Whats the most scared you've been skiing?

[dmc]

For me it was probably looking over a 20' cornice in Alpine Meadows 15 years ago - knowing I had to do it or climb back to something more mellow...

I did it... And it turned out great!

I always get a little nervous when I'm in super steep terrain and don't know what around the bend...

 

[JimG.]

First time I skied Great Scott in 1995 at Snowbird. There was no new fresh, but it still seemed like nice western packed powder. A few weird, huge, spaced out moguls. I'm all set to jump in and a group of 3 skiers comes flying down from the tram and all jump off the cornice...and one by one proceed to wipe out and slide, leaving their equipment behind.

So I cautiously hop turned onto the run and skied down fine. Mellow mindset is best when I'm scared.

 

[Treeliner]

I think this picture about sums it up:

I always get a little nervous when I'm in super steep terrain and don't know what around the bend...

Yeah, at Snowbird not really being on a trail, just on some crazy terrain not know what was gonna come up next made me really nervous. The effect was increased whenever I would see a "Warning Cliff Area" sign

 

[dmc]

Yeah, at Snowbird not really being on a trail, just on some crazy terrain not know what was gonna come up next made me really nervous. The effect was increased whenever I would see a "Warning Cliff Area" sign

At JH they say if you don't see a "Warning Cliff Area" sign after 20 yards - it's probably safe to ski..

 

[awf170]

Yeah, at Snowbird not really being on a trail, just on some crazy terrain not know what was gonna come up next made me really nervous. The effect was increased whenever I would see a "Warning Cliff Area" sign

At JH they say if you don't see a "Warning Cliff Area" sign after 20 yards - it's probably safe to ski..

JH should just stick one right where you get off the the tram... would save them a lot of work :wink: :lol:

 

[ChileMass]

Interesting that so far all the "most scared' stories happened out west -

Mine was at SnowBasin UT a few years before the Olympics. My wife and her 2 brothers and I were skiing what would be the 2002 downhill course. From the top it's relatively mellow, winds through the woods, etc, but then busts out into an open area and turns almost 90* left straight down a 40% pitch for about 400 yards. We hit that in a line with me in 3rd position. I made about 3 nice tight turns with my head way out over my skis when my edge just disappeared and I started sliding diagonally down and across the steep pitch. The problem was I couldn't get my edge under me, and I was afraid that if I did, I might stop too abruptly, and tumbling right over my tips (and then head-over-heels about 20 times) was a definite possibility. So I just rode my rear-end about 2/3 of the way down this incredibly steep slope until I ran into 2 feet of powder off the trailside to my right. I got up trembling. I haven't been that scared on a pair of skis since I was a little kid. It took about 15 minutes for my heart rate to get somewhere near normal again.

 

[loafer89]

Mine was at A-Basin about 1990 or so. A severe thunderstorm came up really fast and lightning hit the lift a few towers below next to the trail that we were skiing.

Needless to say we got down below timberline FAST.

Second would be skiing across the Palmer Snowfield on Mount Hood, to look into the nice wide and deep crevasses on White River Glacier while my best friend held onto my feet. :dunce: :dunce:

 

[dmc]

Interesting that so far all the "most scared' stories happened out west -

I got Tuckermans stories too...

But most of them were caused by my pussing out and getting myself into worse of a jam...

Like second guessing myself and traversing into an even worse place..

 

[riverc0il]

climbing up tucks that first time. had hiked the day before so i wasn't at 100% and about halfway up hillman's i completely bonked. just standing on a boot ladder with tired legs trying to get your wind back takes so much outta ya. gets easier everytime i've done it, but when ever i start getting tired, i get a little scared but quickly turn that feeling into alertness and determination.

 

[dmc]

when ever i start getting tired, i get a little scared but quickly turn that feeling into alertness and determination.

Exactly... Because.. after you think about it -while your legs are shaking from the strain and hands are cold from using them to climb.. You realize...
You basically have no other choise but to climb.

Getting and learning how to use an ice axe for self arrest takes almost all that fear away...

Crampons help too

 

[pizza]

Cornice Bowl at Mammoth. Go ahead and call me a wuss, I deserve it.
Here's the story:
I still sucked.
Actually, I still suck, but I sucked even more at the time. I couldn't handle the pitch, it had huge vertical, and better skiers were passing me like I wasn't moving.

I had become my own pet peeve.. I had to make huge traverses to get down..

I'm better than that now. I think.

 

[NHpowderhound]

First time down the Headwall at Tucks. When we arrived at the floor of the ravine, the ski patrol was carrying out an injured skier on a backboard,with a bloody bandaged head and with a rebreather pump bag on his mouth to assist in breathing ! Not a good first impression. That experience has stayed with me, and helped me keep respect for the mountain.
Then I had climbed above my ability level at the time, and stood on the snow ledge by the waterfall under Chicken Rock for a half an hour, shaking uncontrollably like i had Parkinsons. Above Chicken Rock it is at least 10-15degrees steeper with some spots around 55-60degres. May not sound like much but it still gets my full attention .
When I finally got the courage to ski I took three long traverses to get down My next run was easier and I had much less anxiety after popping my cherry!
((*
*))NHPH

 

[dmc]

Then I had climbed above my ability level at the time, and stood on the snow ledge by the waterfall under Chicken Rock for a half an hour, shaking uncontrollably like i had Parkinsons. Above Chicken Rock it is at least 10-15degrees steeper with some spots around 55-60degres. May not sound like much but it still gets my full attention .

Chicken Rock... Awesome! I'm going to add that to my map..
Cool story..

The next level of scaryness is when you ski from the flats above the Headwall, over and down it the bowl... The world just drops away...

Great experience...

 

[NHpowderhound]

DMC wrote

The next level of scaryness is when you ski from the flats above the Headwall, over and down it the bowl... The world just drops away...

Yea baby! When you get on the lip or anything on the Headwall above Chicken Rock for that matter, you cant really see much more than 5-10 feet below yor skis. All you see is air and the floor of the ravine below your feet .
((*
*))NHPH

 

[loafer89]

This picture of Tuckerman from the front page of the Boston Globe form May 18, 1994 looks a bit dangerous:

 

[NHpowderhound]

Go big or go home! Huckin your meat!
Great pic!
((*
*))NHPH

 

[ga2ski]

Skiing with BobR.

Tumbling down the headwall of tucks this spring.

 

[deadheadskier]

Pretty much any peak season Saturday that I've skied at Killington..... :lol:

 

[loafer89]

I would have to say that my experience at Sugarloaf during the great ice storm of January 1998 was also frightening and potentially dangerous.

We watched and waited at Sugarloaf while the rest of Maine was brought to its knees with 2-3" of ice accumulation and 800,000+ people without power. Anyone who is familiar with Sugarloaf and Mountain Road will recall that there are power lines running fairly high alongside the road, they were bent down under the weight of ice and touching the ground

With the national guard brought out, we were NOT allowed to leave Sugarloaf as roads were impassable due to downed trees, we spent an extra three days in Maine, until we could drive back home. Farmington looked like a disaster area, with trees downed and electric wire on many roads.

I was also afraid for my brother and his young family living in Montreal, they had no power for many days and it was down to 37F in his house

We were very fortunate to never lose power, no doubt alot of sleet mixed into our weather saved the day for us. This was a ski experience I will never forget.

 

[tirolerpeter]

Most afraid moment.

Interestingly enough, my most frightening moment had nothing to do with steep terrain. Last December I was skiing at Alta on day two of a four foot dump. It was "white out" conditions so we had trouble navigatiing. My buddy and I took different lines coming off a ridge and I ended up skiing into a gully that had an immense amount of freshly drifted powder. I must have crossed a tip and went head first into the snow. I totally lost my orientation and literally didn't know which way was up! As I floundered, I found myself aspirating snow. I just couldn't seem to find a bottom or top to my situation. After a moment of panic I stopped breathing, and slowly rotated my head and body (I luckily still had one ski on that gave some leverage) until I noticed that there was more light in one direction then in another. I then sort of started "swimming for the light." As I moved in that direction, it got brighter and brighter, and I finally broke out on top. As luck would have it, my lost ski was sticking up just a bit about 10 or 15 feet away. I unclipped the ski I had, used it to paddle over to my other ski, and then worked my way out of the "ocean of powder." It took me quite a while to get over the realization that I might have "drowned" in that beautiful white stuff. I can just imagine what people caught in a slide must feel like as they float along under the snow (never mind the potential for smacking into something)!