carverchick Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 Ok so I'm a little bored today and my right shin hurts, so I figure I would start this thread. How often have you been riding your arse off and taken a spill? Al and I went riding this weekend, and as we were getting off the chairlift, I misread the direction he was going. Rather than allow my board to hit, or run into Al, I decided to just fall and let my shin take the impact, which ended up bouncing off the pylon. I didn't break anything, but have a nice bruise. <O:p So the question I pose is…How often whilst riding have you gotten hooked up on an edge, gotten off the chairlift and wiped out? Just curious, first prize goes to best wipeout story or originality.<O:p</O:p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeW Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 all the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paragonUE Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 few years back I was riding my soft boot setup, I was going like mach schnell, when for some unexplained reason my tail pulled out from behind me and my snowboard was horizontal to the slope (i think it was the snomes) at which point i swiftly caught my front edge and landed smack on my face. not to worry my head took the impact. I cracked my goggles down the center, and couldnt see straight,as the front of my helmet had impacted with my head. I somehow made it back to the lift and went back up for another run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Prokopiw Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 It hurts. I inflict pain upon my body enough through all the physical activities I do,not the least of which is letting my little boys attack me every time I come in the door. My snowboard lessons tend to reflect the fact that most adults would like to avoid crashing hard or at all if possible.I don't consider sliding out while exploring carving technique or tipping over in powder to be wiping out and I do plenty of that.But,truly,I believe crash avoidance can be achieved tactically without being overly cautious or wimpy.I'm 42 and in darn good shape;but then again,I'm 42 and hard crashes take too long to recover from and that cuts into play (and work)time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newcarver Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 In soft boots I usually have 1 or 2 big wrecks in a season. Worst is a rotator cuff tear, so far. On hard boots, 2 times out, only bad thing so far was in the lift line after I unclipped my rear foot and tried to skate with my toe bail dragging. I ended up falling over and twisting my knee some. Glad there weren't many people in the lift line to laugh at me:p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Sub Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 As infrequently as possible. The days of falling getting on/off the lift are thankfully long gone. I still lose an edge here and there, and went over the bars, hard, once a couple years ago. Saw stars/tunnel vision for a bit, and a deep ache in front lower leg for 3 weeks. 1997 I hit a rock and shattered my radius/ulna. That unavoidably put the fear in me and made it really hard to ride at Mt Bachelor with all them damn rocks smiling at you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Dahl Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 I've wiped out a few times doing fast edge changes while carving HARD. Usually transitioning to the toe side and facing down-slope, I'll hook the toe side edge and slam hard. My elbows are always by my side so I'll drive my arm/elbow into my ribcage and knock the wind out, usually so bad I fear broken ribs. Been lucky so far, usually can breath again after a minute or so. Wiped out last season on the edge of the bunny slope in full sight of my youngest daughter, airing off of small bumps. She thought it was hilarious, me less so...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 I was at jaypeak a few years ago, waiting for my turn in line, and I didnt notice I was going foward a bit, the chair turning for the ppl in front of me just caught me and smacked me to the ground, they had to stop the lift and I got back up.. all this with my instructor suit on... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carverchick Posted December 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 I was at jaypeak a few years ago, waiting for my turn in line, and I didnt notice I was going foward a bit, the chair turning for the ppl in front of me just caught me and smacked me to the ground, they had to stop the lift and I got back up.. all this with my instructor suit on... :lol: :lol: :lol: Ok I know that really isn't funny, you could have gotten seriously hurt but just reading that sounded too funny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Louis Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 :lol: :lol: :lol: Ok I know that really isn't funny, you could have gotten seriously hurt but just reading that sounded too funny. My class found it funny too :rolleyes: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queequeg Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 Off the chair? Pretty much never ... While riding? Not infrequently enough, but I'm still getting back into the swing of things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dingbat Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 Picture this: Getting off a 3, my brother-in-law(6' 6'', 230lbs) and myself(5' 11'', 215lbs) on snowboards, and my brother(6' 2'', 240lbs) on skis sitting between us. The ramp is steep and narrow. My brother decides he's going to hang back and let us get out of the way. How does he accomplish this? By sudenly smashing the tails of his skis out in the biggest snow-plow ever, catching the tails of both our snowboards, causing us to turn abruptly inward and collide in the center of the ramp. My brother, whos ski tips are wedging underneath us, careens over top and lands on the pile like it's fourth and goal at the one yard line. We were in hysterics. Took us a while to untangle too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Prokopiw Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 OK.I try not to crash much now but I've had my share in the past.So here's one. Oh,and near the end of the story you will see what this has to do with Christmas. Many years ago at Copper I had just come back from some time off for workmans comp related tendonitus (diagnosed as overuse).So, being young and dumb and full of er,well, being young and dumb ,I started above this little drop at Jupiter bowl on my 170 Mistral Inca wearing Flexon Comps and carving up a storm on the way to catching some air.All was well until I landed in a toeside carve that took me off the hardpack and into some soft snow.Of course, I augered in hard,flipping a couple of times and coming to a stop in incredible pain.My left foot had turned inside my boot and the upper cuff had split down the middle and was hanging by the cant adjusters.I was still clipped in so I unclipped the boot and then yanked it off my foot with a blood curdling scream. Now, you'd think this would be the point where I say yes to all the kind and concerned offers to call patrol that were coming from the folks riding the chair above me.But no; that would have been the intelligent remedy to a stupid mistake.I was, instead ,so concerned I would be fired from my job as snowboard foreman that I declined the offers of help and put the broken boot back on my already badly swollen foot.I then clipped back in and rode the roughly two and a half miles to the base with as little pressure on the front foot as possible. At the base, and probably well into shock,I dismounted and calmly shuffled to the locker room like an elderly person with a walker,so as not to visibly limp and draw attention. I then shuffled past several instructors,doing my best to acknowledge them while resisting the desire to throw up from the pain.I finally made it to the shuttle stop and boarded the shuttle for the bumpy one mile ride to the condo I shared with a friend.I managed not to faint on the shuttle and actually made it all the way to the door of our second floor condo before throwing up in the entry way.After cleaning up I actually had the presence of mind to set the alarm for the following morning so I would make sure to be on time to my job as leader of ,and example setter for, the snowboard instructors.I the proceeded to drink the alchohol in the fridge and pop a few ibuprofen(my drug of choice ever since) before going to sleep until the following morning.About 15 hours of sleep later I arose to wrap my sprained knee and my hillariously swollen ankle and stuff it into the broken boot which I duct taped shut.I went to work continuing to try looking nonchalant as I slowly shuffled around and tried to stay as low profile as I could.My great little crew were very supportive as I went up the lift to give them daily tasks and then disappear to gingerly ride down without being noticed.This went on successfully for about two weeks. Fast forward (an oxymoron in a long story such as this)to hanging out at Kokomos bar after yet another day of keeping my secret from the director.I'm sitting at the bar and up walks our resident and very authentic looking Santa Claus in full costume.He sits next to me and we start talking about the season and our jobs over a beer.He jokingly asks what I wished for and I tell him "a new knee and ankle" as I explained what I did to my improving but still very sore joints.He says"done." And finally,here's where it gets weird,or dare I say it, devine.The following day I awoke to no discernable pain in either my knee or ankle.A couple of seasons later I had another workmans comp claim for what turned out to be a slightly torn meniscus of that same knee.I wondered what the MRI would turn up from before but no damage was shown other than the meniscus which was traceable to a specific incedent.Do you believe in Santa Claus? Merry Christmas Everyone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carverchick Posted December 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 My goodness Steve! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cail Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 Do you believe in Santa Claus?Merry Christmas Everyone! awesome story! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Brown Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 I liken carving to small sailboat racing: If you don't turn over, you're not really trying! I wipe out all the time!!! Of, course I really suck too, but there's always a huge grin on my face... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecko Posted December 19, 2007 Report Share Posted December 19, 2007 not too often....I had a hum dinger last year...partly because I was pushing it on a board that was too short but also because I got hit. Not sure if a longer board would have helped but I think I would have been a bit more maneuverable and might have been better able to avoid the incident (I switched to my 175 as soon as I was able to ride again and will stay on it). Prior to that it had been a couple of years since my last real fall. I do occasionally keel over either at the bottom trying to step out (once a day or so) or at the top trying to step in (about once every 2-3 days) but I don't count that as falling more a loss of balance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pow Posted December 20, 2007 Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 If i didnt wipe out that run... i obviously wasn't trying hard enough:eplus2: I wipe out all the time, at least once a run i think. probably more. I do it so often I barely even notice it anymore Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NateW Posted December 20, 2007 Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 awesome story! My thoughts exactly. :) Early in my relationship with my girlfriend, I got back from snowboarding and: her: Did you have a good time? me: yeah, it was really nice up there. her: Did you fall? me: Uhmmm.... I fall every other run at least. Usually it's trivial stuff like leaning too hard into a turn and just tipping over and sliding a bit, or missing a turn in some moguls and falling on my butt. But I don't think that counts. Half the time I'm able to get my board under me and get back on my feet without coming to a complete stop (and if not, I just wasn't going fast enough to begin with :) ). Once or twice a day I fall kinda-hard and it takes a few seconds to get back onto my feet. But I'm completely over it after a few minutes. (Last Monday, I had two of those.) I think those count as falls. I have days without those, but they're rare. About once a season I fall hard-hard and I'm in pain for a couple days, maybe a week. I bought a cane after one of those, a few years ago, at about age 30. My goal is not to need it again until I'm retired. But last year I bought a nicer one just in case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gecko Posted December 20, 2007 Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 About once a season I fall hard-hard and I'm in pain for a couple days, maybe a week. I bought a cane after one of those, a few years ago, at about age 30. My goal is not to need it again until I'm retired. But last year I bought a nicer one just in case. yeah I had to use a cane to get out of bed for about a week after that humdinger last February. I strained nearly every muscle in my torso....very embarrassing...I gave the cane (I make them as a hobby) to my father in law this summer as a post knee surgery recovery aid so I never had to see it again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skategoat Posted December 20, 2007 Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 I skid out and hit the snow about 4-5 times a day. I wouldn't even call them falls - more like miscues. On hard snow though, it can hurt. About twice a season, I really eat it. Last season, I augered into soft snow and broke my board and goggles. At 45, almost 46, I'm not sure how many more of those sort of falls I can take. Anyone else absolutely hate skidding a snowboard? I don't mind making carve/skid turns on skis but on a snowboard, I can't stand it. Which is why, when I'm not able to really crank a turn, I'm just going to hang 'em up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 20, 2007 Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 I think my big falls have been pretty well documented here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bordy Posted December 20, 2007 Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 I crash about 5 times a day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philw Posted December 20, 2007 Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 I used to absolutely crash a lot, and I think it's an important part of learning. I also broke my ankle along with blowing out my cant adjusters a few years ago: that's my only serious crash. These days I don't tend to crash at all on the piste. In powder I don't stick all the landings, but I'm not sure those really count as crashes. I used to crash and roll a lot, but it takes energy and the more you ride the less you lose it, IMHO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cindy Kleh Posted December 20, 2007 Report Share Posted December 20, 2007 You're never too good to make a fool of yourself in a liftline. I once projectile vomited Red Bull in front of a whole liftline. Didn't hurt but it was pretty embarrassing to see that orange splot all day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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