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worst crashes you've seen?

21K views 99 replies 53 participants last post by  corneilli 
#1 ·
the other day at Attitash while on a lift i saw a skiier fall right at the beginning of a run, loose both skiis and poles, then slide headfirst down the entire section of the run (which was a black--long and steep). he was perfectly fine, though.
so what are the worst (or funniest) crashes you've seen?
 
#45 ·
To date the gnarliest one I've ever seen in person was in NY at Holiday Valley. This kid Sam that worked in the cafeteria and was hell bent on being a pro freeskier was always chucking his meat. This kid had more balls than brains and freeskiing was still in its infancy so he could have made it.

Back then they had one jump up top, pipe down the middle, then a second jump at the bottom on Foxfire. Kid points the head wall pumps the first jump, pumps two times on the wall of the pipe, goes straight into the jump and proceeds to do the running man in the air. He sent a 45 foot jump at least 85 feet screaming the whole way. From the chair lift which was a good 500 feet away I watched him sail through the air flapping every appendage and impact right into the ground leaving a 10 foot crater. At the impact there was a loud snapping and then screaming like no man should have ever heard. He snapped both femurs, shattered his right hip, broke both tibia's and fibulas, shattered his left ankle, broke a couple ribs, snapped his wrist, got a concussion, lacerated kidney, and a slew of other things.

He was flight for lifed out of the resort which if you've ever seen one or been on one is not fun. Kids got more metal in him than the Terminator now and walks all disjointed. I just remember that blood curdling scream he made you could hear it over the bull wheel of the chair lift and the rumble of the snow guns.
 
#57 ·
I've been at a resort probably around 5 times where someone has died. Maybe more. Seen ski patrol working on victims, or hauling them out. The guy hitting the tree was the only time I've witnessed it. That was brutal, and I wouldn't mind if I never saw that one again.
 
#67 ·
Last year in Japan - niseko my mate and me had built a small kicker in between the trees because it was a miserable day and you had no visibility, my mate had a small bail off it because he didnt see the lip but I had to have a crack and decided to straight line it, needless to say i missed a bump in the snow and went flying, he managed to get it on camera, i was fine but im sure i did a few flips





 
#68 ·
Years ago I took a trip out to Big Sky with some friends and people I went to college with. One guy who was along on the trip just happened to be a fucking douchebag. Absurdly arrogant and completely obnoxious, two minutes with this dude and you would probably want to choke the shit out of him. Anyways, a buddy and I get stuck on a lift with this fucktard and the whole ride up he’s heckling me for a race. I should mention that he is SHITFACE drunk. I’d have said near the edge of blackout. I agree to the race cause I don’t like him and I want to see what will happen. We both take off straightline and I don’t know how fast I was going when I brake checked, but I was fucking scared. This dude had no such fear (drunk as shit) and continued picking up speed for about another 30 feet before eating shit. I didn’t see what happened to make him fall, all I know is from my vantage point it looked like a cloudy ball of snow rocketing down the hill with some dark shape in the center pin wheeling around as bits of gear went blowing off. This is already too long so I’ll wrap it up. Seeing him fall I’d have thought he was dead, but he was fine. Shook up as hell and had a bloody nose for some reason but skied away just fine.
 
#70 ·
A couple seasons ago I went with a couple buddies for a day trip up to big bear. The snow was awful, all artificial, combed, and icy. But seeing how flat I was I thought it would be fine for me to straightline this blue run. I was bombing it, and since I was pretty new, I was just bombing the run with my board flat to the snow, not on either edge. I caught a lump or something and went tumbling... ended up hitting my face hard on the ice on the side of the run and getting my side pretty scraped up too.
 
#72 ·
On a ski trip to Elk Mountain this year, a friend of mine was skiing. He bombed a hill by accident and a roller just happened to be at the bottom. He ramped it because he was going so fast, in the air he tilted his skis down and they caught the ground and popped off, and his body was sent flying into a tree. In the end he was ok but it was hilarious the entire time.
 
#73 ·
Watched my buddy hit kicker going well over 50 MPH, I don't know what he was thinking but it ended his season and put him in some serious pain. It was quite the scene..

He just flew in the terrain park and hit the 2nd jump at mach speed, I seen him fly way past the landing and heard his body slam against the ground. Broke his femur, ankle, and had problems with his back along with a concussion. To this day I am confused. He's a very avid skier and been going 40+ times a year since he was a small child. He's in his late 30's.

He'll be back at it this year, he doesn't remember the incident at all, just waking up at the hospital. I wonder if he had petty-mull seizure or something, he doesn't normally ski out of control, or hit jumps.
 
#74 ·
First season snowboarding around march, i was starting to get confident hitting some average sized tabletops and one time i got a little too confident and wasnt really paying attention, i hit it going too fast. I ended up going backwards through the air, cleared the landing and broke my wrist.

Second season (last season) i had become better and hitting bigger jumps. I went for this 30 footer and caught my heel edge going up the lip. I ended up doing the same thing, flying through the air. backwards. and i landed on my same arm. Except this time i broke my humerus right below my shoulder.

Joint Screenshot Font Technology Multimedia


I had to have a doctor put a rod and two screws in. :/
He said if i hit my tea with this type of impact, i would've died so i bought a sandbox. haha
It still give me pain today, 7 months later but I'm doin physical therapy next month and I'll be at Mt High come winter!


Skin Arm Joint Shoulder Scar


Windshield Windscreen wiper Glass Automotive window part Vehicle door
 
#75 ·
First season snowboarding around march, i was starting to get confident hitting some average sized tabletops and one time i got a little too confident and wasnt really paying attention, i hit it going too fast. I ended up going backwards through the air, cleared the landing and broke my wrist.

Second season (last season) i had become better and hitting bigger jumps. I went for this 30 footer and caught my heel edge going up the lip. I ended up doing the same thing, flying through the air. backwards. and i landed on my same arm. Except this time i broke my humerus right below my shoulder.

View attachment 8123

I had to have a doctor put a rod and two screws in. :/
He said if i hit my tea with this type of impact, i would've died so i bought a sandbox. haha
It still give me pain today, 7 months later but I'm doin physical therapy next month and I'll be at Mt High come winter!


View attachment 8124

View attachment 8125
Fuuuck Bro.
 
#77 ·
Worst crash ive seen so far was actually first day of the season last year, and this guy went for a single cork off the first jump @ mountain creek. Well, he under-rotated, and he landed on his arm/shoulder. I was about 10 feet from him, and I swear I heard a snap, like breaking a chicken bone in half.

Stayed with the kid until ski patrol brought him down. His season was over before the end of the first run.
 
#80 ·
When I first changed from skis to a snowboard, I took a few lessons. The instructor was teaching me to turn when I hit a large patch of ice on my heel edge. The ice looked like glass, so much so that I could clearly see grass through six inches of it. My board went out from underneath me real quick and I fell backwards hard, whipping the back of my head into the solid ice.

According to the people around me it made a horrible sound, like dropping a bowling ball on concrete. They though I'd cracked my skull open and the instructor was freaking out because it sounded so bad. I was only wearing a beanie at the time but there was no blood or anything.

I think I knocked myself out for a few seconds and I was pretty dazed for a few minutes. I had headaches for the next 24 hours, so I probably ended up with a mild concussion.

So, what did that lesson teach me? Well, I've worn a helmet ever since.
 
#81 ·
I think I knocked myself out for a few seconds and I was pretty dazed for a few minutes. I had headaches for the next 24 hours, so I probably ended up with a mild concussion.

So, what did that lesson teach me? Well, I've worn a helmet ever since.
I've said it once and I'll say it again: After 17 years of snowboarding, and about 5 skiing before that, I had a collision with my buddy that left me unable to formulate complete sentences for 3 weeks. I'm not trying to start a debate, cause I know the anti-helmet numb nuts are out there, but WEAR A FUCKING HELMET FOR FUCK'S SAKE!

:D:cheeky4::D
 
#84 ·
Going through glades at snowshoe I got too much speed and the trees got too tight so I tried to bail out the back before I got to this one tree but ending up catching the mother fucker with my front thigh at 10-15 mph. leg was dead for two days and I had a dinner plate size bruise for a month afterwards. Im pretty sure I was about a newton from snapping my femur.

When I was younger, maybe 11-12, I was on a church ski trip (for the babes of course) and tried to tail press over one of those orange plastic fences (it was down, flat on the ground) and basically fucked it right up, caught my nose on the bitch at speed and catapulted my face right into the hard pack, board continued over my back, popping every vertebrae in the process and I ending up laying on my back. After I spent 10-15 minutes groaning on the side of the run I determined everything was ok and rode down the hill only to be laughed at by the aforementioned "church babes" due to the how swollen and grotesque my face had become. All my bros gave me credit for walking it off though, bros before hoes.

The end
 
#86 ·
I'm not going to read a lot of the responses. I wasn't even going to share my story. But the last few have involved helmets.

I had an extremely bad crash, it ended my snowboarding career. I didn't visit this website for years because of it. I don't know what happened. It was spring riding. I remember stopping at the top of the park, adjusting my earbuds, messing with my iPod and the start of my drop in. Nothing after.

I've been told that I hit the kicker, landed (quite nicely, I guess) but then immediately hit a puddle of slush I didn't know about at the bottom of the kicker and went for a ride. So much of a ride that I went tumbling a few hundred feet, hitting my skull on a rail and bashing it open... and kept going. I knocked myself out, and pissed myself. Once I stopped, I got up and I tried to continue snowboarding down the hill and passed out on my face about 50ft later according to a buddy of mine.

I woke up in the hospital with way too many IV's, my head and legs covered in blood. I suffered a concussion and had to get staples to keep my head closed. I also had kidney failure. I was pissing blood for weeks. (hence why i woke up with my legs covered in blood). I had to go in for dialysis a couple times a week for months. Broken bones, all that shit. It sucked.

The medical bills are still being paid off, thanks to no medical insurance.

A helmet wouldn't have kept me from a lot of that... but I wouldn't have bashed my skull open. Who knows, maybe I wouldn't have gotten a concussion. I beg everyone to wear a helmet. I know they don't look the coolest and aren't the most comfortable... but staples hurt a shit load worse. I wore one for a year and then decided it wasn't cool, so I stopped. Worst decision ever. Dialysis was a whole lot less cool.

Wear a fucking helmet. Be safe. Inspect your kickers and jibs before hitting them. Wear your beacons in the backcountry. Ride with friends. Take it easy in the trees, and don't board past your ability.

damn man that sucks. hate to hear that.

i rock a helmet because i'm scared of shit like this. i don't give a fuck what i look like on the mountain, i just want to come down in one piece
 
#87 ·
Man Alaric, every time I read about your crash it makes me cringe. I don't think I realized that you can't snowboard anymore? Doctor's orders, or are you just done with it?

I know you're a young guy and even with a TBI (Traumitic Brain Injury for those who need clarification), people do come back and ride. Keven Pearce comes to mind. There was a documentary I put up about another up and coming pro snowboarder he suffered a TBI and his long road back to getting on his board. Anyway, neither here nor there. If you can't ride anymore you can't ride anymore. That sucks. Neither one of these guys mentioned are going to be riding at the level they did before the TBI either. Best of luck to you.

As far as helmets go. I ride in primarily primo conditions. Powder. Even so I always rock a helmet. In the backcountry, things are not marked. Sometimes you choose an area that looks great and ends up having less than idea coverage. Taking a tumble in shallow covered rocks can be bad for your problem solving abilities. A helmet does not bother me and is just a little extra protection. It certainly does not make me braver or more reckless.
 
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