Bad Wipeout

[Scott McManus]

Today skiing at Gore I suffered one of the worst wipeouts of my life. I was feeling really good and decided to let it fly down Lower Darby. At the bottom of the trail there is a steep section that flattens out quickly. When i reached the flat section the compression bought me to the ground. Skis snapped off and I was sliding down the trail at a fast rate. I couldnt see anything except for a cloud of snow. I was totally out of control. I went off of the trail into the woods. I was expecting a huge collision to occur. I felt the saplings hitting my body and just waiting for the collision into a larger tree. I didnt happen. Luckily i missed a 2' diameter birch by inches and settled in a bank of snow about 10 feet into the tree line. I was with my son and I was so upset that he might have been present at me suffering severe injury. It took me some time to compose myself and luckily walked away with nothing but a sore thumb. Please be careful out there. it happened in a blink of an eye and I was so lucky. Just thought I would share so everyone will have this in the back of their mind and remain safe.

 

[wonderpony]

Ouch! Glad that you are ok!

 

[Harvey]

Your description is chilling. I can relate to that feeling of freefall-ing, knowing you can't stop and bracing for impact. When it doesn't happening, you're shaken and amazed. I was anyway.

Glad you are ok.

 

[Frk]

Today skiing at Gore I suffered one of the worst wipeouts of my life. I was feeling really good and decided to let it fly down Lower Darby. At the bottom of the trail there is a steep section that flattens out quickly. When i reached the flat section the compression bought me to the ground. Skis snapped off and I was sliding down the trail at a fast rate. I couldnt see anything except for a cloud of snow. I was totally out of control. I went off of the trail into the woods. I was expecting a huge collision to occur. I felt the saplings hitting my body and just waiting for the collision into a larger tree. I didnt happen. Luckily i missed a 2' diameter birch by inches and settled in a bank of snow about 10 feet into the tree line. I was with my son and I was so upset that he might have been present at me suffering severe injury. It took me some time to compose myself and luckily walked away with nothing but a sore thumb. Please be careful out there. it happened in a blink of an eye and I was so lucky. Just thought I would share so everyone will have this in the back of their mind and remain safe.

On Wednesday I saw a snowboarder have a scary crash into a snow-covered bolder near bottom of Darkside under the chair. He came to a very abrupt stop. Thankfully he wasn’t hurt. The snow is now deep enough to cover some very dangerous debris under the new chair. I guess plenty of skiers and boarders never saw the pre-snow conditions

 

[sig]

i rarely turn them lose anymore. if i do its usually on showcase. i always fear that patch of ice that is always lurking somewhere under the snow. speed is dangerous in the north east.

 

[lukoson]

Glad your ok. I took a hard fall on an icy chatiemac 2 seasons ago and broke my jaw. Same thing, going faster than I should have been. Still skiing as much as I can but it does make you respect the mountain and conditions.

 

[tirolski]

Glad you’re OK. Stay safe. Thanks for sharing the episode. Count your blessings as you've used one.

 

[wonderpony]

Your description is chilling. I can relate to that feeling of freefall-ing, knowing you can't stop and bracing for impact. When it doesn't happening, you're shaken and amazed. I was anyway.

Glad you are ok.

I basically bounced my way down some icy slope at Killington once, much to the delight of the bar patrons. Every time I tried to get my skis on the downhill side to stop my falling, I got flipped back over. I was probably 23 at the time and only tweaked my knee slightly. Now would be a different story for sure.

 

[Benny Profane]

I wound up flying into a little gully at high speed after an ejection at Killington and was just waiting for that tree collision like you did. My buddy came up to my skis, still on the groomed slope, and wondered, what happened to Benny? Looked down and there I was, about forty feet below, and started laughing. Some times you get lucky.

 

[Brownski]

Glad you’re ok. Be glad it was you though. I was thinking some very dark thoughts on my hour long drive to the ER after my son crashed a couple weeks ago.