Why You Should NEVER Take Your Snowboard Off In Steep Terrain
Soren Arnevik: I started at the top of the ridge for the first time on Slushmans at Bridger Bowl with my Gopro recording. Snow was great but it was a pretty intense slope for my novice skills in that terrain. I came up on some rocks that I knew I couldn’t get around so I thought if I took off my board to walk around it would be smart… My board started to slip away and as I frantically grabbed for it I started to fall, uncontrollably down the rocky slopes. Spinning, I turned around to look behind me and got shot off a cliff, Gopro doesn’t do it justice. The camera falls off my head as I continue another few hundred feet down the cliff. A ski patrol, Phil, finds it and puts it in his pocket as it’s still recording. He comes across me and it records his conversation with me on the scene. I had a laceration of 6-8 in. across my head and down to my brain (and a unknown broken neck at the time). More medics came as they loaded me on the stretcher and skied me to a snowmobile that took me down the hill. Falling around 500 ft I ended up breaking my C3 (Cervical 3) on my neck, luckily missing my nerve connected to my diaphragm that could’ve stopped my breathing. Also came out with no brain damage, which is a miracle, as my brain was exposed (wasn’t wearing a helmet, fucking dingus). Thankful I’ll be alright in the long run, its unreal I am the way I am.
Bridger bowl loves to eat jongs.
and why you should never film while down climbing
Glad you’re going to be OK buddy
Doesn’t look like a place for someone with ‘novice skills’
dude.
that’s pretty bad ass. i bet you wont forget a helmet ever again.
So will we see a “Faces of Death” video GoPro edition?
What a tool!!
you went through a marked gate saying advanced riders , avalanche terrain, had to check a beacon when getting on the lift. get the idea?
Ok, that was at least a little funny.
the sliding part looked kinda fun haha. glad your ok though!
walking again?
Training for Alaska?
Learn to send little cliffs and quickly check your speed, or learn to ski, or take up curling and never go to Bridger again.
” Also came out with no brain damage, which is a miracle”
Yup, sure is. However, given that it seems you had brain damage to start with – I’m not sure how you can make that assertion.
The same thing happened to me last season while training for the patrol. We were on an black diamond running a mock case and the slope was basically blue ice. I pulled up to our scenario which required me to take off my board to help our “victim.” long story short I slid about 200 yards down the run luckily missing every rock and tree near me and was able to grab my board and flipped it to stop my slide. It’s really fucking scary doing this, glad you’re going to be alright.
somebody get this guy new bindings
Try Aunt Flow’s step-in bindings next time.
Ride Catalyst over 10 years old
Drake Bindings? Really? Nothing needs to be said
Narrow almost 0 0 stance
Dude is LUCKY to be alive.
Sad Story
HAHAHA I have those same bindings on my first board from 1999!!!!!!!!!
Goooo Bobcats!
$300 for a GoPro but no $$$ for a helmet on Schlasman’s?
Were you riding alone there?
Did you hike above the lift to the ridge?
Were you in Slushman’s Ravine at the rock in the choke point?
Was that your first time riding that terrain?
Another go-poser thinking he needs to show the world his stupidity. Shoulda spent the money on a lesson.
I have always been confused why gapers have GoPros on bad flat light days until now…
There are way too many dumb-asses like this at every mountain.
Hey dummy!! You’re doing it wrong! Good thing the red light was blinking on your go pro. Jack ass
Im so glad all this footage is finally starting to make it to the web! Ever since half the gapers on the mountain have started wearing GoPros (to record every run of their day apparently cause they never take them off) and helmet cameras I knew there eventually be a ton of footage of crazy falls, crashes and fights with other people, and dipshit moves caught on camera starting to turn up everywhere. I just cant wait for the POV footage of some gaper getting punched straight in the face for doing something stupid!
Glad dude made it out alive though I woulda shit myself sliding uncontrollably above that terrain!
holy #%&#
that was way sicker and funnier than i thought it would be…
Ignoring all the other things you did wrong… SELF-ARREST.
This is so frustrating. Dude had no business being in that terrain. Read through the YouTube comments and you can see that he still doesn’t get it.
Candidate for the Darwin Awards right here!
You do not ever take you board off. Period
Never take it off to go downhill…uphill sometimes you gotta
You know you’re a gaper when ?
A. No brain bucket
B. Columbia gear
C. Novice on the Ridge
D. All of the above
Stay on the lower mountain. Bridger has tons of false horizons, and narrow technical lines. Get skilled then get smart.
Weeeeeeeeee!
talk about gaper stance!
Haole! Go home b4 you hurt somebody! you dangerous!! where you learn to ride?? mt high?!
You silly cat.
this guy is a fucking dumbass
I like the third-person narrative he gives, kind of like a Sunday sermon, as if anyone gives a shizz: “well, this is the rockiest part of the whole damn mountain.” Yo are stupid to be leaving the boundary and entering the slackcountry with that stance! What is that, zero degrees and zero degrees?
I had a better stance on a skateboard when I was six years old!
You are lucky you did not die, but that would have been awesome GoPoseur footy, huh???
im pretty sure i heard him say ‘YOLO, shiiiiiiiiiiiiit!!!!’ right at the beginning of the slide.
Same thing almost happened to me at Heavenly 2 years ago, above Widow Maker in Mott Canyon. I had successfully hit it the previous year, but this year it was dry. Snow was a few inches of light powder on top of old cement, so not good. I dropped too low above it and was funneled in. No problem, i thought, I’ll just unhook and hike out. Well I slid like in the above video, but thankfully I hung on to my board and dug it in. I arrested my slide just above the chute. I had other skiers get ski patrol and they roped me down. I learned my lessons: (1) Never unhook on steep terrain. Your board or skis are your friend in steep terrain, they are the only thing that can stop you. (2) Never assume terrain is the same year to year. Features can change from one season to the next or even between storms. Inspect from below before committing to features. Just because you hit the shit last year, does not mean you’ll stomp it now. This year it could kill you. (3) Heavenly ski patrol rocks! Saved my ass!
I was wondering whose board hit me on that dreadful cloudy day at Bridger Bowl. I am lucky to be alive! Thank god it was a junior board!
GOOOOOOOO BOBCATS!!!
glad your not dead dude
The slopes are littered with riders who have a false sense of their abilities and and an equal lack of respect for the mountain. glad he made it out alive.
hey bro, you’re doing it wrong.
I am sooooooooo sick of dudes who think they are cool with a gopro filming whatever and they seem to multiply every season with more and more kooks. Most of them on snowboards giving snowboarding a bad name. Stance at 0 and 10 year old bindings says it all.
Solid snowboarder? Talking to your go pro and doing a falling leaf half the time doesn’t make you a solid snowboarder.
Pull it together buddy. Educate yourself before trying to be a gopro hero. Ski Patrol in top form…..saving your ass.
Take your snowboard back to salvation army, you have no business fucking up great lines for the rest of us.
so…. the skier with him who seems to disappear ( i couldnt watch it all, too painful) has cross country ski poles?? look at the baskets in the first 20 seconds…. My palms started to sweat when he took off his board. Why the hell would anyone even consider doing that? Instead of a beacon check, maybe they should give a quick IQ test at the gate…
hahahaha i always wondered why shitty skiers and snowboarders would have go pros. Unless the people are really fucking good and videotaping some intense shit everyone else knows how dumb they look while wearing cameras on the groomers….unless your like this kid and you have no idea how stupid you look and how everyone else (especially bridger locals) is prolly talking about how big of a douche you are. but after seeing this i think they should make everyone wearing one do a few lines off the ridge and see what happens. Fucking clown.
Wow. This video has GSA written all over it!
His buddy does have a set of classic cross country poles (very, very flimsy and not to be relied upon in a backcountry situation). This brings new meaning to the word ‘Gaper,’ and the word ‘Slackcountry.’
I hope this guy screams “LLLOOK OUT BELOW” before dropping in on anything. Rest assured he would end up with a pole to the face if he dropped in on top of me outside of a ski boundary!!!!!!!!!!
i think he Stompted it
i don’t think we can say no one should ever take off their board/skis during a descent, some people should in certain circumstances. Just make stepping out of your bindings a last resort for when you’re totally cliffed out or need to set up a rappel or do some down-climbing.
The big thing is that he didn’t attempt to self-arrest which he should have been able to do on that slope with or without his board. It would have helped if he was facing the slope when downclimbing, he would have been less likely to fall, gotten hand holds on the rock, and he would have had a much better chance at arresting.