My First “Angry Skier Dad”

Actually for me it was an Angry Skier Mum!

Snowboarding down a run in Whistler today, in the middle of a turn (when I was pointing downhill) a guy on a snowboard ran into the back of me and took us both down. I checked he was okay and vice versa. We were both alright (except the big scratches all over the tail of my board ) So I got up and as I rode away just said “okay no harm done, just be careful to look out for people below you on the hill”.
Straight away, Angry Skier Mum came between me and him and said “NO YOU LOOK OUT NEXT TIME!!!”
I tried to explain that I was just helping him understand the rules, which was followed by “NO YOU SHOULD LEARN THE RULES!!!”
ME - “look I work here and I know the rules, there’s no problem I’m just trying to…”
MUM - “I WORK HERE TO AND I KNOW THE RULES, YOU CUT HIM OFF”
ME - “There no such thing as cutting someone off, I can’t look behind me up the hill all day while I go down, I have to look where I’m going so I don’t hit someone and…
MUM - YOU CUT HIM OFF, I SAW YOU, YOU WE’RE IN THE WRONG. LOOK YOUR OKAY AND HE’S SO WE CAN ALL GO ON OUR WAY AND HAVE A GOOD DAY OKAY!!!???
ME - Ah, yeah, I guess so….

It really sucked leaving the conversation like that, but there was just no talking to this woman.
Thanks for the scratched tail. Thanks for the blown eardrum and thanks for not saying Sorry even once.

Moral of the story (and I confirmed this with mountain safety) :
It’s your responsibility to avoid people downhill from you. Whether they ski or board, they aren’t looking up hill while they’re moving. They are looking where they are going. So they can’t know where you are.
People uphill from you must avoid you if you are in a run and moving.

If you can’t get around someone, be patient and wait for a chance to pass or a wider run.
I beg you. DON’T BE ONE OF THESE PEOPLE! We are already hated on the mountain enough. The best revenge is being better than these morons.

Don’t worry about it, mate!!!!!

You’ll be the one that has the last laugh, as parents like her end up with a little self righteous bastard that lives with Mummy for the rest of her life, cause not only will nobody want have anythin to do with him, there’ll be nobody else in the world that’ll back him up when he’s in the wrong like Mummy does!!!!!

The world is full of them, and they’re not just on the hill wearin skis!!!!!

Sigh, can’t do anything to self righteous people like this. Happened to me once too on a not so intense level (old skier guy).

Hehe, you’re way too nice, mate. That ‘#1 Skier Mom’ would have copped a MASSIVE serve if I’d been in the same situation. But I guess as an employee, your hands were tied.

I would have pushed her over IF i wasnt working there.

The funny thing was that the boarder that hit me looked sorry that he had. He probably had a natural sense of right and wrong.
I’m guessing he would have apologized if Mum hadn’t stepped in “to protect her son from the big bad snowboarder” (apart from the fact that he himself was a snowboarder lol, the only reason she didn’t pull that card no doubt).

I kinda wanted to find out where she worked and repeat to her boss when she said to me and see what he said. But I’m also not a fan of people who do that. So meh, let her go and have the last word.
Enjoy the rest of your life psyco mum.

Best thing you can take from this is; when someone claims something - ask them to prove it.
If someone says they work there, ask where?
Most employers are looking for excuses to get rid of people with bad attitudes.

I’ve near taken out people downhill when they’ve crossed my line - had angryskierhusband rile up at me. I apologise and say; “we were lucky no-one was hurt, I’ve seen enough people die on this hill.”

On most occasions I end up offering a suggestion to angrys_______; check before entering a run OR don’t bring your class through advanced areas OR of course your going to get hit if you stop in a place you can’t be seen from uphill. If your ok, I’m ok.

I’ve been taken out many times by uphill riders - strangely everyone of them claimed I cut them off so was at fault. Nope I don’t think so!

I had a collision last NZ trip with a woman skiing. No one was really at fault, it just happened.I got on the front foot and said “Sorry! Are you okay?” thinking she may be hurt as she was quite a bit older than me. She jumped up, smiled at me and said, “What’s the first thing a snowboarder says to a skier?”
I thought about it for a second
“Sorry” she said laughing. We both laughed.
We then got talking and she showed me a line off-piste that hadn’t been totally tracked out and we went and hit that. She had a great attitude. But it’s not really that hard to have one.

Yep!! 2 years ago I got taken out by another boarder..  (I was going down hill.. He was too.. Just much much faster..) and I ended up sitting in his lap/laying on top of him as we slid a bit.. He was so apologetic about it.. Kept asking if I was ok.. I was like yeh.. I’m all good, accidents happen.. I’m a tough cookie, are you ok?, I mean you just had another person fall right on top of you! He didn’t care a out that and was like.. As long as your alright.. Mr.h0z and a few friends came over to see if we were ok.. Helped us both up.. He had a look like.. Oh shit, I hit the one girl in a group of about 8 guys..  But they are all pretty cool.. And dont start shit.. 

I don’t get why people get so angry.. I actually kept laughing.. (picturing the sight of us both flying back and then sliding seemed pretty funny to me..) we were both fine.. No one blamed anyone.. Accidents are going to happen, when you involve humans in a space, doing a fairly dangerous activity..  If you can’t accept that.. Why are you there?  abuse gets you no where.. (except maybe looking like an idiot?)

Similar thing happened to me with a girl ending up on top of me. I didn’t admit I was hurt (more because I was concerned she was), ended up with a cracked rib and bruised diaphragm.
lol

I hope this wasn’t the case in my crash.. He seemed fine and was doing a few tricks down the hill as he rode off..  (so I’m assuming he was ok!)

The rule is there and should be respected, however there is also a certain amount of physics involved when multiple people are riding in the same area.  An uphill rider may well be trying to give someone downhill a wide berth when the downhill person suddenly shoots out wide.  If both people were behaving reasonably they should probably just move on.  What I can’t stand is big, middle-aged blokes barrelling straight down the guts out of control because it makes their ego feel good.

Not saying you’re wrong, Andy and I wasn’t there to see your accident.  I have been taken out and had my board scratched too, and I know how bad it feels.  I reckon you did the right thing moving on and being big.