Living where I live, I've assumed that position more than once,
and from standing tall to lying on my back, sliding. And I can live to tell about it due to having learned all of thos Judo falling techniques in my youth (true story).
Think man walking with a 6 foot ladder in one hand, and a forty pound bag of tools in the other, on ice. Suddenly one foot slips forward uncontrollably and that man is falling backward. The tools get thrown to one side, while the ladder gets thrown to the other, without thinking about anything as I'm hurtling toward the ground. My head tucks forward, and my arms swing down to slap the ground hard with my forearms, to absorb much of the force. My head never hits the ice, and my back upper back and my forearms spread the force so that no one part hits hard enough to cause injury. And it all happens so fast, with no thought involved that it seems almost instantaneous.
Any of you who have learned falling technique in martial arts class can back me up on this. But I have to tell you, when people see you go down in such situations, women gasp, some yell your name, some squeal. Men rush to your side to see if you're still alive. Then you get up and brush yourself off, completely unhurt, and people tell you that your are so lucky to not have been hurt, and just last week, so and so slipped on ice and broke his/her arm.
A week or so later, it's the funniest story in the workplace. You learn to grin and take the jabs, because you were the one silly enough to lose your footing on slippery ice, and your legend grows.
I've slid down many a slippery slope, just like that bear, and I probably looked just as crazy and helpless
. Only one fall ever scared me
, and the ice-damn at the edge of my 2nd story roof allowed me to halt my downward plunge to the ground. That one would have hurt.
Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North