Can you stop if you fall?

I was at Gore Mountain last week.
They have a sign at the top saying that you will not stop sliding if you
fall. They are 35 degrees and one was pretty much smooth ice, so I believe
it. (Fortunately the one I did fall on had rather large moguls...)

I suppose you will be stopped by the trees once you slide off the trail, but
I wonder if there is a safer way to stop.

Tom wrote:
I was at Gore Mountain last week.
They have a sign at the top saying that you will not stop sliding if
you fall. They are 35 degrees and one was pretty much smooth ice, so
I believe it. (Fortunately the one I did fall on had rather large
moguls...)
I suppose you will be stopped by the trees once you slide off the
trail, but I wonder if there is a safer way to stop.

Ski pole arrest.

Grab above the basket of one pole with the opposite hand. Jam the tip into the
ice/snow, using the pole hand to apply pressure, and the basket hand to take the
breaking force. It's always worked for me, although I did break one pole doing
it. Of course, that pole was 30 years old. And it still stopped me.

Bob F wrote:
Tom wrote:
I was at Gore Mountain last week.
They have a sign at the top saying that you will not stop sliding if
you fall. They are 35 degrees and one was pretty much smooth ice, so
I believe it. (Fortunately the one I did fall on had rather large
moguls...)
I suppose you will be stopped by the trees once you slide off the
trail, but I wonder if there is a safer way to stop.

Ski pole arrest.

Grab above the basket of one pole with the opposite hand. Jam the tip
into the ice/snow, using the pole hand to apply pressure, and the
basket hand to take the breaking force. It's always worked for me,
although I did break one pole doing it. Of course, that pole was 30
years old. And it still stopped me.

I should add - large moguls are not necessarily a good thing. They can be
brutal.

Also, the lack of poles is one worry I have when snowboarding, for just this
reason.

I went down a steep icy double diamond once where a ski patrol woman at the top
was telling everyone "if you fall, you will slide to the bottom". I was having a
great time boogieing the bumps, when suddenly someone sliding from above took me
out like a bowling pin. I quickly arrested, then watched the guy that took me
out slide to the bottom. I then skied down, picking up the pieces as I went. A
true yard sale.

"Bob F" wrote in message
...
Bob F wrote:
Tom wrote:
I was at Gore Mountain last week.
They have a sign at the top saying that you will not stop sliding if
you fall. They are 35 degrees and one was pretty much smooth ice, so
I believe it. (Fortunately the one I did fall on had rather large
moguls...)
I suppose you will be stopped by the trees once you slide off the
trail, but I wonder if there is a safer way to stop.

Ski pole arrest.

Grab above the basket of one pole with the opposite hand. Jam the tip
into the ice/snow, using the pole hand to apply pressure, and the
basket hand to take the breaking force. It's always worked for me,
although I did break one pole doing it. Of course, that pole was 30
years old. And it still stopped me.

I should add - large moguls are not necessarily a good thing. They can be
brutal.

Also, the lack of poles is one worry I have when snowboarding, for just
this reason.

I went down a steep icy double diamond once where a ski patrol woman at
the top was telling everyone "if you fall, you will slide to the bottom".
I was having a great time boogieing the bumps, when suddenly someone
sliding from above took me out like a bowling pin. I quickly arrested,
then watched the guy that took me out slide to the bottom. I then skied
down, picking up the pieces as I went. A true yard sale.

Thats frighteening.

Same thing happened to me at Sunday River on
the double black diamond White Heat.

I lost an edge as well as my poles and went
sliding head first until I came to a stop
1/2 way down.

Never thought there was a way to stop
until you came to a flat part of the mountain.

Alan Fried wrote:
"Bob F" wrote in message
...
Bob F wrote:
Tom wrote:
I was at Gore Mountain last week.
They have a sign at the top saying that you will not stop sliding
if you fall. They are 35 degrees and one was pretty much smooth
ice, so I believe it. (Fortunately the one I did fall on had
rather large moguls...)
I suppose you will be stopped by the trees once you slide off the
trail, but I wonder if there is a safer way to stop.

Ski pole arrest.

Grab above the basket of one pole with the opposite hand. Jam the
tip into the ice/snow, using the pole hand to apply pressure, and
the basket hand to take the breaking force. It's always worked for
me, although I did break one pole doing it. Of course, that pole
was 30 years old. And it still stopped me.

I should add - large moguls are not necessarily a good thing. They
can be brutal.

Also, the lack of poles is one worry I have when snowboarding, for
just this reason.

I went down a steep icy double diamond once where a ski patrol woman
at the top was telling everyone "if you fall, you will slide to the
bottom". I was having a great time boogieing the bumps, when
suddenly someone sliding from above took me out like a bowling pin.
I quickly arrested, then watched the guy that took me out slide to
the bottom. I then skied down, picking up the pieces as I went. A
true yard sale.
Thats frighteening.

Same thing happened to me at Sunday River on
the double black diamond White Heat.

I lost an edge as well as my poles and went
sliding head first until I came to a stop
1/2 way down.

Never thought there was a way to stop
until you came to a flat part of the mountain.

Sounds like an excellent reason to wear your pole straps. Once you lose your
poles, you are S.O.L.

"Bob F" wrote in message
...
Tom wrote:
I was at Gore Mountain last week.
They have a sign at the top saying that you will not stop sliding if
you fall. They are 35 degrees and one was pretty much smooth ice, so
I believe it. (Fortunately the one I did fall on had rather large
moguls...)
I suppose you will be stopped by the trees once you slide off the
trail, but I wonder if there is a safer way to stop.

Ski pole arrest.

Grab above the basket of one pole with the opposite hand. Jam the tip into
the ice/snow, using the pole hand to apply pressure, and the basket hand
to take the breaking force. It's always worked for me, although I did
break one pole doing it. Of course, that pole was 30 years old. And it
still stopped me.

I once fell about 200' on pretty decent snow, so it took a while; but am not
sure I would have had the presence of mind to do that. (all I could think
was "oh please stay on the trail)
Presumably you have to practice it, rather than hope to work it out on the
fly. How?

Tom wrote:
"Bob F" wrote in message
...
Tom wrote:
I was at Gore Mountain last week.
They have a sign at the top saying that you will not stop sliding if
you fall. They are 35 degrees and one was pretty much smooth ice,
so I believe it. (Fortunately the one I did fall on had rather
large moguls...)
I suppose you will be stopped by the trees once you slide off the
trail, but I wonder if there is a safer way to stop.

Ski pole arrest.

Grab above the basket of one pole with the opposite hand. Jam the
tip into the ice/snow, using the pole hand to apply pressure, and
the basket hand to take the breaking force. It's always worked for
me, although I did break one pole doing it. Of course, that pole was
30 years old. And it still stopped me.

I once fell about 200' on pretty decent snow, so it took a while; but
am not sure I would have had the presence of mind to do that. (all I
could think was "oh please stay on the trail)
Presumably you have to practice it, rather than hope to work it out
on the fly. How?

Sit down on an icy slope, start sliding, then try it? You don't have to start at
the top either.

Maybe it helped that I had done ice axe practice in a climbing course.

It's really not that hard to do.

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:55:46 -0500, "Tom" wrote this
crap:

I was at Gore Mountain last week.
They have a sign at the top saying that you will not stop sliding if you
fall. They are 35 degrees and one was pretty much smooth ice, so I believe
it. (Fortunately the one I did fall on had rather large moguls...)

I suppose you will be stopped by the trees once you slide off the trail, but
I wonder if there is a safer way to stop.


Always remember, after you stop sliding, and you get back up, yell out
as loud as possible, "I meant to do that!."




A mighty Hungarian warrior
The blood of Attila runs through me

On Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:45:52 -0800, "Bob F"
wrote this crap:

Also, the lack of poles is one worry I have when snowboarding, for just this
reason.

I went down a steep icy double diamond once where a ski patrol woman at the top
was telling everyone "if you fall, you will slide to the bottom". I was having a
great time boogieing the bumps, when suddenly someone sliding from above took me


Somebody from ABOVE you slid into you? You must have been going very
slow. Most snoreboarders go too slow. The very reason they should be
banned from the adult runs. And shot on sight. Then pistol whipped.
Then hung from the nearest yardarm.







A mighty Hungarian warrior
The blood of Attila runs through me

On Feb 12, 3:55*pm, "Tom" wrote:
I was at Gore Mountain last week.
They have a sign at the top saying that you will not stop sliding if you
fall. *They are 35 degrees and one was pretty much smooth ice, so I believe
it. *(Fortunately the one I did fall on had rather large moguls...)

I suppose you will be stopped by the trees once you slide off the trail, but
I wonder if there is a safer way to stop.

The real pain in the ass is if both binding releases work, AND the
brakes work, AND then you get to work your way back up the ice in
quest of your gear.