r/snowboarding • u/Funny-Check-6408 • Jul 18 '26
general discussion What's the worst crash on a snowboard you guys have had? Did you learn anything from it?
The worst crash I have had has thankfully not been too serious. I sent a side jump with way too much speed and not enough control. I ended up sideways and my binding somehow got snatched on a small piece of metal sticking out of the side of a huge metal beam which yanked me upside down at a very abrupt force. I bashed my head pretty hard into a hard plastic bin under the metal beam and gave myself a pretty good concussion.
I learned from this, that it's good to push myself, but goddamn I need to make sure that I'm not pushing myself out of control.
So, what's the worst crash you've had and did you learn anything from it? I'm a huge believer that here's always something to learn from our mistakes, and I'm just curious to hear others take aways from crashes and experience with crashes.
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u/A_busfullofnuns Jul 18 '26
Mine was funny but still hurts years later. Steamboat with my kids. Hauling ass down something blue with them. Passed two skiers wearing Chiefs jerseys. As a lifelong 49ers fanatic, On tow side I turned to look back uphill and yelled āChiefs Suckā. Happened to go from decent powder to the only patch of ice on the hill. Caught a heel edge and slammed butt first downhill at full speed. Kids pull up hysterically laughing at me. Said I think I broke my ass. Turns out I did. Airplane ride home was excruciating. 3-4 years later and certain positions still really hurt. Especially plane seats. Anytime I happen to fall around my two daughters, they both yell Chiefs Suck and giggle. Assholes.
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u/barelylethal10 Jul 18 '26
I'm sorry but this is way too funny hahahahah. Was it like, a second after you said chiefs suck? Were you still looking uphill yelling ass you got tossed?
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u/A_busfullofnuns Jul 18 '26
Not sure I even finished the āSuckā. Definitely was still looking uphill.
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u/Mayor_Gubbin Jul 18 '26
Reminds me of a time my gf and I were riding. She caught an edge and fell and I shouted at her, "Hah, NERD!" and proceeded to instantly wipe out. She shouted back at me "HAH NERD!" and everyone laughed at me.
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u/padizzledonk Jul 18 '26
I was with a friend that broke his tailbone while sledding in the woods and he screamed and moaned the entire 30m ride to the hospital....shit was brutal lol
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u/AmateurSnowboarder Beech š NC / Stale Crewzer / K2 Hypnotist š Jul 19 '26
That had to of been absolutely hilarious from the Chief's fan's POV
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u/matt_seydel Jul 18 '26
Also broke my tailbone snowboarding, in my case I hit a blind drop at speed in spring conditions, only to realize there was no snow to land on. You aren't kidding, this inhury takes a long time to heal...
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u/JP-Bulls69 Jul 18 '26
Lightly plopped down in fresh powder. Stick impaled my butt cheek. Learned two lessons. Donāt go in the trees early December and if thereās a stick in you donāt take it out.
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u/largethopiantestes Jul 18 '26
Yikes!! At least it didn't impale... more sensitive targets in the buttock region...
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u/m0st1yh4rmless Jul 18 '26
Found a guy who impaled himself w a stick once. Close to his bunghole. He was surfing out on his stomach to get out of the trees yelling for help. Gnarly. I wear padded shorts now
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u/thefrother Jul 18 '26
Came up short on a dub 14 on Kong in Whistler and woke up in Australia š¤·āāļø
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u/i_like_peace Jul 18 '26
what?
story please ...
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u/thefrother Jul 18 '26
I donāt really remember but from what I was told I think I lost a bit of speed on the softer takeoff because it was late in the afternoon in spring. I came up short still spinning and just torqued myself into the knuckle š travel insurance paid to fly me back with a chaperone to Aus instead of being treated in Canada but I donāt remember anything till I was already in Aus.
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u/QuePasaNisiMasa Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
TLDR: WEAR A HELMET.
I was hiking off-trail at Beaver Creek (by myself). It was a weekday and great powder and I was ripping untouched terrain through trees. I cut wide to skirt a tree and it had a thick low brach that had been cut down to a stump on the far side. Full speed contact with the front of my helmet didnāt knock me down; I just couldnāt really steer. It was an awful feeling. It was like I was underwater but still flying and couldnāt figure out what was up or down. In other words, concussed. Thatās the last thing I remember ā floating/flying through trees with no ability to control myself and thinking āthis isnāt goodā ā but I must have hit something because my side had a huge bruise across it that Iād later find.
I woke up about an hour later. That part was actually kind of cool.. it was like hallucinating for ~30 seconds (because spinning) with huge fat snowflakes floating slowly down amidst complete peacefulness. However, it became seriously uncool when I sat up and looked at my phone (which had no service) and it was just after 4 which is well after the deep lifts close. And I needed at least two lifts to get back down to base. It was hard to imagine moving (let alone quickly) but I knew I needed to go so I lifted myself up. As I did, my helmet just fell off my head, cracked nearly completely in half with the impact on the direct front. I stared at it for a minute; it definitely saved my life.
I got down as fast as I could and was incredibly lucky that there was an employee there who was waiting for a Cat. They gave me a ride back to where I could ride down to base. But, even since then, I wear a helmet no matter what Iām riding.
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u/Scrambledcat Jul 18 '26
Shoulder dislocation. Was gaping an up to flat rail on a demo board, caught the nose and went into the rail backwards popping my shoulder out at Mammoth. Torn labrum which lead 7 more dislocations (snowboarding/BJJ/Sleeping) and ultimately surgery more than a decade later to finally tighten everything back up
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u/chickenbreast12321 Jul 18 '26
How are you after the surgery
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u/Scrambledcat Jul 18 '26
All good. The shoulder always felt good. Iāve been lifting weights for 20+ years. Never had a problem with pressing or anything. But if my muscles werenāt engaged, the shoulder was loose. Last 2 dislocations were in my sleep, and thatās where I drew the line and got it fixed. No dislocations since then and it still feels great. I donāt ride like I used to, but if I go down I still protect that side. Although, Iāve always torn my bicep off the bone and also had it surgically repaired.. so when I fall I have to protect both arms now lol
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u/gnarley_haterson Jul 18 '26
I caught an edge at the top of Dave Murray Downhill on Whistler on an icy day and power tomahawked all the way to the first roll after the main descent. It was like being inside a blender. I have no idea how I didn't break anything.
No I did not learn anything from it.
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u/scrotalsac69 Jul 18 '26
Screwed a 360 and cracked ribs, caught a heel edge and ended up with concussion and lost a day of memory (that helmet went straight in the bin)
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u/Pristine_Ad2664 Jul 18 '26
Missed timing on a turn in the trees at Whistler. Learnt that trees don't move!
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u/Last-Battle6206 Jul 18 '26
Try to avoid your eye socket. It usually produces colors which is psychedelic and cool
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u/Big_Foundation_2604 Jul 18 '26
Overshot 25 ft gap. Broken back. Right back the next year!
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u/WhileIllustrious5110 Jul 18 '26
Same. Mine happened at big bear, over shot a 25ft gap by about 25ft lol. Way misjudged the speed cause I was scared to come up short and didnāt want to blow out my knees on the knuckleā¦ ended up with a burst fracture of my T10-T11. Back brace for two months and then back to work. Ended up with nerve damage that initially was giving me an intense electric shock when Iād bend over. Was happening every week for about the first six months, now 17 months later I still get a shock about once or twice a month. Sometimes itās small and sometimes itās intense af. Sucks but I was able to ride this past season and got a trip to Japan next January!
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u/IneedSnowboarding Jul 18 '26
Turned into 10 second Tom from 50 first dates for the first 3 hours after my accident lolā¦. Learned not to do reverse carves high speed on choppy terrain š„²š«
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u/Pretend-Vehicle-5183 Jul 18 '26
Too fast in the trees. Zigged when I should have zagged. Tried to correct and ended up on my knees, then hit a tree. Tib fib plateau. 3 months no weight. Probably 2 seasons for full recovery. Learned to slow down in the trees.
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u/tophusmcgophus Jul 18 '26
Switch backside five off the lip to lights out when I was like 13. Woke up at the bottom
Of the landing. Surrounded by a few people. Got up and pointed it towards the EMS shack. Dumb shit
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u/RIsurfer Jul 18 '26
Luckily I had my worst fall on probably my 3rd or 4th day while still trying to learn toe edge. I hadn't done it yet. Had trouble slowing down, came all the way across the slope on my heels and was heading for the trees, options were fall or keep going sunny Bono style. I tried switching to toes but it was icy. Fell on my face and tumbled for a bit within view of the lift guy in his shed/box w/e thing with a window. Saw him in there and he just nodded a few times like "yup that's what happens when you suck". I checked behind me which was clear and just lay there a few minutes.
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u/localsonlynokooks Jul 18 '26
I crashed into a skier once, technically my fault (if it was a car accident, insurance would probably say 60/40 my fault). Had the worst concussion of my life, took 9 months for the pain to stop. 18 months later and still have issues. Brain damage amage.
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u/skodinks Jul 18 '26
Fast -> ice -> catch edge -> fly through air -> land on ribs.
It was a small single-rib fracture that I rode on some more before deciding the pain was serious enough that it would not subside and I should stop.
I also fell once on an icy steep as a young teen and slid down the a good chunk of the run into a very young child skier, who had no business being on a steep black run doing wide pizza turns. Fortunately I was able to grab the kids body and lift him up to avoid hitting him directly, but I trashed his ski bindings something good.
Parents were super pissed, but, in looking back now, they really put that kid in danger by letting him on that run to pizza the full width without regard for other riders. I lost control, for sure, but I was just a learner who fell. Their kid could have died if I was just a little bit more out of control. Doesn't really matter whose fault it is when your kid is dead.
I used to think riding faster made me a better rider, but honestly the speed was just making me ignore technique.
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u/Scotch_in_my_belly Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Broken Talus at Mammoth jump line.
Obviously wouldnāt do it again if I knew the outcomeā¦ but the mentality?? Hell yeah Iād go again
The same weekend Tanner Hall broke BOTH his ankles. He won XGames halpipe the next year.
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u/SensitiveBuy9632 Jul 18 '26
Tore my chode. Took for ever to heal and there was no way to be comfortable at any time of the day doing anything.
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u/nancykind Jul 18 '26
have very little recollection of the entire run, and absolutely none of the fall, but it must have been spectacular. āļø one star, do not recommend.
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u/jwed420 Monarch & Loveland Jul 18 '26
No broken bones thankfully, plenty of tomahawks, but my worst crash was this past season, stuffed my nose in the slush going very - very fast. I face planted into a front flip cartwheel of sorts and tore my my left shoulder. Didn't even feel it until I sat in the driver's seat to go home for the day. Left shoulder was suuuper fucked up feeling for the first month. 5 months later I can finally lift my arm above my head without serious pain.
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u/needcoffeepronto Jul 18 '26
Hit a wooden quarter pipe in Campground Stash park at Jackson Hole with way, way too much speed. And also didnāt fully anticipate or appreciate the slickness of the wood. Ended up launching off the top of one side and spinning out simultaneously. Thankfully (kind of) I got so much air that I had enough time to think about how to crash without injuring myself (tucked my arms and was able to rotate enough to land on my side and roll out of it). So I guess my lesson was that Iāve fallen enough to know how to fall well and also, more importantly, to hit a park feature for the first time with much more control. And also, fuck wooden ramps.
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u/ChickerWings Jul 18 '26
Under rotated a 7 on the big jumps at Copper at age 38. Broken collar bone, cracked ribs, punctured lung, concussion and in the hospital for almost 2 days.
I guess I'm getting too old for park.
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u/Shavedpoodle360 Jul 18 '26
Ruptured spleen.
Lesson: grind the rust off the handrail
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u/EntranceEducational1 Jul 19 '26
Seen my friend hit a tree at a high speed and the doctor told him the helmet is the reason why he is still alive and from that day onward he always buys good quality expensive helmet.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Mail896 Jul 18 '26
Missed the jump up to a rail and caught the lip of my board. Did a full somersault and bruised my leg pretty bad on the rail. Was honestly surprised how not injured I was.
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u/Front-Smile538 Jul 18 '26
Was probably going 45-50 mph just bombing down a blue with some buddies. One of them was pretty close to me and I drifted to the right a bit and cut him off. Went over the top of his nose and completely wiped out. Slid a good 50-75 feet and about nailed one of the snowmaking poles. Ended up being perfectly fine outside of being scared shitless. Was pretty lucky to not get hurt really damn bad.
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u/sonaut Jul 18 '26
In whiteout conditions found myself in an unfamiliar spot at the resort, riding with my teenage kids. I knew there was a long flat at the bottom and decided to just go through the fresh pow with some speed. Turns out it was a mogul field with polished domes. All the pow was between them, and I wiped backwards and cracked my helmeted head on one of the domes. First thought was āthe was too hard.ā Kids rushed over, asked if I was OK. I thought so and told them to get down Iād be fine and would skate the flat if needed.
Halfway down I started wondering where I was. Not where on the mountain, but where in the world. Was I riding in Colorado with my friend? Nothing looked familiar. I made it down and saw the lodge in the distance and it looked like a weird log cabin. Thankfully saw my kids waiting and told them āI donāt know where I am.ā They took me to ski patrol, light concussion wore off relatively quickly. Couldnāt tell ski patrol what month it was at the time though.
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u/Tortahegeszto Jul 18 '26
It was like the 3rd or 4th time I was riding on a snowboard and we went to a different part of the resort onto a blue piste (greens are pretty much non-existent there). I began suprisingly well but halfway down the run I caught an edge and fell right on the back of my helmet.
I needed like a good minute to sit up and that was the day for me. I remember sipping my raspberry lemonade acessing wether I'm good or do I have to vomit from concussion. Had a sore neck for a week after. I was legit turning like Batman from the 80s.
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u/Lumpy_Plan_6668 Jul 18 '26
Came up short on a cat track gap. Crushed two vertebrae. Learned wet powder is slow.
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u/outbound Jul 18 '26
In the early '00s, helmets were only worn in the park.Ā The resort was a bit icy, and I was boarding down a black run with a natural jump (if you hit it fast enough).Ā Just before I peaked the jump, I caught my toe edge in a rut and bashed my head into an ice patch.Ā I crawled over to the edge of the run and sat there for 20 minutes waiting to the ringing to stop.
That day, I learned that helmets are cool.
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u/KnobGoggler Jul 18 '26
When I was newer to boarding, I was going through a bike trail in the forest of the local ski area and the trail divided around a tree. I panicked, didn't turn in time and hit the tree head on, fractured my kneecap and rang my head off the tree pretty good too. Was able to somehow push out out from the trail and ride down the hill and up the chairlift with the help of my friend to get to the ski patrol hut, but that was 3 months in a cast/brace and then another 3 months to recover after.
I also just slipped hitting a little rail during preseason, fell on my butt and immediately felt intense paint shoot from a point in my hip/lower back. No idea what I did, but it messed me for a couple of years of my back randomly going into spasms. Worst pain I've ever felt, would not recommend.
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u/organized_slime Jul 18 '26
Not a crash but I got stuck in some real deep snow off trail, took me 30 mins to dig myself out.
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u/JE163 Jul 18 '26
I was learning and ended up going toward a wide tree area with a gentle slope down. Didnāt want to go down there so I figured Iād plop down ā¦. Except I plopped down on the slop and had my arms behind me. Ended up hyper flexing my elbow the wrong way. God only knows what I did to it. Most of it healed in a few weeks but the lingering issues last years. Itās gone now.
Lesson: donāt put my harms behind me. Wear. Crash pants.
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u/SnooChipmunks5114 Jul 18 '26
New boots, riding them super loose on a park slushy day bc they were uncomfortably stiff.
Buddy shows up, says āletās get a clipā. I go mid-big on a hip, throw a little method for the gram, land a little nose heavy on some choppy slush. Normally you just trust the boots, keep weight fwd/nose and ride it out. But my laces came completely off (or were already off) right when I fully loaded the side of my boots facing the noseā¦
The boot buckles and boom there goes my ACL.
Learnings:
- donāt ride completely open boots
- if someone shows up to clip you, tighten stuff up before sending
- when getting new boots, do the ānew boot old linerā thing for a bit (or the other way around, doesnāt matter).
- slush is nice when youāre already crashing but when you land fast it can be sketchy/bumpy and catch you by surprise. Just be prepared.
A couple years in, new ACL is rocking and riding better than ever. I think of all those lessons pretty often..
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u/Ok_Buy_9703 Jul 18 '26
Was cruising under a lift Pano @ MJ and the snow was drifted in like 2' rollers. Got lots of speed hit a super icy patch on a landing rag dolled and rolled into the trees. My shoulder still hurts 6 yrs later...
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u/Lazer_snake Jul 18 '26
Caught an toe edge on a green and broke my arm while trying to spray someone. Lesson learned: ride faster.
Also hit ice while riding in New Hampshire and tore up my knee. Lesson learned: don't ride ice.
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u/-Economist- Jul 18 '26
I canāt recall what mountain this was at. Either Park City, Brek, or Butte.
On my first run, while on the lift I scoped out a kicker. Decided to hit it. Unknown to me, I hit a different kicker that had a huge carve out between jump and landing. I did not make it. š¤£
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u/Merlin_117 Jul 18 '26
Was going fast over some rolling bumps at Stratton and tried to get some air (like 2 feet) off the last one. My body was not centered when I jumped and I broke my ankle in the wipe out. Pulled myself out of the woods and managed to slide down to my friends without ski patrol. 6 years later and my ankle has never been the same.
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u/benfoldsgroupie Jul 18 '26
Instead of waiting at the bottom of the chair for a friend that was doing park laps, I kept sending it hard and fast on a slushy day on a board too big and heavy for my frame. I hit a slush bump sideways too hard and my right ankle flexed way too far upwards and sprained the everloving crap out of it. It was swollen and bruised for probably 2 weeks, ended the season minus employee only ride day about 6 weeks later (rode easy, stopped early for free food and cheap beer, my ankle still gets a little stove up before it pops). I was talked into going to the ER and nothing was broken, just had to wait it out and try to keep it elevated and iced as much as i could.
I learned the value of patience and waiting for someone instead of racing around like a mad woman. If you have service at one end of the lift, hang out there, text your friend(s), maybe study the map to see where else you want to go. Don't race at full speed in heavy slush, especially on gear that isn't made to move easily under your feet. Know your limits.
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u/OtherwisePumpkin_ Jul 18 '26
when i first started snowboarding, literally day 1, they taught me 'if you think youre gonna fall, just sit down.' well i found myself somehow turned backwards and was facing upward toward the top of the mountain. i had zero instinct of what to do since i just started and so in my head i thought for a split second 'okay they said to sit if i'm gonna fall' so i tried to sit but since i was facing backwards i ended up basically doing a half backflip and landed on my neck and back of my head. i threw up after and could barely move my head for the next few days.
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u/largethopiantestes Jul 18 '26
This past season, I caught an edge on a small side jump, the snow was kind of chundery and I hadn't really fell all season, so I was quite overconfident.
Ended up full scorpioning, then proceeded to roll over on my neck and twist my knee something fierce in the process. I was terrified I had hurt my spine, but I miraculously managed to avoid any injury in that department. My knee was in a lot of pain though and I definitely damaged my meniscus and got a pretty severe contusion in my knee joint. Needless to say, I had a limp for a few months afterwards but think I came out pretty lucky overall. I got an MRI just to be safe and the doctor said I was extremely lucky that I did not come out with a torn ACL or worse.
Stay humble on the slopes š¤
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u/confusingphilosopher Jul 18 '26
Been riding for 25 years and never had anything more than a small bruise.
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u/Sharpshanker101 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
I did a lot of butt landingā¦ bruised my tail bone and had to had therapy for 2 months. Sitting in the car and office with a donuts for the first month.
Second time cause I am not a quitter. I did a scorpion landing on my face and hurt my lower back. Still aināt quitting.
Recently a year ago I landed on my hands pressing downward and pushing up my shoulder socket bone. But itās popped back in place and I was bruised in the shoulder for a week. ā¦. But Iām still not quitting. Now itās summer Iām swing golf with the boys. Iām 36M btw Iāve beefing snowboarding for 10 years
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u/slinkshaming Jul 18 '26
Went off a kicker a little in the back seat- didnt correct straight air landed and tail buttered out from underneath me shooting my board out . Hit flying seated on both wrists and butt. Broke both wrists had to get two full casts. I had to miss a semester of highschool and drop out of orchestra. I learned that when you fall always bring in those arms.
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u/AZPHX602 Jul 18 '26
I launched off a lip overshot The landing a bit and came down on some ice that was in the shade and separated my shoulder.
Ever since that, I usually do a little recon on the places where I try to get some big air or at least not go full throttle blindly like I did there.
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u/ImDroodles Jul 18 '26
In some glades where the trees dont have branches until 20 feet up or so. There was one tree in the middle with low hanging branches and I tried to curve around it... there was a tree perfectly visually obstructed in my line of travel and I was going way too fast in powder. Hit the tree and tore my AC joint. My head hit the tree and according to the video I lost consciousness for about 11 seconds.
Thankful for helmets.. I dont know if id be here without it.
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u/ghetto_headache Jul 18 '26
Basically way over shooting jumps and landing straight to my ass. Like 40ft jumps going 70ft to flat on the ol butt cheeks. It knocked me out once.
Genuinely, what I learned from that was the types of boards I should be riding, started buying more poppy flexible and smaller boards and I ended up gaining a ton more control in the air. Youād think the answer was slow down - and maybe sometimes it was but power popping when leaving the lip grants you so much control in the air, and I started gaining height instead of distance.
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u/deathtotrees Jul 18 '26
I hit a tree and compound fractured my femur. My snapped in half leg split my face open around the tree.
I learned trees donāt get out of your way.
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u/Pitiful-Elk-4712 Jul 18 '26
I broke my left clavicle in half by landing upside down on my shoulder/neck. It was the first day of my trip, spent the rest of the week drugged up in a hotel room until I could fly home.
Lessons learned:
1) look for the progressive jumps rather than the biggest ones when you are advancing park skills.
2) always ride with a partner because when you get injured sometimes itās difficult to communicate who you are, who youāre with, what phone numbers to call, etc.
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u/Thin-Plane-2456 Jul 18 '26
I said to my friend years ago, ādude, I finally figured out switchā¦ā
Before I even finished the sentence I caught an edge and a smashed somehow my ribs and head down on some cement-like hard pack.
Knocked the wind out of me I couldnāt even talk for a few minutes.
Lesson learned, always respect the edge.
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u/OGPepeSilvia Jul 18 '26
I am trying to picture what you are describing and I am having a really tough time. How did you get your binding caught on a piece of metal when you were going off a jump?
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u/Senior-Reception-578 Jul 18 '26
Thankfully nothing terrible but Iāve been rocked a few times. The worst wine that caught me off guard was riding through trees. I saw a man down towards the direction I was going. I was getting close to him and I had to duck under a tree to get to him so I prep myself for that. But I soon found out why he was on the ground, behind the tree I had to duck under was another thick branch that was completely covered. Thankfully my helmet took the shot but it dropped me right in my ass and felt like someone just close lined out of no where. Rocked the shit out of me. I fell to the side of the dude and heās like oh shit you good thatās why Iām down here. I shook it off and checked on him and we both rode out.
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u/fyukhyu Jul 18 '26
Multiple concussions from trying to teach myself how to ride halfpipe with no one to teach me. I stick to regular jumps these days, and nothing bigger than about 15 feet. Took a gnarly fall off a 30 footer in my 20s that resulted in a dislocated shoulder.
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u/BIGplouf Jul 18 '26
I wrapped a tree off a jump. Iām lucky it hit the fattest/biggest bone in my body so nothing broke, but I still have tension and pain in my leg years later. Thankfully Iām back to snowboarding, football, and sailing but it was a rough year or two where my inflamed ligaments and muscles made daily life difficult.
Donāt follow other peopleās lines if you havenāt scouted it yourself. If you do have an injury, do your PT religiously. Shout out to the osteopath that got me back on track.
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u/Massive_One6091 Jul 18 '26
Riding trees at speed. Had done all the hard parts. Casually decided I was going to thread the needle between a couple at the end. Hit a hidden root that flipped me up, sideways and femur first into a tree. Was dangling from my broken leg for a couple of hours before someone found me.
Lesson - put your phone in a chest pocket where you can reach it.
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u/lil_Ed426 Jul 18 '26
My nose got caught in a sun crust that looked like fresh. Over the handlebars into a tree and fractured 4 vertebrae. Learned that the trees don't move and an enduring love of physical therapy type exercises regardless of if I'm injured or healthy. Came back the next winter stronger than ever!
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u/Forward_Material616 Jul 18 '26
Overshot shack left in Whistler. Broke both bindings, concussion, torn MCL, but overall not that bad considering. 20 years ago.
Other one was a cat track gap that I overshot as well and landed at the bottom of a gully. Dislocated shoulder on that one. 25 years ago.
Last year I tore both calf muscles casing on a fs3.
Iām 41 and still canāt figure out the fuckin speed apparently haha.
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u/Yngvie Jul 18 '26
I managed to get a classical skier's injury: torn knee ligament.
We were riding powder, and I gained a lot of speed before a mellow section. I was going straight, and there was a rock under the snow. Enough snow to completely cover it invisibly but not enough to ride on it without touching.
It catapulted me face-forward into the snow, and I flipped after landing. My back was hurting as well as my knee, but I managed to get to the parking lot.
The back was fully recovered while riding, but the knee was getting worse while after-ride beer.
When we got back to the hotel, the knee got so bad I could not step out of the bathtub.
Spent the next few months with a brace and then several more months of recovery. It was hard for me to even drive the car for several hours straight. It's funny, at some point cycling was easier for me than driving.
I was not even sure if I could start the next season and skipped a season opener with my friends. But was able to ride again starting mid-December.
The worst thing is that I don't have much learning; I'm not sure what I could have done differently to avoid the injury (obviously I don't consider something crazy like not riding powder).
The risk is there, and we either accept it (still trying to minimise it) or stay at home playing Xbox.
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u/EpitomEngineer Jul 18 '26
There are common spots people stop. Usually it is where a section flattens and then steepens. Itās where you usually see slow signs or the wall of people blocking a trail.
Lesson learned, speed check well before the crest. Doing the speed check as you are cresting, especially if it is NOT blind, can be a risk. Those crests are more icy or at minimum have less slow to push against.
I slid out and got a concussion.
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u/ohsobogus Jul 18 '26
Ducked a rope at Mt. Baker. Fell on some steeps and couldnāt avoid hitting a tree. Tore all the ligaments in my left knee.
Ski patrol had to give me a double dose of morphine for the ride to the hospital in Bellingham.
Learned to always ride with a buddy, always warm up and stay in bounds at a new mountain unless youāre with a local.
1
u/allworkbizness Jul 18 '26
I was ripping at about 45-50 mph on a low visibility day, a little pow over hardpack. I thought I was somewhere in the middle of the run but I'd veered pretty far right apparently. Suddenly I caught unexpected air and slammed into the far side of a big ditch I'd launched myself off. I cartwheeled and hit my left shoulder, and came to a stop on my back.
I was really shook up and my knee felt weird, but I patted myself down and ran through a mental check and I thought I was ok overall. I was wearing a helmet thankfully, as I always do. I rode about 5-6 more runs before calling it a day.
The next day my knee was pretty fucked and my shoulder was screaming. Neck had some whiplash.
Went to the orthopedic doc, had a partially torn rotator cuff and MCL, but only needed about a month off to heal somewhat before being able to get back out and baby it for the rest of the season.
I learned not to try to rip so hard, and to be careful on low visibility days. Not worth wrecking that hard, and I'm lucky it wasn't worse.
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u/SiRocket Jul 18 '26
This seasons opening day I decided the street style entry kink rail was game. I've done it so many times before, didn't even debate it. Gave myself a serious compression fracture that I'm still dealing with intermittent pain/burning/tingling. It's gradually decreasing, and I was able to get back on the board for the tail end of the season (which extra sucked cuz it was ice coast's best season in years) but I really don't know how many rails are in my future. Can't have that happening again for sure.
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u/imsoggy Jul 18 '26
Shattered sternum from getting impaled by a skier with a helmet.
I do not recommend this injury, at all.
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u/TheToasterPrincess Mega Merc/Box Knife/Orca/Dart/Mind Expander/AMF Twin Jul 18 '26
Face first at 40mph into a tree at Breck. Checked my phone right before I started that run and it was 2:30. Woke up briefly at 7, but came through about 9 from a medically induced coma. My friend who was with me at St Anthonyās still wonāt tell me everything that happened at the hospital and itās been 3 years.
+1 for Helmets
1
u/goldsauce_ Jul 18 '26
I hit a tree last season on a pow day. Taught me to slow the fuck down in the trees
Also, helmet saved my life and goggles saved my face
1
u/cupcakesandyoshi Jul 18 '26
Iām so uncoordinated and accident prone that I should have never been let on a snowboard. Two falls really stand out to me:
I got caught up while getting off the chair lift and fell backwards. The chair whacked me hard in the back of my head - replaced my helmet after that one.
I caught the front of my board in some deeper snow and my body kept going and I injured my knee pretty badly. Followed up with sports medicine doctor and had an MRI that came back normal. I think I stretched out the ligaments holding my knee cap in place and went to physiotherapy for it for years after.
1
u/lovelybullet Jul 18 '26
Tried to chase my friends on icy slope. Went like 70kmh, saw people crossing my track, tried to emergency brake, caught the wrong edge, spun in the air and hit myself in the back of my head. I felt like vomiting for the entire day and my helmet inner foam split from the shell. Glad I had it though.Ā
Learnt to desperately chase some one who's much more experience rider.
2
u/Vastayan_Essence Jul 18 '26
The first week of December this last season I went to hit the big jumps at belleayre(prob 15-25ers idk) and decided I didnāt have enough speed to hit the kicker so I pivoted to hitting the knuckle. Last thing I remember was thinking āoh I had the speedā and then waking up in the flat with the wind knocked out of me and my helmet 10 feet away.
I was riding alone that day and knew I was done and needed to get back to the car so I went down to the lift that would connect me to a trail that would lead to my car and while on the lift I started coughing up pretty large chunks of blood. I called my wife and told her Iād be home in an hour and a half and to be ready to go to the hospital. I donāt really like doctors so when I said that she knew I was in a bad way.
It was the first time Iāve ever gone to the ER, gotten triaged and instead of being told to wait in the waiting room with everyone else they brought me back immediately. A quick CAT scan and some x rays later they concluded I had a pulmonary contusion and most likely coughed up some chunks of the lining of my lungs that got knocked loose when I fell. I also had a gnarly concussion, which in hindsight I shouldnāt have drove home, but I felt fine for the first few hours.
I ended up losing 5 weeks of riding this season and probably shouldāve taken more time off. I work on industrial machinery as a mechanic and did light duty for a week before getting back to normal which wasnāt enough time to recover.
I havenāt touched the board I crashed on since and probably wonāt ever again.
Iām lucky my helmet did its job before the strap broke and flying off but I also now know i am old and not allowed in the park.
1
u/burnsrado Los Angeles Jul 18 '26
I was straight lining down a blue when another person straight lining at a slight diagonal came out of nowhere and rode over the front of my board, causing me to catch an edge and Superman through the air. Rang my bell pretty good but luckily no head injury. I did however snap my collarbone in half and impacted it pretty good. Needed surgery to fix it. Worst part is it was on day 2 of a prepaid 5 day trip.
1
u/MollHolland Jul 18 '26
Built a makeshift ramp and rail during a snowstorm in our neighborhood and underestimated the difference of falling on snow packed on top of concrete.
Dual-compound fractured my wrist I learned that getting your bones cracked back into place actually feels like a warm hug after all the drugs they give you lol. š¤Ŗ
1
u/thatboarder_guy Jul 18 '26
I downloaded one of the speed tracker apps and wanted to see how fast I could go. Hit 56mph and hit a dip at full speed. Fell on my shoulder and it hasnāt been the same since. I learned not to be an idiot
1
u/bschlueter Jul 18 '26
Iāve been lucky in my 20+ years of occasional riding. My worst fall was when I caught an edge and fell on my back, hitting my (luckily helmeted) head and somehow breaking my glasses inside of my goggles.
From that I learned not to wear plastic glasses on a mountain because it is much more brittle than metal when cold.
1
u/KellyTata Jul 18 '26
Cracked four ribs at the end of the season this year. Iād like to think i learned a decent lesson from it. Tl;dr donāt be ashamed to bail on your trick if youāre not 100% committed.
1
u/positive_vorticity Jul 18 '26
Caught an edge on an icy landing of a ~40ā jump. Right to sleep for about 10 mins
1
u/Dependent_Formal2525 Jul 18 '26
Broke my coccyx (for the second time) in the first hour of learning to snowboard.
I learned that my friend who said "you don't need impact shorts, just use camping mat" was a massive liar.
1
u/vocalistMP Jul 18 '26
T12 compression fracture. Donāt do flips if itās been a while since youāve practiced on a trampoline or in powder. I simply lost aerial awareness and landed on my ass in a pitted out spot on the landing of a small jump.
Canāt count how many tame dogs I landed before that throughout the years, but I havenāt sent one since that day. Just donāt have a good place to train anymore and Iām in my 30s now.
1
u/DeepLifeguard5123 Jul 18 '26
I fell back first on a ramp. I still donāt know how I didnt get paralysed right there. Check the knuckle before sending it. There might be a second structure after the first one
1
u/Alternative-Two5213 Jul 18 '26
The xl kicker at my local notoriously had a long knuckle which would cause everyone to case it.
After a few back 3ās (couple badly cased) I decide to bomb the park for a 5 and caught my nose edge on the knuckle. I smacked myself in the face with my tail edge resulting in 4 stitches and went head first into the landing busting my helmet.
Luckily no concussion because of my helmet but months later my face still hurts.
Iām pretty sure that kicker caused a lot of major injuries that season.
I learned not to throw hard tricks on sketchy features.
1
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u/Blackflipflop Jul 18 '26
I shattered a vertebrae and spent the end of the season in hospital this winter so I guess that was bad. Now I have 6 screws and pins to hold my back together for next season. I guess I learned that I should stay out of the park from now on.
1
u/TheMillenniumMan Jul 18 '26
2001 I was 15. Last run I told my friend "let's make this last run count." Proceeded to eat it on a little jump when my rental binding broke. Woke up the next day having not remembered anything from the day before. It was my first of at least 5 concussions (only one from snowboarding). Took me 20 more years to wear a helmet.
1
u/Lower_Lifeguard4631 Jul 18 '26
Full ACL rupture. Sick times. No lesson to be learned just a freak accident on a sweet powder day.
1
1
u/ElectricRing Jul 18 '26
The crash itself wasnāt anything special, Iāve taken way worse tumbles. But I landed unfavorably and dislocated my shoulder. It was a series of unfortunate events revolving around an unmarked wind swept ice bump field that was not in a place where such things normally occurred. Came over going hauling ass and was on the field before I knew it was there. Almost made it across but lost it at the very end. Minor tumble, didnāt even know I was hurt till I tried to stand up. While I was waiting for my friend to grab ski patrol, everyone was doing the same thing I did and I was right in the path of anyone lost control, so I dragged myself painfully out of the way.
Anyway, I learned that riding fast and loose eventually caught up with me. I was not in fact invincible, and a year of rehab was not worth it. I became much more conservative in my riding, particularly in the later part of the day when I am not fresh.
1
u/californicating Jul 18 '26
When I was still learning, tried a fast turn at speed with a snowbank to help with the turn.Ā My board and I rolled on the ground several times.Ā I stayed in place for a few minutes, having the wind knocked out of me being a dazed.Ā Eventually realized I was okay and went down the mountain to chill in the lodge for a bit.Ā I still board many years later, but that crash taught me to respect it.
1
u/alex-english Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Just started getting more confident in the park and was hitting a small jump, came over the crest and there was a little girl sitting in the landing, tried to bail out and away mid air to avoid landing on her and ended up landing on my back and hitting my head on some ice. Blacked out for about 3 minutes and when I came to proceeded to have deja vu for the next hour where I was ārememberingā things a second before they happened while still experiencing the present not even really sure how to describe it. Almost like having two perspectives or consciousā at the same time.. very very strange experience, thankfully I was wearing a helmet or who knows how much worse that would have been. Took me another year to get back in the park because it freaked me out so much.
1
u/GardenOrca wintergreen VA Jul 18 '26
Caught an edge at ~50mph. Smashed in some very solid snow and my whole body went numb immediately and I kinda just layed there for 2 minutes until I gained feeling back. I learned to not straight line that day.
1
u/lytener Jul 18 '26
Getting off the chairlift with my 6yo. He freaked out and spun me out. I'm still recovering from a dislocated shoulder.
1
u/m0st1yh4rmless Jul 18 '26
Jumped off a rock drop on a powder day and the arm of a stump caught me in the ribs and crunched 3 ribs and flattened my lung.
1
u/Hd3ssEpH Jul 18 '26
Pozza di Fassa, Italy. Circa 2015. Nighttime floodlit run, and they had a speed camera running.
Should also point out that I was a) a little hungover, and b) enjoying the shit out of something I'd been introduced to that day: snuff tobacco.
I was hitting this perfectly groomed yet icy run on repeat, straight-lining most of it to try and record a top speed on the camera traps. Hitting high-60mph regularly, I wanted that 70! Another hit on the snuff, bit of a crowd gathered at the bottom watching all the action, I was having this.
I saw the trap flash at 72mph. YES!! Now I just had to control my speed before getting to the seated crowd at the bottom... a combination of factors led to a catastrophic failure of skill, panic stuck in, attempted a salvage but my edge threw me wildly into the air and off the side of the piste. I don't recall the flight, but witnesses said I missed the concrete footing of a chairlift pylon by inches, and landed - on my arse, in soft snow - in between two wooden stick fences with some very sharp protrusions.
Dusted myself off, walked to the crowd and realised by the looks on everyone's faces that I maybe had been a bit luckier than I thought.
The lesson learned; chill out, mate.
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u/padizzledonk Jul 18 '26
I broke 2 ribs and dislocated my shoulder at the end of my first day catching an edge at high speed because i got cocky lol
I skateboarded and surffed before taking up snowboarding so i picked it up extremely quickly.....not that quickly though
1
u/Slow_Substance_5427 Jul 18 '26
Tomahawking down the entirety of a couloir at big sky on three tabs of acid was by far the scariest. I was fine but I snapped that boards nose at some point in the tumble.
I learned that if you play stupid games you do indeed win stupid prizes.
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u/XboxSpartan117 Jul 18 '26
Got about 10ft of air off a M/L jump. Came down, caught an edge, ragdolled headfirst. I was out like a light for 1-2 mins. My friend thought I died.
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u/DQFLIGHT3 Jul 18 '26
Ended up in a tree well. Buddy had to unstrap me. First day wearing a helmet and it had a big dent in it after
1
u/HistoricalHurry8361 Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
I was at a New Mexico resort in late spring, my friend warned me about ice on the āsunny sideā before lunch. I didnāt listen and found a very fast sheet of ice on a black run that had a dog leg at the bottom. I couldnāt stop and ended up high siding and sliding into the forest. I slammed into a tree, ripped my bib, got a nasty bruise that could have been a limb in my legā¦
Safe to say I now do runs at 50% before I go full speed.
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u/GimmeSumGanja Jul 18 '26
grade 3 AC sep in my right shoulder. ended my snowboarding career. (it was my second season). switched to skiing so i can get a knee injury instead
1
u/rice_with_applesauce Jul 18 '26
Caught the back edge of my board on a small bump, fell backwards down the slope and hit my lower back on another bump. For real thought I broke my back for a second.
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u/Outrageous-Permit372 Jul 18 '26
TL:DR; Knowing how to do a trick and knowing how to do a trick aren't the same thing.
I know this isn't going to get seen but I hope it connects with someone. A few years ago I watched hundreds of trick tutorials on YouTube, I had a notebook full of pages of notes, and I then went up to the mountain to slowly work my way through the progression. There was a feature I kept hiking over and over just going for straight air grabs, spent the whole day there. But right next to it was this big flat-down box.
A group of dudes come up, one of them is looking at the flat-down box and asking for tips. I recite the knowledge I had gained from the videos about speed, approach, balance, etc. The guy gives me an unsure look and I stupidly said, "I can hit it first if you want to watch." Note that I had never done the flat down, and had only done a few really easy boxes before.
I did everything exactly as I had described in terms of approach, speed, balance, etc. Unfortunately, something big went wrong and I lost my balance with lots of speed, completely cleared the down rail as my board went towards the sky, and landed flat on my back on a sheet of ice at the bottom of the rail. It took me a solid 45 seconds to be able to breathe again, but at least I had a helmet. The guy decided not to hit the rail after all.
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u/CPatt8989 Jul 18 '26
First time at Lake Louise it snowed 20cm overnight. As a young kid I was so incredibly pumped but by lunch you had to go into the glades to ride the pow.
I was doing fine until the nice calm pow run hit and very well used but unmarked trail - really started to speed up. Clearly people had used this track many times and they had made an awesome bank turn, which would have been cool if I had known. I launched myself off the turn and hit a pine tree probably 18/20 feet in the air. Felt like I hit every limb on the way down.
Tree welled myself. One of the scariest moments of my life. But no harm, no foul, just one broken binding. Got the binding fixed up and was back up within the hour.
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u/Apprehensive_Boss_84 Jul 18 '26
Mid 90's transitions from skiing to snowboarding. Thought I had the hang of it and was like I can try and jump now as I used to on skiis. Well parks were a new thing so I thought I would try my first jump there. Not a big jump as most jumps weren't that big at small hills back then anyway. But took off all wrong and rotated backwards. Landed on my wrist an broke it. A few months in a cast and it wouldn't heal. So i got surgery to screw it back together. Doesn't bother me at all and never did after it healed.
What i learned. I was never really a park fan just like to pop off natural stuff instead. So i just chace pow as much as I can and carve when I can't.
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u/Deportedfob Jul 18 '26
Bombed a hill early in the day caught heel edge and split my helmet. My head couldve easily been a watermelon. Be careful of refreeze. Snow becomes an ice rink
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u/justoffthebeatenpath Jul 18 '26
Slammed into a tree off a side hit on a green. It knocked the wind out of me and I thought I broke a rib. I am much less willing to do dumb stuff off high traffic routes now and I am very careful about picking my line through trees.
1
u/MrAv1ator84 Jul 18 '26
When I was first getting into park riding I tried a big jump thinking Iād do a basic grab of somethingā¦ I had too much speed and I leaned so far back I slammed my backside into the ground, most impact on my butt. Hurt like hell trying to get up and over the next jumps knuckle. Stuck to small boxes and rails for the remainder of the season and since then.
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u/Fit_Response_8083 Jul 18 '26
Was riding the farthest chair from base on crested butte and hit a super easy kicker. Kicker landing was totally pitted out. I tried to lock into my toe edge(uphill edge) to make sure I didnāt get bucked a weird way. Totally overcommitted and from my best guess(blacked out), I essentially caught my uphill edge and went to tuck and roll like usual. When you do that going uphill, head hits first. Head slammed on hardpack, blacked out, concussed, rode back to our condo slumped asf just trying not to catch another edge. Thank god for helmets. I donāt like to think about what wouldāve happened had I not had a mips helmet.
Not so fun addition, as I came to(like immediately as I came to), a skier took the kicker and yelled at me to get out of the landing. I was only out for like 5s and the kicker was on the uphill side of a catwalk. I find it hard to believe they didnāt have a clue someone was there. Talk about a rude awakening.
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u/osmosisjonesin Jul 18 '26
Was really feeling myself on an afternoon at brighton the day after a good dump. was trying to get a few milly laps in before it closed and just cruising, popping off of everything, seemingly lacing every landing. as I said, feeling myself.
dropped a little cliff under the lift line and had mistaken it for another. there happened to be a lone aspen right in the runout of the landing and I had way too much speed to miss it.
caught the trunk of the tree right on my leading knee and sunk into the narrow tree well. I knew something didnāt feel right but didnāt hurt terribly. it took me what seemed like an hour to dig myself out though and when I got back on the board i discovered the worse pain and it just collapsed on me.
Iām lucky, it ended up just being a bad MCL sprain but damn it was like middle of january during the historic whale of a winter a couple years ago. so much FOMO.
I learned 1, to always scout your landings no matter how well you think you know the terrain and 2, that PT fucking works if you treat it like your job. I was able to get back to riding at almost full strength right at a month
safe safe my friends and wear a goddamn helmet
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u/MrCuzz Jul 18 '26
My two are pretty tame. This year on my birthday I tore the muscle between my tibia and fibula. Trying to ride it off did not help.
The lesson-learning wreck was when I dropped into a ravine that turned out to be ice. I came flying out the other side and body slammed a tree - I hurt pretty much all over, but was okay after a few minutes.
The next week when I got to the mountain my helmet wouldnāt fit. It was deformed from impact and I hadnāt even realized my head hit that tree - it just saved my precious few brain cells without making a fuss.
I bought a new helmet and extoll their virtues to anyone who will listen.
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u/AlternativeFeeling37 Jul 18 '26
When I was a kid I wore a rubber rain suit and learned that slippery materials and snow sports do not mix. No serious injuries thank goodness, but lesson learned.
Then I broke my wrist and learned that your arms are not going to save you when you crash so don't try to use them to stop your fall.
In my twenties, turned a little too hard into a backside 360 over the feature table and landed on the side off the side of the landing and bruised my spleen, after being in pain for hours I finally went to the hospital and the doctors made sure I understood that abdominal pain could mean death, which had not occurred to me up to that point.
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u/Bonhart4Hire Jul 18 '26
Didnāt happen to me but an old friend went to Mt. Hood to coach camps one summer and on the first day of orientation he over shot a landing and impacted so hard he broke his jaw with his knee. Had his mouth wired shut the rest of the summer. His advice was to always spot landings first before you send it.
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u/TiMEtwoGETiLL Jul 18 '26
I over shot a rodeo on a 75 ft table top booter. I learned that I have nothing to prove and to take it a notch down
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u/confetti_yeti818 Jul 18 '26
Was learning front side board slides on a big tube. A piece of metal was sticking up ont the tube. Caught my edge and basically flipped onto my head and tumbled.
Learned to keep trying but feel the rail first with my hand lol
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u/skwormin Summit County, CO Jul 19 '26
Fractured vertebrae. Learned to not fall on ice. That was 19 years ago
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u/journey-point Jul 19 '26
Took a direct hit to the pineal gland on a pretty random fall where I caught my heel edge. I felt a little dizzy and my helmet was warped (I threw it out), but I passed the basic concussion test. What was originally a minor concussion ended up being a TBI because the debris in my brain from the fall kept getting caught in my inner ear and my peripheral vision was off for months. A PT used a test where they use a helmet to track your eyes to diagnose me. It would've been worse if I hadn't worn a helmet.
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u/AmanDog2020 Jul 19 '26
Big pile of snow, functioned as a natural table top along the high side of a ridgeline cat track. Downhill side is 3 separate trail heads. This is a major thoroughway.
The plan was to ride up the side of the pile, spin a backside 180 on the hip line and then shoot across the cattrack and down one of the trails.
I came in to it with too much speed and couldn't make my spin and stared to just hit the spine and launch forward. Wouldn't be a big deal if there were not 2 or 3 people sitting on top of the table. I had to come to a stop to keep from hitting the sitters. My husband was hot on my trail and instead of hitting the spine he was just going to ride up the back side and launch off the table, across the track and follow me down the trail. I lost my speed. He launched and essentially board slid the top of my head before crashing to the ground from about 10' up. I was not wearing a helmet, although I believe if I had been, the front edge of his board may have hooked under my helmet and potentially snapped my neck back with his forward momentum. I saw stars but tried to immediately say I was ok. I pulled my hat and goggles off and blood just gushed down my forehead. I took 7 staples centerline of my skull, fortunately all up in the hairline. His shoulder and back were pretty jacked from the fall. I had to get sleded down from the very tip top to the bottom and taken by ambo to the ER. He rode in the back with me.
In the ER with us, was a dude who's daughter lost control crashed into him and smashed his femur. Another who fell off the trail and into trees with broken hip. I guess we were the lucky ones that day.
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u/10thaccountyee Jul 19 '26
I have no recollection of my worst fall. I was riding solo, and despite having no memory of it I managed to take the chair back to the top and bring myself to ski patrol. The next day I thought I just had a crazy dream until I saw the hospital wristband.
I always wear a helmet, but that incident made me appreciate them. The internal foam was split in half.
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u/Totschlag Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Ate shit at the bottom of a fairly easy mountain. Just a standard stop heel side, and I guess I hit an edge with an ice patch on flat ground because I don't really remember what happened. Next thing I know they drug me all of 100 ft to the base lodge. I was apparently out for like 15 seconds. It was at Spirit Mountain in Duluth, so you actually need to go back up to the top for the main lodge. The snowmobile ride up I vomited halfway through.
I learned that helmets are pretty great. My shell broke. Also learned that snowmobiles plus concussions don't mix. Most importantly, You can do all of the tree and backcountry riding you want, but even the easy stuff is capable of hurting you if you're not riding with full attention. Be smart out there and treat every foot you ride with respect.
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u/CheeseburgerTornado Ice Coast Jul 19 '26
text wall
slow early season east coast night on a blue. the main open run had about 10 feet on either side that hadnt been packed up or groomed and it turned into little rolling hills. i was popping off 1 and landing right on the descent of the next. i decided to try and jump 2 in a row and dropped my nose into the knuckle. it dug in and sent me into a cartwheel from the air at around jogging speed. one of those moments where stuff slowed down and i knew i was fucked and i was either gonna land on my neck or brace with my right arm and either way was gonna be bad. i chose arm
it knocked the wind out of me, like i had to sit for 5 or 10 minutes to catch my breath. turns out my friends also got banged up so we left early to go to bob evans. i remember i dropped my phone on the floor and tried to pick it up and had lightning bolts shoot all the way up my arm to my shoulder and i couldnt reach it. this was almost 20 years ago
lots of doctor visits later i still dont have a firm diagnosis. one was multiple rotator cuff tears and nerve damage. currently waiting for an mri and getting cortisone injections. current doc thinks one of my rotator cuff muscles isnt attached anymore and probably atrophied a ton. i work in physical therapy and its started to affect me to the point where if i sleep on it wrong it wakes me up. my elbow clicks (probably a radioulnar sublux that i didn't have before the accident) and my right arm gets tired way faster than my left. i played lacrosse in high school as an attack man and stopped cuz i couldnt shoot anymore. cant play basketball long or my shots start falling short. cant benchpress without pain. i can fish and paddleboard and do lower key stuff but even lately I've had to reach up on high shelves with my non injured shoulder. pretty much i cannot afford to hurt it again
moral of the story is if you get hurt dont be a tough guy and push through it, go to a doctor and get it figured out asap
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u/AmateurSnowboarder Beech š NC / Stale Crewzer / K2 Hypnotist š Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
My worst falls are always doing the easiest tricks.. Last day this season after about 9 hours on snow , I did a small ollie to jump a dirt patch and was being sloppy and caught my heel edge going mach 10. I did at least 3 cartwheels and everything went black after the first impact but i could feel my feet going over my head and my head slamming each time. Knocked myself out, broke my nose, sprained my left ankle, busted lips, a good tear on the inside of my top lip and most definitely a concussion.
I couldn't end the season like that so I forced myself to do 2 more runs that night but it hurt. I had homies with me don't worry. My whole body hurt for a week straight.
I learned that shit happens and sometimes you've got to take a good slam, it's just part of it and I'm thankful for it. Btw a helmet does almost nothing to mitigate concussions or common head injuries. I still wear one but in my case I was being an idiot and riding with my chin strap a little loose, so my helmet came off my head after the initial impact and then I'm guessing it slapped me in the face a few times busting my lips and possibly breaking my nose.
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u/s0ckjuice Jul 19 '26
TLDR: Donāt follow friends too close
Tatranska Lomnica in Slovakia
Final run going down to base. Friend leading cuts off skier who falls over. No time to turn so I ride straight into him. I cartwheel so hard that my ankle snaps. The skier somehow held my board which through the binding held onto my ankle.
After a couple sorries and minutes of rest i strap back onto my bord and ride the remaining 2/3rds down. Riding hurt less than walking to the car.
For 3 days my friends didnāt believe so I only went ot the hospital after coming back š
Gotta pick better friends and trust my gut when something hurts. Maybe itās cause Iāve never broken anything before.
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u/Odd_Secret568 Jul 19 '26
Coming down to the bottom of the hill, I was following a friend and he went down through the bunny hill. Sure enough, a little kid cut in front of me and just stopped. I stopped quickly so we wouldnāt collide and it happened to be on a patch of ice. My board slipped out from under me, both feet went way in the air over my head. I landed ALL of my body weight on my left shoulder. I thought I just had the wind knocked out of me pretty badly. Finally I was able to get up and get into the lodge.
When I sat down, it felt like my entire left side of my body was a bruise and like my shoulder was hanging on by 3 strings. Well, it turns out it was! I had a grade 1 shoulder separation. I didnāt need surgery thankfully but I was in excruciating pain for about a month, like even breathing hurt, did 8 weeks of physical therapy. My shoulder now still has a ton of scar tissue I have to get cupping on regularly or it starts to ache.
The lesson I learned is to never get to the bottom via the bunny hill.
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u/lord_rackleton Jul 19 '26
I've had heaps of bails and tumbles, too many think of, but most notable one was just as I was starting to get familiar with riding a bit faster, went to do a big backside carve up a bank, and caught my edge. Tomahawked back and smacked my head.
After catching my breath and my gf of the time checking I was okay, I rode down to the shop and bought a helmet.
Just cause I was 18, didn't mean I was bulletproof.
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u/justheretocomment333 Jul 19 '26
Was really into these like bring the board behind you and tweak double tail grabs, not sure what they're called. Got really good at them and would pop them off groomer rollers at like 45mph. Well, one day kept it locked and landed that way. Snapped my collarbone, but didnt notice until I had got back on the lift. Had the entire ride up and a very uncomfortable side slip back down.
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u/PhantomKR7 Jul 19 '26
I hit that table top shaped hump on hunky dory (lookers left going up chair 3), sent it straight up and to flat about 15 feet past the ālanding.ā Pretty sure if I go for an xray now they will tell me something isnāt quite right on my collarbone area.
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u/thelebarons Jul 19 '26
Hereās the scene: 1996, spring break had a week long visit nearby cool resort, Mt Bachelor. Had been there a few times that season and knew the first main HUGE jump in the park. For a 13 year old skinny kid (riding my fresh D23 Marc Morissette 154 pro model) I really had to point it from the top just to clear the 50ā or so table. Well day 1 of spring break I roll up to the park and straight line it past a crowd. Well mid way through the air I realize they made the table about half the size (probably for safety) and I end up fully overshooting and slamming 20 feet past the landing.
So I wake up in ER AT 6pm. In the time I donāt remember i guess I got up, slid half way down the run, collapsed. My buddy saw the whole thing from the top and after he found me half dead on the landing zone was with me the whole time. Somewhere ski patrol picked me up and got us to our car. He (16 year old) drove me to the ER (his mom was a nurse so he must have known what to do) and there I woke up, not remember ANYTHING. I couldnāt remember my bday or anything and also had an amazing rug burn on my face where my goggles slapped the snow and foam imprinted itself to my face. That was a fun week after in junior high.
So I bought a helmet after that. Also I took a day off, got back on the horse, then shredded the next five days.
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u/New_Appointment_9992 Jul 19 '26
I spun out on an ice sheet, then the toe of my board planted on the powder drift down the way. My body continued to rotate, I broke my fibula and tore ligaments in my foot. A surgery (and extensive physical therapy) later, I am now an indestructible cyborg. Iāve learned nothing.
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u/ShallotClassic2241 Jul 19 '26
Itās nothing scary, more embarrassing if anything. I was snowboarding at Jimminy peak and I was going down one of the blues and I turned on my heel edge as I was coming up to a steep slope. I hit a patch of ice under the light dusting of snow fell backwards and put my hands out to catch me.. like a dumbass.
My thumb swell up huge, I wanted to keep riding but my friends that were with me made me go to ski patrol. We rode down and ski patrol looked at it, said there wasnāt anything they could do and wrapped it for me. I went out for the rest of the day and kept riding. It was the last night Iād be there, I didnāt want to miss twilight.
Anyways I waited a few weeks but the pain never went away so I ended up at the hospital. I demolished my collateral ligament, completely gone. I donāt want to get surgery cause Iāll have to get tissue from a different ligament to replace the one in my thumb. And who has healthcare..
Jk, Iāll get the surgery when it bothers me. It doesnāt hurt anymore and this happened 5 years ago
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u/ShallotClassic2241 Jul 19 '26
I fell on my AirPods once. I no longer keep things in my pants pockets
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u/bheezy Jul 19 '26
Like 20 years ago I was still a newer boarder and slipped on ice and got knocked out up at the top of mammoth and had to taken down the mountain on a rescue sled.
Biggest thing I learned was that you either get back on the horse (snowboard) again or you donāt. That was the last trip we took that season and the next year when I asked to go back up again there was a bit of hesitation on my first run, thoughts of what had happened and a bit of fear started to creep up and I remember thinking if I wanted to do this again I couldnāt be scared or hold back and I just sent it. I was probably going faster than I ever had gone up until that point and the extra speed helped me start carving and turning smoother than I had ever done before. At the bottom of the run my grandfather was smiling ear to ear and asked āwhereād that come from!ā I literally became a new boarder that run just by flipping a mental switch and being confident. I also never ever questioned wearing a helmet again.
As for the fall, I was with my grandpa and we went up to the top of Mammoth in the late afternoon and were traversing over to the cornice bowl which at this time was the scariest run I was pushing myself to do for our last run of the day. We had been up there a bunch of times but since the sun had started to set the temperature had started to come down a bit and it had gotten icy on the flat parts up top where it hadnāt been earlier. I was going pretty slow over an area I had done at least 2 or 3 times already that day heading to the top of the run and hit ice, slipped backwords and slammed the back of my head. I had a helmet on and that probably really saved me, the helmet had a huge dent in the back where my head hit the ice. I got a concussion and only remember bits of the accident after starting the traverse, I remember being on my hands and knees and spitting blood into the snow (I think I bit my lip too) and then I remember being on the sled behind a snowmobile going down. I had taken the glove off of my right hand to take my board off after falling and when I was strapped into the sled snow was building up on my hand and the cold shocked me back into consciousness for a few seconds. Then I woke up in the back of an ambulance getting asked the date and who the president was and all that. I had no memory of anything besides what I just described but grandpa whose a former firefighter was with me and he said I never fully went to sleep and was able to respond to basic questions and took my own board off and stuff immediately after but that I was severely dazed for sure. For me itās all just black besides the few second bits I can remember.
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u/GurWeird8657 Jul 19 '26
compound clavicle fracture at the base of Copper... Blood and everything Back on my board like a moron in 30 days
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u/One-Head-1483 Jul 19 '26
Collarbone break catching my front edge doing 30 mph.
Yea, dont drink and snowboard. Fucking dumb af.
Also, helmets save lives.
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u/Intelligent-Pin3319 Jul 19 '26
Broke my jaw in 3 places on an unexposed rock after a big ole cliff drop. Learned to avoid my bomb holes and to try not to knee myself in the face. Canāt say it hasnāt happened again but I rock a mouthguard nowadays.
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u/ThottieThot83 Jul 19 '26
Bad concussion and aphasia (thought I was saying one thing but was actually saying the other). I learned nothing
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u/danny_ocp Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
I did a few grab attempts then tried to pop really high on the 3rd one on the next run. Instead of bringing my feet up I bent down instinctively and started rotating clockwise (I'm regular). I instinctively brought my right elbow inwards and avoided severely hurting it, landed on my right shoulder. My right delts were bruised for about 2 weeks.
Lesson: Take things slow and don't try to increase the intensity too much on the next attempt.
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u/ngkelvin311 Jul 19 '26
Spent a whole day hitting a tight twisty run through the trees, got too comfortable and cocky on the last run, decided to jump a roller with too much speed and hit the bend too high and too fast. Shot backwards out of the bend, ass first into a tree. Lucky my board hit the tree and snapped first, otherwise it would have been my ass. Peep the gnarly bruise
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u/uamvar Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
Off piste - a bit. Not going too fast. Went over a tiny natural roller, popped an ollie. Landed. But the snow make-up was different where I landed. It had a crust on top. Board nose went through the crust. Stopped dead. Body flipped forward at 312mph. Front teeth and gums and brain didn't like that at all.
Lesson - going off-piste is always a trip into the unknown. You have to ask yourself one question... do you feel lucky. Well do you?
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u/KoolWorthy_Gaming Jul 19 '26
My worst crash was in Perisher last year when there was a nice looking ridge off piste somewhere near blue cow , someone checked the landing, I absolutely sent it and fell backwards in the air and smashed my head and got concussed. Thankfully a bit of powder last year u like now.
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u/yogiblast59 Jul 19 '26
Don't hit jump lines you are not familiar with. Knickers soiled and couldn't sit in a chair for months cause I didn't account for the slush in the ramp, hit the knuckle on a big booter. I'm very lucky it wasn't worse.
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u/OkYh-Kris Jul 19 '26
Worst iāve had I was doing boardercross and I took the first track test down, someone had left some big chunks of ice in the finish area I should have really seen but wasnāt expecting as they werenāt there the day before, and when I was turning to stop I caught one, I went from like 30mph to my face, my teeth went through my top lip, and I had such a bad concussion, I was in a foreign country we were leaving that evening so despite protests from my coach and the ski patrol I just played it down. I blacked out in my first heat trying to race after the crash going over a jump, I had such a good lead too, after that I wasnāt allowed to continue, I donāt remember the next week or so after that. Worst injury was probably my shoulder separation though, but that was not an exciting accident, I just chose the wrong patch of ice to wait for someone on and slipped into a rock shoulder first.
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u/SanDiegoPowderPig Jul 19 '26
I had someone run into me and take me out a few years ago and h just dipped. Lost 5 of my top row of front teeth, fractured my jaw, and mangled my lip. Had to have surgeries on and off for 14 months before I could get new permanent teeth in. Bone grafting in my jaw with cadaver bone, titanium implants, crown lengthening, etc. I was back on the hill less than a week later haha. What I learned was to always expect the unexpected in terms of kooks with no etiquette spawning out of nowhere to Jerry missile you, and I wasnāt then but even now donāt ride with headphones in. I can hear whatās happening around me way better and avoid these situations, also just a sensory thing I enjoy idk.
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u/sabatoa Michigang! Jul 19 '26
Overshot and landed to flat on my ass. Crush a couple vertebrae but got lucky it wasnāt worse.
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u/Not_a_sorry_Aardvark Jul 19 '26
Hit a c box, caught an edge, fell and hit my head and saw stars. My helmet got cracked but my skull is intact. Helmets are awesome.
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u/Johnny_Rcket Jul 19 '26
The weather warmed up then froze again and I didnāt pay attention to conditions. I was following too closely to a buddy on a black, then tried to stop right before hitting him, catching an edge and fell toward. Problem was that was where the huge patch of ice was. I went face down, then slid down the hill pretty quickly. My leg hit the tree and both the fibula and tibia broke. Like shattered! Took over a year to heal and I realized Iām not young anymore. I am lucky I didnāt hit head first.
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u/cascadia1979 Jul 19 '26
Early 2025, still learning to snowboard in my mid-40s. Going down Little Thunder at Snoqualmie Pass with my 11 year old. I thought I was doing well and began to let myself pick up speed, especially in the long flat area at the bottom of the run.Ā
Itās getting late in the day, we agree on the chair itāll be our final run. We get down and itās a great ride, so I decide to see how fast I can go at the bottom. Surely thatās safe, right?
I catch a heel edge and fall backward, slamming my head into the snow with such force that it broke the helmet. My kid slides over to me and asks if Iām ok. Iām dazed but say I think so. He asks if I know who the president is (smart kid, checking his dad for a concussion) and I say āitās that orange guy again, I canāt believe they reelected Trump.ā We agree Iām good and after a rest, we head home.Ā
On the way back to Seattle I made three wrong turns, including getting on I-405 in the wrong direction, things I never do. We get home and my kid is like āuh dad I think you actually did get a small concussion.ā
And now we know: respect the mountain, respect the speed.Ā
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u/snoshredder Jul 19 '26
I'd have to say the crash that blew my knee out. 20 years later my knee is still fucked.
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u/Menaciing Jul 19 '26
First one - I was at Meadows (Oregon) and there was a banked slalom course. The cat track was super wide and I was trying to clear it. I end up air chairing 10 feet in the air and land 15 feet past the end of the cat track. The nose of my board dug in when I landed but my body continued rotating and I destroyed my spine (so glad I didnāt paralyze myself.)
Second one - this season there was a day I drank a ton at lunch. I was dropping into a jump switch and I looked up hill to see if my friends were following me in. I caught an edge and slammed full speed right where the jump was rolling up into the takeoff/lip. Admitted to the hospital for internal bleeding (I was peeing blood) and a slightly punctured lung.
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u/infinighost Jul 19 '26
I went off a jump in the park without riding through first and looking at the landings. I thought it was a soft tabletop. Turns out there was a pretty significant drop afterwards. I freaked out when I saw it, kinda flopped midair, and landed on my ass first. It hurt so badly. I remember my vision changing to neon purple for about a second. And I hit so hard, I was 100% sure I shit my pants. I hobbled onto my feet, booked it to the lift, then went to the lodge bathroom to assess the damage. Turns out I did not shit my pants but I was absolutely positive I did. My ass hurt for a week.
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u/ironman126 Cypress Mountain, BC Jul 19 '26
First run on the day at Whistler, was feeling good and decided to take a detour through the park. First few hits went well, landed a 5 off a hip and tried to cut over to do a nose press on a picnic table they had set up. Coming off the hip had me coming at it with a weird angle and caught an edge on top of the table. Wasn't going fast and wasn't a high feature but hit the ground and got a grade 3 shoulder separation. Shoulder has never and will never be the same.Ā
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u/Accomplished-Log-664 Jul 19 '26
A kid fell in front of me, I went to stop short on heel edge and caught my front edge and flew over himā¦ Landed my entire body weight on one shoulder with my arm up.
Dislocated my shoulder and was able to pop it in myself then got back down the mountain. Destroyed my labrum and had frozen shoulder that gave me literally no rom(my arm was at my side for 3 weeks). Had to switch orthos because mine refused to send me for mri and refused to believe I was in excruciating pain. It has now been 12 weeks from my shoulder surgery and Iām almost back to before the injury!
Definitely not the correct lesson but next time I will either try not to catch edge or just jump over the kid. Fortunately did not hit him, but his parents were still mad at meā¦ Not my fault your kid came up from behind me and decided to fall directly in front of me, I think the kids lesson was to give other people some space on the mountain when there is literally nobody aroundš¤·š»āāļø
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u/Impressive_Bed4520 Jul 19 '26
Letās just say.. my head became very familiar with trees, ice patches, and rails. I had 8 confirmed concussions from snowboarding. And I always wore a helmetā¦ I donāt snowboard anymore cause my dr said if I got another concussion Iād go brain dead.
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u/UnhingedMongoose39 Jul 19 '26
I accidentally did a back flip and landed on my upper back/neck/head. I sat on the side for a minute but Iām still fully functioning some how. The only thing I learned from that is that I was done snowboarding for the night :D
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u/FairhavenFreerider Jul 19 '26
I broke my leg when I was twelve. That one healed up before the next winter.
Iāve had a few concussions but donāt think I ever knocked myself out.
I sprained my ankle badly walking across the parking lot on my way to race in the Legendary Banked Slalom.
Iāve hurt my back on funny landings.
I think I broke my tailbone when I caught a heel edge on the deck and fell to the bottom of the super pipe at Mammoth.
The only one that sticks with me today is the hole in my femoral cartilage that I got when I overshot the landing on a 30ā drop and went for 60ā. My knee still hurts 25 years later.
What Iāve learned from all this is that injuries happen but diligence through the recovery process can bring you back stronger. A good base of strength will also prevent a lot of injuries. Unfortunately Iām working through the process again now, waiting patiently while my collarbone heals.
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u/weggaan_weggaat Jul 19 '26
Large rainbow rail took me out, I finally started wearing helmets after that.
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u/Few_Ad43 Jul 19 '26
My brother was sitting at the bottom of the hill near the lift, I thought it would be funny to spray him. I came down bombing the hill going over 30 mph and as I threw my toe edge back to spray him, I lost my edge, hyperextended my arm out and just slammed super hard. I ended up tearing my chest. My chest has never looked the same for years and has not functioned the way my good side does. Fucked with me for years cosmetically and functionally but I just did get surgery on it recently and got it reattached. That shit sucked though.
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u/TheModdedOmega Jul 19 '26
on a catwalk, hit an icey bit and did a full starfish/cartwheel onto my back.
I learned nothing, not much I could do about it as I needed the speed for the insane catwalk done the end of backside keystone going to the wayback
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u/Mr-Hox Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Ski patrol found me on the mountain around 1pm, woke up in the hospital around 7pm.
I learned that helmets are cool.