I don't know what happened to the pictures. Lets try again.
All, I'm back from our winter ski trip to Steamboat Springs. Sorry for not responding back to everyone sooner. I try to dissconnect from the internet when I'm on vacation. Actually, I returned this past Tuesday, but was out of town for Leadership meetings for work till today. Back to my ski report.
Skiing/snowboarding was and is a passion of mine pre and post AN. One of my goals was to not let AN steal from me what I loved to do. The trip was great abeit it there could have been more snow and colder. Our planned dinner sleigh ride was canceled because of rain. Yes, rain. It only got really cold enough for the snow to stay snow at the base on the last day we were there. Up at the top of the mountain, it was colder and the snow was more plentiful. Here is a bluebird panoramic shot from our balcony of the mountain on our last day.
This is a pic of me on skis and my wonderful wife Kim. Her sister took the opportunity to take a shot of my laying down, because I rarely every wipeout. More on my wipeout later. Skiing and snowboarding have been very theraputic for me. It allows me to work and improve my balance issues. And if I fall, well, I just get right back up.
So let me share with you what happened to me on one of my last runs on the second day.
That's me standing on my 1992, 20 yr old snowboard. Yes, I was snowboarding before snowboard was cool. One of the longest runs at Steamboat is about 6miles comprised of switchbacks that cut across blue and black runs. Coming down one hard green turn, my shoe felt like it came unlocked from my snowboard causing me to fishtail wildly and missing the turn completely. I go endo over the edge down the embakement of a blue run head over heels. The image can only be described as the tasmanian devil cartoon on Bugs Bunny if you are old enough to remember. I looked like a tornado of snow rolling hallway down the blue run. I couldn't understand why my boot had come unlocked. In shock and disbelief, I looked down at my back binding to inspect it. I come to realize that my boot was still intact but had completely separated from the sole which was still locked into my board. I guess 20yrs, was pass the expiration date on my pair of boots. By this time, my group was gone and they had no idea I had wiped out. I was also on the backside of the mountain heading away from the condo. I slowly regained my composure and scooted down to flat spot realizing there was no way I was going to snowboard down the rest of the way in this condition. I took off my board and started walking what felt like a mile hike on a flat flat run which I later fould out was called "Flat Out". Did I mention this run was flat. I guess everyone else knew it was flat, because I did not see another person on this run during my 20 min hike back to civilization. I finally got back around to the other side of the mountain fall line which goes back to the condo but I was still about 2+ miles up with no way to get down, short of walking. Being a big fan of MacGyver TV shows (if your old enough to remember those Richard Dean Anderson shows), my mind was racing trying to come up with a solution. Lucky for me, I had a leash with a quick release clip on my back leg. Its a safety harness, like when surfing if you wipe out, the board and you at least stay together. All I had to do was take it, wrap it around my boot and sole and tighten it down to hold the two together. Simple, right? Wrong. I first had to untie the knot to the leash which was frozen solid. There I am with my board up to my face, using my teeth futilly trying to untie the darn knot. After awhile, I give up realizing my two front teeth my give out before this knot will. Good thing a group of skiiers came down and took a break about the time I gave up. I scooted down closer to them and ask if anyone had a knife so i could cut this knot. I explained my plight, and an older gentlemen says, yeah I've got a pocket knife. He was my angel. I was able to cut the leash and wrap it around my boot and sole. This held it together long enough for me to snowboard down the rest of the mountain and back to the condo. When I finally got back, everyone was thinking that I just took acouple more runs. I showed my wife my rotted and separated boots and recounted how I had to MacGyver things to make if back down to civilization. She tells me I told you to let me buy you a new pair of boots. By the way honey, I'm fine. Thanks for asking : ) Unfortunately, K2 quit making these boots and binding system years ago.
All in all, it was a great trip and a good time. I've been working hard on my smile and while its not 100%, I'm quite happy with my facial paralysis recovery. I'm the chubby one on the right
Thanks all for letting me share my story.
