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oldschoolskier

Making fresh tracks
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Dec 6, 2015
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Ontario Canada
I've been told that most European lift lines are survival of the fittest. Never had the pleasure...
Heres the story of skiing at St Anton in 1980/81. Lift lines means the next skiers front of his boot is touching the back of your binding :geek: at age of 16 I was having none of that, so I flatten a few ski tips by stepping on them with my skis, this help some. Next was body check over the railing, this worked, one check and the guy behind you fended off the hordes. The best part was a Texas football was skiing (sort of), big guys, the smallest 6’2’ built like a tank, polite as hell, all wearing red down jackets and cowboy hats, couldn’t understand the pushy line etiquette, until l I showed them them a hockey body check. Last I saw them wasn’t skiing just standing in the lift line checking pushy skis over the rail. Guess it was more fun than skiing.

I guess they set a new standard Skiing in the Alps Texas style.:roflmao:
 

fatbob

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Nov 12, 2015
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6,288
My funniest interactions with rude/clueless people were both middle-aged Brits abroad. Both times curiously enough I was on a snowboard.

First - Fernie, well away from groomers late in the day I ride down a big wide mogulled face and then stop and sit toward the edge to fix a strap pressure problem over my arch. Billy Britpunter comes hacking down, skiing like a bag of spanners, barely in control and misses me by inches. Then rants "Bloody snowboarders always sitting in the middle of the piste". I gesture around at the empty mountain and our distance from the "piste" and say "Are you having a laugh, do I have to come back on my skis and show you how to do it?" then just take off down the rest laughing.

Second - I have come to a dead stop outside the restaurant at Grands Montets Chamonix. Billy Brit coming skiing the opposite direction (to be fair the cattrack is flat to allow travel both directions as there is a chiarlift load behind me) and barrels straight into me skis either side. He needless to say comes off worse as a) I saw him coming and b) I played rugby. Starts a blustering rant about out of control snowboarders. I laugh as I step over his prone body. I do check over my shoulder and see he has picked himself up (and also want to make sure he hasn't gone full bezerker and is about to chase me from behind). I would have halped him if he hadn't started with the rant, which looking back was probably as much to save face among his buddies (who probably already know what a nightmare he was).
 

Paul Lutes

Making fresh tracks
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Jun 6, 2016
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2,607
That specifically is the problem with concussions. The concussed can't make good decisions for themselves. Denial of injury is probably the most prevalent poor decision they make. 'Oh, I'm ok.' NOT

If I found someone clearly exhibiting signs of concussion, I'd call it in and maintain contact with the individual so that patrol could find him.


Concussions are sneaky for sure, but anything internal can be initially denied by the "patient" as well. I hit a buried tree stump on a fall and after recovering from getting the wind knocked out of me and verifying that nothing appeared to be bleeding superficially, proceeded to start skinning back up for another run; half-way up I realized that I was getting shocky and turned around to head back to the trail head, intending to drive home (2+ hours) and if still wobbly swing by the ER, "just for a little check up". Never made it back to the trail head. Fortunately met a group after sitting down and discovering that I couldn't get back up, and they got me back to the trail head with assistance from SAR, where I was immediately whisked away in an ambulance for emergency intestine resection surgery. Whenever you take a fall/run into something, best to take a break, immediately get close to medical response personnel/facilities, and enjoy the scenery for a bit, just in case .... especially if you're riding alone.
 

Core2

Making fresh tracks
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AZ
pugold2.jpg
 

AlpsSkidad

Buying more gear
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May 19, 2018
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759
Took the family for a long weekend in Arosa Switzerland.
Today my U8 daughter was waiting with my U10 in the slow down area, near the lift line access but out of the way off to the side. They were waiting for my wife to catch up to them. They were standing together.
Some knucklehead man skiing at speed (in the slow section)runs into my U8 daughter from behind. Knocked her down, completely launched her out of her GS race skis. (Both released). He didn’t stop, say sorry, anything. My U10 yelled at him, but he just joined the lift line and took off.
I’m convinced that her Helmet and back protector must of saved her from a serious injury. She had pain on the side of her head, a swollen and bruised knee, but that’s all we’ve found thus far.
Luckily she’s a physically strong, athletic and healthy kid for her age. Also that she had the safety gear. It could have been really bad.
needless to say, I wish I had caught the guy...
 

James

Out There
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Dec 2, 2015
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24,433
Took the family for a long weekend in Arosa Switzerland.
Today my U8 daughter was waiting with my U10 in the slow down area, near the lift line access but out of the way off to the side. They were waiting for my wife to catch up to them. They were standing together.
Some knucklehead man skiing at speed (in the slow section)runs into my U8 daughter from behind. Knocked her down, completely launched her out of her GS race skis. (Both released). He didn’t stop, say sorry, anything. My U10 yelled at him, but he just joined the lift line and took off.
I’m convinced that her Helmet and back protector must of saved her from a serious injury. She had pain on the side of her head, a swollen and bruised knee, but that’s all we’ve found thus far.
Luckily she’s a physically strong, athletic and healthy kid for her age. Also that she had the safety gear. It could have been really bad.
needless to say, I wish I had caught the guy...
Sorry to hear that. Not good.
 

fatbob

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Took the family for a long weekend in Arosa Switzerland.

Glad she's ok. There is a particular class of douchebag male who skis in Europe. I might have said teutonic but I think it's wider and generally seems to be white middle aged guy entitlement - where whatever happens is someone else's fault/problem. Not the best skiers but been doing it a long time and can "get down" most runs meaning groomers. As referenced above I've seen some astonishing and truly daft behaviour from such individuals over the years.
 

Andy Mink

Everyone loves spring skiing but not in January
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Jerez

Skiing the powder
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59 years and only one jerk makes a dang good track record. Mostly people are nice on the slopes. I was hit by the same snowboarder twice on one run at Squaw but he was so embarrassed and apologetic that we had a good laugh over it. Been run down from behind by a good skier who sort of said "you OK" over his shoulder as he flew on at Loveland and by a terrible skier out if control. I asked for an apology but he claimed it was my fault. An off duty patroller saw the incident and made him apologise in front of his buddies or get his pass revoked. That was quite satisfying. Worst one was some Obermeyer dressed older dad skiing with his teenage kid. Dad screamed at my snowboarder son after running into him. My DH was so pissed he chased the guy down but the jerk just kept screaming that he was a lawyer and would sue. What a way to model good behavior for your kid.
 

HardDaysNight

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Park City, UT
Glad she's ok. There is a particular class of douchebag male who skis in Europe. I might have said teutonic but I think it's wider and generally seems to be white middle aged guy entitlement - where whatever happens is someone else's fault/problem. Not the best skiers but been doing it a long time and can "get down" most runs meaning groomers. As referenced above I've seen some astonishing and truly daft behaviour from such individuals over the years.
Not peculiar to Europe I fear. Deer Valley is infested by similar types. I have coined the pejorative “Master of the Universe” to describe such skiers. They are middle aged or a bit older, often successful at what they do, and imagine that there’s nothing at which they do not excel, including skiing. Any mishaps are therefore the fault of someone else as their awesomeness simply wouldn’t permit it to be theirs.
 

RobSN

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Nov 12, 2019
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Prescott Valley, AZ
There is a particular class of douchebag male who skis in Europe.
It's not just Europe. The closest that I have knowingly come to dying skiing was at Beaver Creek on a big wide blue - no-one below me for a long long way so I was having fun skiing fast. There was a big clump of trees on one side of this wide run, and as I approached them and was about to make a turn, two guys in their 30's or early 40's appear out of nowhere going like the clappers, and one of them skis over the back of my skis throwing the tips into the air. As I said, I was going fast, and could only juuuuuust manage to get them back down and put the brakes on incredibly hard before I would have slammed into the trees at 35-40mph. If I'd found them, I'd be serving life in prison right now.
 

slowrider

Trencher
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Dec 17, 2015
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Yeah the blood is gets messy with snow. Lure them I to the trees....
 

Fuller

Semi Local
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Feb 18, 2016
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Whitefish or Florida
It was moderately busy today at Whitefish and as usual folks were lined up to get on Chair 1 which doesn't start loading until 9:30. I get on the chair with 3 twenty somethings who were amped up pretty good, but they were funny in the way of all wise ass kids who have yet to be ground into the dirt of life.

The ringleader was one of those guys who you can tell is a good skier by the way they move through the lift line. The three are cracking jokes and #1 cracks open a breakfast coffee/beer of some sort and passes it around to his buddies. "I always let someone else finish the can so I don't have to deal with the empty" he says with a loud burp. His friends tell him to fuck off and they all laugh.

Then one of them looks ahead and says "why is that chair ahead of us empty, it was packed down there"

"It's shameful is what it is" I finally spoke up. "We could have been up top 30 seconds sooner".

"Dude, it's because we were all waiting for someone else to go and it just went by us".

I said, "And you know what, it's like a life metaphor, for the rest of the day, the rest of your life maybe, you're going to be saying I could be up there instead of stuck here.

"Yeah that would suck, but when we drive home today there's going to be an accident 15 seconds ahead of us and now we're going to avoid it".

That answer made my whole day a little brighter, the fog came and went all day but I felt reassured that young men still think they are immortal.
 

oldschoolskier

Making fresh tracks
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Ontario Canada
It was moderately busy today at Whitefish and as usual folks were lined up to get on Chair 1 which doesn't start loading until 9:30. I get on the chair with 3 twenty somethings who were amped up pretty good, but they were funny in the way of all wise ass kids who have yet to be ground into the dirt of life.

The ringleader was one of those guys who you can tell is a good skier by the way they move through the lift line. The three are cracking jokes and #1 cracks open a breakfast coffee/beer of some sort and passes it around to his buddies. "I always let someone else finish the can so I don't have to deal with the empty" he says with a loud burp. His friends tell him to fuck off and they all laugh.

Then one of them looks ahead and says "why is that chair ahead of us empty, it was packed down there"

"It's shameful is what it is" I finally spoke up. "We could have been up top 30 seconds sooner".

"Dude, it's because we were all waiting for someone else to go and it just went by us".

I said, "And you know what, it's like a life metaphor, for the rest of the day, the rest of your life maybe, you're going to be saying I could be up there instead of stuck here.

"Yeah that would suck, but when we drive home today there's going to be an accident 15 seconds ahead of us and now we're going to avoid it".

That answer made my whole day a little brighter, the fog came and went all day but I felt reassured that young men still think they are immortal.
Having been a young man once, the feeling of immortality encourages you to do do some stupid S*#t which explains why the high mortality rate it among young men. Luckily I survived this portion of my life.
Be crazy not stupid, at least you realize the risk.
 

Jnelly

Booting up
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Aug 11, 2017
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Madison WI
This drives me crazy as well. Boarders and skiers alike...I'm a midweek skier and usually have a very uncrowned hill. Its totally laughable and infuriating when someone come out of nowhere and practically runs over your tails mid-mountain and your 4 feet from me (or whomever) Guess that other 3000 acres of terrain isn't good enough. Unreal.
 

AmyPJ

Skiing the powder
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We had someone snake through the singles line of the gondola this week to catch up with their "group". Granted, the line was about 8 people long, and we do prefer to take that line and risk being separated on the gondola than to walk the extra 50 steps or so on the pavers to take the group line, but they literally did NOT understand that what they did was out of line (no pun intended.) I ended up on the gondola with the guy and his 2 compadres, and they literally did not comprehend that cutting the line, the SINGLES line, so he could ride up with his group, was rather lacking etiquette. One of them was a season passholder, and you'd think would know better. :huh:

Anyway, I'm trying mightily to not get too spun up about rudeness anymore, as it does seem like it's worse than ever (gotta love the gangsta/raper rap playing loudly in the parking lot!) But sometimes, it's not easy to stay positive and let things roll. Maybe it's the PNW-like number of gray days we've had this season, I don't know.
 

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