Do you worry about getting injured?

[Lola]

For the 10+ year since then, I've had friends lost to other accidents, lost to cancer, lost to other illnesses. I've now look at injury and death as a more or less "life process" instead of dramatic events.

The important thing is to live life to the fullest.

Last year (March 2006), I was hit from behind on a green trail and my ACL was destroyed and my MCL was severly damaged. Nine months later (December 2006) I was back on skis. I never doubted for a minute that I would ski again - although my surgeon did. I just enjoy skiing and never considered giving it up.

I agree with abc - life happens, accidents happen, illness happens - I would rather live life to the fullest and enjoy myself than worry about something that might happen. I guess for me, I have an attitude of gratitude - I'm thankful that I can walk, bike, hike, AND ski! Aren't the healing powers of the human body remarkable?

 

[Ski Spirit]

Injuries

:( I worry about the possibility of getting injured. I'm much more conscious of the increase in risk as I become tired, so I try to cut off before reaching the "last run." Last season I was hit by a snowboarder (but not hurt). I believe it was partly my own fault, because my peripheral vision and hearing, which are normally very good, were distracted by the music I was listening to. Now I will only allow myself to ski to music on a trail with few people. In general, I try to be conscious of the risks (and to distinguish real vs. imagined risks).

 

[Native Vail Gal]

As some of you know....my TBI injury (in 2003) permanently changed my life! With the love, help, support and friendship of many family and friends...I DID get back up on the slopes (in 2006). I had skiied for over 30 years, and it truly is a passion for me! It is my "church"!

I think that if we ski, live, drive, etc. with fear....we will miss out on what little pebble of learning may be thrown our way. I've learned so much about myself and my "circle" of friends and family, and I greatly appreciate the lessons that I have experienced.

If I break my fingers...can I still play the piano? Yes!
If I hit my head....can I still ski, drive, work? Yes!!!

There are always obstacles, but really and truly makes us who we are is by the way in which we handle and heal from these obstacles.

Will I ski the way I did before the accident....maybe, but I will always be wearing my "crown" now. My lesson....any future injury without my "Crown" is just a side-trip down a very long green run!!!

 

[joycemocha]

I've had to overcome fear with riding horses--I owned a horse as a kid that was always stumbling and going down with me at a canter or gallop, and I took some bad falls (pre-helmet era!). Now, my current horsie girl is athletic, balanced, and the closest we've come to a scary fall has been when she wouldn't listen to me (in our early days together), she lost her balance at a quick trot and went down on her knees, went along on her knees for several strides, and got back up. I never lost my balance, kept my weight back, and helped her up. I've learned to trust her, and she's learned to trust me, and we rocket around quite a bit now (but I do wear a helmet!). I also don't jump when I'm in the barn alone, and I assess my footing before I work at speed.

But I do have bum knees--synovitis when I tried to keep up with the pre-pointe girls in ballet back in my 30s. I do worry about them--but the choices I've had to make while riding now I find carry over into my skiing. I take careful risks, and the big thing for me--I stop when I get tired.

That said, Pucci at T-line keeps throwing me. An instructor took me out on it before I was ready, and didn't really grasp what my problem with it was. I had several nasty falls (but didn't get hurt). I finally figured it out, but it still rattles me (if I traverse too far and get too high up on the side, I have problems turning and keeping control, get stalled, lose momentum, fall down). I can do Stormin' Norman and the Mile, no problems...but Pucci? Still bugs me. Norman, though, has several drops just like the one on Pucci that throws me...but, psychologically, I'd sooner do Norman.

I think I might end up doing Palmer before Pucci. Steep, yes... but no trees!

 

[Calgal]

I do worry about injuries, and had a close call on a day when I was renting skis to try out some new models. I got the tip of my right ski caught under some deep snow and the bindings were adjusted a bit too tight. They did release for my spectacular spill, but I got up and kept going. (I did twist my knee pretty good and both knees have been stiff for weeks now because of that one day of huge snow!)

When I got my new skis, I made sure that the tech who adjusted my bindings knew that I would rather have my ski come off than my knees or legs injured.
Has anyone had an injury due to a ski binding release that was too loose?

 

[RachelV]

Calgal - same thing happened to me. I got some new skis late this season and had the store adjust them for a level 3 skier. We were going to be heading out to Vail/Breck and I anticipated lots of steep, harder skiing. Turns out the weather had other plans, and on most days the visibility kept the really hard stuff closed, so the trip in general was less challenging than I thought. On the last day at Winter Park, I feel in some easy bumps and twisted my knee pretty good.

My friend, on the other hand, was out in Deer Valley a few months ago, and his ski popped off for no reason in one of the Daly Chutes -- he just came around a hard turn and off it went. He cartwheeled a few times, but luckily was unhurt.

So I think my strategy from now on is going to be to adjust my bindings more often... if I know we're going to take it easy in the morning, I'll loosen them up. If I know we're heading out to some harder stuff, I'll tighten them.

Is that a stupid idea? Does anyone else do that? It just seems like over the last few months I've grown out of the "one size fits all" DIN setting.

 

[abc]

Calgal - same thing happened to me. I got some new skis late this season and had the store adjust them for a level 3 skier. We were going to be heading out to Vail/Breck and I anticipated lots of steep, harder skiing. Turns out the weather had other plans, and on most days the visibility kept the really hard stuff closed, so the trip in general was less challenging than I thought. On the last day at Winter Park, I feel in some easy bumps and twisted my knee pretty good.

My friend, on the other hand, was out in Deer Valley a few months ago, and his ski popped off for no reason in one of the Daly Chutes -- he just came around a hard turn and off it went. He cartwheeled a few times, but luckily was unhurt.

So I think my strategy from now on is going to be to adjust my bindings more often... if I know we're going to take it easy in the morning, I'll loosen them up. If I know we're heading out to some harder stuff, I'll tighten them.

Is that a stupid idea? Does anyone else do that? It just seems like over the last few months I've grown out of the "one size fits all" DIN setting.

You may want to pop over to epic's gear forum and read through a recent thread about a search for "safest binding". I read it with a lot of hope and it turned out the conclusion was "learn to ski as though the binding will NOT release"!

Disappointing as I was, I had to take that to heart. I pulled my MCL end of this season. My binding was already set relatively low (type II) but it didn't release when I hit a soft snow bank and the tip got burried and I had a low speed fall. There's no way I can set the binding any lower than that without worrying about it releasing when I don't want them to. So the moral of the story is, it's not possible to expect the binding to release EVERY TIME there's a potentially injury producing fall!

 

[Calgal]

I'll check out that thread on bindings...thanks. I also do the leg workouts at the gym to keep the muscles strong to support the knee etc. The binding system on my new skis is supposed to release in all different fall directions....but as said before, we can't expect to be injury free every time !!