WHAAM! GAPOWWW! The sudden, unexpected, explosive fall (follow on from ‘Falling’ thread)

A snowHead

Not that the ‘Falling’ thread is bad…just picking up a thread in the…er...thread.

I was reading about the frequency of falls in ‘Falling’ and I reflected on the past five or six seasons. Two or three idiotic incidents – end of day, last run…great hockey-stop outside café...look smug…then fall over while stationary, in front of 100 people….that kind of thing.

But then I thought that I hadn’t really fallen over for a long while – apart from two incidents in the last few years, both nasty, and both of the GAPOWWW! sort of fall.

Last week’s illustrates this:

Doing everything right, steep red into ravine, flatter exit, fast down to lip of next steep, then into crud on lip, sharp turn to scrub speed and GAPOWWWW! Double release, thrown head over heels down steep bank at side of piste – luckily no trees – maybe five metres airbourne and then another five tumbling. All OK … but what the Fffff happened? Bindings have spot on DIN. Tip cranked round and crossed? Boots too loose and ski twisted? ( I do tend to run with loose-ish boots and ski on balance). Maybe sat downhill ski onto top of the back of the inner ski in the tight turn – goodness only knows. There it was – everything 100% and running full chat … then GAPOWWW!

And the one a while ago..simple to explain…
Skiing in zero viz, mighty cold, doing a fast left off piste, nice turn, powder up to knees…then BANG!!! – woke up a few seconds later – had obviously gone forehead first down onto layer of boilerplate (how did that get there?) smashed goggles, Giro helmet nicely compressed on front edge, concussion city and an afternoon nursing nurofen and being VERY GRUMPY….But just instant transition between great day…floaty float.. and BANG! Or GAPOWWWW!

Anyone else?

Safety note inserted by HSE: these are unexpected accidents: Remember kids…do not try these manoeuvres at home….skiing is a risky sport…always wear a TUV-rated colander on your head and don’t go near any mountains…they are pointy and sharp, with lots of rough untidy bits.

A snowHead

My last major stack was when I was happily meadow skipping well off piste but in perfect visibility then went straight over a feature like a ha-ha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha-ha) - landed like a sack of spuds, double ejection, broke my ski pole. fortunately I was only a few 100m from the end of the run and could buy a replacement. only damaged my dignity Laughing

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

Had a good one in the 3V a couple of years ago, straight lining it down a nice red at speed I had the strange experience of having my ski ripped off - fortunately binding released as it should and I did a comedy crash on my remaining ski. Had no idea what had happened until a friend brought the errant ski and I discovered a gouge through the base deep enough to show metal Shocked

There must have been a stray rock lurking in a pile of snow ( the snow was great otherwise). Fortunately the ski shop patched it - the gouge was big enough that I could feel it interfering with the skis running Skullie

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Arno, I also had that coming off the top of the aiguille percé - thinking 'oh, I've done the tricky bit now' I gunned it and was completely taken aback by a little ridge. Less excusable was the guy, who having watched my crash, proceeded to do exactly the same thing Laughing

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My hand last week

My hip last year

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jimmer, ...this is a horror movie of a post....

less GAPOWWW!

and more

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

what did the creature that burst from your hip look like? And was it zapped by Ripley?

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Pictures like that should be censored or at least carry a health warning. I could have been eating my tea. Toofy Grin

After all it is free

Strawberry jam sandwiches anyone?

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Owww owww owww... Yeuch! That's quite grim.

valais2, I can sympathise with the bumped head one, I did something similar recently and although there was nothing spectacular to watch, it was my most painful fall in ages. On the first run of the first day, conditions were very hard packed but with a thin layer of loose, fresh snow on top. I dropped in to a steepish red pitch and as I felt my edges engage, I was instantly on my face. No tumbling or warning, just smack! Goggles split, eye socket and cheek bruised by goggle impact, brain feeling like it was loose. Had to have a sit down. Helmet seemed ok, I think goggles took the impact.

Luckily they were my flat light lenses and the sun came out the rest of the week so I didn't need them too much.

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WTF did you do to your hip man! Shocked

jimmer, nice!

Oooh sorry should say....how irresponsible of you! Hope you analysed the @rse off how you "FAILED" there! wink

You know it makes sense.

Description of my 'best' one from a few years back (and my first ever post on here)

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

A snowHead

Scarlet, ...sounds identical to my fall....no warning whatsoever....very confusing...and worrying. Rattled brain most unpleasant. Did you have any inkling of what might have happened?

A snowHead

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

Won best crash of the week at a race camp last year, I've had eight months to work out whether it was stupidly, crap technique etc. turns out someone put a gate in a place that I wasn't quite ready for, root cause = pushing it a little! Blush

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Had one this christmas. Coming back from Sestriere to Sauze. The Piste was closed apart from allowing people back over. Zero vis', blizzard, worst conditions I've ever skid in. We'd stopped to get our bearings (work out which way was up and which was down) when I was suddenly launched across the piste; Flew 20-30 feet through the air. At first I thought it was someone skiing into me but it was a huge gust of wind. My friend was stood 6ft from me saw me fly but never felt it!

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valais2, not entirely sure, it was a very fast fall. I was engaging the skis to start the turn, but there was no turn, just instant ground! The skis seemed to get away from me and I just went straight down, like slipping over on ice. No one in my group saw it happen, as they were still above the brow of the lump. A bad place to fall, I was quickly aware, when I realised that no one coming down the slope would see me until they were too close.

I wasn't sold on the conditions that morning - I don't mind hard pack, but the loose snow on top seemed to make it feel more like ice, like the grip was poor, as if the slope was covered in sugar.

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Had a couple of heavy, jarring falls this season, but nothing too bad. Generally getting carried away charging low vis pow, and not spotting dips/compressions/drops onto flat cat tracks (or one time a massive chunk of old avi debris). The worst thing I've done to myself skiing so far didn't actually involve falling - skiing bumps in blizzard conditions, with the poor vis I pole planted into a mogul at an awkward angle which did something to my wrist. Never got round to getting it checked out, most of the time it's fine, but will occasionally 'tweak' it and put up with a couple of days pain and weakness in the joint.

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After all it is free

A couple of years ago in Les Arcs I was sweeping for our group, so waited until they had gone a decent way down before heading off at speed.
All is going nicely until one ski just stops, and I mean stops dead and I catapult through the air.
Apparently the sight was akin to a Tom and Jerry fight, big ball of snow with the occasional ski/arm/head appearing and disappearing.
Regain my composure and collect the debris. WTF......My ski pole is stuck in the ski brake and really stuck hence the abrupt stop.
To this day I have no idea how that could have happened!

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Cloudy all morning and then it all lifts coming down Campagnol, a red on Mont Vallon in the Meribel Valley. 10 of us all flying but none of us see a deceptive hump. This hump has a huge fall on the other side and we hit it doing Mach3, 3 survived the flight, 6 crashed hugely and one taking slower filmed the aftermath. There were skis huge distances from skiers and we flew massive distances. I had time to plan my landing/crash, arms in, leave go of poles, ponder the consequences. etc etc Only injury, apart from bruising, was a snapped finger tendon. We all missed each other on landing and were very lucky. The speed was such that I remember thinking that I was barely in control and it would be a disaster if I needed to take evasive action.

The video below is taken by the last, slower skier who arrived and took out his camera probably some 20 seconds after the incident.

http://youtube.com/v/wOivqHLhHAg

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Frosty the Snowman, that video is hilarious (with due sympathy for the finger injury of course)!

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Arno, We howl with laughter whenever the subject is brought up... and the finger wasn't mine Laughing

So far this season:
- I bruised/cracked some ribs hitting a sharp invisible compression that dug my ski pole into my ribs on my first day in flat light. Didn't fall though but was unexpected and nasty.
- Opened up my elbow without damaging my jacket after being taken out by a rock and landing on other rocks. Not as gory as jimmer but worth a few stitches:

- Landed on a cut-off tree branch/stump and gone spiraling down through trees without hitting anything else. Jarred a previously sprained ankle from climbing in the summer.
- Carked it skiing crud at high-speed but nothing happened apart from a couple of tumbles before standing up and having to click back into the Dynafit heel piece on one ski whilst pootling off.
- Got taken out by another rock last week after clipping them on the previous two turns, rolled over a few more then was back on my feet and skiing away. Didn't hurt but a bit stiff the next day.

My favourite has been skiing down a short, steep section with skins on, heels loose last weekend only to hit a bit of icy moss under the snow and doing the insta-headplant into nice soft snow. Completely unexpected and completely hilarious.

You know it makes sense.

Arno, The finger was not mine Toofy Grin

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

That yard sale video is indeed hilarious, but at the risk of being accused yet again of all kinds of undesirable personality traits I have to say that some of the stuff on this thread is fairly horrifying. On another thread everyone has been sympathetic and sad about the fate of the small boy whose skull was smashed by an out of control beginner who snowploughed into him. The skiers on this thread are not beginners - what's the excuse for being so out of control? Evil or Very Mad

What if a parent was tending to a small child who had crashed just over the crest in the video?

When a liftie crashed into and killed someone in an American resort some years ago he was jailed precisely because he was an expert skier, so had no excuse.

One poster above was worried after an unexpected fall because he thought his ski companions would be so out of control they wouldn't be able to stop after his crash. Did they all carry on hooning around over blind horizons afterwards?

We've no doubt all realised at times that we "got away lightly" after an incident when we were breaking the rules. But some people would feel chastened and rather ashamed - and resolve to behave a bit more responsibly next time. I certainly did, when I avoided a small girl who was skiing perfectly sensibly by far too small a margin. It made me feel really guilty and stupid. Some of the posters on this thread rather give the impression that it was all a bit of a lark and material for a big of male bonding in the bar. Not much sign of contrition.

A snowHead

pam w, we do this ^^ on just about every thread, can't we have just one thread where we don't do this, please just one? Pretty please...

A snowHead

Admin, can we move this to ...Rebelzone?

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

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That's a big ask.... Your silence on one thread, for mine on all future threads! Hmm....

Ok Pam, you can carry on..... wink

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Well it won't be easy, but I'll try...

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pam w, as per the other thread the answer is poo-poo happens. The vast majority of the crashes above aren't anything to do with being out of control.

After all it is free

I have said that as long as gatecrasher doesn't resort to ad hominem insults rather than rational arguments I will butt out of this thread. wink

My sudden explosive fall was from a path in Peak District - I wasn't skiing. Last part of day long walk, indistinct path down rocks at side of valley with steam lower down (40ft?) at base of valley. Well equipped group, good boots, protective clothing, daysacks with what you'd expect us to have etc. Trail was working from one large rock to another and I was walking last. To this day I don't know how it happened, but wooshhhh (yes, I def. think it was a Wooshhhh!) I was no longer standing on the rock I had been on and was falling at some speed through the bracken towards the bottom of the valley. I don't think I would have made it, but for my elbow encountering a rock and stopping the fall about 15 ft down.

Those in front report turning and like some comedy sketch just seeing a load of dust going skywards with no sight of me at all. meh, I ended up with a similar injury to my right elbow though mine was a graze about 6" square full of grits and dirt, bleeding its heart out and that went all sorts of interesting colours over the next couple of weeks. I don't know about helmets for skiing, but after that I considered if you needed them for walking LOL - there were a huge number of rocks in the following 25' if I hadn't stopped!! I also think that my rucksack probably stopped my injuring my back though I did suffer from upside down turtle syndrome when I had stopped. Luckily I walked out without needing professional help.

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pam w, I'm actually with you on the nothing big or clever about wrecking, but they can be funny in hindsight, and my conscience is clear on my one because i was skiing pretty conservatively and there was no-one within 100m of me

Help!!

WHAAM! GAPOWWW! The sudden, unexpected, explosive fall (follow on from ‘Falling’ thread)

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