Ahhh yes, falling.
Brandon Moulton / Equinox staff
Everyone thinks you just glide down the mountain with ease and grace, and for experienced skiers this is more than true.
An experienced skier can make any trick or trail look amazingly easy, but it’s not. As a beginner you’re going to fall, it’s just part of the process.
However, there are safer ways to fall in order to prevent injuries.
1. Falling Forward. Although it’s slightly more difficult to fall forward, especially when strapped into boots and skis, it still happens.
A lot of people’s first instinct is to immediately put your hands forward to brace your fall.
Never reach your palms out in front of you while falling forward. Instead, try to use your forearms to break your fall.
Reaching your palms forward is probably the most common mistake in falling and it results in broken wrists and broken fingers. You want to absorb the impact with your entire forearm instead of landing on your wrists.
This will still hurt, but I think you’d rather have a bruise instead of a broken wrist.
2. Falling Backwards. Once again, DO NOT stick your arms backward to brace your fall.
Sticking your arms backwards can lead to a broken wrist or a dislocated arm.
Not only is this extremely painful, but any type of dislocation can have major long-term effects on your body and physical performance.
Trust me, I’ve dislocated my knee five times.
3. Bracing for impact when performing tricks.
Ok so I’m not a huge tricks person, however I know plenty of people who have gotten injured just because they don’t know how to “fall safely.”
When trying to save a trick with an awkward landing, sometimes it’s better to just fall.
A lot of the times people try to absorb awkward landings with only their knees, which can lead to a dislocated knee or ACL tear.
It may sound crazy, but sometimes just letting your body fall will be the best option because the more delicate parts of your body won’t sustain injuries.
Try to also tuck your arms in and land on your forearms.
It may look like you’re a mummy flying through the air but hopefully the overall damage won’t be as bad.
Plus, who really cares how it looks when you fall. The point is you’re falling and you’re going to want to do something about it.
So mummy style it is.
Falling is absolutely no fun at all. I’ve fallen enough times skiing to tell anyone that.
If you’re a beginner don’t let those falls discourage you. I fell so many times learning that it felt like I was sledding rather than skiing.
Eventually you’re going to catch on and be able to ski with minimum falls.
So keep your head up!
If you’re an advanced skier then you don’t really have to worry, but still be careful when performing tricks because you never know.
Overall though, skiing is a pretty fun sport, even with the falls.
Caroline Perry can be contacted at cperry@kscequinox.com
