Each time I think of my Fall and slide, this past December, I am reminded that we never prepare and train well enough to handle this type of situation in very steep terrain. 

As some of my friends told me, “You should have flipped your legs over your body and gotten your skis to stop you!” Easy to say for sure, but not on an over 40 degrees slope, and besides, this was the very first time I was experiencing this very incident. 

I should have known what to expect though, as I have observed it countless times with ski students, friends, members of my family as well as perfect strangers. I have skied dangerously steep slopes often enough without thinking too much of what stood below, may it be cliffs, water, rocks or trees and in the future, these considerations will come up first and foremost to me. 

Likewise, I have never practiced flipping my skis over my Body when I’m sliding head first or being ready to use my poles to arrest myself. I think ski schools should incorporate that into their curriculum with advanced skiers, even though some might feel stupid practicing such drills… 

Hey, experienced skiers out there, what do you think?