I wanted to go up to the apron and ski above everyone else.
We rode back up supreme, cruised up the sidestep and then the boot pack.
It was big and awkward.
All went according to plan except the massive yard sale that followed the impact.
I ended up leaving my pole in the landing and skiing down with one ski and one pole.
My other ski was in Dan’s hands at the bottom of the run.
I decided to go back up for the pole since they are antiques.
I saw Dan line the cliff up caught his breath and then sent it in my tracks.
The impact that followed was a horrendous sound that echoed off of the walls of the castle.
He laid there for about 2 minutes not moving.
He got up dazed and skied down to me bleeding severely from the face.
I told him immediately that he should sit there and wait for help or ski down to the clinic.
At the time he couldn’t see through the blood, but skied down anyway.
Patrol met him and brought him across the flats to the clinic.
Titanium plates and mesh now sit on his skull.
Also they discovered he broke his L4 vertebrate.
Dan is a tough man, without a doubt.
He pushed through everything so far with a positive attitude.
He even made it up to his good friends wedding reception less than 24 hours after his surgery .
Hopefully we can all learn something that even the smallest miscalculation can lead to something really bad.
But seeing a good friend get hurt or worse sucks big time.
Take it easy out there and ski tomorrow.
Send some hippy healing vibes to Dan too!
