Had a very close call snowboarding, now I'm about ready to give it up.

[Ronnie]

Long story short, I've been snowboarding on and off for close to 20 years but got into it more heavily around 4 or 5 years ago when my son showed interest in it. I don't do any tricks and try to minimize getting any air under my board when I'm riding. I consider my self a novice rider with good control.

Yesterday, my son and I were snowboarding at sugar bowl resort near truckee California and Reno Nevada. Near the end of the day while moving from lift to lift try to get to the snow park with Ramps for my son I came upon a merger of two trials near the bottom of the run I was on.
I could see a skier on a collision carouse with me so I made a quick turn to avoid him and We missed t- boning each other by about 6". I was moving relatively quickly (I estimate 10 mph) and ended up skiing through some boundary tape, over a small 3 to 4 foot drop (snow well) and straight into a grove of about 10 to 15 small trees. The trees had a diameter of about 8 to 12 inches. They stopped me instantly by the shoulders and left leg. That is my head ended up between two trees and my board against the wall of the snow well surrounding those trees. I don't recall the moment of impact but remember pushing my board further into the snow behind me in an attempt to get out and / or reach and undo my bindings. I couldn't reach them so I was stuck face down in a fetal position until the skier I almost collided with walked in, released my bindings and walked my board and to some extent me out of there.

At the time my pride was hurt more than anything, ski patrol showed up just as I climbed out of the grove of trees. He stated that at least 5 people reported me going into the trees at speed and hearing moans of pain soon afterwards so he rushed right over. After confirming that I was "alright" he called off the snow mobile with a gurney in tow. I ended up boarding for nearly another hour just to get back to the main lodge/parking lot before driving 200 miles home.

Ive been popping Tylenol since yesterday morning but his morning I've got tell tale signs of whip lash, my lower ribs hurt on both sides and my left quad (lead leg) is bruised and tender/very sore. As a result, I've aleardy let my son know that going forward when it's just the two of us boarding, we are taking the ski bus, no more 6 to 8 hours behind the wheel for 6 to 8 hours on the slopes, for me anyway. Moreover, I don't plan to snowboard at all for much longer. A move to the left or right before I hit the trees yesterday and I could have been paralyzed or killed, I'm just not willing to risk it anymore.

Ironically, we had a go pro on for most of the trip, first in the truck on the way up than alternating on our helmets in the morning. But I have no footage of the crash since I had mounted the gopro on a handle in prep for the snow park, so no pics or clips of what I'm sure must have an interesting sight.

 

[RiverRat]

Glad you're not seriously hurt. I just started taking my 6 year old daughter out this season and shes doing much better than I had expected, and she loves it. I'm headed out in an hour or so with some of my friends, without my daughter this time( how do I load up my gear and get out of the house without her seeing me..) so I can get some serious boarding in. I too have been less interested in getting my board off the snow as I've gotten a little bit older, and really prefer to find nice lines to just surf down the hill. My friends however, still try to drag me in the park with them.

 

[BigN8]

Damn that sucks. I had a similar accident around 2008. I had been boarding since 1989 when you could only ride on certain slopes. Anyway in 2008 we were at Wolf Creek with another family. We all were going down one of the green runs that winds down the slope. I saw a blue that hooked off to the left down hill and there was a large bushy evergreen in the middle of the run just off the lip of the entry. So I hooked around the back side of the tree on my heel side edge and dropped into the run, little did I know my buddy dropped in at the same time only he went in front of the tree. We came together on the downhill side of the tree and my buddy slammed into my back and took us both out. Knocked the wind out of both of us, but my friend broke his hand. He tried to reach out before we collided and he broke his hand in my back.

After that trip I stopped snow boarding and went back to skiing. For me it was easier to monitor the kids on skis, and also I have more vision of the entire hill on skis. Every now and then I miss a good powder day on the board when you can make carving turns on the board and get that surf/zen like feeling, but I am more comfortable in my old age on skis. Give me firsties on a powder day with my K2 Rictor skis and I am as happy as a clam!!!

Hope you feel better soon and hope you don't quit going to the mountain all together.

 

[Scottintexas]

@Ronnie sorry to hear about your accident, it really stinks when somebody else hits you (although it's probably better than when I broke my leg going about 2mph in the catch fence). I'm a novice at best but that feeling of carving down the mountain on a snow board is great. I also had to forgo it for the longest time to wrangle the kids while they learned to ski,

 

[Julian]

@Ronnie glad you came through it relatively ok!

 

[rkluck]

Wow you are so lucky! I am glad you have no serious injuries (at least that you know about). That is a long drive and a long day on top of that. Once you get going you may get back into it. many times right after an "event" we back off. I hope you heal quickly!

 

[DCB-270]

Glad your Ok. My brother and I usually skied at Wolf Creek before he passed. We liked to hike the ridge and drop into waterfall before they put a lift over there. They had a snowcat to pull you out. Anyway I smacked a tree and broke some ribs. I guess that goes with the territory. Powder and trees= lookout.

 

[biglar155]

Yow. That's scary alright. Glad to hear you're still sitting up taking nourishment.

Oddly enough, having grown up in a place that gets WAY more than enough snow, I never took up downhill skiing or snowboarding. I always like cross-country skiing, but never even tried downhill. Probably because you couldn't do it for free...

 

[Scottintexas]

@Ronnie just checking in to see how your neck and back are doing,

it also reminds of the conversation I have with my kids every morning before we hit the slopes letting them know, this is fun but it's dangerous and if you're not in control of your self and aware of those around you, YOU could really hurt somebody for the rest of their life,

 

[Ronnie]

Thanks for asking, been sore all week but over all I'm fine. Been really aware of how lucky I got and more appreciative generally.

My son and I Haven't talked safety much before we hit the slopes, we will from now on.

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

hmmmm glad you came out ok! You really have to watch those damn trees!

 

[MattFX4]

Close call. I'm a skier and I collided with a snowboarder a few years ago and it was pretty bad. We were both moving at a high rate of speed when it happened. I cut left into his path (he was coming down hill behind me) we he hit pretty hard. We were both down for a good 7-10 minutes trying to gather ourselves. I called it a day after that due to a pounding headache. Anyways, yeah skiing/snowboarding can be a dangerous sport. Keep your eyes and ears open. I am heading out to Colorado this weekend for a few days of skiing, so can't wait!

 

[Ronnie]

I'm at heavenly ski resort this weekend with my family. My wife wants to go snow tubing and snowboarding across the California / Nevada state Line is one of my son's bucket list items so I'll be back on the slopes today. His proposed plan is to do the state line thing early and includes getting to and snowboarding from the highest peak at the resort, just over 10k feet it's a 5 mile descent to the bottom. I'm as prepared as I can be but still can't say I'm looking forward to it after what happens the last time I was snowboarding.

Come on summer/boating season! My like for snow is becoming limited to needing it to help fill the local lakes and reservoirs to eliminate low water levels and the drought conditions generally.

 

[MattFX4]

Nice, on a flight to Denver now. Heading to Keystone resort.