The Art of Crashing

Kkkkssshhhh…. A tree branch catches your tips. Your lofty, joyous airtime is quickly becoming a miserable excursion back towards earth. Impact. Cue exploding cloud of snow. Tomahawk. White, blue, white, blue goes your vision as you ragdoll down the slope. Stillness. Time to assess the damages.

The art of crashing. It isn’t exactly an enjoyable part of progression, but it is a natural part of progression. If you’re not crashing then you’re not trying hard enough.

“A crash is like taking a test or an exam,” Kevin Curran, (aka Camper Kev in the Newschoolers community) said, “you might be worried about the outcome but once its over, you look back and you’re like, that exam wasn’t as bad i thought it was going to be."

Every crash teaches a lesson that can be applied during your next line or takeoff. A little less speed. Be more forward on the landing. Don’t drink so many whiskey gingers the night before…. If you’re smart about how you ski, you will take the time to reflect upon what may have gone wrong. That is where the art of crashing lies.

Luckily for us, skiers have a more forgiving surface to dig their face into than a lot of other extreme sports. That isn’t going to say that rails, ice, rocks and trees don’t hurt just as bad as concrete, but usually we have a little bit of cushion to our falls.

That being said, skier are able to repeatedly crash without causing serious injury to themselves. Usually they can shake it off, get back up and ski another day.

“Crashing is something that we all try not to do, but it is inevitable,” Curran stated. Unless you’re Tom Wallisch or a freak of nature, you are going to fall.

Falling is not often a graceful thing. It can lead to embarrassment, injury and some soggy gear. But, some people are masters of falling. Given the abundace of skier and skill levels these days, people are going down frequently.

There are three different categories of crashers that are out and about on the slopes, make sure you keep your eyes peeled for them in a gallery near you.

The Gapers

                  Watch out. They are coming for you. The gapers are well apt at catching an edge and savagely slamming their dome-piece on some freshly groomed corduroy. These snow swallowing aficionados have the ability to lose all control of motor functions and take out innocent bystanders at any moment. Most importantly, you have to keep a keen eye on anyone riding on skis over 200cm. Those become heat seeking missiles when put in the wrong hand.  

The Flailers

                  The i’m good enough to go really fast, but not good enough to stop skiers.’ The ones that you see going penguin sliding face first down the busiest run on the mountain. They can now even be found in the backcountry, snowshoeing up the skin track or finding slide paths to walk up. They have even been seen going orbital off of side hits, making sure to swipe the feet out from under their friends upon re-entering the stratosphere.

The Avant-Garde

                  These are the experienced shit eaters. These are the ones you enjoy watching without being in fear for your life. They will send themselves off of massive cliffs, ragdoll head over heals four times, walk back up the hill, collect their gear and ride off like nothing happened. These Picassos and Van Goghs are able to dip their tips, frontflip out and come out drinking a PBR. Some even plan on jibbing trees in midair which can turn out to be quite the entertaining debacle

This is what happens when I get in front of the lens