advice please on falling safely esp. on steep runs?

Naa, this fall was on piste, nice snow if not groomed. Black run, so steep but not outrageously so, the locals take their kids down it (in fact some, correction *most*, of the children put my skiing to shame...).

I am being pushed into trying a little bit of beginners' off-piste in order to prepare for some gentle off-piste touring in a year or two, but on the kind of powder I can ski, if you fall you are going stop pretty fast (if not sink in without trace...). The danger there is more hitting something hard, or getting legs jammed in the snow and falling badly. It is the smooth slopes where stopping after a fall is a major problem.

Innsbrucker, if your g/f wants to take you off piste and ski touring, now would be a good time to learn to do a kick turn. You will need to be able to do them, uphill and downhill, practice time is important :D

First I must point out that keeping your body parts protected (KNEES especially in this instance) should be a top concern. Skis going in opposite directions is not a good thing!

If I go head first I;
1) try to keep my boots together, skis facing in the same direction, keeping my knees bent. (I think of my boots being tied together)
2) Once I achieve that, I roll onto my back, feet in the air and try to swing my feet down hill. (Keep knees bent)
3) as my skis come down I turn onto either my right or left side so that my skis are parallel to the fall line.
4) at this point I slowly begain digging the edge of my ski closest to the slope into the snow to start the breaking process. (slowly straightening my legs)

If you have lost a ski/skis you can still use this technique. If your skis stay on and you do it right, you can get proficient enough to pop you right back on your feet! I learned this quickly out of necessity. The clowns I ski with love to dust those who happen to fall and dont get back up fast enough! :oops:

Another point is what to do with your poles? On my back I keep my arms in... tips of poles pointed toward my feet. When I start to do the turn I keep my hands together, pointing the tips upslope. That will help keep you from taking one on the chin if the tip of your pole digs into the snow.

Any time you get limbs flying in all directions you increase your chances of something bad happening. That is the main reason why I don't sprawl. If you ski more difficult terain, it is imperative to get back up (or stop) rather quickly as you don't want to go over an exposed rock or stump in the down possition, sprawl or on your back. I have found the technique I described above, or tried to :wink:, gets me back on my feet rather quickly.

badlandskid wrote:First I must point out that keeping your body parts protected (KNEES especially in this instance) should be a top concern. Skis going in opposite directions is not a good thing!

If I go head first I;
1) try to keep my boots together, skis facing in the same direction, keeping my knees bent. (I think of my boots being tied together)
2) Once I achieve that, I roll onto my back, feet in the air and try to swing my feet down hill. (Keep knees bent)
3) as my skis come down I turn onto either my right or left side so that my skis are parallel to the fall line.
4) at this point I slowly begain digging the edge of my ski closest to the slope into the snow to start the breaking process. (slowly straightening my legs)

If you have lost a ski/skis you can still use this technique. If your skis stay on and you do it right, you can get proficient enough to pop you right back on your feet! I learned this quickly out of necessity. The clowns I ski with love to dust those who happen to fall and dont get back up fast enough! :oops:

Another point is what to do with your poles? On my back I keep my arms in... tips of poles pointed toward my feet. When I start to do the turn I keep my hands together, pointing the tips upslope. That will help keep you from taking one on the chin if the tip of your pole digs into the snow.

Any time you get limbs flying in all directions you increase your chances of something bad happening. That is the main reason why I don't sprawl. If you ski more difficult terain, it is imperative to get back up (or stop) rather quickly as you don't want to go over an exposed rock or stump in the down possition, sprawl or on your back. I have found the technique I described above, or tried to :wink:, gets me back on my feet rather quickly.

I would add a couple of proviso to the part about getting back up. Don't try to come back up from a back seat position, as any twist at the knee while doing this, will risk an acl injury. If you try comming back up in deep soft snow and the skis jam in deep sideways across the slope, you risk a knee injury, like a mcl tear.

The official line is though, never try to resist a fall, or recover from one, if you are in the back seat.

Trencher

Having said that, I often come back up after a fall, especially a spinning on the hip type. Just watch the rotation, and slam the skis down as they line up with the fall line. Use your momentum to come back up as the ski cross below you. Might not be a good thing if it's really steep though.

I agree. I was trying to type what I do on the slope with minimal success. At the point of begining to break with the edge of the ski I am already on my side (hip). Very good point.

Thanks for this, I've read the above couple of posts a few times, & will think about it. Probably jumping up from a fall and skiing on takes a fair level of both fitness & skill. For a 50ish beginner like me. Still, worth a try. Maybe a Ducati would be a safer way to have a mid-life crisis....

Anyway the turning manoeuvre seems good, even if you don't make it up while still on the move. Except...I would be very nervous about turning onto my back during the slide. Face down you can see where you are heading with the slide, and adjust it it a bit. Face up, must be hard to see anything. That makes me nervous, but I cann see it is probably the best bet.

When it was me sliding incredibly fast down the piste on my back, still with my skis on, I was afraid to try putting my legs down in case I hurt myself. By the time I realized what was going on I was going too fast. Luckily I stopped naturally, and I was fine.

I guess if it ever happens to me again I will try Bandit's suggestion of turning myself onto my front and lifting my tummy off the snow. But I don't think I will try stopping myself with my skis until I'm going reasonably slowly.

Ally

Ally, you read that wrong. Bandit was saying to get feet downhill (I think), NOT to turn onto your front.

The advice above (badlandskid & Trencher) is the opposite. If you are on your front (like I was) get on your back. Sliding fast on your tummy it is (as I discovered) hard to turn, you just keep going head first. Probably on your back there is a bit more of a chance to swing the legs downhill, and generally use the legs to swing the body around, so you are able to turn so as to be going nearer feet first. On your tummy you just keep schussing in a straight line, down the fall line, with very little scope (on smooth snow) for steering right or left, or turning.