I spent last week skiing at Park City, Utah. Until Thursday sometime around 1:30. As I was cruising down a really nice run something happened. Wish I knew what. I was skiing alone at the time. Pretty sure someone ran into me. My only memory is someone in a pale blue ski outfit helping me stand up. I don’t remember any conversation. Next thing I know I was down at the halfway point where I was supposed to meet the two ladies I was skiing with for lunch. When they saw me my helmet and gloves were on the ground and I was searching for my phone. Which I never did find. About 20 minutes of lost time. I sat down for a few hours while I tried to remember what happened and took inventory of what hurt. Since I obviously had a concussion and my ribs and back really hurt, I waited as long as I could before I skied to the bottom.
At the bottom I went to lost and found to see if someone turned in my iPhone. No luck, but they did convince me to let them call an ambulance. Spent the next 5-6 hours in an ER. CT scans showed 3 compression fractures to Thorasic vertebrae but no broken ribs and no brain bleeds. They fitted me for a rather expensive looking back brace and sent me on my way. I flew back home yesterday in the back brace which was strategically placed to aggravate all the places my ribs hurt.
I had set my phone to airplane mode right before I skied down so I can’t locate it using “Find my phone”. I hope someone finds it so I can see what happened. I was filming when I crashed. I am sure someone crashed into me from behind. I don’t fall down skiing on my own accord. And I certainly don’t get a concussion wearing a helmet.
I normally go into full blackout mode when I hit my head. That has happened several times. What is strange about this time is that I do have a glimpse of the memory of the gent in the pale blue outfit helping me get up. No memory of the crash or the rest of the run down. And the rest of that run wasn’t just an easy cruiser. Several tricky spots and several chances to take a wrong turn. I’m surprised I wound up in the exact spot where I was supposed to meet my friends.
Today I got a new phone. Lost all my contacts and everything I had on it since April 2019. I think I might have a backup on my laptop but my laptop is up at my woods. I’m going up there Monday with hopes that I at least backed up my photos. Especially the ones from Thailand.
My back is stiff but my spine doesn’t hurt. My ribs hurt, but only when I breathe.
I hope I recover quickly. I am driving up to Colorado Friday for 3 weeks of skiing. I will not let this retire me for the season after missing most of last year due to COVID quarantines.
