Re: Ridiculous x-games fall
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That's unclear to me; the fact that he picked up a lot of horizontal momentum could mean that he bounced, to a certain extent, which represents a greater momentum transfer (and thus more force) than just coming to a dead stop. I think you're right that the curve helped him, but from watching it it seems to me that it's because it gave him a little more time to get rolling as he hit the ground, which will lessen the force. (The added time, that is.) I could definitely be wrong about this, though, so I wouldn't take it too authoritatively.
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Nah, a human body isn't going to bounce much off a sloping surface. The curve saved him more than anything else. As they say, "it's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop". Hitting a sloping surface made the stop a lot less sudden.
While knowing how to position himself probably made the difference between walking away and being taken on a stretcher, nothing he could have done would have saved him from serious injury (if not death) if he landed on a flat surface.
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