So you're on your tele skis enjoying some sun, turns, and a little pow, when this happens:

[img:c62cb49d1c]http://www.team-pinnacle.org/media/images/forum/bc_what_not_to_do_1.jpg[/img:c62cb49d1c]

You find yourself in a bit of a predicament!!! Everything went white... oh wait, that's just the snow packed onto your face and goggles. Ski tips barried, tails firmly against a tree and body facing downhill, YOU'RE STUCK! Good thing your camera is handy. :D Should have taken a picture of your face, as you find out later the face plant you did into crusty snow left a pretty good blood trail down your nose.

So... what do you do...

You have a pretty good chuckle as nothing seems to be seriosly damaged, and you remember those nifty poles you bought work real good at releasing your bindings. Pop, pop, a little wiggling, and...

[img:c62cb49d1c]http://www.team-pinnacle.org/media/images/forum/bc_what_not_to_do_2.jpg[/img:c62cb49d1c]

You're unstuck. Retrieve your skis, find a good spot, and dust yourself off.

[img:c62cb49d1c]http://www.team-pinnacle.org/media/images/forum/bc_what_not_to_do_3.jpg[/img:c62cb49d1c]

Moral of the story, if you have to fall, try to fall uphill, if that doesn't work out and you find yourself in this situation, you will know what to do. Same general principle applies to finding yourself upside down in a treewell (really deep snow) with alpine gear, except it's a lot harder to get out of. Been there, done that too, that's when you radio your buddy and tell them you're going to be delayed a while.

Ryan

Thanks for the life lessons, Ryan. I'm glad you were able to come out unscathed.
If it makes you feel any better, while you were face down in the snow I was slogging through a 12mile run.

You went running rather than skiing with me, what were you thinking???

Hope your run was fun. Despite the crash this was my funnest run of the day. If you were anywhere near by you would have heard me laughing about it for like 10 minutes while I snapped the pictures and got unstuck. Coit was a bit of a dissappointment both because of the difficult mashed potatoes slog to the top and the too narrow, too steep to hold snow, slide down the other side. Perhaps 20 more inches of snow will solve the Coit problem. It will at the very least open up a variety of places on Coits South and East sides that have been unskiable the last couple seasons due to lack of snow.

Ryan