For the first time in months, we planned to go to Nakiska today. The weather has been so unseasonably warm, we’ve been thinking ahead to spring, not winter. But there was an article in the Herald yesterday talking about how the hills still had a lot of snow, and not many people skiing.
However, just like clockwork, one of us came down with something. This time it was Tammy, who has developed some sort of cold or sinus infection. But we wouldn’t be dissuaded. I took the kids with me to the hill and let Tammy rest. As promised, there were few crowds and the conditions were very nice indeed. Warm, and soft snow. We headed up the Silver chair and that’s when things turned.
In short, we only got a short way down the hill before Ian had a crash. He went a bit too fast, and ran into a snowboarder who was sitting off to the side of the run. He was in pain when I got to him, seconds later. I figured out that he hadn’t broken a leg or anything. It was his right leg, near the knee… I immediately jumped back to 1993, when I tore my right knee skiing. We took it slow, and he could stand on it and walk. A few minutes later a ski instructor came along with his class, and Miranda flagged him down, and he got in touch with the ski patrol. Soon Bill from the patrol was there, and by that time, Ian had managed to ski a little ways. I was so relieved by that time, because after I hurt myself, I couldn’t ski at all and had to be taken down the mountain.
Bill checked him over, and watched him ski for a bit before clearing the emergency call with the dispatch. Ian took the rest of the run very slowly and carefully and made it down just fine. We headed home after that, and he iced and rested the leg. He is still limping a bit, but not complaining about it. Afterwards, we talked about it, and he knows that it was because he wasn’t being careful enough. We will go back on spring break and hopefully this time we will have a better day.
I didn’t leave unscathed either. Near the end of the run, I jammed my left index finger. Hurts a fair bit. I’ve been icing it all afternoon and evening.
