ahem... (push up glasses in nerdy fasion) well, you see...the velocity acceleration achieved while dropping a cliff is 9.81m/s squared...which means, on an 80 foot cliff you will accelerate to aproxamitely 25 m/s...which is about 90 km/h or 55 miles/hour for those americans out there....the chances of dropping 80 feet and hitting the snow at 90k's an hour and skiing out fine are pretty slim, so the best option is to use a larger surface area to slow down the object in motion (push glasses up again) this is best achieved by landing on your side, firstly it reduces the impact experienced by your knees (namely your acl which is prone to spontaneous eruption) by spreading out the impact on your whole body, more area, less impact...secondly, it momentarily stops all forward movement letting you shake off the minor concussion you're experiencing enough to ski out looking cool...and as for the guys who fall back...they tried to land on their feet, and just couldnt hold it due to the exploding acl, or maybe they were too far back when they hit