# Face slam at full speed.



## surferbum21 (Aug 19, 2008)

CheoSamad said:


> Today I was bombing the steeps at my local hill at full speed and caught my toe side edge going like 50. Lucky to walk away with only a broken nose. Laughed it off all the way to the main lodge with blood all over my outerwhere face and the snow.


glad to see helmet on. i did same thing 3 years ago no helmet. stage 2 concussion. couldn't see out one eye for 4 days


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## Redmond513 (Jan 27, 2011)

Sucks man but it could have been a lot worse. You have a helmet on?


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## AIRider (Dec 25, 2010)

Yeah, broken front tooth last year, and bitten lip that was bleeding like a motherfucker... Glad you're ok, and are laughing about it... Good memories


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## marcdeo (Aug 8, 2011)

Reminds me of this one time, guy (skier about 6'4") rear ended me HARD (insert your joke here). Knocked me so hard, head whipped back, strained my neck muscles (causing numbness down the arm for months) and launched me forward into the hard pack snow. My first reaction (once I gathered my senses) was to look for the guy - I saw him regaining his balance (he didnt fall) and skiing fast down the hill away from me, not looking back. No "sorry" no checking to see if i was ok (despite a VERY hard hit from behind) I told myself "MEMORIZE HIS OUTFIT"

I wasn't angry, I was in a BLIND FUCKING RAGE......

I hobbled/boarded down to the lift where he was with a group of friends. My neck felt broken, My left arm was numb (from my neck injury) and my head was pounding. I approached him. We chatted. I kindly expressed my disdain for his actions and his lack of regard. His friends decided to pipe up. That didn't last long either. They understood me loud and clear. My only regret is that I said some words in the presence of children that I shouldn't have. I think the guy might have pissed his pants. 

Bottom line. If you bump someone, make sure they are OK. especially if it's HARD and YOUR FAULT.

.....shit - sorry about the thread jacking. Had to vent....


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## Milo303 (Apr 6, 2009)

A wipe at 50 would yield much more than a broken nose

But seriously, glad you're alright...... When I'm going mach speeds like that and all I can hear is wind and my thoughts, I think of situations like yours. 

I actually havn't gone top speed in a couple seasons though


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## marcdeo (Aug 8, 2011)

Milo303 said:


> I actually havn't gone top speed in a couple seasons though


Same here. Main reason is I live out east, so the "pow" is more like "sheetrock". top speed on variable snow (with mostly ice) could spell disaster. I have a job that requires I be healthy and unbroken. I have a family to feed. I Enjoy ripping it down just not at mach 5. I'd rather butter the hill, hit some jumps off the natural features, work on my presses and - basically- finess the slopes like she was a sexy lady in need of some lovin'........


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## CheoSamad (Nov 18, 2011)

Milo303 said:


> A wipe at 50 would yield much more than a broken nose


I feel lucky to be as okay as I am. Ive fallen going 47 before and walked away from it unscathed(gps speedometer let me know how fast I was going and today I was goin faster) I just feel lucky that I am okay and will be riding again tomorrow.


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## t21 (Dec 29, 2010)

glad your ok,have fun tomorrow


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

Shit man, I ball out on the regular.

I've bailed a couple of times at 45+. Never caught an edge at speed though. The key if you bail at high speed on a groomer is to get that board up. The last thing you wanna do if you're sliding is to catch an edge and tomahawk yourself.

The fastest I've ever bailed at was probably last year dropping a powder line off the ridge into Porcupine Saddle at Loveland. There's an abrupt dip at the bottom of the bowl there that I forgot about in the midst of powder fever. It was filled in and it was a DEEP day. I was balling down through there carrying a ton of speed because there's a pretty good size roll that you have to make it over if you don't want to unstrap and boot it. You gotta carry a good amount of speed on a deep day. All was going well until I hit the dip I'd forgotten about. I hit it, kneed myself in the chin and did about 3 cartwheels.


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## IdahoFreshies (Jul 9, 2011)

lol @ steeps in pa. and i was seriously doubting you faceplanted at 50 mph, but if you had a gps speed tracker at 47 and you were going faster than that...than dam! you are lucky to have just a broken nose. that must have just been a painfully slow motion edge catch and slam...sucks and i hope it heals up nice and quick for you.



linvillegorge said:


> There's an abrupt dip at the bottom of the bowl there that I forgot about in the midst of powder fever. It was filled in and it was a DEEP day. I was balling down through there carrying a ton of speed because there's a pretty good size roll that you have to make it over if you don't want to unstrap and boot it. You gotta carry a good amount of speed on a deep day. All was going well until I hit the dip I'd forgotten about. I hit it, kneed myself in the chin and did about 3 cartwheels.


oh god i hate those. i was going pretty fast down this looong side country tree run, on a pow day, and was slashing nicely, making great turns, having a grand old time, and i didn't see it because of the new snow, the overcast day, my speed, and me looking at other things, but out of nowhere it went from a black diamond steep hill, to a 3ft drop, to a flat skinny cat track. so with all of my speed i drop down 3 feet and just slam flat onto this cut out cat track and i crunch up into a ball, bite the shit out of my tongue and it knocks the wind out of me for a good minute before i could roll over and get back up.


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## Nefarious (Dec 26, 2010)

Feel better Cheo-man. You rolling footage at the time?


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## wrathfuldeity (Oct 5, 2007)

linvillegorge said:


> Shit man, I ball out on the regular.
> 
> I've bailed a couple of times at 45+. Never caught an edge at speed though. The key if you bail at high speed on a groomer is to get that board up. The last thing you wanna do if you're sliding is to catch an edge and tomahawk yourself.


Bailed last year maching a groomer, kept my board up and could literally feel my arse heat up while sliding 200+ feet. Another time dropping a cliff line and had forgot about the little windlip at the bottom til I saw it the the last possible moment and was able to get my nose up...but I flexed the board so hard when hitting the windlip it popped the baseplate of the rear binding...3 of the 4 screws still in the board and 1 screw stripped out and rear foot/binding went flying...weird 1 footy flying.


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## Argo (Feb 25, 2010)

I lost my toe edge the other day on a hard turn on the groomers. Fel like my balls were gonn be torn off.... I need a wider board. I flipped over and kept sliding to prevent castration. No bad face plants on hard pack yet. The snow is rock hard up here right now


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## Ocho (Mar 13, 2011)

Glad you're okay, Cheo. Pretty lucky to walk away from that laughing!

I was at Camelback a few seasons ago and rented one day. My friend tried to mess with my binding after I couldn't get it and sliced his hand. Blood everywhere. When we went to the rental counter to see if they could fix problem with the binding, it was like a hazmat scene. Apparently they have strict protocol whenever blood sheds on equipment. Including tagging it, bleaching it, and insisting I use a different rental. Good policy, but not what we were expecting. Anyway, I thought of that when you described how you had blood everywhere. 

All these slam stories make me think wearing my full-face motorcycle helmet wouldn't be a bad idea :laugh:


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## CheoSamad (Nov 18, 2011)

Thanks for all the good wishes guys. Im not lettin my nose keep my down (no pun intended) went riding park again today and had a ton of fun. Actually got a short video. Pretty sloppy but it was first try xD http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPXgmyhmmx0


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## TJFunk (Nov 20, 2011)

Glad to hear you're back at it. Bruised my pelvis last week and I haven't been as enthusiastic. :laugh:


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## Sincraft (Sep 6, 2010)

someone lol'd at the steeps in PA, just wondering - how do they officially classify trails/slopes or is this all based on eyeballing it from the local owners?

I'm just wondering because I've been elsewhere, and I know that I've been places that mark slopes/trails as black diamond and with powder or packed powder, it should be more like a blue at best, while in areas I'm at in Pittsburgh, I go down some blues which are almost always a combo of a solid ice block with some crushed ice on top to ride on, and trust me these should be double diamonds most of the year! Very steep and you could EASILY get 50mph on a board on these hills. There is almost zero friction to hold you back. I try to avoid these as they really aren't enjoyable. You are tilt so far downhill that when you hit a variance in the hill from a cat or snow, you either absorb it in your legs or you are going head over..


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## CheoSamad (Nov 18, 2011)

Sincraft said:


> someone lol'd at the steeps in PA, just wondering - how do they officially classify trails/slopes or is this all based on eyeballing it from the local owners?
> 
> I'm just wondering because I've been elsewhere, and I know that I've been places that mark slopes/trails as black diamond and with powder or packed powder, it should be more like a blue at best, while in areas I'm at in Pittsburgh, I go down some blues which are almost always a combo of a solid ice block with some crushed ice on top to ride on, and trust me these should be double diamonds most of the year! Very steep and you could EASILY get 50mph on a board on these hills. There is almost zero friction to hold you back. I try to avoid these as they really aren't enjoyable. You are tilt so far downhill that when you hit a variance in the hill from a cat or snow, you either absorb it in your legs or you are going head over..


I wanna say we have trails that get about 65-70 degrees steep just as a rough guess and I can get from 0-50 in about 4-5 seconds if I just straight line down the slope. These are rough estimates but when I say steep I mean steep.


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## IdahoFreshies (Jul 9, 2011)

Sincraft said:


> someone lol'd at the steeps in PA, just wondering - how do they officially classify trails/slopes or is this all based on eyeballing it from the local owners?


i just lol'd at steeps in PA because i live in the west (and used to live in pittsburgh and still have friends back in PA) and just naturally have that asshole, superiority mentality due to the better quality of terrain. but yes, trail ratings are purely relative. A black diamond in PA is probably a blue in utah or colorado. also the rating system is not conditions of runs, its difficulty and how technical it is, most of the time determined by steepness. 



CheoSamad said:


> I wanna say we have trails that get about 65-70 degrees steep just as a rough guess and I can get from 0-50 in about 4-5 seconds if I just straight line down the slope. These are rough estimates but when I say steep I mean steep.


alright, your starting to become more full of shit...65-70 degree runs? not a chance in hell. unless your resort uses a winch cat on the side of a cliff you are way way WAY off on your degree measurements there (snowolf's link to using a winch cat) Behind The Scenes: Grooming The Steeps | Mount Hood Meadows Ski Resort. Also 0-50 in 4 seconds? wtf, bull shit. you dont accelerate as fast as Porsche 911 turbo on a snowboard powered by gravity.


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## CheoSamad (Nov 18, 2011)

IdahoFreshies said:


> i just lol'd at steeps in PA because i live in the west (and used to live in pittsburgh and still have friends back in PA) and just naturally have that asshole, superiority mentality due to the better quality of terrain. but yes, trail ratings are purely relative. A black diamond in PA is probably a blue in utah or colorado. also the rating system is not conditions of runs, its difficulty and how technical it is, most of the time determined by steepness.
> 
> 
> 
> alright, your starting to become more full of shit...65-70 degree runs? not a chance in hell. unless your resort uses a winch cat on the side of a cliff you are way way WAY off on your degree measurements there (snowolf's link to using a winch cat) Behind The Scenes: Grooming The Steeps | Mount Hood Meadows Ski Resort. Also 0-50 in 4 seconds? wtf, bull shit. you dont accelerate as fast as Porsche 911 turbo on a snowboard powered by gravity.


Like I said rough ass estimate. REALLY rough as estimate especially on the degree's but I gauntness you I cna reach top speed in under 6 seconds. Next time Im out Ill take the Go Pro to prove at least that much. After looking at a protractor I wanna drop that estimate back to like 50 degrees xD.


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## CheoSamad (Nov 18, 2011)

Snowolf said:


> It is common for people to think the pitch is much steeper than it is. Even the black diamond runs at resorts even in the west typically are under 40 degrees. Most of the stuff out east is in the 20-30 degree range. To give you a better perspective, here is a photo of the West Crater Rim Route I took on one of my Mt. Hood Summit splitboard trips this spring. West Crater rim averages 45-50 degrees:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Thank you for this. Very helpful.


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## Memphis Hawk (Dec 26, 2011)

CheoSamad said:


> I wanna say we have trails that get about 65-70 degrees steep just as a rough guess and I can get from 0-50 in about 4-5 seconds if I just straight line down the slope. These are rough estimates but when I say steep I mean steep.


:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

Was that at 7 springs, lol.


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## herzogone (Oct 19, 2010)

CheoSamad said:


> I wanna say we have trails that get about 65-70 degrees steep just as a rough guess and I can get from 0-50 in about 4-5 seconds if I just straight line down the slope. These are rough estimates but when I say steep I mean steep.


I'm guessing maybe you meant 65-70% instead of degrees? 65-70% is equal to 33-35 degrees, which is a much more believable slope for a resort trail. As Snowolf and others pointed out, rideable slopes of 65-70 degrees are generally only found in the backcountry. Most resorts regardless of location don't have much beyond 45 degrees. For a nice visualization of this, check out 3D Ski Maps.

Anyhow, glad you weren't hurt too bad!


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## linvillegorge (Jul 6, 2009)

65-70 degrees is Jeremy Jones/Xavier De La Rue type shit. We don't even have that stuff in CO. We have the slopes, but those slopes generally won't hold our dry snow.


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## gauntlet09 (Feb 15, 2011)

wrathfuldeity said:


> Bailed last year maching a groomer, kept my board up and could literally feel my arse heat up while sliding 200+ feet.


I was unfurtunate enough to experience mach speed sliding ass burn a couple weeks ago. (better than 5-star Thai food ass burn though )


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