J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by Trencher

Tony_H wrote:


Its also obvious from what Smarty said it was not just the other guys fault, but that he was rude and negligent. I may have pointed that out to him if it was me.

Civility goes a long way.

I would like to say that I do assume some risk when skiing, and minor collisions are part of that risk. We all make mistakes and occasionally miscalculate. I've had several hits from behind over the years and brushed them, but last season I had a wake up call. As I started off on carving snowboard, a small child (maybe about five) set off at the same time. I had seen him with his parents at the top. It was on what in Europe would be a red run. I soon realised the kid was going extremely fast and it would not be safe for me to start caving turns with him behind me. I pulled over to the side of the run and sat down. About a few seconds later the kid hit me. Fortunately though he double ejected and supermanned about thirty feet, he was not hurt. I took the full impact to the hip. His parents were most apologetic, but said they were encouraging him to go fast as he had just started in a racing program. I said I was OK, and there were only minor scratches to my board, so off they went. Only a little later did I realise that my hip was badly bruised. I think a little harder impact might have broken it. Even with insurance, I might have been tens of thousands out of pocket. The parents were clearly irresponsible.

I always say the best cross training for skiing is inline skating, and if you watch this video you'll see why.

Snapzzz wrote:

The FIS rules are guidelines only and not enforceable.

AllyG wrote:
Verbier_ski_bum- ARE the FIS rules legally binding - in, say, France or Austria? I found several things that said they were, but I'm still not too sure ...

Ally

The courts do seem to use those rules to apportion blame.

You could have a minor scrape leaving blood all over the place, while a more serious injury may not be apparent. If someone gave me the finger when asked for contact details, I would say "I think I'm injured, we need to call the ski patrol". Skiing away then would land them in court in most instances. The various authorities (esp. ski patrol, local police) in most countries take a dim view of such behaviour , and would certainly find something to charge the person with, even if there is no specific law (as in Colorado).

Iceman wrote:Personally, I would not give my personal details to anyone on the slopes. What is the point?

Later in you find your ski are trashed, where is it going to get you phoning me? You have insurance for that. It's not like we are driving?

Later on you find that bruise on your hip is actually a fracture, and even with insurance you are going to be out of pocket big time.

There may be criminal repercussions for leaving the scene of an injurious accident.

I am now at the stage where if someone collides with me from behind, unless I'm totally sure that both my gear and myself are unscathed, I want contact info. It's often not until later that you find your skis have been damaged, or worse that you have an injury that was not apparent in the adrenalin rush of the collision. It's hard to have your wits about in that situation, so you need to mentally rehearse your reaction beforehand.

Anyway, glad you are OK, and what a great addition to the J2ski lexicon "what in fluffy snow's sake".

AllyG wrote:I noticed they weren't piste-bashing nearly as much when we were in Meribel over the New Year as compared with my previous trips to the 3 V's, and I wondered if they're doing this deliberately to keep skiers speed down. I didn't see anyone ski-ing at a 'million' miles an hour like I usually do, because it would have been impossible over all the lumps and bumps - even on the blue runs.

So, although the pistes were much more difficult and lots of people fell over, they were also safer because everyone had to go more slowly than usual. And there was hardly anyone on the one black run I did.

Ally

Skiing is meant to be fun. It's not like driving on the roads, where one expects traffic calming measures. The resort that doesn't meet peoples expectations for grooming will lose business. I would guess there were other reasons for not grooming.

Just brain storming here, but what about kids race camps. Would there be a demand for kids who otherwise might train there, but don't because of missing school? Might be an additional source of revenue.