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Helping a skier sliding down out of control?

Philpug

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Yeah, the pole thing doesn't work well either. Story B, Lola, my ex and I were skiing at Mountain Creek in NJ and and while she was standing there, poles firmly planted in front of her, an out of contol snowboarder, sliding on his back with the snowboard acting as a battering ram took Lola out. He went through the poles, snapping them like dried twigs. Fortunately Lola was OK just a bit bruised but if the snowboard was not slowing down but speeding up, it could have been much worse.
 

crgildart

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Or better yet, don't drag your friends or kids down a run that is above their ability so you can "teach" them how to be better skiers. Sometimes you have bad luck on a ski day but most of the time you do dumb shit that leads to a bad fall.
The times I've seen it happen usually involve a kid skiing without their parents that may have dropped a pole or glove from the chair down to a more difficult trail and felt obligated to go there to retrieve their dropped gear.
 

John Webb

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I often think of this question when swimming. Having grown up on the water and had my bronze star way back when, I often wonder what I'd do if someone was in trouble. There are risks, litigious and otherwise.. I've averted the odd tragedy but nothing really serious. The panicky adult male is the obvious problem.

Exactly what happened to someone I know. My ski club (before I left the East) announced at a meeting that a couple were on a cruise.
Ship stopped in tropical St Martin. They were swimming back from a platform off the public beach when the adult male panicked and
was drowning. Two guys from shore rescued them. Everyone was nude (LOL) at the time. They weren't at the meeting but weren't
embarrassed later! :ogcool:
 

oldschoolskier

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Late to this thread but if I see someone falling out of control all I will do is sit back and watch and enjoy the show. I guarantee you they are learning their lesson (the hard way) without me intervening. Now with that said I will always stop my run to help someone pick up their yard sale items and ask if they are OK.

Remind me that if you ever fall like this, and I have the option to save you and save you a bunch of hurt or to let you crash and burn, just say "My name is Core2 and I need to learn my lesson the hard way, please sit back and enjoy the show."

Lesson learned ?
 

Philpug

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mistakesdemotivator_large.jpeg
 

Don in Morrison

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I've only had one long slide experience. I was going so fast anyone in my path would have been shattered into a million bits by the impact (me too, I imagine). I caught an edge and landed on my back. I slid quite a long way on my back, with my feet in the air, so that the bindings wouldn't release. Then I hit a bump and rolled so that my feet hit the ground and all hell broke loose. My yard sale was attached to my feet by the safety straps (a misnomer if there ever was one) and I got beat near to death by the flying skis.

Grabbing your pole so that you can dig it into the snow to self-arrest is a nice thought. If you can think of it while your skis are beating the daylights out of you.

I would still be inclined to try to stop a child if it were possible to intercept him with a reverse wedge and slow down gently. I wouldn't try to just stop and catch him unless it was a very slow slide. If the kid was carrying any kind of speed at all, an adult could still get upended and land on top of the kid.
 

oldschoolskier

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I've only had one long slide experience. I was going so fast anyone in my path would have been shattered into a million bits by the impact (me too, I imagine). I caught an edge and landed on my back. I slid quite a long way on my back, with my feet in the air, so that the bindings wouldn't release. Then I hit a bump and rolled so that my feet hit the ground and all hell broke loose. My yard sale was attached to my feet by the safety straps (a misnomer if there ever was one) and I got beat near to death by the flying skis.

Grabbing your pole so that you can dig it into the snow to self-arrest is a nice thought. If you can think of it while your skis are beating the daylights out of you.

I would still be inclined to try to stop a child if it were possible to intercept him with a reverse wedge and slow down gently. I wouldn't try to just stop and catch him unless it was a very slow slide. If the kid was carrying any kind of speed at all, an adult could still get upended and land on top of the kid.

The old "Safety Straps" always taught you a lesson, a quick beating by your own skis usually smartened you up in a hurry :crash:so you didn't make that mistake again.

:beercheer:
 

François Pugh

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I guess it would depend on how capable I was feeling at the moment.

I vaguely recall many years ago seeing a screaming panicked child go flying down the slope and me taking a couple of skates, then full tuck then, scooped him up and come to a stop. Parent must of at first thought I was trying to take him out. He seemed at first about to beat on me, but then before he could say anything he realized what had just happened and he was grateful. My guess is the kid weighed about 70 lbs to my 145 lbs at the time. I don't think I would be able to do the same with someone larger than myself, about 160 lbs now. For someone larger I might try a different tactic. It would depend on terrain, I guess. Good thing is if the terrain was such that I couldn't get below him and set up in a backwards snow plow or hockey stop while grabbing him, then he would be down before he gained too much speed. On the other hand sometimes you just do things without thinking about it.
 

ZionPow

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Ski patrollers are trained to always make sure the scene is safe before engaging in a situation. The worst thing a patroller can do is get injured and compound the problem. My experience suggests to not try to catch the person unless it is a small child. Trying to stop and catch an adult could increase the injury potential as most trauma occurs when impacting a solid object.
 

Ken_R

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Ski patrollers are trained to always make sure the scene is safe before engaging in a situation. The worst thing a patroller can do is get injured and compound the problem. My experience suggests to not try to catch the person unless it is a small child. Trying to stop and catch an adult could increase the injury potential as most trauma occurs when impacting a solid object.

Bingo. I have seen several accidents in progress and if I am up the slope I pick up the yard sale like someone else mentioned and quickly ski to the person and ask how he/she is and asses visually his/her condition/situation and then call or get ski patrol asap if required.

Unless a person is sliding to certain death (a cliff?, rocks or tight trees) I wouldn't try to go to him/her and try to stop it.
 

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