Funniest thing you've seen on the hill?

[Corey]

I haven't laughed this hard on a chairlift before...

Was watching a fairly new snowboarder making it down a run under the chair. He went off the groomed area to a bit of soft stuff off to the side. It was 1' of powder with about 1" of man-made styrofoam on top.

The nose submarined quite hard and his board came to a dead stop. He did a 3/4 front flip and landed flat on his back with his arms flailing out sideways - no injury other than to his pride. There was about a 5' gap between his track and the most perfect snow angel I've ever seen at a ski hill! :lol:

[Neil Gendzwill]

A few years ago I was at Big White with my Dad and every tree was a snow ghost, completely coated (pretty normal there).

He was following a snowboarder down the side of a liftline run, and this guy was jumping off everything in sight when he jumps straight into a tree, bounces back into the tree well and then immediately all the snow that was on the tree falls onto him. Dad helped him out, nothing hurt except pride but he was turning the air pretty blue. Everytime we rode that lift, we'd bust up, because there would be that one green tree in all those snow ghosts.

[pebu]

Back in the day I was riding my soft board with my brother and his best friend on skis. We were all in sync like you would not believe. We were goin down the edge of a hill bouncin in and out of the pow on the side (it dropped off to the side because of groomed base); Clay (brothers friend), Andy (brother) then I, close enough to just about be knockin skis. We're goin along and all of a sudden it's just andy and I. Clay went down into the pow, but didn't come back up. We found him buried in pow and we had to spend about 10 minutes finding skis. Luckily they were right where he left them...

[queequeg]

A few years ago I was at Big White with my Dad and every tree was a snow ghost, completely coated (pretty normal there).

He was following a snowboarder down the side of a liftline run, and this guy was jumping off everything in sight when he jumps straight into a tree, bounces back into the tree well and then immediately all the snow that was on the tree falls onto him. Dad helped him out, nothing hurt except pride but he was turning the air pretty blue. Everytime we rode that lift, we'd bust up, because there would be that one green tree in all those snow ghosts.

That's classic!

[D-Sub]

funny but a little scary. What if no one was there? If a guy hits a tree and no one is there does it still make a sound?

Im not one to laugh when people wreck. I've had a few that were probably funny though, but not to me.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Aw, wrecks make the best stories. I figure you have to laugh at your own yard sales, what else you gonna do?

[D-Sub]

Aw, wrecks make the best stories. I figure you have to laugh at your own yard sales, what else you gonna do?

Oh, I laugh at mine Im just hesitant to laugh at someone else's. I always liked the Warren Miller lift sequences...

speaking of which...a friend of mine, riding chair 5 at mammoth...first day with a backpack on...ready to load, tries to take the pack off last minute, gets bumped by the chair and the backpack still has one arm. Next thing you know he's dangling 10 feet off the ground (Im one chair behind) then RIIIIIP and PLOP (super fresh day)

that was funny.

[Allee]

Im not one to laugh when people wreck. I've had a few that were probably funny though, but not to me.

D, sorry to hear about your humour bypass ... :(

[BadBrad]

I was visiting my sister and brother-in-law who live in Montana. They were skiing and I was snowboarding at The Big Mountain. At the front of the lift line for the main quad chair there was a family of 4 (father, mother, boy, and girl) lined up waiting to sit on the next chair. My brother-in-law (Bill) moved up too early, the chair hit him and pushed him into the family, and everyone fell down. Nobody was hurt and everyone was laughing except for the father, who got really pissed and starting yelling, "Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ!".

For the rest of the day, whenever we were in a lift line we would hear people around us going, "Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ!". Bill almost bought a new coat that day, hoping that people would stop recognizing him. I still tease him about wiping out a whole family on the chair lift.

[GeoffV]

While this is not the funniest on trail experiences I've had, it is still one of my more memorable minutes with Bob Jenney.

Location is Tuckerman's Ravine, March of 2006. Bob picked "The Chute" trail for one of our last runs. It was one of the chutes I had not done yet so I was just following Bob's lead up the trail.

As you can see the pitch is super steep (guess is any were from 55-63 degrees). There was a "no fall zone" to our left and right and the sun was starting to settle, which meant a change in snow conditions. When we arrived at the top of the ravine and looked down our responses were "Oh Sh$#&" The pitch went from basically a green trail to dropping off immediately to a 55+ degree pitch, you basically could not see where you were going it was so steep.

I took this picture of Bob right before we went down .

Now I have to give Bob some props here, he wasn't the only one scared shi###less, but for the first time since I've known Bob he was out of his element and had no problem telling me so :lol: He was actually speechless, which, if you know Bob is a rarity :o

I've been carving and riding motorcycles with him for years, and Bob is a great carver and a great motorcyclist, so to see him out of his element and scared out of his mind, was a rather humorous event.

This picture shows a little be more of how steep the pitch was.

I'm lucky that Bob is unable to post, because he has to much dirt on me

[D-Sub]

D, sorry to hear about your humour bypass ... :(

Not trying to be a downer, but it's not fair to paint me as humorless because I don't laugh at people wrecking. The potential for injury outweighs the potential for humor.

I didn't mean to bring down the thread. Like I said...the time's I've wrecked I laughed about it. Laughed when I kissed a tree and came out lookin like I'd been in a fight (you shoulda seen the other guy!) but didn't laugh when I shattered my radius/ulna on a rock.

[D-Sub]

I was visiting my sister and brother-in-law who live in Montana. They were skiing and I was snowboarding at The Big Mountain. At the front of the lift line for the main quad chair there was a family of 4 (father, mother, boy, and girl) lined up waiting to sit on the next chair. My brother-in-law (Bill) moved up too early, the chair hit him and pushed him into the family, and everyone fell down. Nobody was hurt and everyone was laughing except for the father, who got really pissed and starting yelling, "Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ!".

For the rest of the day, whenever we were in a lift line we would hear people around us going, "Jesus Christ! Jesus Christ!". Bill almost bought a new coat that day, hoping that people would stop recognizing him. I still tease him about wiping out a whole family on the chair lift.

Now THAT I can laugh at! Definitely seen some pileups at the lift. I get irritated when kooks f me up while loading, but I guess it'd be funny to those watching.

[Buell]

Not trying to be a downer, but it's not fair to paint me as humorless because I don't laugh at people wrecking. The potential for injury outweighs the potential for humor.

I can certainly agree with that. Many wreck are good for thought, but certainly not humor.

Some wrecks are good humor though. Early in Rebecca's off trail career we were riding in a WIDE OPEN powder field - except for ONE 3 foot conifer. She nailed the poor tree, knocked all the snow off it, and then bounced around to the other side. Fortunately she was completely unharmed. Classic case of target fixation. That wreck still makes us smile.

[BlueB]

In between teaching ski lessons, I went for a bit of freesking with buddy instructor of mine. We finished our run through trees/bumps and there was one last nice big bump just after the merger to main run. I took the air and landed it just off balance forward - normally not too big deal. However, my skis double released and I flew forward, about 10-15 feet, and landed on my chest with loud hissing sound coming out of my lungs, to the amusement of my buddy behind and group of kids stending nera by. When I recovered my breth and pieces of shaterred pride, I looked back and saw my skiis perfectly parralel parked where thay touched the ground... Suddenly I remembered that I took my wifes skis for teaching (I often do that), but never readjusted the bindings for my weight and aggression. :D:D:D

[paragonUE]

well aside from a single mono skier, doing his best to carve, and failing miserably

id have to say the funniest stuff i tend to be privy to, are the classic, too good for everyone else hXc skiers who tear it up and pass everyone on the run, only to be found in a heap somewhere towards the middle of the run

:lol:

[BlueB]

Oh, ya, I forgot about the one where I skied backwards in front of group of kids, so I could see them in action and shout corrections. I carved a bit to the right, then a bit to the left, and whoooo... I was over the steep edge of green run into the dense trees.

Point of the lesson given? Always look where you are going!

[queequeg]

funny but a little scary. What if no one was there? If a guy hits a tree and no one is there does it still make a sound?

Im not one to laugh when people wreck. I've had a few that were probably funny though, but not to me.

The story is funny - I probably wouldn't laugh if I saw it happen of course (and I really cant stand those pricks who jeer at people from the lift when they bust) - but I've had my fair share of terrifying moments on the slopes, and plenty of them are (thankfully) amusing anecdotes now that they are safely behind. Like the time I accidentally loaded the nose and had my board spring me into the woods head-first--narrowly missing two trees and landing safely in the drift between them. The people I was riding with were very worried when they saw it happen (and I just about soiled myself), but in retrospect Its funny to think of the sudden I was sprung from the trail and into the woods. It was like something out of the Wile .E Coyote playbook.

I don't mind if people laugh at my wrecks, as long as they check to see that I'm alright and as long as they aren't laughing in a mean spirited way. We all wreck ... sometimes it's funny.

Loved that story GeoffV.

[RDY_2_Carve]

Lift line nubs are the shizzle.

My best friend got caught slipping at Angel Fire backside. Just a bit slow off the line, chair is coming around, and he's struggling to get in front of the chair to catch up with us. Bam the chair gets ahold of him and he's going down. Liftie is lurching for the button yelling "Get down, get down, get down!!!" Seans kissing grated ice, body intact, pride gone...Priceless!

[D-Sub]

I really can't think of anything funny about riding. When I ride it's all business. No laughing allowed. You'd better spell your words right, too!

I once popped off a cat track and had a binding release with an audible POP. Friends were all watching. Back foot. I managed to land with my back foot on my stomp pad and carve back uphill to scrub speed. They were laughing their asses off.

[Pow]

I really can't think of anything funny about riding. When I ride it's all business. No laughing allowed. You'd better spell your words right, too!

I feel so sorry for you:o

The funniest experience ive ever had riding... thats easy. One of my first days hardbooting and i was actually getting some decent carves in halfway up Chilcoot at Smuggler's Notch. I went for a toeside (left turn) and meant to scrape just around the outside of an appx 120 degree turn of the run. Halfway around i realized there was a family in the middle of my projected path:smashfrea

well instead of cranking it tighter or skidding in front of them, i made the unusual decision to try to widen my carve ( again)

the caught something out of the corner of their eye fly behind them, off of the steep dropoff and into the large snowpile somewhere beyond the woods!:lol:

My friend andrew was laughing his cajones off, as was the family (after i emerged in a fit of laughter myself)

The most fun ive ever had wiping out:cool:

[paragonUE]

sheesh, i need to go to smuggs sometime, all i hear is you raving about it. and for the record, next time you pull one of those, get it on tape:lol:

[David Glynn]

Many wrecks are scary as hell to watch but only become funny when everyone escapes unhurt. My friend Scottie Kennett and I were standing at the bottom of the Alley and Zulu Queen in Telluride when we hear all this hooting and hollering mixed with the sound of snapping branches.We look up Apex and see this guy in a rodeo stance skiing toward us at mach 10 with branches hanging from him as he came out of the last trees. He got more and more compressed as he crossed the moguls in the gutter and went uphill towards Zulu hootin' all the way. When he couldn't compress any further he blew out of both skies and launched head first into the firm backside of a bump. As he lay there motionless for a moment, like a dead ostrich,with his head stuck into the mogul up to his neck Scottie and I thought he was DEAD. But then he reaches up with his hands puts them on the mogul next to his head, pulls his knees up under him and proceeds to twist and pull his head out of the mogul with such force that he then falls over backward and starts laughing his ass off. (In hind sight I think this guy was laughing inside the mogul, we just couldn't hear him) We went from the terror of thinking we were watching someone die to laughing are asses off with him. No **** it was like watching a cartoon.

[BlueB]

Another one, skiing again:

Some 25 years ago, the lace up ski boots were still found at slopes, here and there.

During a Mid-School GS Provincials, a kid wearing loosly tied lace-ups got stuck in a gate, poped right out of both his boots buy didn't fall, just carried on running down the slope in his wool socks :D

[PaulY]

I haven't been on here for a couple years, but this thread inspired me.

Watched a young girl on skis careening down the hill unable to stop, shoot through the opening onto the chalet deck, across the deck and into the building, popping out of her bindings. The look on her face seemed to indicate that this was not an unusual thing for her.

Last winter the gf and I were at a sliding party and hopped onto a plastic sled that was designed for probably half our weight. With no directional control we found ourselves headed for a small jump, she yelled "cowabunga"; before the last syllable left her lips the nose of the sled buried itself into the launch point, Mr Newtons laws took over and she and I flew 5-6 feet through the air then tumbled and slid for quite a ways, coming up laughing our asses off. Looking back up at the top of the hill there must have been 25 people laughing and cheering. It was a sequence worthy of Warren Miller.

[BlueB]

Tiffindell, South African Open Ski & Snowboard Championship, 1998.

Closing ceremony consists of various wild things, burning the ski sacrifice to Ulr, skiing directly into the pub, etc.

One part is where instructing staff comes down the slope, one by one, every next one wearing less clothing then the previous. Pretty close to the end, 2 beautifull instructoress came down in g-strings and bras only. At the base, in front of exited spectators, they reached for each other's bra, and pulled loose! Everyone's eyes were just about to pop out, but surprise, surprise - just to show strategically placed crosses made out of black electrical tape.

We were all so busy chearing for continuation of their performance, that hardly anyone noticed the guy who just finished his run with only a coton sock slid over his thing...