my epic fall

Some of you have seen my Facebook posts about my epic fall today at Breckenridge. Here's the deal. We were going down Monte Cristo, our first run at Breckenridge. The terrain is rolling hills, some big and some small, and it's really varied. Myron was ahead of me and when it looked like things had flattened out I went into a tuck to catch up.

When you tuck while skiing you put a lot of weight on the front of your skis, not the back as one might think. You want weight on the front of your skis because that's what makes you go. Resting on your heels slows you down. So it was while in a tuck with my weight shifted forward that I hit an unexpected bump and went airborne. When I landed it was on the front of my skis, still in a tuck. Not the right position to be in since the force of the impact caused both my skis to pop off.

I was launched forward, leaving my skis behind, and landed on my face, primarily on the left side. My ski goggles scraped down my face and my chest slammed into the snow. The next few minutes/hours/decades were both a blur and frozen in time. I remember pulling my ski poles and gloves off, and ripping my goggles and hat off, all while rolling to my knees to try to catch my breath. My chest felt like an elephant was standing on it.

I know I was making some pretty horrible noises because I simply couldn't breathe, and I was scared shitless because my chest hurt so bad. My first thought was I had broken a rib and punctured a lung. I struggled for a long time to catch my breath, kneeling in the snow and wondering if I was going to die there.

Maybe two minutes after I fell someone came along and asked if I was okay. By then I had regained my breath and my composure and was gathering my scattered equipment. I skied on down and met up with Myron, who was about half a mile ahead of me. He said it was such an easy run that he didn't think to look for me since I usually ski better than him.

Here's what the damage looked like at lunch today.



We finished out the day and I skied amazingly well. We both love Breckenridge and the fault here is entirely mine. Not to say it doesn't hurt, but if I can take a fall like that and walk away with some bruises and aching ribs, I'll call it a good day.