Alta, UT 12/3/2016

Admin

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Day 5: More pow.

I predicted yesterday that we'd get Backside today, and even though it wasn't on the Expected Openings list this morning I was right. :bow: Unlike Friday, however, today was downright empty at Alta, so we had very little competition for the goods. Gone were the blue skies of Friday, but also gone were the opening day crowds.

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On our first lap through Backside Tom and I became separated from the others, who went back to Sugarloaf as Tom and I enjoyed a full-length backside down to Sunnyside. It was so good that Tom and I went back for a second helping, this time an untracked Susie's Trees. Honestly, on those two runs we barely crossed another track.

Feeling greedy, Tom and I decided for a third lap through Backside while the others ate lunch. That turned out to be a big mistake, at least for me personally. Those who know Yellow Trail know that there are two established traverse lines: one at the top, and another separating Upper and Lower Yellow Trail, just below the obvious mine entrance, which is the skier's last chance to get to Backside proper. I dropped early, then cut across to the lower traverse.

As I did so I got blindsided by something I never saw. It felt like an NFL quarterback getting sacked. At first I thought that the hill had slid and I got hit by the wall of snow, but then I turned around and saw the other guy laying on the ground. This dipshit, a late teen or early twenty-something with a GoPro sprouting from his helmet, apparently decided to send it at full speed off the mine dump without bothering to see what was on the other side. Never mind that I had been in view for a good 20-25 seconds until literally moments prior to the impact, when I would have disappeared from his view below the mine dump. He hit me in mid-flight. Frankly, had I been 12-18 inches slower he could've decapitated me.

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I did my best to maintain my composure, although I did calmly call him a few choice names to his face. I don't remember hearing any kind of apology, although to his credit he did help me dig for my left ski. The primary impact was to my left boot and I immediately felt pain from my ankle. Tom skied up to the scene, and the idiot skied off. We skied back to Sugarloaf; while it hurt, it wasn't excruciating -- it only hurt when I weighted or flexed my left ankle in a certain way and it sent a sharp, shooting pain up my leg.

We skied back down to Watson's and had lunch. My ankle throbbed. I skied down after lunch, and was just about to load Collins with AmyZ and Tom to test my ankle on another run when I stepped out of line in favor of going over to the Alta Medical Clinic.

With sharp, shooting pain down below my left inside ankle I wanted to make sure that there was no distal tibia fracture. Dr. Ken had it x-rayed, and thankfully the x-rays came back negative -- it's just a good sprain. That means that I can try to tough it out. I hope to try to ski on it tomorrow, but I'm not too sure how that's going to work out. It actually feels better in my ski boot than it does outside of it, but just getting my foot into my boot could be a challenge.

Thanks to AmyZ and Tom for hanging out with me at the clinic, although that was completely unnecessary. And if anyone sees this GoPro footage show up on YouTube, please let me know.
 
admin":d5x7xml2 said:
It actually feels better in my ski boot than it does outside of it, but just getting my foot into my boot could be a challenge.
My guess is that you're good to go for skiing. Once on the first of 4 days at Chatter Creek I skied into a ditch in flat light and pulled a calf muscle. I could barely walk and had to go up and down stairs sideways for a couple of days. But with the lower leg supported by a boot shell, skiing was still OK. I was lucky to be at a cat lodge so no driving, checking in and out of hotels, etc. until after the pain had mostly dissipated.

Did anybody get a picture of this bozo?
 
Alas, no. But if that GoPro was running I guarantee that the footage will surface -- he won't be able to resist posting an epic crash like that. And if I'm OK, as far as I see it no real harm, no real foul as without a confirmed fracture I'm only out a $210 clinic bill. Had he ended my season I'd surely feel differently, but for now I just hope that he gained a little wisdom.

And while I'm at it, I can't say enough for the entire staff at the Alta Medical Clinic including Dr. Ken, Marco, etc. When I walked in she greeted me with a huge smile of recognition; I had to explain that I've only been there before to assist others, not for myself. For those who may be unaware, this is a legitimate instacare facility, not a ski patrol first aid room. In between other guests who got hauled in on sleds, I got an office visit and X-rays right on site from a medical team of skiers, not some doc-in-a-box in the Valley that doesn't have a clue about my personal skiing needs. Damn...if I could make them my PCP I would.
 
"This dipshit apparently decided to send it at full speed off the mine dump without bothering to see what was on the other side. He hit me in mid-flight. Frankly, had I been 12-18 inches slower he could've decapitated me."

- first and foremost, glad to hear you are ok regards to major injuries and hope you return to full health shortly.
- impressive composure. not sure i would have been able to maintain my cool as well as you did. not saying i'd be throwing haymakers or anything like that but there would have been f-bombs to the point of excess.
- regarding turns today, solitude also opened friday as well and opened powderhorn and then eagle this morning for a couple of hours of some pow turns. not bad at all.
 
@James: LOL...that was a line of his that I will never, ever forget.
@get_outside: Trust me, there were things I said to him that I can't reprint here; I was just shocked that I was merely saying them and not shouting them.
@myself: Boy, was I optimistic! There's no way that I'm skiing today. It swelled up like a balloon overnight and I can barely walk, much less ski. The good news for y'all is that gives me time to catch up on a backlog of FTO work.
 
admin":7zcualuz said:
without a confirmed fracture I'm only out a $210 clinic bill.
You're not the one who should be paying that bill. Did the offender eject from his ski(s) in the collision? If so I have a suggestion for future reference. One of your group could take off with a ski and turn it in to Alta Ski Patrol. The offender would have a difficult decision whether it would be worth the risk to reclaim the ski. Or he provides ID and pays the bill in exchange for the ski NOT being turned over to ASP.

:admin":7zcualuz said:
But if that GoPro was running I guarantee that the footage will surface -- he won't be able to resist posting an epic crash like that.
I disagree. Is it worth risking your season pass or other consequences for 15 minutes of social media fame? And I'm guessing his audience reaction would not on balance be favorable. I suspect he slinks away quietly and heaves a sigh of relief that one of YOUR group hasn't splashed his sorry face all over social media.
 
Look, he was young and stupid. I only hope that he learned something. Part of me regrets not getting ID, but another side of me figures, it's doesn't look servere so let it go. Tom and I were the only ones there (Tom saw the whole thing unfold in front of him), and neither of us pressed the issue. And unless he's living with Mommy and Daddy, or has a renter's policy (unlikely), it's like trying to get blood from a stone. In my professional life I understand that.

Overnight my ankle swelled to twice its normal size, and right now I can barely walk, much less think about skiing. But it will heal. Part of me is really bitter that some schmuck took out my early season, but another part of me is I rather fatalistic about the whole thing. Had I done it to myself I'd be pissed in a different way, but having it happen at the hands of someone else's stupidity lends a whole different angle to it all.
 
Hopefully that ankle is iced and elevated as often as possible. I see you losing one more weekend max, 3 days total of your season, not so bad.
 
Admin":1wvlp0ci said:
Look, he was young and stupid. I only hope that he learned something. Part of me regrets not getting ID, but another side of me figures, it's doesn't look servere so let it go. Tom and I were the only ones there (Tom saw the whole thing unfold in front of him), and neither of us pressed the issue. And unless he's living with Mommy and Daddy, or has a renter's policy (unlikely), it's like trying to get blood from a stone. In my professional life I understand that.

Overnight my ankle swelled to twice its normal size, and right now I can barely walk, much less think about skiing. But it will heal. Part of me is really bitter that some schmuck took out my early season, but another part of me is I rather fatalistic about the whole thing. Had I done it to myself I'd be pissed in a different way, but having it happen at the hands of someone else's stupidity lends a whole different angle to it all.

Very sorry to hear about your injury. I hope it heals fast with no permanent issues!

I understand completely how you feel. As I related in another thread, a young (12-14 year-old) snowboarder smashed into me from behind (I never saw him or heard him!) at a high rate of speed (out of control, I assume) on the last weekend of skiing last March (on the proverbial WROD). He hit me so hard, it knocked me down and knocked the wind out of me, and I ended up with a compound fracture of my L-1 lumbar in my back (the only major injury I have ever had in over 50 years of skiing). I have had a significant amount of pain and stiffness since then and I was totally out of commission for any sort of physical or sporting activity all Summer long. I hope to ski again but I'm facing the reality that I may have back issues for the rest of my life.

I can assure you there were some four-letter words flying out of my mouth towards the kid (which I shouldn't have done because I was "on duty" as a ski instructor at the time). If he had been an adult, I would have considered a lawsuit. And this is the second time I've had a collision with a snowboarder. A couple of years ago, on the first run of the morning on a trail with NO other skiers or boarders on it, as I was making high-speed GS turns down the intermediate trail, a young snowboarder hit the back of my of one of my bindings from behind (again, I never heard him or saw him), ejecting me from one of my skis and I took a massive face-first wipe out down the frozen corduroy of the trail. Amazingly, there were no injuries but I was VERY pissed off at the kid.
 
Tony Crocker":3fvs5qtf said:
Hopefully that ankle is iced and elevated as often as possible. I see you losing one more weekend max, 3 days total of your season, not so bad.
Especially the with the rather liberal way Admin counts his days!
 
berkshireskier":3b1dxuh4 said:
He hit me so hard, it knocked me down and knocked the wind out of me, and I ended up with a compound fracture of my L-1 lumbar in my back (the only major injury I have ever had in over 50 years of skiing).
A compound of L-1? Did you mean compression? Compound = bone sticking out of skin and visible.
 
Marc_C":373vml3h said:
berkshireskier":373vml3h said:
He hit me so hard, it knocked me down and knocked the wind out of me, and I ended up with a compound fracture of my L-1 lumbar in my back (the only major injury I have ever had in over 50 years of skiing).
A compound of L-1? Did you mean compression? Compound = bone sticking out of skin and visible.

Yes, sorry for my medical ignorance, it was a COMPRESSION fracture of the L-1 lumbar.
 
@berk: this is what I mean about how it could've been far worse. You unfortunately got the "far worse." So sorry to hear about that, bud! Now, I'm the first person who will argue that a snowboarder has a different field of view than a skier, but that's for when the skier is overtaking, not the snowboarder. In your case I don't think that the choice of sliding equipment had much to do with it; a moron is a moron.

@Tony: The difference between your situation at Chatter Creek and mine, is that my injury is within the boot; yours was primarily outside. With the pain pressure points and the swelling there was no way in hell that I was getting into a shoe, much less a ski boot.

As for me, right now I'm actually encouraged as my compression, elevation, initial icing and subsequent heating seems to be paying off. That wasn't the case yesterday when I was admittedly rather depressed and feeling pretty sorry for myself. When I got up this morning, I wasn't doing any better than I had been last night when I went to bed. But throughout the day swelling has reduced by half and the pain has been dissipating. I can now ascend stairs without any obvious disability, although I'm still hobbling when descending stairs. Based on my current trajectory I now think for the first time that returning to Alta by Friday is a very real possibility, as is my planned trip to Brian Head Saturday and Sunday. Now they just need some freaking snow. :lol: When Eagle point got 54" out of that last major storm, Brian Head only slightly further south logged a whopping 7".

@Marc_C: Hey, I''ve been skiing rather full days, at least until 2 p.m. And how many times have you loaded a chair thus far this season? If I get back out by Friday, that's only 1 planned ski day lost. And I've got a ton of days on the calendar between now and 2017, but Tony will tell you that I use my days stupidly.
 
admin":3ea9t9lr said:
@Tony: The difference between your situation at Chatter Creek and mine, is that my injury is within the boot; yours was primarily outside. With the pain pressure points and the swelling there was no way in hell that I was getting into a shoe, much less a ski boot.
Actually I thought about my side by side collision with a snowboarder (shared fault) 3/12/14 where his board hit my shin. The shin/calf swelled but not the ankle and foot for the rest of the ski week. Driving home to Vegas and L.A after Iron Blosam Week then the blood drained into the ankle and foot, swelling and turning black and blue.
admin":3ea9t9lr said:
And I've got a ton of days on the calendar between now and 2017, but Tony will tell you that I use my days stupidly.
If Evan's forecast for next week is anywhere near correct you're in for some great skiing. Using PTO ski days in mid-December is a calculated risk that will usually work out fine in LCC. Using PTO ski days in November is what's stupid. Let's hope January-April are so abundant you won't be in this situation a year from now.

And don't forget to save one 2017 day for August 21!
 
Admin":19zgg8t3 said:
Look, he was young and stupid. I only hope that he learned something. Part of me regrets not getting ID, but another side of me figures, it's doesn't look servere so let it go.

Part of me is really bitter that some schmuck took out my early season, but another part of me is I rather fatalistic about the whole thing.

IMHO, there is no right or wrong answer with respect to the question of getting ID vs letting it go. Admin's attitude about the impact of his injury on his early season, however, is admirable. Heal quickly.
 
Thanks Flyover! My progress has definitely slowed, but there's hope. It's still quite swollen. When I wake up it's stiff and sore, but after a prescription dose of Vitamin I the pain and stiffness definitely subsides for the rest of the day. I'm going to try to jam it into a ski boot tomorrow and test it out, because I'm supposed to be on a press trip this weekend to Dixie.
 
Looks like you are making progress... Don't push it too much, it will heal faster if you are kind to it.

Hoping to drive down to Alta next week for an extended weekend, but the trip is dependent on the timing of the birth of our first grandkid. My daughter's due date is today. I told her that the pending snow should bring on the baby, but the kid has its own schedule. If we are still waiting on baby, we stay put.
 
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