A Good Place To Stop

[Uncle-A]

The last time I was out skiing one of the guys I was skiing with took a fall and as custom with our group one of the others would ski over to the fallen skier and check out if they are okay and if they need any help. I did that when my friend took this fall, I stopped just slightly up hill from my friend, I figured it would alert other skiers that someone was down and getting up and he would not get run down. He was fine but when getting up some guy went by and yelled at us that we should not stop in that location. I yelled back "Just picking our self back up" but the guy kept on going. It was very clear that another skier was down but this guy did not seem to care, we were just in his way and he had to let us know of his inconvenience.

I know that jerks are all over but are so many skiers skiing faster than is safe for others on the slope?

 

[cantunamunch]

*shrug* I would have stopped in the same spot you did.

As to the ski-by commenter, meh. The polite thing to do would have been to ask if you needed help, but we really don't have the time or patience to waste explaining that.

 

[slowrider]

I was up a couple of days ago (spring break) with a pal and we like to be courteous to others. Smile at folks assist if needed. It's the ski instrutor still in me. Anyho, we always stop on the side but for some reason thats just not good enough for some. They will ski within a foot of you and think nothing of it. Age doesn't seem to be a factor. So now I park 20 feet off the run. They don't seem to go that far out of their way.

 

[cantunamunch]

Do you wave your pole in the air to signal you're about to stop? I do, not that anyone around cares much.

 

[Uncle-A]

Do you wave your pole in the air to signal you're about to stop? I do, not that anyone around cares much.

No, I was not waving my poles in the air but I am 6ft 2in and was in a bright yellow jacket that is very hard to miss. I was never a patroller but are they suppose to cross their poles up hill from a fallen skier? I did have my poles in the snow on my up hill side but that was just a coincidence not intentional.

 

[cantunamunch]

No, I was not waving my poles in the air but I am 6ft 2in and was in a bright yellow jacket that is very hard to miss. I was never a patroller but are they suppose to cross their poles up hill from a fallen skier? .

My question was more directed at slowrider - - and yes, skis uphill of the fallen skier is established practice.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

*shrug* I would have stopped in the same spot you did.

Me too. How else could you spray snow on your fallen comrade?

 

[slowrider]

My question was more directed at slowrider - - and yes, skis uphill of the fallen skier is established practice.

Umm no. I don't wave poles or anything. There's no one behind me when I stop.

 

[Monique]

I would do the same - stand upslope of the fallen skier so that they can get up without risking someone running into them. For a fall rather than an injury, no need to cross poles. Some percentage of the population are just jerks. And sometimes a person sees people doing something inappropriate/dangerous (stopping at a blind spot) 19 times, and on the 20th he finally says something, only the 20th time, it wasn't actually people screwing around in a blind spot.

 

[pais alto]

I was never a patroller but are they suppose to cross their poles up hill from a fallen skier? I did have my poles in the snow on my up hill side but that was just a coincidence not intentional.

Speaking as a patroller, I'll stop uphill of a fallen skier if it's in a bad spot to protect them while they get up/get their skis on, which should go fairly quickly. I'll place crossed skis above an accident/wreck as a signal to indicate that there is work going on below and to give the spot a wide berth. Depends on how long things will take to straighten out.

Back to the OP, sounds like the person calling you out was a bit clueless. No big deal.