knoch Posted March 11, 2004 Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 rock on nate, i hadn't really thought about that phase where you sit there trying to remember how you got there and what day it was and all that. and now that you mention it, thats exactly what happened. then someone handed me a video camera, and said, since you are standing here by this jump doing nothing why dont you film for a while. i was like, duh, ok. so i just filmed, everything, i even forgot who i was supposed to be filming and whos camera it was, and then i forgot that i drove myself to the hill, i was like, how am i going to get home? it was great. i watched the video i took later, and damn that short term memory loss turned me into one heck of a camera man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NateW Posted March 11, 2004 Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 Yeah, I remember sitting there thinking, oh, so this is what they mean when they say 'disoriented.' And the lost memories around the moment of the accident, that's just weird. It's not like "I forgot what happened next," it's like, I was looking at the jump and then I was lying on my back wiggling my toes to see if I still could. I had very clear memories of before and after - but nothing in between, not even a feeling that any time passed. Crepitus - The sound a bone makes when the broken ends grind together. clavicles do that? its more of a feeling than a sound. like...rocks in a bag, grinding together I never experienced griding, but, several weeks later... I was having trouble getting comfortable so I could sleep, and I wanted to move my arm, but I was afriad to put any stress on it because the bones were just beginning to knit. So, I used my fingers to "walk" my hand down towards my hip, moving my arm very, very gently in the process. My hand managed to crawl about 6 inches before I heard a "pop" from my shoulder as the barely-knitted bones came apart. The doctor told me later that it probably didn't set the healing back much at all - at that stage the bones are almost magnetic. I didn't know that, so at the time I was cursing up a storm thinking the healing process was going to have to to start all over. :rolleyes: Not fun. Not one little bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason_watkins Posted March 11, 2004 Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 NateW: I love your storytelling. So far I've been very lucky to avoid any bad falls. I did have one day at timberline where I was following a friend toward the top of this creek bed (the one over by stormin'). Suddenly he swerves wildly to the left and goes down out of control screaming something the whole time, and I look forward to see the big nasty rocks looming in front now that he's moved. My only choice was to swerve right instead. Thought something along the lines of "whew, dodged that one"... just as I went sailing off a ledge that I hadn't seen in the whiteout. Total wiley coyote moment there in the air. Not sure how fell I far, but it was long enough for me to slowly rotate over the nose of the board until I landed literally on my goggles... I got to hear and feel some lovely crunching noises as my neck bent back farther than it probibly ever will again, and then I tumbled to a stop. I managed to collect up my gear and bomb down said creek to meet up with my buddies. I felt groggy and nausious all day. That convinced me to buy a helment, and I'm glad I did. The other weekend right after my very lucky slide down one of the bowls, I managed to catch my toeside edge on the kick of a table top and slammed the landing on the side of my head. It nocked the wind outta me, but no damage done at all. Lesson learned: helmet good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ncermak Posted March 11, 2004 Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 "Helmet good" seems to be a popular theme through this thread... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vahur Posted March 11, 2004 Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 Originally posted by ncermak "Helmet good" seems to be a popular theme through this thread... Those, who thought otherwise, are not among us anymore to tell stories. It's called natural selection, I believe :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dragon boy Posted March 11, 2004 Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 Hi, new to this forum. I've become addicted to BOL... enjoy the community here. Couldn't resist commenting on this one... Y2K, Mt Buller Australia, second year carving on a Skwal. Poor viz and windy conditions, traversing between two runs, following bright orange wooden markers.... marker.. marker.. marker.. BANG!.. Classic example of "you'll be likely to hit the obstacle if you look at it"... Was out long enough for my brother in law (who was riding in front of me) to walk back up the hill to see what had happened after running out of patience waiting for me at the bottom. Unfortunately, wasn't wearing a helmet. Clipped the wooden post on my right side.. small fracture to base of skull, with internal bleeding in my right ear canal... could only hear muffled sounds through my right ear for two weeks... and a corked thigh.. couldn't even walk. rode with ski-patrol on ski-doo back down. Oh.. the loss of memory thing?.. might as well be called "short term Amnesia".. thats what it felt like... for 5 minutes as I sat there. Sad thing is.. I still haven't bought myself a helmet. I think I will after having read this thread. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjl Posted March 11, 2004 Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 Maybe 2nd year on a snowboard, still in softies, and just getting fast enough to do some damage. Flew off a lip, got some air, and landed on my toeside edge. Softboots didn't have enough support and my calves weren't strong enough to hold the toeside in, so my ankles flexed, and that pesky heelside edge touched the snow at a billion miles an hour. Before I had time to think, I was airborne, doing a backflip, and I landed on the back of my head and neck, and everything went bright, bright blue as my sunglasses flew off my head. The energy of the crash compressed me and then rebounded me like a spring trampoline off of my head and neck back into the air, and I did a full backflip (blue/white/blue) and landed on the back of my head and neck again. The energy of _that_ crash compressed me and rebounded me again like a spring trampoline back into the air, and I did a half of a backflip (white) and landed squarely on my stomach, face down in the snow, groaning. Also did the "Can I move my arms? Check. Can I move my legs? Check." I went up to check my sunglasses, and they were like 60 feet back up the slope, which means that I had essentially done one and a half back handsprings (except by "handspring" I mean "necksprings"), flying 30-40 each time I went airborne... pretty cool, I thought. ...and then I bought a helmet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Gendzwill Posted March 11, 2004 Report Share Posted March 11, 2004 This one's an old ski story - when I was a teenager, I was flying down the hill at the top of Marmot Basin. At that time, there was a T-bar servicing this big open field. As happens on wide open blue runs, you can build a lot of speed before you realize it. I tried to stop, and succeeded only in careening a hard right to end up headed straight for the T-bar line. I could see people scrambling to get off the Ts to avoid impending death. Then I saw a little bump ahead. The bump had a sign that said "this one's for you, Neil". I hit that bump at about a billion mph (relative to my comfort zone) and blew up with pieces landing about 5 feet short of the T-bar line. As I looked back up the hill, I could see my hat, poles, gloves and most surprisingly, skiis, scattered all over. The skiis were a surprise because this was back when we still had safety straps - snapped 'em both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NateW Posted March 12, 2004 Report Share Posted March 12, 2004 (blue/white/blue) Yeah! That! I had a crash last year where I just got going too fast on uneven terrain, caught an edge, and got the white/blue/white/blue experience. I wasn't hurt (just embarassed), but that white/blue/white/blue was certainly an experience to remember... Sky snow sky snow sky OOOF! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted March 12, 2004 Report Share Posted March 12, 2004 Sky snow sky snow sky OOOF! heh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jeffnstefanie Posted March 14, 2004 Report Share Posted March 14, 2004 I was at Mont Tremblant trying to keep up with my 71 year old father-in-law when I hit a bump and all the sudden I had that weigtless feeling. When I looked down to see what my board was doing there was nothig but blue sky under it. This seemed to last a long time but in reality it was a fraction of a second, it is in my head like a picture. I was not injured and someone was nice enough to stop and pick up my goggles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jeffnstefanie Posted March 14, 2004 Report Share Posted March 14, 2004 pipe monkey ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underdog Posted March 14, 2004 Report Share Posted March 14, 2004 where to begin? the beginning of course.....dateline 1995....first year on a board (skied for about 8)....confidence was growing, so was my speed....full camo outfit, sans helmet....night skiing one march evening i decided to curl over this dropoff that was giving me fits all season. i did a perfect heelslide over the crest-turned a few times down the steep and picked up some ungodly speed(way too much for a rookie on a pj and variplates). because of excessive back-patting on my part, i didn't see the death cookie from hell in my path. i straightened my body zigged when my board zagged and caught an edge. i proceded to flip and flop for about 2 and 1/2 lift poles. i hit every edge of my body and board many times. it was night skiing so it was black/white/flourescent/repeat x6 or 7times. i know it was a long time because i had time to pray that my legs would not snap while i was bouncing along. when i came to a stop, i checked inventory and was ok..shaken not stirred. someone from the lift yelled the standard "are you ok" i waved and mumbled to myself, "beer me". to add insult to injury i had to go up and down 2 lifts to get back to my car. humbling indeed. the following year my so called pals talked me into attempting a 360 on my 163 alp. not only did they capture that ridiculousness on video, but i had to go to the emergency room the next day..hip pointer ugh. at least i wasn't in camo. from that point forward i decided-tricks are for kids-silly jackass! to the person with the post about hydrocones....i know what you mean, just got back from the e.c.e.s.- wouldn't have gotten through 3 days without them....modern medicine rules!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~tb Posted March 15, 2004 Report Share Posted March 15, 2004 I was riding my 195 having a blast. . . somehow, the board hooked up into a really tight turn, and I got thrown forward on the board. (I ride regular) on a heel side carve, my left arm went UNDER the nose of the board, carved the entire length under the edge, and shot out the back. Still cant understand the mechanics of it all, but in the aftermath it looked like I tried to commit suicide with a butter knife! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orser506 Posted March 16, 2004 Report Share Posted March 16, 2004 come off the top of the Horn at Crabbe(where??). Anyway the kids were to far behind to see what happened after I lifted off and I don't remember starting the run.Knocked the liv'n Bjesus out off me but never broke anything. Good thing about that type is that it is hard to be scared of what happened if you don't remember what happened. Now for this year , 4th time out on carv'n board and wham , I got t-boned right in the knees by my son.If he would have stood up and hit me like a man he would have knocked the **** out of me but he dropped down and took me out at knee level. ACL and MCL tore up and here it is 3 months later still waiting for surgery. Yippe skipee ,free medicare in Canada,Just hope to hell ya don't die before they get to ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted March 16, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 16, 2004 Whited out at Lake Louise on the weekend coming over from the back to the front, there's a blue run which heads down and then hairpins around to the front. I couldn't see five feet in front of me, but I made a heelside turn where I thought the hairpin was, and must have missed it by about ten feet! I carved backwards off the edge of the trail and went straight down on my head (helmet) from about a foot high (I suppose). After I blinked a few times and sat up I still had to make it to where my friends were at the bottom of the run. Funny thing was, even though the whiteout had cleared enough to see, every time I pointed the board downhill I ended up traversing sideways and landing in a heap. Apparently concussion does that for you... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted March 16, 2004 Report Share Posted March 16, 2004 I was in similar conditions at Bachelor two Fridays ago, when Randy S. and I demoed each others' boards. We were both trying to make our way over to a groomed run from the top of the lift and lo and behold, there was a good sized gully running through the traverse area that neither of us saw. We both droped somewhere betwwen 8 and 15 feet off it. I landed flat, sprained my ankle, and will be "visualizing from the bar" as someone else put it till mid to late April. I talked to Randy and it seemed he was OK after a few beers that evening :) Sounds like he landed on the tail unlike me who landed flat. To make matters worse, the first doctor I saw about the sprain misdaignosed it as a simple 1st degree sprain. It wasn't getting any better after a week so I had it looked at again by my chiropractor, not only is it a 2nd degree sprain but my tibia and fibia were wrenched out of place. Fortunately she knows what she's doing and got therm all back in place without too much pain. Watch out for those whiteouts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest stoked Posted March 17, 2004 Report Share Posted March 17, 2004 In 10 years I had one crash, one minor collision (skiers fault) and one almost collision that was the scariest thing ... Last run in the afternoon, I wait for the rather steep Roda slope at Fanningberg to completely clear up, look over 1000 feet at the slope above me, nobody there and start carving long turns that couldn't be more predictable. Nevertheless a skier going straight downhill at mach 2 manages to almost kill me or him or both of us when I was doing my 3rd turn like 10 seconds after I started. I didn't look up but saw something in the corner of my eye so I stopped the turn and he passed through a 2 or 3 feet space that was still left between myself and the edge of the slope. If I would have just made that turn that space would have been gone and he would have either hit me or the trees over the edge of the slope which would have been his only option to evade me at this point. Talk about ruthless snowboarders ... my one crash though was very spectacular. Very steep and narrowly groomed slope, don't make that turn tight enough, get caught with the nose in deeper, wet snow. I think ah well lets see maybe I can control that somehow like with my other almost accidents but then I feel that there's so much energy from speed that I won't be able to do anything. So I get pushed forward facing downhill with my board stuck until the board snaps out and I do an upright somersault. Fortunately it was one complete somersault and I landed perfectly with not more than a bruise. And the friend on skis who I was with (him) checking out snowboarding was like "what was that?" To say one thing for Nidecker the board is still ridable fine with some damage where the front binding pushed on the deck. So I guess I was lucky that nothing more happened over 10 years but also I'm not freestyle jumping because I know that I have absolutely no talent for that. Bernhard Of course I have to mention that if anybody wants to have his collection of snowboard stories on a webpage of his or her own. You can get that at Riders' Pages at stoked.at for free and your page will have it's own direct address http://stoked.at/riders/YOU ~ info@stoked.at Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TrDi Posted March 18, 2004 Report Share Posted March 18, 2004 Here it goes: It all happened at the boginning of my SB career in year 1990, I was about 11 and I went with my parents to Kranjska Gora (Slovenia). I desperately wanted to try snowboarding and there was this rental shop with crap boards and no SB lessons. However, on the last day my wish came true and we rented a boardfor one hour. I was excited and tried a couple of turns on a babylift, and sort of managed a backside slide. But, towards the second half of the hour I felt back at speed about 0 miles/h and broke and twisted my wrist. And that was it. It took me then 2 years to get back on the board, but I'm glad I didn't give up. Love it! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vahur Posted March 18, 2004 Report Share Posted March 18, 2004 Head concussion on first or second day of snowboarding: learned with ski boots and some carving board (Burton Alp, I believe). Maintaining balance with such setup was real pain in a$$ and at one moment I found myself lying on slope and wondering: where am I? What place is this? What is my name? Probably heelside edge catch, but I don't remember anything about it. Rode carefully down, went to cafe and sat there for 15 minutes, until names for things came back to my head :) Second was not crash, but unfortunate fall in Alps, where I broke my 4th finger from joint. Right after falling I felt little pain, looked to my hand and saw, that finger is backwards, so I turned it into correct position and rode down. Then I took glove off and saw, how swollen it was, put some snow into glove and rode next 3 days with such finger. Healing took more than year and even now (4 years later) this finger's joint is weak. And now some over-the-nose illustration material from Oppdal carving camp this year. Bad visibility, bad rider and steep slope lead to such result. Fortunately speed was slow and I didn't get hurt... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al G Posted March 18, 2004 Report Share Posted March 18, 2004 My boss and I were on an extended business trip to the USA earlier this year. We had a week in mid west, then a week in Florida, so decided to take a weekend detour and flew to Park City for a couple of days. We were blown way by the friendliness of everyone, but also a little concerned at the lack of protection on the runs - trees, holes without nets or padding, blind junctions, etc. In Europe you would find six feet of orange padding around most of these hazards. Anyway, we were just mocking the US passion for helmets, when we met up with a couple of moutain medics who had just carried a 'body' off the hill. Apparently the guy had run off the piste, gone off a drop, hit a tree and then been lying for a few hours until found, just about alive but with major fractured skull, damaged spinal column, and broken pelvis. The medics believed he would expire on the way to ER. He wasn't wearing a helmet which the medics considered would have saved his life at least. We went straight to the outlet and bought helmets! Al G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paappraiser Posted March 18, 2004 Report Share Posted March 18, 2004 I was skiing and a snowboarder going mach 4 turned infront of me. I turned/stopped really way to fast for my ability and... Snap..went my ACL. Had ACL repaired 6 weeks later Doctor cleared me and following season I bought a board and never looked back. Another.. Cousin and myself were riding a narrow trail, I ride a little faster, I was trying to pass him... he zigged, I zagged (full force).. bonked heads (with helmets on) and we must have looked like rag dolls going down the trail.. Ski patrol was behind us, came over looking white as a ghost said the standby "You OK?" We both sat up and said .. "We have helmets, were cool" .. Got up and were really impressed by our wise purchases only a week before. Ahhhhh... Happy endings Paappraiser PS If you never had you ACL busted, be glad.. Id rather have a broken bone. Knock on plastic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mphdemon Posted March 19, 2004 Report Share Posted March 19, 2004 Alright, First story, it was my first season on a carving board, and my first time back on a snowboard in a long time. Anyways, I had been switching from my board to my skies because I wasn't quite comfortable on my board yet, so I was on my ski's and I was following my friend who was on a board. I decided to try to follow his line (big mistake), of course I couldn't make turns half as tight as he could, so after a few turns from each of us he went one way and I was still going the other way. Basically we clothes lined each other. We collided at our stomachs, and basically knocked the wind out of each other. No real injuries, but it was a wicked funny crash. Second story, sorry another one about skiing. I was with my cousin and his friend. And we were all messing around, and having fun screwing with ski patrol. We were skiing down with our poles in our bindings, and popping out of them as we went down the trail. Well my cousin's friend, got a little carried away. If anybody knows Okemo in Vermont, we were all going down Chief, and he started to just bomb down it. My cousin and I didn't really know what he was doing. But about half way down there is a turn in the trail, the ski patrol had set up one of those orange race fences cause on the other side of it was a stream that was pretty deep. Anyways, this kid bombed from the top of the trail down to this turn, then he popped himself out of the bindings and flew (actually flew through the air), collided with the fence (went right through that like it wasn't even there) then continued to skid into the stream. One of the funniest things I've ever seen. Luckly the kid was ok, but he hasn't really joked around on ski's since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neuffy Posted March 21, 2004 Report Share Posted March 21, 2004 Hm..I've been pretty lucky so far. My worst snowboarding accident was probably when there was this perfect jump - a nice riser-->float off-->long runout. Perfectly groomed, soft snow. So I go off it twice, amazingly soft landings... Then I decide: Hm...I know! I'll straightline it from the top of the hill! Needless to say, I went fast. I overshot the landing my 40 feet :( Did a perfect landing (initially) but then the impact was too much on the more-or-less flat by then and my back leg collapsed. I impacted my heels, sprained both ankles, sprained by left wrist (I ride right foot first - NORMAL!), sprained my right knee and jarred my left elbow and shoulder really badly. It took me about 3 weeks to recover from that...and then after a couple weeks I had another accident..that I now remember was worse: It was dark, so there were only streetlights~ishes. I was just going down the hill as fast as I could and linking 360 flatspins. Frist time down, got going really fast, got really, really dizzy because of the lights and the spinning, caught an edge and fell. Bruises, nothing more. Foolishly decided to do it again because it was so fun the first time. Went faster (I was pacing the skiracers that were on the hill at the same time), and got spinning at around 1.5 rps (90 rpm). Of course, I got dizzy again, caught an edge, but this time my spin let me land on my shoulder blades and neck, and I managed to get really, really bad whiplash. It took me 8 months to get full neck mobility back...I couldn't turn my head to the side at all for 2 months (and so lost the last 2 months of snowboarding season :() I also almost had to have a medical stipulation put on my driver's licence to make me have oversized mirrors ...Now I understand why people sue for whiplash...It really _can_ be that bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted March 21, 2004 Report Share Posted March 21, 2004 Unfortunately I have too many crash stories but this one has always stayed with me. While charging an 8' wedge shaped jump for my friends I saw a spotter to the side looking relaxed. This was good since I planned to go big and launch way past the landing. To my amazement there was a child sitting on the snow exactly where I was landing from 11 or 12ft in the air! No way was I going to hit her so I twisted my board behind my back and tried to curve my body sideways to miss her. Wham! Caught her ski boot in the ribs and slid down the slope unconscious ( no helmet ) for a few seconds. Had to threaten the spotter before he would cross his skis when I could breathe again. So I refused the sled and gingerly boarded down to the medic. The child turned out to be a small asian woman that thought she would sit down a safe distance away from the jump...right. She took the sled down. Anyway, I broke the womans collarbone with my forehead and gave her a concussion with my wrist. She separated my ribs over my heart region with her ski boot when I exposed my side to save her life. The nurse gave me 8 Advil. I took them all. So since I was already in mild shock, I put on my carving setup and carved for 2 more hours with my friends. Even had the pleasure of twisting around to talk when my ribs separated then "cachunk" reset. Three months later I could surf and sleep without severe pain. Dont even ask about my surf injuries. :rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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