Halfway through the unseason. Hopefully this will bring thoughts of snow covered mountains to us.

So, what's the best fall you've either witnessed or participated in? Yard sales, collisions they're all good here.

Best I've seen, this years snowy luau at Tline, this girl is carving turns on upper thunderstruck, i'm riding on the lift. She caught my eye bcause she was really getting it, heelside toeside heeltoeheeltoe really nice turns when her toe edge skipped & bit and skidded and off she goes into the woods, board first backwards, right between a hydrant and a tree. Scared me sh$tless, probably her too. I choose to share this one because she climbed out, thumbs up everything cool.

Too many to remember Jimmy. There's my own trip into the trees a few years back, when I broke three ribs but skied the rest of the day anyway. My 6 year old asked if I was OK, and then asked if the tree was OK.

Want scary? I'm skiing Wintergreen with that same kid, now eleven, and an excellent skier, following. I hear my kid "scream" and a mother gasp, so I hit the brakes, look uphill, and see my kid scraping himself up from the base of a snow gun. The gun had a huge mound in front of it, reaching up taller than the bumper. Of course, that's where he caught an edge, and skied up the mound and into that snow gun at a pretty good speed, taking it hard in the chest.

All he had was a little bruising. We finished the day, and skied that same run first thing the next day. I took him straight to the gun he hit, and we looked it over to make sure it was OK.

Last year around january, we were at CV and a buddy of mine was trying skiing for the first time...so we were on timber trail...Some of you might remember that that trail had a few holes in it with the big orange "X" covering them...Anyways...I would ski ahead of him and turn and laugh while he was making the "V" all the way down the slope...Well...While i was laughing skiing backwards...YOu all see where this is going...lol...I hit one of those holes in the snow and the back of my ski stuck in the snow and it threw me down backwards on my head...Ski's popped off and stuck in the hole...there was a group of ppl standing right behind the "X" thinkin they were safe cuz ppl would ski around them...well...i took 2 of them out hard...lol...I was sort of a beginner myself and should have never been backwards skiing...just tryin to show off i guess...needless to say i learned my lesson the hard way...

I was thrilled by my first ride up the Snowbird Tram one morning many years ago in Utah. After skiing down just a few hundred yards from the summit I stopped to babble to a friend that this was some of the greatest skiing I'd seen; huge open bowls in one direction and long, steep tree-lined trails in the other. Then I spotted a snow covered rock outcropping nearby and said "watch this." The ledge had a four or five foot drop-off, which I took with modest speed. When I landed my legs sunk thigh deep in to snow that was like mashed potatoes. I immediately blasted out of both bindings and vaulted forward head first into the soft snow. I was fine, but the dazzling environment led me to blow a cardinal rule by not checking out the landing zone before going for a little air. Once he saw I hadn't ruined our ski day with an injury, my pal got a big laugh out of my goof.

I'm cruising down a little blue run out at Snowshoe, keeping things tight to the left side of the slope. Things are crowded and I didn't want to be out in the main flow of what was basically I-95 on frozen water. I'm not even going half speed, just dinking along. Fast movement catches my eye and I lift my head just soon enough to see a mass of blue color coming at me quick and hard. I tense up, and lower my center of gravity right before impact.

My body stops moving and I lay for a second thinking this may have hurt. Quick system check and I find everything working, just hurt. I crawl over the mass of blue nylon and find it was wrapped around a woman who looks like she's been beat to the edge of death. Nose bleeding, glasses broken, both of our poles are all bent up, she's breathing a little ragged and obviously stunned.

Witnesses placed her out of control and flying down the slope. Guess I'm softer than a tree, but at my size, not much softer. She got a ride off the hill via ambulance, word was that she was checking out ok, just going for eval. I felt really bad for her, as she was 50something years old but I never saw it coming until it was too late. Snowshoe with crowds can be a scary place.

Different story...this past winter I took a NOLS b/c ski course out in Wyoming. There were 12 students of various levels of experience, one of which had never before strapped skis to his feet. Nor has he ever really camped or spent much more time outside than a drive in movie. Well this guy couldn't slide more then three feet before falling down. We were wearing 30 pound packs and pulling 40 pounds sleds for two weeks. (things got lighter as we ate our food). We base camped at a high saddle in the mountains, doing day tours and hitting powder stashes. This guy just took a beating every day....the most amazing part...he never stopped smiling. Not once. Not when every orifice not covered in goretex was packed with snow...not when his sled would be on one side of a tree and he's on the other...not when he's dehydrated, hungry, it's getting late and we're all grinding on...not once did that smile drop from his face. Really an amazing young man.

He came to do the NOLS trip because he was just graduating college, wanted some sort of experience to just take him away from the grind of school. He was really nervous about entering the "real world" and just wanted a bit of time to mentally prepare. After seeing him in the course, I have strong faith he'll do great things.

Steve

So I'm in Aspen during Xmas week with Dad, Bro and Sis and there's this Ahole with a multi family group bugging the crap out of us every night at the hotel wine and cheese apres ski thing. He was always bragging about how good he was and trying to organize a New Years thing. Thing was, we never saw him on the expert slopes he claimed he was skiing.

So it's Friday and we're kicking back on the deck at the Highlands mid mountain lodge eating lunch and watching a mogul comp. This guy spots us and starts whining from 30 feet away as he comes over to join us. It was his day to watch the kids, he'd been waiting on them all day (key story note: he was whining about this all during lunch), but they forgot to get his lunch for him while he hit the rest room and the line doubled. So I try to cheer him up with "come ski with us, we'll show you a good time" (like putting steak out for a stray dog). At the same time, I'm elbowing my brother who's starting to give me the "are you NUTS??!!!" look.

So after lunch we start heading up to the top with two kids in tow. We do a blue run in between lifts to make sure I'm not going to kill the guy or the kids. Sure enough, he takes off straight done the hill making 11s. Ok, so I step on it, catch up to him and cut him off so we don't miss catching the lift to the top(funny thing is I ski faster than he does when I'm making turns and he's going straight). The kids are making fairly competent christie turns, sooooo GAME ON!

Off the top, we hit the second turn off for a double diamond super steep mogul run (Steeplechase? - it's where you can see the pitch from the road trail). Little kid pulls up to the edge first and says "O COOL!", but I send the 2 kids down the road trail with my sister to a single black (which looks like a double on the current trail map) and tell them we'll meet them where the trails meet up. After the kids leave (and are out of earshot), bozo peaks over the edge (you know the kind where you need to lean over to see down) and says "ahhh, you go first". Bro and I have a mini argument about who will be "pickup". I've already done my share for the day, so I hop down about 4 turns so I can still just barely see bozo at the top. Bozo starts out, immediately does a freak out Z turn, looks up sees trees, does another Z turn and cruises to the middle in a bumpety bump traverse. As he starts to slow down, he relaxes a tiny bit and falls on his butt. Fortunately he has no concept of self arrest. In the first 20 yards, he's almost stopped twice (and he could have if he tried) but managed to lose both skis, both poles, his hat and his goggles are totally smashed. Then he really starts to pick up speed and rag doll down the rest of the pitch.

Bro and I wait until he starts moving. We collect all his gear and split it up (I get the skis, he takes the 3 sets of poles). Then we proceed to synchro ski through the bumps with no poles. When we get to him we do our most sincere fake "are you all right?", help him brush the snow off and get back into his gear. He claims he does not remember double diamonds being so steep. We tell him not to worry, that the trail flattens out from there and is easy. He ends up cherry picking his way down the runout. By the time we get to the trail merge, the kids have been waiting for him so long they are lying down in the snow (I forgot to tell sister to coach them to complain about the run being too easy and having to wait so long). We wait a couple more runs (funny that he is now kind of silent and not making 11s any more) before we dump the guy and tell sister the full story. We did manage to not laugh hysterically in front of the guy. For some strange reason we missed him at whine and cheese that night.

We heard that the next day, when he was at Buttermilk (snicker), he was on the lift when the brakes failed and it rolled 100 yards backwards. He got stuck on it and had to evac. Then there was a "family emergency" and he had to go home early.

We're not usually so evil, but this guy was so phony he had it coming. It was perfect that only his ego was bruised. To date, it's the longest, funniest yard sale I've ever seen.

Saw a great one on Flying Eagle (I was on the lift) @ Snowshoe a few years ago. Guy was tucking the runout and caught an edge right before the little island of trees in the middle of the run. The next thing you know he is airborne, hits a tree, and the tree falls down. Dude is just laying there and everyone is screaming for the ski patrol. I figured that if he was alive he at least had some broken bones.

Talked to the patrol the next day and turned out the guy was fine. The took him to the hospital for tests (worried about internal bleeding) but he was back skiing the next day.

Sort of reminds me of the gentleman who was cruising down w-lightening and hit a deer on the last run of the day. I don't think he saw the deer,but the deer saw him and ran right into his path! Talk about a strange yardsale! Both the deer and skier were OK. The guy tried to tell the story of his collision to the usuals in the pub later, but nobody would believe him until I showed up to confirm it.

So I was in Aspen Xmas week with my wife and kids when some jerk brought me onto a double diamond slope and let me go crashing down it...

Ribs hurt TLaHaye. Only time i got really hurt it was at least bruised ribs, wouldn't let doc xray bcause she said if they were broke i shuoldn't ski for six to eight weeks, pretty bright huh? A thursday nite at 7 springs, was just bfore the lights warmed up and i'm flyin down boulder and cut over to northface. Just under the nf lift i have to cross a swale which i didn't see until....uhoh...plant two poles and jump it.....uhoh........cartwheel....all fall down. You know how the people on the lift laff at you, give you 9.5? No one said a word. I figured out after looking at the scars on my gear that right pole was planted inside right ski. First rule in jumping, plant both poles outside the skis.

therusty, just goes to show that evil can be fun.....RogerZ, i think you should find a place on the team at moonshine mountain for therusty, whaddya got for mr. evil? I'm off to the new starbucks for a soy capp and some wifi, sure wish we had a waffle house.

Hey J!
this year .... hmmm .... I guess a third-person one was in June at Snowbird. A guy gets set-up for the in run at "The Wave" off of Road to Provo to get some big air ... lauches an estimated 20 foot air straight up and comes right back down totally laid out parallel to the ground. He splats on is back and the groans from the Little Cloud chair were monumental. The guy did get up .. sort of ... at last glance. No info on the total damage.

As for me ... oh yeah .... I remember .. I hiked for over 1/2 hour out of the gate at Peak 5 at The Canyons on a deep day around President's Day week. I get to my spot, figure the avalanche danger is not too much and start my run. 5 Hi-speed turns later as I approach the treeline, I get too forwards and my skis dive in the thigh-high heavy powder. I do a complete flip ... I try to aim between two trees spaced 5 feet apart .. make it but then my butt and leg hangs up on another tree branch about 1 foot off the snow. To my shock the branch spins me 180 degrees around so now I am flying backwards throught the trees skipping off the snow. I self-arrest by sticking the tail of my left ski into the snow and oh yeah believe me I went from 40-0 MPH in about 2 seconds. But I didn't hit anything :-) ... and the leg is still attached!

I was thinking Rusty would be better ski patrol, but he has a number of positions for the asking if he wants 'em.

Can't think of a real good third person fall at the moment, other than watching a ski patroller bite it at Canaan Valley once (always a memorable experience). Crush I had a similar experience to yours at Steamboat, except I was supremely over my head and almost ate bark head first on the fall. In retrospect it's funny, but at the time a bit of a heart stopper.

One time, under a chairlift, I was plowing through a mogul field at Whistler (what a terrible sentence). I go to plant my pole at the top of a mogul and completely wiff it. Suddenly I'm floating through mid air falling backward. Land flat on my back and careen off a couple bumps to a complete stop. Another time at Loon I went into a mogul field and began my first turn with two skis. Must have hit the mogul too straight on because I cleared the bump with one ski. Things went ugly very quickly at that point.

Best fall recently was two years ago. I was at Solitude, and my mom decided to snap a couple photos as I came down a black in Honeycomb Canyon. Made a couple of good turns and a couple of sloppy ones, and then at the bottom where it got flat I got lazy and leaned back. I wound up bouncing off the back of my skis and eating pow'- and my mom photographed the whole thing. It was hilarious and it's all on tape- truly the worst type of fall imaginable.

Now if you want to see some GREAT falls- take a trip with Murphy...

I had what must have been a pretty one at The Canyons this year. Was towards the end of the day on some mogul run, caught the top of a tree and did a cartwheel followed by a few rolls. I personally groomed a few moguls.

Damnit ... wish I saw it, MadM!

Reposted from a thread in February.

If the mood strikes me and the snow is good, I will ocaisionally go up to Seven Springs after work for a few hours under the stars. There I often see groups of testosterone soaked male teenage skier/boarders doing speed runs down the narrow Cortina Trail that comes off the top of the Cortina Quad. Where the trail merges with the Stowe slope, there is usually a lip and drop where you can get air (after bombing the Cortina Trail). On this particular night I was skiing a stash of fluffy moguls near the woods on the opposite side of Stowe. I stopped at the midway point to catch my breath on the downhill side of a tree in the woods as I usually do. I looked over to my right to see a very inexperienced looking dude catch air off the lip. He landed, legs and arms flailing and proceeded to bisect the somewhat moguled Stowe Slope, maintaing both speed and balance over the uneven terrain. As he approached me, I kept edging closer to that tree I was behind, praying that it was wide enough to protect my stocky frame. As he got near the woods, he hit a large mogul and was launched head first into the woods. He was one lucky SOB as he managed to miss about 5 large trees and land in a pile of scrub. After breathing a sigh of releif, I asked him if he was OK. "Yeah dude, I'm OK" came the reply, "Not bad for a first run".....

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Now if you want to see some GREAT falls- take a trip with Murphy...

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Now what have I ever done to you to deserve that kind of abuse?