Comprehensive

Where to begin?  It was an epic Ski Tour.  Straight Up.  Serious Business.  The band rocked it, I did some choice snow riding before my dreams were crushed, and we saw some beautiful country.  Let's see what we have here:

This is Ed, Panda and Myself on top of Lone Peak just before dropping in on the Big Couloir.  It was the only 4 hour window the clouds cleared the entire weekend and we took advantage by skiing the Big.  I'm not a great skier, not yet, at least, so I was in over my head but I managed to survive.

 

 

I understand this is basically the same shot I used in a previous post, but this is actually what it looked like when my partner and I skiid up to the edge. 1500 vertical feet is a lot of feet. When my wife saw this picture, she freaked out. When I broke my leg a week later, she was kinda pissed! 

This is a shot of Lone Peak and the Big Couloir taken from across the valley by a friend a little later that same morning.  Pretty sweet.

Six days later I ended up at Utah's Powder Mountain with my man Casey.  We rode low angle aspen trees all day.  It mostly looked like this.

The very next day we ended up at Brighton and I hit one of those things hard on the first run of the day.  Snow was a little lighter than I thought I guess.  Broke some stuff.  So the Ski Tour ground to a halt, which is a real shame because I had a day at Park City, two days at Wolf Creek, two days at Loveland and at least one other day lined up before the end of the season.  In rehab mode now, waiting for the break and the mcl to heal.  The leg is actually hurting more now since I'm using it and the bone is just about fused.  Can't get surgery on the ACL until all that other stuff heals so Sarah and I are still doing our Duo Tour in Colorado.  It'll be heartbreaking to be out there with all the great snow and no way to ride it but at least I won't be in a bed in TN.  Expecting a full recovery, though, this has brought into question the lengths at which I'll go to have a good time.  I'm glad I hit the Big when I did because I kinda doubt I'll ever do it again. Don't think I would ever do it differently, though.

Fibula, ACL, MCL

The epic Ski Tour ground to a halt at the base of an aspen tree at Brighton Ski Area Monday. Broken fibula and torn ACL and MCL. I'm insured but my deductable is high. Here's the X-Ray.


So I won't be using the leg much for awhile. I'll continue to keep anyone interested posted on developments. Any good vibes are appreciated and I'm considering setting up a Paypal acct. for those interested in donating to help cover medical bills. Stay tuned.

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Mcl, acl, fibula

Everythings broken:


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Big Couloir

Yesterday, Ed insisted we ski the Big Couloir at Big Sky.  It's the classic line on the mountain.  I was too busy trying to ski to take pictures so I snagged a few from the intertubes.  It's the obvious line to the lookers right of the summit as shown above.  Below is a closer look from the tram.

This is what it looks like from the top right before you drop in.

In all my years skiing/riding, this was by far the most...

Can't Sleep, Must Ride

I got into bed last night around 3am after my second full day of skiing and two late night party sets of music at the Big Sky, Big Grass Festival.  At the time, it wasn't snowing.  I set the alarm for 10am as a safety net.  Woke up at 7am, looked outside and it was dumping.  Again.  Now I can't sleep.  Drinking coffee and water; the pre-game ritual, trying to decide if I get on the snowboard today or stick with the skis (Snowboard seems to be winning, it just looks so forlorn over there in the corner while it's absolutely dumping outside).

It's been waiting patiently in the corner, looking all legendary. 
Full pot of coffee and I'll be out the door.

Big Sky

It's snowing.  Yesterday we got 2-5, overnight we got another one and it's currently lightly snowing at North Americas Baddest Resort.  No pictures yet, not enough light (and I only do iPhone pictures because I keep it simple) but they'll come, soon as the sun comes out.  Skiid yesterday, skiing again today, may bust out the snowboard if the snow gets deeper.  Not much else to say except that my legs are absolutely destroyed from the first day.  Not really anything other than skiing that will get you in shape for skiing.  Wish I had more for you, but you'll just have to be patient (both of you). 

Until next time.

The Road to Big Sky

Rockford, Illinois to Ames, Iowa today. Driving straight into another snowstorm. Friday we saw almost a foot in Ohio and they're expecting six inches overnight in Iowa but Big Sky is still without new snow. Probably time to burn some skis, see if we can motivate Url to start dropping some snow in Montana, Northern Colorado and Utah. Wishing Sku Tour had us traveling further south as Wolf Creek and Taos are getting the serious snow right now.

This shot was taken late night in Denison before an all-night, open-bar pick with the Dappled Greys.



Tonight we'll see what Iowa has to offer. None of us have ever played in the Hawkeye State.

Still looking for ski passes in Steamboat and Little/Big Cottonwood Canyons. Anything helps...

Location:Newton,United States