Day 1, 5/2/19: How a Spring Bluebird Skiing day turned into a life changing event- My Tibial Plateau Fracture
It was May 2, 2019. My 52nd year of skiing, 33rd day of the season and 5th run of the day.
The snow was great, it was a warm, sunny, bluebird day. If you know Snowbird, we were going between Little Cloud and Mineral Basin. Mineral Basin was closing at 1:30 that day and the snow was so good, we decided to ski Mineral until they closed that side of the mountain for the day. It was around noon. Again, the conditions were amazing!
My boyfriend and I dropped into Blue By You. We stopped just above Hamilton Cliffs and started our way to the lift at the bottom. I was enjoying my big sweeping GS turns, when halfway through a turn I lost a ski. I tumbled and lost the other. I remember sitting there, knowing I hadn't caught an edge, when a man skied up to me and said, "here's your binding."
As I sat there in the snow, I thought to myself, "well, that explains it." I could see my boyfriend waiting at the lift for me, my ski was gone, my knee starting to throb. The man that handed me my binding had skied down to let my boyfriend know what happened and that I was just sitting there kinda stunned. A really nice snowboarder went to look for my other ski, and two other skiers stayed with me while the third called for Ski Patrol. At that moment, I knew my ski season was over, but thought it was just my ACL and some meniscus damage.
Ski Patrol showed up pretty quick, they immobilized my leg and loaded me into the toboggan. If you should ever have a ski accident, Snowbird is the place to do it- their patrol is outstanding. In 52 years, I had never been loaded on the back of a chair in a toboggan. I'll admit, as an old ski gal, this is a bit unnerving. When I got to the top, they put my on a gurney and we headed for the tram to download. One of the things I absolutely love about Snowbird is the staff. Rich Duckworth (my absolute favorite tram guy), greeted me with a kind smile and a hug and said "lets get you down the hill." Still thinking this whole thing will be nothing more than an inconvenience with a surgical repair. As they wheeled me to the clinic at the tram center, I could feel my knee swelling but not a great deal of pain.
Kellie, from Ski Patrol and my boyfriend Chris, stayed with me the whole time until the doctor showed up. They took X-Rays and at that time, my fracture wasn't visible. They did put me into a brace, crutches and gave me a script for pain meds (which turned out to be insufficient for the pain that was setting in) and instructed me to follow up with my Orthopedic Surgeon. When we got back to the condo, I pretty much realized I couldn't walk and maybe it was a bit more serious than I thought. That night was rough. No sleep, the pain, the swelling. It was awful. I had no idea whatsoever what was coming.
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| The run before my accident |
The snow was great, it was a warm, sunny, bluebird day. If you know Snowbird, we were going between Little Cloud and Mineral Basin. Mineral Basin was closing at 1:30 that day and the snow was so good, we decided to ski Mineral until they closed that side of the mountain for the day. It was around noon. Again, the conditions were amazing!
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| Mineral Basin- no sign of my other ski |
My boyfriend and I dropped into Blue By You. We stopped just above Hamilton Cliffs and started our way to the lift at the bottom. I was enjoying my big sweeping GS turns, when halfway through a turn I lost a ski. I tumbled and lost the other. I remember sitting there, knowing I hadn't caught an edge, when a man skied up to me and said, "here's your binding."
As I sat there in the snow, I thought to myself, "well, that explains it." I could see my boyfriend waiting at the lift for me, my ski was gone, my knee starting to throb. The man that handed me my binding had skied down to let my boyfriend know what happened and that I was just sitting there kinda stunned. A really nice snowboarder went to look for my other ski, and two other skiers stayed with me while the third called for Ski Patrol. At that moment, I knew my ski season was over, but thought it was just my ACL and some meniscus damage.
Ski Patrol showed up pretty quick, they immobilized my leg and loaded me into the toboggan. If you should ever have a ski accident, Snowbird is the place to do it- their patrol is outstanding. In 52 years, I had never been loaded on the back of a chair in a toboggan. I'll admit, as an old ski gal, this is a bit unnerving. When I got to the top, they put my on a gurney and we headed for the tram to download. One of the things I absolutely love about Snowbird is the staff. Rich Duckworth (my absolute favorite tram guy), greeted me with a kind smile and a hug and said "lets get you down the hill." Still thinking this whole thing will be nothing more than an inconvenience with a surgical repair. As they wheeled me to the clinic at the tram center, I could feel my knee swelling but not a great deal of pain.
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| Obviously, the pain hadn't hit. |
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| My binding |
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| My ski |
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