This is the story of the crash I had on saturday that put a lot of things into perspective for me.
The Crash
This was the scariest shit of my life. There was a point at which I honestly thought I was going to die or get really messed up. I've had my fair share of bad crashes before, but nothing as bad as this. I was skiing in the backcountry at my home mountain, and was skiing a face that I had skied many times before. Always skiers left. Always a fun run. I wanted to do somthing different this run though. When scoping the terrain, skiers right looks just fine. I headed that way and was greeted with knee deep fresh pow. Then I stopped next to some trees. There was a small 1 foot rock band that was no big deal below me, but I didn't want to scratch my skis on it, as it was very exposed. There was one place where there appeared to be snow, so I headed straight down about ten feet and went off of it. My skis caught and I double ejected. I was so disoriented for the next 2 seconds that I had no idea where I was. Then the terrain dropped off. a 50 degree sheer rock face with some snow in parts. I was going head over heals. After I had figured out what was going on, I struggled to stop flipping, struggled to self arrest. Struggling struggling. I see a glance of green. Trees. I was about 50 feet above them at that time, and was going around the fastest i had gone in the crash. the terrain flattened out slightly before the trees, and right before I got to them I kicked my boot into the snow and finally slowed down. 15 feet above the trees I stopped. I was absolutely traumatized. I could have gotten really messed up. And I am absolutely UNSCATHED. How did this happen? I was wearing a pack which I guess protected my back, and obviously my helmet. Those were both in good condition after the fall though, oddly enough. I guess it was just a miracle. I wasn't even soar the next morning.
The Aftermath
My friend was with me and saw the crash. when he saw me drop over the steep part, he thought I was dead. He got my skis and was bringing them down, sidestepping down the rocks. He made it surprisingly far. I had a feeling he was going to fall, and about 2/3 of the way down, he slipped, dropped my skis, dub ejected, and slid down to me. He was also fine, but did bruise his arm. we hiked up around 100 feet, but then we realized it was to risky to get the skis as from there on it was a sheer rock face, so we did the safe thing and hiked out of the zone. After a half mile hike, we were safe, as luckily we were very close to the resort.
The path of my crash
This crash scared me really bad. I was really shaken up for the rest of the day, and even am still scared now. Both pairs of skis are still there, and by now they're probably covered with snow. I'm not going back there to get them, though, as that would be absolutely retarded, but ill hike up in the summer and get them. (We did bribe ski patrollers $200 to get them, but its too dangerous for them to go back there. They usually rope up with rescues from that zone.
Bottom line: I fell down a 200 foot rock face in a sidecountry zone at my home mountain. I've skied that zone many times before, just never that far right. 2 pairs of skis lost. I'm fine, but my peace of mind isn't.
The reason I just spend a half hour writing this?
BE SAFE
in the past I had been very safe with avalanche danger in the backcountry, but then I would just scope out the terrain and hit it when I was safe. There are many other factors that need analysis. This line looked fine when scoped, but ended up almost killing me.
Backcountry never closes. There can be some gnarly stuff out there.
The Crash
This was the scariest shit of my life. There was a point at which I honestly thought I was going to die or get really messed up. I've had my fair share of bad crashes before, but nothing as bad as this. I was skiing in the backcountry at my home mountain, and was skiing a face that I had skied many times before. Always skiers left. Always a fun run. I wanted to do somthing different this run though. When scoping the terrain, skiers right looks just fine. I headed that way and was greeted with knee deep fresh pow. Then I stopped next to some trees. There was a small 1 foot rock band that was no big deal below me, but I didn't want to scratch my skis on it, as it was very exposed. There was one place where there appeared to be snow, so I headed straight down about ten feet and went off of it. My skis caught and I double ejected. I was so disoriented for the next 2 seconds that I had no idea where I was. Then the terrain dropped off. a 50 degree sheer rock face with some snow in parts. I was going head over heals. After I had figured out what was going on, I struggled to stop flipping, struggled to self arrest. Struggling struggling. I see a glance of green. Trees. I was about 50 feet above them at that time, and was going around the fastest i had gone in the crash. the terrain flattened out slightly before the trees, and right before I got to them I kicked my boot into the snow and finally slowed down. 15 feet above the trees I stopped. I was absolutely traumatized. I could have gotten really messed up. And I am absolutely UNSCATHED. How did this happen? I was wearing a pack which I guess protected my back, and obviously my helmet. Those were both in good condition after the fall though, oddly enough. I guess it was just a miracle. I wasn't even soar the next morning.
The Aftermath
My friend was with me and saw the crash. when he saw me drop over the steep part, he thought I was dead. He got my skis and was bringing them down, sidestepping down the rocks. He made it surprisingly far. I had a feeling he was going to fall, and about 2/3 of the way down, he slipped, dropped my skis, dub ejected, and slid down to me. He was also fine, but did bruise his arm. we hiked up around 100 feet, but then we realized it was to risky to get the skis as from there on it was a sheer rock face, so we did the safe thing and hiked out of the zone. After a half mile hike, we were safe, as luckily we were very close to the resort.
This crash scared me really bad. I was really shaken up for the rest of the day, and even am still scared now. Both pairs of skis are still there, and by now they're probably covered with snow. I'm not going back there to get them, though, as that would be absolutely retarded, but ill hike up in the summer and get them. (We did bribe ski patrollers $200 to get them, but its too dangerous for them to go back there. They usually rope up with rescues from that zone.
Bottom line: I fell down a 200 foot rock face in a sidecountry zone at my home mountain. I've skied that zone many times before, just never that far right. 2 pairs of skis lost. I'm fine, but my peace of mind isn't.
The reason I just spend a half hour writing this?
BE SAFE
in the past I had been very safe with avalanche danger in the backcountry, but then I would just scope out the terrain and hit it when I was safe. There are many other factors that need analysis. This line looked fine when scoped, but ended up almost killing me.
Backcountry never closes. There can be some gnarly stuff out there.
