for three hours, sitting on the lap of the driver; went up to 3000m and was out until 9.pm. Then monitored him through the night (moved him gently and each time he stirred as he should). Was fine the next day. But both he and his sister ( have been exposed to some ugly behaviour, and were rather shocked by it. But I've explained and talked about it and I think they are both fine. Thanks for asking, appreciate it.
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FAQ
Good to know he is alright 