How close is too close?

[Nathanvg]

I had a very similar incident as the op. In my case the boarder intentionally jumped over the backs of my sister's skis. We were in a area right next to a mid mountain restaurant where lots of people were putting skis on or off. I yelled at the moron but he didn't stop. I dont let morons ruin my day but I will call them out in an effort to keep us all safer.

 

[SSSdave]

Some fast skiers/boarders ought be more considerate of others on slopes and slow down their game on more crowded slopes.

As for where one should stop within trails, much depends on specifics. It won't matter on ungroomed or uncrowded slopes with good visibility up slope. On more crowded slopes, near or off the groomed edges are obviously wiser. However if at trail sides still on groomed surfaces that doesn't mean another person like this person might choose to ski nearby as long as they are in control not going fast. I sometimes ski narrow fall lines right along the very edge of runs because I enjoy narrow lines and there is more likely to be loose snow. However anyone stopping anywhere on trails watching me near from above would notice I have an advanced form in control at slow to moderate speeds so would not be concerned if I passed just a few feet away. If while skiing the edge, I noticed a person/group stopped at an edge is not looking up in my direction, I would probably not pass too close in order to not startle them.

 

[AmyPJ]

Don't get me started.
I have to wonder if our current culture of "instant gratification" vs. enjoying moments and slowing down in general play into this. Everyone is in such a hurry to get wherever, all the time.

I got LAMBASTED on social media by employees for calling out my home mountain for not doing enough. Yet I can't tell you how many instructors have been taken out this year. We just saw one today, who was in an instructor clinic no less.

I yell at people all the time. And for whatever reason this year, I have had more people cut the GONDOLA line (which is in a metal maze) because their party is up ahead. Um, you get on after they do and meet at the top, or you make them wait for you outside the maze. I'm trying really hard to not let incidents like near collisions and jackasses in the line ruin my day, but it's not always easy. Especially when turning 6 inches sooner or later could result in it truly ruining my day, or my ski season, at the very least.

 

[Mikey]

Don't get me started.
I have to wonder if our current culture of "instant gratification" vs. enjoying moments and slowing down in general play into this. Everyone is in such a hurry to get wherever, all the time.

I got LAMBASTED on social media by employees for calling out my home mountain for not doing enough. Yet I can't tell you how many instructors have been taken out this year. We just saw one today, who was in an instructor clinic no less.

I yell at people all the time. And for whatever reason this year, I have had more people cut the GONDOLA line (which is in a metal maze) because their party is up ahead. Um, you get on after they do and meet at the top, or you make them wait for you outside the maze. I'm trying really hard to not let incidents like near collisions and jackasses in the line ruin my day, but it's not always easy. Especially when turning 6 inches sooner or later could result in it truly ruining my day, or my ski season, at the very least.

I saw a guy come in to the Gondola a few days back, he was with his buddies and thought about cutting, his buddies pulled him in line before making it towards me.

I find myself saying that "Everyone is in such a hurry" quite a bit and every time I do hear the voice of Brooks:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/mAImoF6HNxY?start=62&end=68&version=3

 

[Doby Man]

It seems to me that the older I become, the more cognitive I am of risk. The older I get, the consequences of risk increases and, along with that, so does my directly correlating perception of risk. As I grow older, the slower I ski, which, in turn, increases the relative speed of those around me. The older I get, the more the terrain challenges the risk level of my own skiing. As I grow older, the more I am inundated with social media examples of ski accidents that are not representative of the whole, the real data of which I never see. The more I complain about growing risk on the slopes, the older I tend to be. Therefore, I theorize that the less I complain, the younger I will get. Skiing isn’t any more dangerous than it was 40 years ago. It just seems that way from an internal orientation that I do not tend to remain aware of. Perhaps this is more about the risk of getting old rather than that of getting hit? If I stop growing old, the problem will literally disappear into thin air ... which can be harder to breath as I get older.

 

[Winterpro]

More often than not it's a bowling alley out there... forget skiing on weekends...road rage on the slopes...very scary... fast skiers not able to control their fat skis...
Always looking over my shoulder before next turn, even when I have the "right of way" (skier below)... skiers flying by, much too close and when I yell, they might stop and tell me to 'f-ck off'...

 

[François Pugh]

I've got 41 years or experience at being 18 years old , I just make sure I have the fastest downhill velocity when I want to be certain nobody can run into me from behind. Hey, safety first!

 

[Paul Lutes]

damn, dobyman - your "avatar" is stunning!! Did you take that shot? Is he/she one of yours??

Wait ..... what?!?!?

 

[Andy Mink]

People skiing close is one reason I don't wear earbuds and listen to tunes while skiing. A lot of the time you can hear someone coming up behind you before you see them. They still shouldn't be that close.

 

[Marker]

On the other side of the coin, I had stopped just uphill of some poor guy that had fallen in a bad spot and was struggling to get up. Very narrow and cut up. At 6'6", I thought I could shield him as folks would see me. Of course, this led to people passing too closely at speed and yelling that it was a bad place to stop. I guess they wanted to just ski over him. He certainly wasn't going anywhere very quickly.

 

[Don in Morrison]

Once I stopped near a lift corral to wait for my companions. I stopped off to the side so others entering the lift line would have plenty of room to get by. I was leaning on my poles while I waited. A snowboarder came by and chopped my poles out from under me, and I went down like a rock. He was past the lift line entrance, so he had to bunny-hop back to get into the line. He never acknowledged having hit anything.

 

[John Nedzel]

Once I stopped near a lift corral to wait for my companions. I stopped off to the side so others entering the lift line would have plenty of room to get by. I was leaning on my poles while I waited. A snowboarder came by and chopped my poles out from under me, and I went down like a rock. He was past the lift line entrance, so he had to bunny-hop back to get into the line. He never acknowledged having hit anything.

Similar thing happened to me. Except the snowboarder hit me. Also he was moving fast enough the nose of his board sheared a buckle off my boot. I'm fairly sure that was too close.

 

[Andy Mink]

Similar thing happened to me. Except the snowboarder hit me. Also he was moving fast enough the nose of his board sheared a buckle off my boot. I'm fairly sure that was too close.

If parts are coming off it's a fair guess they're too close! YIKES!

 

[crgildart]

If there's more than 5 feet I'll pass stopped skiers/riders on the woods/edge of trail side because I know they're not nearly as likely to push off in that direction. That way I give then the entire rest of the trail should they suddenly push off without looking back up hill. If the trail's wide open with no other people I'll take the other side. If there's other traffic scattered around the middle I'm passing you or them on the trail edge side rather than the middle trail side if there's any room at all there... because nobody pushes off in that direction...

 

[KevinF]

New England this weekend was the epitome of "bad conditions" skiing -- anything ungroomed was unskiable ice and anything groomed was basically ice shavings on top of a hockey rink. Falling meant sliding, and probably a decent way.

At any rate, I was standing five or sixfeet off the trail edge and one of those ski school group "snakes" (everybody follow the leader) was coming down. Every single one of them (including their instructor!) decided to "shoot the gap" between my tails and the trees instead of taking the wide open option in front of me. 100 yards on one side, 100 inches on the other.

They were skiing in reasonable control but — echoing my first post in this thread— why are so many aiming for the “high risk” pass when there’s a “no risk” path available?

 

[LiquidFeet]

Were you in your yellow jacket?

 

[Ogg]

I admit I’m guilty of passing “too close” on occasion. The one time I will consistently shoot through the gap is between snowboarders sitting in a group on the trail or skiers congregating at a bottleneck. It’s usually accompanied by a not so polite comment and occasionally a pole tap on their board or ski. Very few actually get the hint.

 

[EricG]

At any rate, I was standing five or sixfeet off the trail edge and one of those ski school group "snakes" (everybody follow the leader) was coming down. Every single one of them (including their instructor!) decided to "shoot the gap" between my tails and the trees instead of taking the wide open option in front of me. 100 yards on one side, 100 inches on the other.

Funny, I had that happen Saturday morning in the bulletproof conditions. i was a good 10-12’ out from the edge of the trail, I had a calve cramp that I had to stop. I watched the class of 7-10 year olds snake behind me as I waited for my calve cramp to subside.

 

[KevinF]

Were you in your yellow jacket?

Yes I was

 

[LiquidFeet]

Maybe squeezing between Big Bird and the trees is fun!