Anyone who has skied or snowboarded more than a few times has undoubtedly made some mistakes -- such as forgetting your ski poles. Or forgetting one ski pole.
What are some of the mistakes you've made -- the types of mistakes that you hope to only make once?
I'll start off with a few of my own.
(1) Leaving my ski boots in the trunk of an outside car. This was at Vail, where it was coooold -- overnight temperatures dipped into the low single digits. My car was outside all night. When I went to put my boots on the next morning, they had lost their pliability, making them almost impossible to put on. And once I got them on, it felt like blocks of ice were encasing my feet. It made for a miserable start of the ski trip.
(2) Leaving my ski boots too close to the fireplace. "I won't make the mistake of starting with cold boots ever again!" I said confidently to myself as I leaned my boots against the wall near the fireplace. You can probably guess how that went. Those boots never quite returned to their original shape.
(3) Skiing without gloves. I was a relatively new skier and made the trek to Wisp Resort late in the season -- my first time "spring skiing." There was still plenty of snow but temperatures were in the upper 50s. Much too warm to need gloves, I decided, so I left them in my house three hours away. As a new skier, I was still falling a lot, and by the end of the day my hands were bleeding from sliding across granules of ice and pine needles as I fell down.
Ha ha done all of the above here are my three:
* Went skiing at Snowbird in June I think 2005 with just my spring/half-pipe gloves on ... nah it will be sunny all day - WRONG! Snowed like crazy, my gloves got all wet and my hands had so much frostbite I had to sit in the lodge with my hands in my armpits rocking pathetically where the lockers are.
* Hooked up with a woman in the Foggy Goggle at Seven Springs, left my skis out all night on the ski rack and of course they were gone the next morning.
* And just two weeks ago Mary and I went to Diamond Peak I was all discombobulated and when we got out of the car I realized I didn't put on my ski pants - I said to Mary "look at me what is wrong with this picture" and she just laughed and called me a little stupid which I admit to.
Oh man...
-Forgot ski pants for a kid, had to purchase at the resort
-Forgot mittens for another kid, another purchase
-Forgot various things for myself, but I keep my ski bag stuffed with extras in anticipation
Lost a pair of street pants at Snowshoe. Got in the truck in my snow pants thinking I'd change to street clothes at the bottom of the mountain out of the snow. I guess my pants fell out getting into the truck or something, but they were not in the vehicle anymore when I went to change. I always wonder what happened when I see a random item of clothing in a parking lot, now I've been able to contribute in a small part.
Left a pair of ski boots in a freezing cold garage overnight at Deer Valley. Spent an hour trying to force my foot into something about as flexible as steel.
My worst mistakes are all along the line of "Oh I'm sure it won't be raining by the time I get to the mountain." or "the ice can't be that bad..."
Drove to Killington from West Woodstock. Pulled into the drop off. Got out of car and realized my ski pass was on my other pants. 40 min. round trip later I pulled into drop off unload. Somehow I managed to lock my keys in the car. My ski pass and boots are still in the car. Called for a locksmith. None until afternoon. I told the guy at the ski school desk that I would book lessons if he could unlock my car. He jimmie the lock. We booked the lessons.
One trip to Laurel Mountain, I lost my car and house keys on my first run down Wildcat. However, I did not discover my keys were no longer in my ski parka pocket until lunch time. I looked and looked and finally gave up, called Enterprise Rent-a-car who will deliver the car to where you need it. I need the rental car, so I could drive 3.25 hours, back to Phoenix, MD to get my spare car keys, then drive back to Laurel MTN to get my car. About a 1/2 hour later, Enterprise called to say they were on the way. Minutes later, I received a call from the Laurel staff indicating that someone turned in a set of Subaru keys. A Miracle!! Someone actually found the keys lying on Wildcat. I felt like I had just won the lottery. After retrieving my keys, I proceeded to the Wildcat Lounge to celebrate. I never did find out who found and turned in the keys. I would have showered them with 'thank yous' .
I retired that ski parka after that. It seemed the zipper on the pockets comes open on it's own and I probably left it wide open anyway. The orientation of the pocket encouraged things to fall out. Now, I constantly check my pockets to make sure the zipper is closed.
were those the keys you left on Innsbruck
Cool topic. Most of my blunders relate to how I actually ski after so many years as an “advanced beginner.”
Not having taken advantage of the half-price lessons that came with the season pass under the Snowtime ownership of the local resorts was probably one of my biggest mistakes. What a bonehead.
imp wrote:
were those the keys you left on Innsbruck
Sorry, never left a set of keys on Innsbrook. Perhaps someone else?
I have a lot to choose from 30+ years of skiing. The time I went to Wintergreen for some after work turns, realized I forgot my ski pants, so I skied in my khakis? The time I left a pair of ski gloves on top of my car at Snowshoe and drove away (tbf I did need new gloves anyway)? The time (when my kids were much younger) that we drove to Wintergreen (about an hour away) and realized that I forgot to load their skis?
My best story probably comes from when I was a grad student at CERN, the particle physics lab near Geneva, Switzerland. I was there in the mid to late 90s. One winter, my girlfriend's sister was visiting over Christmas from the U.S. and wanted to go skiing. This happened to be a season that had gotten off to a very slow start so there was not much open. We decided to go to Avoriaz, but the Xmas crowds plus the lack of open terrain = nightmare. I think we got in 4 runs, no joke. What's worse, to even get to the lifts you were forced to take an elevator, so even getting through that step took a really long time (it was long enough ago that I don't remember exactly how long but believe me it was not pleasant).
At the end of the day, since the run down to the base area was closed, you needed to load into a gondola to get down. Again, huge line. Many people were just skiing down the closed run to get to base, so I convinced my girlfriend and her sister to go down the run with me. Big mistake. They were novice skiers, the run was crowded, and things got sketchier and sketchier with less and less snow until we actually had to take off our skis and walk down.
But I am not done yet! At some point during this nightmare of a ski day I managed to lose my car keys. My excuse is that I was being asked to pull out the trail map a lot and I had foolishly kept my keys in the same pocket as the map.
From that point things got a little better, we had a nice dinner of raclette while a mechanic removed the key mechanism from my 1988 Nissan Sentra and rigged things up so I could start the car without a key.
Popular thread !! My story.... About 12 years ago the family was staying in Breckenridge. I went over to A-basin since it was the first week that Montezuma was open - ever - but went alone since everyone else was too tired. Good parking, booted up, went skiing. After an hour or so I was out on the east Montezuma ridge above the glades when one boot suddenly came out of the binding, damn it, this must be some thick snow. Then it happened again. WTF? I looked down and realized I had taken my son's boots instead of mine!!!! Dumbass!! The ones I handed down to him. With the slightly shorter BSL. Crap. I started navigating on one ski and got to the edge of the trees. Along came a saint who just happened to have a swiss army knife so I was able to tighten the forward pressure. Made it to the lift and back down to a tool station. The self-hate sort of ruined my enthusiasm for the day but made a new story I guess.
I've also forgotten miscellaneous things like poles, pants, and once I left my old favorite helmet and gloves at Brighton and went right to the airport, never to see them again. But nothing as stupid as my day at A-basin.
But did you ever have to pay your $2.00?
(Related: I was at the top of a run a week or two ago, and a group of snowboarders was getting ready. They looked like the type of snowboarders I want in front of me, not behind, so I decided to wait for them. One of them asked "hey, any tips?", to which I responded "Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way... turn". I could tell they didn't get the reference at all. Then I realized Better Off Dead came out in 1985, and surely none of the snowboarders in that group had even been born yet. Then I realized I was old. Sigh.)
wfyurasko wrote:
This one time I was fancy-ing a young French exchange student. We kissed a little and little and then my weirdo friend came by. I didn't even notice my binding was broken until it was too late. So, I barely get to the k12 in time to race the jock a-hole who was captain of the ski team. I was doing well, but then the paper boy started chasing us. Somehow, I won the race and get this -- my ex, who dumped me for the ski captain, starts making out with me. The exchange student's mom and her dweeby son started dragging her a way. I had to duel dweeby with ski poles. Man, what a day.
Bro! That is insane - they should make a movie about this one! I am not sure this was a "mistake" maybe something that was totally awesome you can remember forever!!!!!
Wait wait WAIT - hang on there ... I think I know this script according to the liar dice game ... William F. Yurasko - ye be a liar's dog!
I lost the key to my rental car in the woods at Jay Peak on a powder day. I went to lost and found and they suggested retracing where I’d skied. Which trails? In the woods. Well which glades? Unnamed, out of bounds. Do you have any found keys at all? No. I was staying back in Burlington 2 hrs away, it was 4:30 mid March and temps were going down to single digits. I called the rental car company. They could send someone out from Boston but not until the next morning, and by the way,, I’d have to pay an hourly rate for the driver’s round trip time plus gas plus etc. No thanks, I’ll,find a locksmith. There was one place of lodging within miles, the Hotel Jay right at the base. They were fully booked. I appealed for permission to sleep on the couch, actually I said I’d either sleep there or on the rest room floor, so they said the couch would be ok. With the help of AAA I found the nearest locksmith in Burlington 2 hrs.. away. It was a 2 man business. The expert key grinder was on vacation in Florida, but the other guy said he’d try. It took him three tries, each involving a round trip from his shop in Burlington. I asked him what he was going to get from AAA for this. It was paltry, so I doubled the figure and gave it to him. I returned the car with just a plain newly ground key, no cluster, no fob with the name of the company, but it wasn’t noticed and I never heard anything more about it.
Keep your key in a zipped pocket by itself and never open that pocket for any reason until you’re back at the car. I now have the obsession of feeling for that key after every run, without unzipping the pocket of course.
Denis wrote:
I now have the obsession of feeling for that key after every run, without unzipping the pocket of course.
Same
Yeah.. Hollering for Lane Meyer gets a lot of weird looks these days but no better reaction.
I've had several "mistakes" with the RFID cards, particularly the first year they went in:
- rode a lift with a fresh "4 pack" (was staying on top the mtn) in my coat. Even on my right side, the scanner caught all 4 passes and activated them
- Had an old pass lost in the coat that would give me a 50/50 chance of being flagged as "invalid"
- Had a TM RFID card in my wallet that it also tried to read.
- Put a card in the back of my left glove, then later forgot and pulled my glove off on a lift. Fortunately it landed in my lap instead of fluttering to the ground.
GGNagy wrote:
...
- rode a lift with a fresh "4 pack" (was staying on top the mtn) in my coat. Even on my right side, the scanner caught all 4 passes and activated them
Oof.. I cringed at that one. Hopefully the resort was able to give you a refund.
- Put a card in the back of my left glove, then later forgot and pulled my glove off on a lift. Fortunately it landed in my lap instead of fluttering to the ground.
Passes in gloves is never a good idea as JimK could/should attest. His did come out - on the old Alta Supreme lift - and he did find it on the ground. On the flat ungroomed runout.
Notable skiing mistake I’ve made - “trusting Ski Liberty”.
More than once, they printed the tickets at the window with the wrong information on them, and I’d only find this out after I had my and my kids all geared up and got to the front of the lift line. Then I had to go back to the ticket counter line, get the correct tickets, and then go back and stand in the lift line again. 🤬🤬🤬
My daughter has to eat gluten free. I asked for GF chicken in the lodge, and paid extra for it. The guys in the kitchen used regular non GF chicken. Consequently my daughter threw up in the car on the way home. And as you know, there’s really nowhere to stop. So I had to get my interior detailed ($120) the next week. When I complained to SL, they weren’t very apologetic. Again, 🤬🤬🤬
This is why I’m never going back to SL.
I have many (normally about forgetting the sun screen), but here's the worst -- also it's unlike anything above.
I had not waxed my skis in quite a while. No problem, I thought. Rode the gondola to the top of Keystone, and sat down on top and applied stick wax to both skis. Put on the skis and started to ski down the backside towards North Peak -and - -- nothing happened. The skis would not slide. They would not move an inch.
So off came the skis, and I spent the next 30 minutes or so using my gloves to scrape off the wax I had just put on. Then all was fine.
bob wrote:
I have many (normally about forgetting the sun screen), but here's the worst -- also it's unlike anything above.
I had not waxed my skis in quite a while. No problem, I thought. Rode the gondola to the top of Keystone, and sat down on top and applied stick wax to both skis. Put on the skis and started to ski down the backside towards North Peak -and - -- nothing happened. The skis would not slide. They would not move an inch.
So off came the skis, and I spent the next 30 minutes or so using my gloves to scrape off the wax I had just put on. Then all was fine.
JohnL wrote:
- Put a card in the back of my left glove, then later forgot and pulled my glove off on a lift. Fortunately it landed in my lap instead of fluttering to the ground.
Passes in gloves is never a good idea as JimK could/should attest. His did come out - on the old Alta Supreme lift - and he did find it on the ground. On the flat ungroomed runout.
Gee, I didn't think I had any good stories to tell, but John busted me :-)
When it comes to skiing I tend to block out the bad stuff and only remember the fun.
Probably one of my bigger mistakes was driving a family of six (4 kids under 18) in a minivan from VA to CO for a week of skiing. The wife and I almost lost our sanity by the end of the trip. But the skiing was good!
YESSSSSS! That's real! Nicely done ... ooohhhhhh a new film in the making here ... think Chevy Chase Vacation !
JimK wrote:
Gee, I didn't think I had any good stories to tell, but John busted me :-)
When it comes to skiing I tend to block out the bad stuff and only remember the fun.
Probably one of my bigger mistakes was driving a family of six (4 kids under 18) in a minivan from VA to CO for a week of skiing. The wife and I almost lost our sanity by the end of the trip. But the skiing was good!
Denis wrote:
A friend brought a new pair of climbing skins on a single digit day and discovered that the protective paper wouldn’t release from the skin glue without tearing into little shreds. He boot packed up instead, cursing all the way.
Ha ha - check this out. When I first moved to Park City I took a BYU Avalanche safety course (super good) near the end of the season. It was an all-day course and I had my climbing skins on my K2 Launchers and my Alpine Trekker binding - but - I had never used climbing skins! So the first thing the class does is to get access to "America Bowl" and our instructor Bruce says "OK, so lets ski down there with our skins on" and I was like "Whaaaaaaat no no no no no" . I totally slammed and thought I broke some ribs. Then we start to ascend and I am hurting and exhausted. I look at my watch thinking "it will be OK soon, probably not to long to go" and sha rite it was 9:00 AM with 8 more hours to go. I knew then I was in over my head stupid me.
Denis wrote:
It’s a little tricky skiing downhill with skins on but it can be done and can be a good way out of a difficult situation. I once did a 4 day hut trip in the Adirondack High Peaks in February. The day before leaving was warm with rain followed by a hard freeze overnight. The way out was by a summer hiking trail, narrow through dense trees. Time to ‘ski good or eat wood’. We all had 30 lb. Packs and bailed on that idea, put on skins and skied out slowly but without incident.
"‘ski good or eat wood" Love it! 💖 That same day we skied down (sans skins) and it was hot-sticky-track'y and I remember half way down I said to myself "oooh, I have a very large ice axe in my backpack sticking out next to my brain case; better not make any mistakes" har har.
A few of mine:
When I was a noob skiing at 7S with a friend, we were going down a green heading back to Wagner (was the one below Fawn Lane). It was spring and there were bare spots. I see a trail-wide barespot - looked like some meltwater took the snow away. I thought if I had enough speed I could make it across since the spot wasn't that wide. Well, I hit the bare spot, my skis stopped, and I didn't. I went flying. :D My friend was behind me and saw it and he tried to jump it. He bombed and we both had a major yard sale. :D
Last season at Laurel, I wasn't paying attention at the lift. I followed the group in front of me, thinking the chair had already swung by. It didn't, and it took all 5 of us out. Talk about embarrassing! The liftie laughed. I apologized profusely and the guys were cool about it.
I was skiing with a friend at Brighton once. We were racing on the front side near the Crest lift and he took a turn to try to pass me. He ended up on top of a cabin. He had to huck it to get down.
At HV yesterday, it was pretty windy. I rode the front side quad up with a woman and her daughter. I was on the right side. As they got off, a wind gust blew the chair just as I was starting to get off. The ground disappeared from under me and fortunately, I was able to stay on the chair. I ended up going around and hitting the safety gate. Liftied helped me down and patrol gave me my skis back on the side of the trail. That happened to some others yesterday too, so at least I wasn't alone. :D
oldensign wrote:
There is nothing I hate more than buying a p/c of gear on the mountain because I forgot it. Thus I tend not to travel lightly.....
Hehe, and it's always one that costs more than a few bucks too. 😄
