When you think of the dangers of skiing or snowboarding you always think of falling off a cliff or some big ski crash where you were lucky to get a broken leg. In reality most people fall quite pathetically on piste, getting off a lift or worse still fall in the street. You always hear of the latter and think how dangerous the streets are around town but it’s not until it hits close to you, that it really hits home.
Last week my Dad slipped on the ice in our apartment car park and broke his leg/hip and has been in Chambery hospital since. He got operated on Tuesday and it will be 3 months till he can start to walk. Pretty harsh for a simple slip. My Dad is 68 but he has been in the mountains a lot in his life and is solid on his feet in the ice normally, I also know Wilkie from Surefoot slipped and split his head open, Jono slipped and hit his head. All experienced mountain people. I spoke to Doc Al about it and he says there is a stream of people in his surgery all season with broken wrists etc, all caused by slipping in the street.
Now I know were in a ski resort and as such there is a lot of snow and ice around, so things can be bad out there. I’m just not sure the white road policy is really helping matters although it does make the town look pretty. However if town is trying to attract the wealthier fur coat clientèle with this policy, surely they would prefer footpaths that you could walk on in fluffy moon boots instead of them looking nice. There is not much grace in ruining that coat on the ground and it’s hard to make a plaster cast look fashionable or prevent your lovely friends from writing obscenities all over it. There is also an environmental aspect to this as one of the reasons pavements and roads aren’t salted is because ultimately it ends up in the river systems which isn’t good for the plants and animals and it puts things that I don’t know that much about out of balance etc. Even too much grit can clog the rivers so they try to restrain from using too much of it.
It’s not all bad news though as there are a few things you can do to combat the problem. One way (if not the coolest) is to wear spikes on your shoes, they don’t look the best but they really do work and aren’t just for your grandmother. The same could be said for cat tracks on ski boots, some very good skiers swear by them, but the whole image thing isn’t great. Not drinking quite so much is an option, as although things can happen at any time adding ten pints to the mix can make you less well equipped to counter balance the initial slip. On this note you could also try practising on a balance ball or wobble board to hone your balance skills if you’re getting really serious about it. Shops are also helping the common cause too by chipping the ice outside their fine establishments or building stairs down icy slopes to help you reach them without graciously falling on your backside.
My advice when falling is to just let it happen, you’ve got a fair bit of padding on your bum and it’s less likely to break than a flimsy wrist. I know it’s unnatural but just accept the fall and go down. If you can get up and laugh about it then even more kudos to you. Also on the flip side if you see someone hit the deck then help them up and don’t laugh because karma is a bitch.
If your are unfortunate enough to have a rather simple accident on the piste or in the street there is only one thing you really can do about it to make up a good story and stick to it. You fell in the street? Oh no you didn’t, you fell while taking this incredibly gnarly couloir and you weren’t exactly going slowly.
We are now in the warmer months so things are getting a lot better but don’t let this fool you, a lot is melting in the day and then re-freezing at night which makes it pretty bad and literally like an ice rink. However good the clearing was this would be hard to stop as essentially it’s nature. So watch your backs and wrists/legs/hips/heads out there even if you do think your a mountain goat it’s not always the back side of hells pass where things go wrong.
And if you ever needed a reason not to wear those ‘oh so nice moon boots’ from Ogier it is that the grip isn’t great…
Tags: S5E15
