 Poster: A snowHead
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Just to get us reminiscing a bit more whats the worst tumble/stumble/fall that folks have had from a lift - I'll start it off by my first bad one- on a t-bar in Rauris, Austria heading up to do my first red run ever, knocked the skis together, stumbled back bottom over t*t into the deep stuff at the side, the rest of the class carried on oblivious to me and after I trudged through waist deep powder for about 100 yards I snowploughed/slid/crawled to the bottom.
Over the years I've had a few with Kids involved - top of Albona Chair in St Anton (season opening weekend) - so busy getting 11 yr old sorted for dismount I got my ski caught up, liftie stopped the chair and lifted my son down but left me to my first "cliff drop" of all of 4 ft onto the ice - needless to say a very undignified spectacle.
Best/worst one so far - Schladming a few years ago (first morning) Me,Racer boy 9yr old and 14 yr old son(he of St Anton fame), and 19 stone geordie mate waiting for a 4 pack - me, 14 and geordie sat down, racer boy sat down too early and got turfed over the drop - Dad to the rescue pulled another amazing cliff drop (a good one this time) got the boy and made haste to get out of the way, feeling really pleased with myself until racerboy points at something in the snow - I'd only dropped THE BL**DY PASSPORTS - had them in the pack for lift pass i.d. for the boys - a lucky escape as we were on Ryanair !!!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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My third ski trip, I was just getting to grips with reds, frightened of blacks, was in Les Arcs and plucked up courage to do the full length Aguille Rouge - Villaroger run. Excelled myself by skiing it beautifully (relatively). Waited for the chair back up from Villaroger. Fluffed the chairlift. Smacked my head hard. Fell in a snowdrift. All dignity lost.
I wear a helmet these days mostly to prevent injury from these kinds of self inflicted embarrassments.
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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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briand6868, Oh damn... I had a horrible feeling this thread would come up at some point. Now... Where to start...? 
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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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Grunhandl in Lofer, Austria. Not exactly a fall, but it's a t-bar with a very short unloading area and then a big bank of snow about 80cm high. I didn't unload quick enough, ended up (without t-bar,luckily) knee-deep in the huge snowbank witht he tips of skis very firmly stuck.
Also a chairlift in Whistler... Being sued to Austrian chairs that have barriers which open when it's your turn,my dad has no idea about judging when it is your turn to go and when it isn't, so at one point he was like 'let's go!' And it wasn't our chair at all so there were eight people on the mat for a four person chair. Oh dear.
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I think it was the world cup lift in Are Sweden, it's a 2 man chair, the 2 skiers on the chair in front collided on the ramp and went down, the liftee wasn't paying attention, you have to take a sharpish right or you hit a wall of snow as you get off, this was impossible as it was blocked by bodies, said to boyfriend slow ahead, stop and duck and I'll get the liftees attn, instead, he tries to stay on the lift then changes his mind and plants his board on my skis, he falls over so that hes curled round my shins, the chair hits me and catapults me head first over him straight in to the wall of ice, badly spraining my wrist and nearly knocking me senseless, only after the next chair spews its passengers into the back of us does the liftee stop the chair. The cheeky cow then has the audacity to ask if it is the first time I have been on a chairlift and tries to blame me for the whole thing.
The other 2 couples backed me up and eventually she did apologise with extremely bad grace.
Was very glad I was wearing a helmet, dread to think what the outcome would have been otherwise, as it was I had a headache for 48hrs after.
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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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Nothing spectacular, but I will always remember the embarrassment of muttering about singles going up on a t-bar with a long queue on their own, and when it came to my turn I managed to cause the Austrian expert that I went up with to fall a few meters from the top on the steepest section.
Another drag lift incident on about my second or third trip. It was in Pas de la Casa - a long drag with a dog leg (this is 20 odd years ago so it probably isn't there any more). I got to the front of the queue, and my pole arrived without the button thing. Being a newbie I didn't think to just tip the trigger and let it go. I hung on to that bloody thing for ages and very nearly made it to the top 
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lilywhite,
if you will load with boarders... 
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Musher, I've never shared a chair with that specific boarder since, you can imagine the rows that has caused!I have been known to join the singles line just to leave him behind, lol 
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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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Not me falling, but queueing for a chair in Le Corbier and had a small child foisted upon me by the local ESF. All was fine until we were 20m or so from the offload. Quite a sttep upramp meant i left the bar down as long as possible, then lifted. As soon as i did so the child decided it was time to go, and hopped off , with still a fifteen or twenty foot drop under him. I just caught him by the collar, and held on for the next couple of seconds which saw him dragged unceremoniously under the chair and safely down the the offload ramp. Little bug started yelling and shouting at me like I'd just cancelled Christmas, so I decided good deed for the day done and left post haste before the inevitable miscommunication with 'Monsieur ESF' happened.
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You know it makes sense.
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On a lift with an experienced skier: I am not an exponent of wearing a helmet much to the ribald new group remarks, we are given a child to look after, everyone thinks the other will lift the bar, child still has feet on bar we are now in the lift station, lift is turning back down, I throw child forward to safety as he falls off, I am caught by the lift and thrown over the chap beside me and go head first into a ladder bolted to the lift stanchion stunning me. Sympathy extends to; serves you right, red helmet- colour of the blood would suit you.
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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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Alone on a modern 4 pack in Val Cenis last year, cramming in an extra run at lunch time, I decided to follow my wife`s advice from earlier in the day of changing my dismount technique, and shuffled my bum much closer to the edge of the seat as I put the bar up. I fell into the pit next to the netting, 2 or 3 meters below. Normally I sit back and use my upper body strength to propel myself onto the ramp. I fell so far before the ramp that as I lay there, expecting the lifties to stop the lift, all I saw was 3 of them pointing at me from the window and laughing. Humiliation, tempered by the fact that my wife, or many others, were not around to witness the incident.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Learning in Sauze, poma, path crossed the track, young skier jumped the gun and took me out. I took off pack down the poma track and took out every member of my lesson apart from the instructor who just skied around the approaching bowling balls.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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This should be combined with the "lift" thread... because while I like using POMA lifts, I tend to get bored about half way up... I then get distracted and start making pretty patterns with my skis as the Poma gently pulls me along... I then try and create a little ridge of snow in the middle of the track for the person (normally my wife or daughter) on the button behind... I then catch an outside edge and have to try and regain my footing looking like a frogman attempting the 100m dash!!!
More than once I have had to look behind at my laughing family and shout "It's alright... I intended to do that!"
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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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St Anton, I think it was the chair from St Christoph, a classic, as we lifted the bar up I didn't notice one of my backpack straps getting jammed as the bar went up. As I went to get up it pulled me down and started lifting the backpack off but I wasn't letting go! So the chair started dragging me back down the mountain it seemed to take forever to stop especially as my OH and brother couldn't shout stop for laughing...
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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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Not really had a particularly embarrassing one myself, but a friend did...
In St Anton, on the Rendl there is a drag lift (can't remember if it is a button or a T-Bar) which goes up next to the board park. My friend is a boarder, and hates drag lifts. He has been boarding for years though, he is no beginner.
Everyone else manages to get to the top of the lift just fine, and we are waiting for this guy for about 40-45 mins to come up this lift. He just kept on and on falling off it, and getting angrier and angrier. Occasionally we would stand at the top and look down to see if we could see him, one time I saw him fall off and then just start punching the snow in anger. It was hilarious.
Eventually I think he took the board off and walked up.
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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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I'm not normally one for this kind of confession, but here goes....
As a student in the mid-80's in Aberdeen, I and a few friends got roped in to help with the organising of the British University ski championships in Aviemore. We slept in a tent on the banks of the Spey by the road bridge, and nearly froze to death, so having had next to no sleep and far too much whisky (to keep warm, you understand), we arrived at the base of the mountain. It was blowing a hoolie, and the mountain was shut except for the racing because of this. The racing was up on the right hand side of the bowl as you look up - I don't remember the name, but this was way before the funicular was even an idea.
So my mate Mike and I are sent up with a load of kit. Mike has about 20 poles for the gates under his arms and I have a large cardboard box full of flags and a 2 gallon container of red dye for marking the pole positions etc. We get onto the T-bar together, and head on up. Because of the wind, all fresh snow has been blown away, and the T-bar track was decidedly shiny, but we're doing fine, despite not having a spare hand to hold on with due to all the kit.
About 3/4 of the way up, there is a ridge - as we go over it we get hit by the full force of the wind and it is all over. Because of the ice, we start to slide, taking out 4 pairs of people as we go before we manage to stop and get off the track (bodies sliding past us at this point, taking out others - complete carnage). Somehow, Mike has held onto the poles and not skewered anybody. I have managed to hold onto the flags (well, most of them, anyway). But the 2 gallon container of red dye.... I watch in horror as it picks up speed down the track before finally contacting with the ski tip of someone coming up about 100 yards below us and exploding - I can still see the moment in slow motion over 25 years later. It looked as if someone had been run over by a pistie beastie, and as for the couple the dye hit.... well you can imagine.
We eventually managed to deliver what was left of the kit and the racing went ahead. The prize giving ceremony that night was one of the most embarassing moments of my life......
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rg1, a classic.
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An old 2-man rattler lift in Mammoth, friend and I are heading up to start sessioning a rather nice bowl down into gladed area we'd been riding the day before. It's mid-week and quiet as can be, and we're heading up early doors. Like i said we've been up this route the day before and know whats waiting for us, a bit icy but ok exit, hooking off to the right... or do we...
The lifty that morning had taken it upon himself to dig out and rebuild the exit ramp to the lift, thinking nobody would be coming up at that time of the morning on a thursday, so when we arrive we're greeted by a surprised looking liftie with a shovel and a 3 foot drop off the seat of a lift that doesn't slow down. So we drop. I hit the deck and immediately lose the board from underneath me on boilerplate ice, knowing the chair it about to whistle over my head, I lie flat as possible and wait to scramble out. Friend drops off her seat, but lands on the tail of her board, which compresses and springs her perfectly back into the air to be recollected by the chair, and off around the corner into the emergency stop switch; stopping the lift dead with her swinging in space, wailing; me lying under a chair which is now swinging like Poe's pendulum about a foot from my face, and a liftie laughing so hard he can barely breathe. We had to get the ladder to get her off the lift...
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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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One of the more famous bash crashes happend in Les Deux Alpes, I think it was the PSB07... ish. Myself and II in a private lesson with easiski. We were together on a T-bar on the glacier and there was a very short, steep section leading up to the off ramp. This meant that due to the angle between snow and cable that we travelled very quickly up the steep bit and then virtually stopped as it flattened, and then jerked again to start moving. Now II and I (III) are not the lightest individuals and we calculated the joint weight of man and equipment to be over 300kg. The T-bar rope was a little frayed where it joined onto the T-bar itself, and as the cable jerked..... it snapped. We both shot a glance at each other, both with that "oh poo-poo" look on our faces, and off we set, linked at the hip, back down a very steep ramp. Terminal velocity was soon reached and the inevitable explosion of snow, ice, equipment and bodies happened about 20 m down the slope.
We were the only people still out on the glacier and we were both hoping for urgent assistance from easiski; sadly this was not to be as we could both see her, unable to move, paralysed with fits of uncontrollable laughter. Much to our surprise, our natural padding seemed to have saved us, the same could not be said of the T-bar... which was now a J-bar.
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rg1, quality
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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I got the strap of a backpack caught on a chair in Val d'Isere. As I was getting off it felt as if I was being tugged backwards, until the chair started to go around the bullwheel and I was suddenly yanked on to my chest being dragged forwards. I tried, but failed, to wriggle out of the backpack as I was being dragged along. The miserable experience only came to an end when I headbutted the emergency stop bar, which was conveniently placed at forehead height when you are being dragged along on your front. French liftie was very prompt in jumping out of his hut to shout at me. Shame he wasn't so quick on the stop button.
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Not me, but sadly my friend Tim is not with us any more so I'll have to tell his tale.
University ski trip to Schladming, about 1985.
Tim was a solid athlete, very strong and a good skier.
Long drag....Tim starts going out to one side, the "competition" being to see who could lay down the tracks furthest from the drag line.
Suddenly the lift stops....and stays stopped.
Eventually people start abandoning and skiing/walking out to the piste.
A snowmobile races past me on its way up, and shortly reappears coming back down with Tim as an extra passenger.
Several hours later he reappeared....out of JAIL!
He had laid the widest track alright....but it was so wide that it put enough lateral pressure on the cable to pop it off the roller and the lift had unravelled!
thay took him to the local jail, and threatened to either charge him aor hold him on remand until he coughed up the fine which was the equivalent of £10,000.
It took a while for him to explain that he was a student, no chance of ever being able to pay that....in the end they just let him go.
I still think of him every time I ride a drag lift and start to lay down some tracks.
RIP old mate.
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You know it makes sense.
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rob@rar, Ouch!
Mine was 10 years ago in St Anton. Lined up with 3 others waiting for 4 person chair to come gliding in behind us, pre-carpet days, waiting for thump on legs. It didnt come and I ended up sat on my OH's knee..........needless to say they'd all shuffled up for a laugh in the queue and I was left with nowhere to sit.
I ended up in the net below the out-zone, ski's tangled and expletives everywhere............oh how all in the lift queue enjoyed my pseudo-marines fall into the netting below! Needless to say whenever we go on the same lift now I make doubly sure theres a seat coming with my name on it!
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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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Knobheyd who I had the misfortune to go on holiday with as part of our group but anyway. He got a backpack and full 'gear' but was using snowblades ! Gets on lift with good snowboarder matess and others. Cocks up getting off, falls flat on face andthen straps on backpack caught in chair, gets dragged round, suspended over a drop, general carnage. Hilarious.
Matess was more worried people might think she, the snowboarder, had caused it.
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Poster: A snowHead
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rg1, andwhat prize did they give you for that ??
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I have 2 which stick in my memory.
The first was me. It was my first ski holiday, in fact my first time ever on skis and I'd gone on holiday on my own. This was in the late 80's in Zell am Ziller. Being a complete beginner, I signed up for lessons. First morning arrived at the gondola station. Where does the ski school meet? I ask. Take the gondola up and then the ski school is at the top of the chair lift, I am told. OK, get off the top of the gondola and look over at the chair lift and watch for a few moments. everyone going up has their skis on - so you must need your skis on to go up a chair lift thinks I. So, I clip on a pair of skis for the first time in my life and shuffle into the que. It gets to my turn and somehow I end up on the chair on my own. I manage to sit on the chair and hold on the the side with my right hand with my poles in my left. How do you get the bar down with poles in one hand and the other holding on for grim death??? I abandon that idea and go all the way up with the bar up, worried the whole time that I am going to fall off at any minute. Then I think of another problem - how do you get off this thing? I get to the top, my poles which by this time are dangling by my hand on the bottom of the seat hit the edge of the top station and go flying. Fortunately the liftie is paying attention and realised I'm in trouble, grabs me by my right arm, pulls me off the chair.............. and then LET'S GO.............. I shoot uncontollably down the slope on the other side taking out people as I go. I eventually come to a halt, dust myself off and pick myself up, only to find some g*t with a video camera filming the whole thing!!! I still expect to see this on you've been framed sometime.
The second incident was much later and involved my then 6yr old daugter Robyn and the West Wall Poma at Cairngorm. My wife, daughter and I had skied down as far as the bottom of the poma and decided that rather than go all the way down to the bottom, we would go back up the poma. My wife and I had used it loads of time but it was Robyn's first time. Not her first time on a poma, but her first time on the west wall. Scottish poma's are not like the continental ones, the Scottish ones are much more challenging!! Mrs weedram goes first and off she goes. Robyn goes 2nd and is jerked off her feet, flat on her face! tries again - same thing. 3rd time lucky - this time she manages to stay on, but the poma lifts her about a foot in the air and she starts spinning round as she goes up! The liftie stops the lift and poor Robyn is left dangling about a foot in the air. She'll need to get off says the helpfull liftie - no kidding! I lift her off and fortunately just as I'm about to start arguing with the liftie for help, one of the skidoo's arrives to see why the lift has stopped. I manage to persuade the guy on the skidoo to take Robyn to the top and I can meet her there. A few minutes later, as I am travelling up the poma, I see Robyn flying about the piste on the back of the skidoo with a huge grin on her face - I've still never managed to get a shot on one of these.
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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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rungsp, fabulous story. Thanks for sharing.
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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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There are two adjacent drag lifts out of central La Rosiere. The left hand side has a sort of slingshot effect a bit like when a clay pigeon trap lets one go. You yank the pole, shove the button between your legs and then hang on for the slightly delayed and violent departure.
I had a bad back one year and such was the violence of the acceleration, that the motion actually remedied the pain
Anyway, there I am in the "wrong" queue again and in line for the left hand side Poma. There were several ski schools going up and pisteurs in attendance to assist and clear up the usual leftie lift carnage. So, there I am, Camelbak on and Motorola walkie talkie clipped to the shoulder strap when the (rather attractive female) liftie decides it would be a real gag to grab hold of the walkie-talkie and gob off to anyone that might be tuned in. Oh my, she and her cohorts were chuckling away.
Meanwhile, in the distraction, memory reflexes took over and I'd grabbed the Poma pole, yanked it to release the mechanism and shoved the button between legs.........only the liftie, in grabbing the Motorola had hooked her hand and fingers into the Camlebak straps.
Seconds later, my lower body is ejected uphill whilst upper body is now struggling with a rather pretty liftie who has descended into outright belly laughing. Gravity eventually reasserted itself and I crashed down, skis and shit everywhere and one and all having a right old laugh. I couldn't get out of there quick enough.
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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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weedram, You are Kevin and I claim my £5 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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My worst lift experience was also in la Rosiere. I was sitting on one of the slow chairs heading up to the Fort area with my husband. We were about to get off when I realised the cord in my hood had got stuck between the slats in the chair. I was therefore trapped in the chair. The lift operator did not stop the lift and I eventually yanked my hood free and then tried to get off before the chair turned the corner and went back round.
As I had missed the correct disembarkation point I had to jump a couple of feet to the ground. Fortunately I landed upright (nothing broken) and skied off. It was a little scary afterwards thinking what might have happened. Have since bought a new ski jacket so will hopefully not have the same incident again.
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I was following someone up on a poma once and their poma button fell of half way up the lift. They had a really shocked look on their face as they slid backwards before crashing into a heap in the snow at the side.
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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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I was on another Poma once, when the button fell off. Really quite a shock, tumbling down backwards and to the side where I stopped in a huge heap of snow. As if that wasn't bad enough, some git behind me in an all-red ski outfit was wetting himself with laughter
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FAQ
