I was hiking up the mainstream path of a local mountain for probably the tenth time or so and once I made it to the top I decided I wanted to go off the beaten track and see what the other side looked like for once. Split off from my group and walked north for some time until I made it to "the other side". Turns out that the mountain was actually a mountain range and was quite a bit more expansive than I anticipated so I sent some pictures of me lying on the edge of a cliff (completely safe, of course) on Snapchat to let my group know that I was alive. Well, immediately after that, my phone died due to the cold, and my power button was totally busted so the only way to turn it on was to plug it in (that or be really lucky, which I wasn't). Well, no big deal, it should have been clear to them that I was exploring on my own and would take care of myself. I walked north for many hours and was having a blast taking in the scenery walking along a large valley. I walked so far that it didn't make sense to turn back because there was a smooth path down the mountain "close by" to the west which I planned to take. Quote marks because evidently I underestimated the distance and the terrain, because I walked for what I guess were two hours and wasn't even a quarter of the way there and my legs were starting to tire a bit (walking on uneven hole-filled terrain covered in snow). I decided to go down the mountainside and walk along the valley toward the road seeing as the valley was not covered in snow and would probably make for easier walking. I found a good place of descent and started making my way down. After a while I discovered that it was quite safe to lie down on my back, prop my body up on my elbow and just slide down using my feet as brakes. Made the descent easier and faster, and it was a lot of fun. Hit some rocks and holes here and there so my coat got a little torn but otherwise it was smooth sailing. Well, clearly when there are areas of snow and grass/rocks adjacent to each other there has to be an intersection where one becomes the other, right? It's not that I wasn't expecting it, but it was more of a gradient than I had hoped. When the snow started to be less and less consistent I stopped sliding and started to tread down carefully. Eventually, I came across a rather difficult section where I had the choice of climbing down a steep slope or sliding down snow. I chose the snow of course, except it wasn't really what I was expecting. It was covered in patches of grass and had a dirtier/thicker texture than the snow from before. I'm not sure exactly how things proceeded from there, I guess I concluded it was safe after being able to pierce the snow, so I attempted to slide down. I discovered quite quickly that it was completely unsafe and I could not brake at all, it was like sliding on glass. It happened super fast but the adrenaline made my thinking equally fast, and I decided that slamming into a rock wall near the bottom of the slide was my only chance, so I timed it just right and managed to stop my rapid descent. I don't know if I would have died for sure but I would have gone flying off the mountainside onto jagged rocks (it was still quite a ways from the bottom so it was still rather steep). I hurt my leg/hip a little bit upon impact but not nearly as much as I deserved for being so stupid. Luckily the gods were watching and decided I wouldn't get off so easily. Down goes the sun, first from sight and then things went pitch black. Had to thread my way through the valley (which was by the way not as straightforward as it seemed from above) in complete darkness with no light, wading through a river up to my waist several times, fighting against the current. Made it to the road eventually and hitched a ride back to the parking area. Somebody from my group had returned and was about to go looking for me so it was lucky I came when I did. Otherwise, the rescue team wouldn't have been recalled and the situation would have been more embarrassing than it was. Great experience though, I learned a lot about life that day.

tl;dr: Slid down a snowy mountain side, came across some bad snow and nearly went flying.