Am I the only one who stops when people appear injured, and offer help? I'm beginning to think I am. Two weeks ago I helped a skier who had broken his wrist, and was cradling his wrist when I stopped. He claimed he had been standing there for about five minutes before I stopped -- and it was a relatively crowded day.

Anyway, today I had a ski release when I hit a bump wrong on a double-black. It was a little icy, and I ended up sliding several hundred feet*. Did a single person bring down my lost ski? No, I had to hike up the icy slope.

* - It was actually kind of humorous. I fell; no biggie there. I brought my ski across the slope, but it didn't stop me. I tried digging in with my free boot, but it was too icy to get a good toehold. I tried digging in with my poles, but with the same effect. Finally I kicked off my remaining ski, and caught it as it flew up past me. Using my hands to dig the edge it, I managed to stop several hundred feet down. I'm sure someone got a good laugh out of it, anyway.

I had an exact opposite experience last year

I was skiing at Mammoth in california and i came of a freshly groomed run onto a main run (Broadway) and next thing i knew i was laying on my back and my skies were both off an my knee was hurting really bad. Within a few seconds my skies had been picked up and there was a ski patrol by my side. I definitely give thanx for the ski patrol not letting me attempt to finish skiing the run because 2 weeks later i found out i had stretched my ACL and fractured my tibia (cant imagine what would have happened if i had finished skiing)!!

But i agree it should be common courtesy to pick up someone's skis/poles if it falls off and help people who look injured.

Being an employee of liberty, I probably overstop when at work. If anybody falls in front of me, I always stop and ask if they are ok. Unless they get up and start skiing before I get there. I'll always pick up poles, skis, whatever and help them. I also stop a lot and give advice (push the binding down before trying to get in your skis, etc.)

Even without being an employee, I would always be on the lookout for this stuff. A lot of it comes from skiing with my friends that go out west. I was the more experienced skier so I let them go first so I could come behind and help if need be.

But you're right. Not everyone does this.

As long as I can safely stop, I will stop as well. My daughter is really good about helping other folks as well. She's been PSIA instructed since age 4 (now 9) and you can tell she's been taught mountain safety and courtesy

-Warren-

I stop. Cleaning up a yard sale is the safe thing to do. I check to see if the fallen is ok. I think it's better to stop and help because it clears the slope and it's the polite thing to do.

jimmy

A few years ago I was skiing backwards on a green trail at snowshoe so that I could watch my wife and try to give her a few tips. It was a March day with soft snow so my tail grabbed an I ejected from my bindings in a nice backwards roll and tweaked my knee (I think it was just a sprain, was better in a week) and it immediately hurt to put pressure on it.

So I sent my wife to get the patrol and placed my skis in the "x" formation. In the meantime the patrol passed me twice on their snowmobiles (not towing anyone). I waved my arms, they didn't evens stop. The wife got back to me in about 20 minutes and said she had told the patrol where I was. We waited about 20 minutes more and I said "f it" and skied down in some nice pain and caught a ride back to the condo.

It usually depends with me. I naturally stop to avoid people who have just wiped out directly in front of me or when I witness a crash. Retrieving a lost ski or pole is a matter of course as well. I don't really like to take 20 minutes to sit with an injured skier until more capable help arrives. I prefer to be the guy who skis down to the lift and alerts the authorities. If I see the X of skis / poles I will usually stop too if the person is alone or is waving for assistance or is in obvious pain. If the person looks to be doing ok, then its sort fo a waste of time to stop to help. I have never actully had to provide first aid, though I am trained in that.

I usually ask people as I ski past them if they are ok, if they seem like they might not be... however, just to chime in. Either last season, or the time before, I stopped and helped someone who had fallen and injured their shoulder who was screaming for some help. I noticed several skiers rather obliviously skiing past and further ignoring me when I yelled at them to get a ski patrol. So finally I took one of his skis (the other seemingly causing too much pain to remove) and stuck it in the snow behind him and skied down to the bottom, where I immediately found a DEAF ski instructor -- pointless that. So I then found someone who I could communicate with and they radioed the patrol who sent someone down from upper patrol hut. I was able to take the lift up, ski by one time to make sure someone was there, and go up & down again to see them trundle the guy down on the sled. This was at Whitetail -- lower angel (actually its the other fork, almost home or some such). Rather vexing really, the entire episode.

I'm getting the impression that the skiers on here are good hearted souls, whilst the majority on the slopes are just ordinary humans.

I guess when you take the time to join a community of like-minded people, you also take the time to help them out when they're in need.

Also, I was in no way trying to disparage Liberty's ski patrol. In neither incident did a patroller happen by, and you can't expect them to be on every slope all the time. Your story about the patrollers riding right by crossed skis, on the other hand, is quite discouraging...