Preparing for Wipeouts on the Ski Slopes

Every one of us tends to have our Icarus-like moment of flying too high to the sun: we want to believe we can strap on a set of skis, grab some poles, and slide our way down to the bottom of hill with grace and ease, thrilling ourselves along the way.

Ski Wipeout

Unfortunately, skiing isn’t always like that, especially for the beginners and novices who have to get used to the idea of two long objects strapped to each of our feet. In short: wipeouts will happen. It’s how you prepare for them – and how you get up from them – that will define how well you enjoy your skiing experience, and whether you’ll want to keep coming back for more.

Preparation:

The first thing to do is prepare for snow. This seems obvious, but the logistics of snow are trickier than you think: wearing a hat and gloves keeps you warm, but it doesn’t necessarily protect you from snow, which is essentially a sand-like version of ice: it can get everywhere.

So how do you prepare for that? By building a solid inner layer and keeping the exposed skin to a minimum. Don’t be afraid to look like a wrapped-up Panda bear by the end of your preparation: the important thing is to stay warm. And, hey, the extra padding can actually help soften one or two of your inevitable wipeouts.

Buy some long underwear if you don’t have it. Pull your socks up high and buy some long wrist gloves to cover up your wrist. A scarf on the neck can do the trick up top, but you won’t want to keep re-tying it. Try to find a hood that might double as a cap instead.

Also, get the appropriate amount of padding – on your joints especially – but try to keep mobility up as much as possible.

After the Wipeout:

You took the preparations, you’ve gone up the ski lift, and now you’ve wiped out for the first time. Hopefully, you’re dry. But your boots and clothes won’t be. An especially bad wipeout – aside from possibly causing injury – can get snow all over and in your boots and accessories. Try a product like DryGuy drying machines in order to have these products dry when you return indoors.

Injury and medical issues:

Of course, take the right precautions in terms of preventing injury: padding, solid instruction, and caution. But sometimes injury is unavoidable, and you’ll need to know what to do if you do feel like you’ve been injured. If the injury is bad enough that you can feel it right away, be sure to have someone to communicate with nearby, or, barring that, don’t be embarrased to call for help. If you’re able to get up from your wipeout and feel the after effects from an injury later, don’t just ignore it all day; have it checked out and wrapped up so that you can continue skiing without doing further damage.

Photo Credit: Kankie

Originally posted 2008-11-17 13:17:03.

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