Most hairball moments of 2007/08

[kingslug]

So who got in trouble this season? You know the "I should not be here, how am I going to get out of this one" scenario. The kind of situation that you need a few beers to calm down from. I like pushing the limit but it does have it's drawbacks. Kind of goes with the how serious do you take skiing thing.
I got into a few of these this year but one really stands out. Off the little cloud chair at Snowbird you can take a very narrow cat track out into the bowl. I've done it many times but decided to see what was around a blind corner that I saw a few people head out to. Ended up in a rock garden. To my right it was like a giant bed of nails, in front of me the track was worn down to rocks. No way to turn around, too narrow, fall and you go right into those rocks. Had to walk acroos the rock path with no idea how long it would be until it turned to snow again. Thankfully no one was behind me. It was pretty terrifying, had to keep saying "you can do this".
finaly across, ended up staring down a pretty steep chute, think it's called the Rasta Chute. About as steep as anything I've ever done but I was very glad that I at least made it there.

 

[wa-loaf]

I didn't ski anything hairy this year. But just to illustrate the point that you need to be "on" the whole time you are skiing, my blown ACL is a good example. Last run of the night on my way to hit the bar after racing I was coming into the base area a little faster than I should have. A snowboarder came around a corner and I went one way to go around him and he went the same way. We collided I wrapped my knee around him and my season was over. Just because I was thinking ahead to kicking off my skis and having a beer instead of concentrating on my surroundings. :-(

 

[kingslug]

It's why most car accidents occur less than 1 mile from home.

 

[riverc0il]

Terrain never gets me in trouble but getting into hairy terrain on suspect conditions is a real eye opener. I certainly had one such incident this season at an undisclosed mountain on an undisclosed area out of bounds. Solo and nearly a sheet of ice. I thought the new snow would have addressed a recent rain/freeze issue but it had not. I scraped my way down utilizing a variety of survival methods. A fall and slide would have been rather ugly and I took away a major lesson despite getting down without a problem and never having a moment that I thought was on the edge of loosing control. Nothing else really comes to mind though. I love pushing the envelope but rarely get in over my head.

 

[andyzee]

Hey hey, what are you doing posting a ski thread!

I would not say I didn't belong there, I would not say I have regrets, but the closest I came to being somewhere I shouldn't have been is coming down Sherbourne Trail from Tux with 60 pounds on my back. The trail was well bumped up and with 60 pounds on my back it took a bit of getting used to. I did take a couple of falls before I got used to it and learned quickly to stay forward. Otherwise, everytime I hit a bump, it would push me back and then the weight took over and pulled me down to the ground.

When I was a little boy
How I did my trains enjoy
Then one day my horsey came
Nothing's ever been the same
Sometimes at the break of dawn
Dew drops kiss the front yard lawn
Horsey cooks me toast and eggs
And cracks the shells between his legs
My horsey took the family car
Drove down to the corner bar
Tried to drink a trough of beer
Got so drunk that he couldn't steer
I love you horsey

 

[Geoff]

I would not say I didn't belong there, I would not say I have regrets, but the closest I came to being somewhere I shouldn't have been is coming down Sherbourne Trail from Tux with 60 pounds on my back. The trail was well bumped up and with 60 pounds on my back it took a bit of getting used to.

Hint: If you drink all the beer you lugged up before you ski down, the pack gets a lot lighter.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

This past season I didn't ski anything scary..a few of my favorite lines at Jackson Hole involve a sharp left or right turn above cliffs but I'm confident enough in my ability that I know I can nail the turn despite the exposure. Aside from mad steezy speed..I really enjoy technical terrain where I have to plan my route..it's like a game of chess and can be very rewarding..especially when there's fresh snow so you can look at your tracks from below.

Any nub can look halfway decent on a steep groomer but it's the gnarly terrain and tight trees that seperate the men from the boys.

 

[andyzee]

Hint: If you drink all the beer you lugged up before you ski down, the pack gets a lot lighter.

I went up with 85 pounds!


There's a party in my pants
And I want you all to come
Voobanahana vop bop
There's a party in my pants
And I want you all to come
Voobanahana vop bop
Just got into town tonite oh yeah
Oh my pants they fit so tight oh yeah
Come along the surf is right oh yeah
Bring some beer and being some cheese oh yeah
Bite and tease and squeeze me please oh yeah
We will soon be on our knees oh yeah
After all is done and said oh yeah
You've been entertained and fed oh yeah
Now it's time to use your head uh huh
Yeah.

 

[kingslug]

Come on guys (and girls)....I wanna read some hairball stories..............................I'm dying of boredom here!!!!!

 

[kingslug]

OK here's another one..Snowbird again. get to the top on the tram, total whiteout. The run towards Chips run is all over the place, rollers moguls, etc. I'm with Mrs.Slug she's ahead of me a few feet. I ski right off the edge. It's a long and steep way down off the side of this thing. Somehow i get stuck to the side about 6 feet down, still can't see anything. One of my skis popped off and I'm hanging on to the side for dear life. I don't even know where I am. I can hear her above my but can't see her. I feel around for my ski and find it stuck in the wall. Pull it out and send it up to her. then pop off the other one so I can try to climb back up. Made it. Had to sit there a few minutes to get my stuff back together. Amd we still had to make our way down 3000 vert with zero vis. This was 2 years ago and it happened to me and Tyroler Pete again this season. Didn't ski off the edge though, just a real slow ski down.

 

[kingslug]

Fine! I'm going home.....................

 

[Philpug]

Tumbling down Goat on 30+ year old skis with safety straps.

 

[roark]

MRG, turn back the clock day. I want to hit paradise but djspookman keeps going. We pick our way through some pretty tight trees and around a few small icefalls. Eventually we hit a choke where we decide to boot down. He's doing good so I take my skis off to do the same. At this point I'm mildy nervous but not scared. About 3 kicks in I lose my footing and away I go. I get two attempts at self arresting with my pole before I tumble between a couple small trees and over a 5-6 foot drop and into a small clearing. Now I'm completely ragdolling. I whack a small birch with the side of my head (yes I had a helmet on), which finally brings me to a stop. Apparently I was out for a short while as the rest the group called for and picked their way down.

The clearing. I was very fortunate to miss the trees right below the drop.

"Dude are you ok?"

I thought I was fine but the next day I realized I probably had a small concussion. Thus far, the worst injury of my skiing career. djpookman still feels bad about leading the way but he shouldn't - I love skiing with people who push me!

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

MRG, turn back the clock day. I want to hit paradise but djspookman keeps going. We pick our way through some pretty tight trees and around a few small icefalls. Eventually we hit a choke where we decide to boot down. He's doing good so I take my skis off to do the same. At this point I'm mildy nervous but not scared. About 3 kicks in I lose my footing and away I go. I get two attempts at self arresting with my pole before I tumble between a couple small trees and over a 5-6 foot drop and into a small clearing. Now I'm completely ragdolling. I whack a small birch with the side of my head (yes I had a helmet on), which finally brings me to a stop. Apparently I was out for a short while as the rest the group called for and picked their way down.

The clearing. I was very fortunate to miss the trees right below the drop.

"Dude are you ok?"

I thought I was fine but the next day I realized I probably had a small concussion. Thus far, the worst injury of my skiing career. djpookman still feels bad about leading the way but he shouldn't - I love skiing with people who push me!

Don't take off your skis in a hairy situation..

 

[kingslug]

At WF we ended up on a sheet of SOLID ice. I go across to a small ribbon of snow on the other side. So far so good. Mrs.Slug is pretty paralyzed but I convince her she can make it over. She does then makes her way down. My first turn my ski pops off and goes to the bottom. Now what?? So I take the other one off and send it down. Guess I'll slide on my ass to the bottom. Stuff is so slick I need to use my pole tip to keep my speed down...or else i could slide into the woods and...have a bad day. Now people are skiing around me and I'm trying to get down. Took a while and freaked me out as I had never had to do this before. Don't know if it would have been better to leave the one ski on or not. And I don't know why the other one popped off.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

At WF we ended up on a sheet of SOLID ice. I go across to a small ribbon of snow on the other side. So far so good. Mrs.Slug is pretty paralyzed but I convince her she can make it over. She does then makes her way down. My first turn my ski pops off and goes to the bottom. Now what?? So I take the other one off and send it down. Guess I'll slide on my ass to the bottom. Stuff is so slick I need to use my pole tip to keep my speed down...or else i could slide into the woods and...have a bad day. Now people are skiing around me and I'm trying to get down. Took a while and freaked me out as I had never had to do this before. Don't know if it would have been better to leave the one ski on or not. And I don't know why the other one popped off.

That is a gaper move..you are always much safer keeping that one ski on..

 

[2knees]

Havent gotten into any situations that were over my head. hard to do that when you ski in the east.

My one instance where i just KNEW i was in for it was at berkshire east this year. 6" on top of the sickest plate glass ice you've ever seen. About 5 runs in, i went from pow to ice and guessed wrong. As skis were intersecting, i was wondering how to fall. I went down on the ice/cement on my face and thumb. Face was/is fine, thumb now looks grotesque 3 months later

 

[eatskisleep]

Don't take off your skis in a hairy situation..

Very true IMO.

 

[roark]

Don't take off your skis in a hairy situation..

Very true IMO.

For the most part I agree, but we got ourselves to a place where turning didn't seem possible. There was no way to slip it and we weren't going to take an uncontrolled turn and pick up speed. That said, one of the group did manage to negotiate it with skis on, so lesson learned.

 

[awf170]

Warning blatant ego-stoking pic below:

Although not the most hairball thing I have done this season, it is the most hairball thing I have a rad pic of.