Broken Knee

Sunshine’s last weekend was May long weekend. Around these parts we call it “Anniversary Long weekend.” That’s right, folks. We celebrated our first wedding anniversary two weekends ago. Somehow we were fortunate enough to receive two lift tickets to sunshine from some friends who weren’t able to make use of them before the season ended. In return we have to give them raspberry plants. Oh darn, give away raspberries. Such a hardship we must bear for our lift tickets. (I don’t really like them.)

So Saturday morning we gathered our stuff and headed out for One Last Boarding Day. We didn’t leave as early as we wanted to, but being so late in the season, only a small fraction of the hill was open, meaning the crowds should be smaller than they were in March and April when we were there last.

When we drive out to banff, we play this little game. If we pass a car that has skis or boards strapped to it, we can say “We’re getting there before you!” or “We’re going to get a better parking stall!” On Saturday we weren’t passing many people at all. We passed some cars with mountain bikes, which is odd when you’re all geared up for a snow sport. I told Jim that no one was going. Since it’s the last weekend, no one cares about boarding anymore. He was sure they were already at the place. Taking all the parking stalls. Chewing up the runs.

Alas, I was right. No one was there. We didn’t even have to stand in line to get on the gondola.

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The snow melted on the ski out. Last time we were here, Jim boarded down this.

So, to make a long and possibly boring story short, here’s what happened:

A couple of weeks before this trip out, I decided that we needed to switch the bindings. Apparently I ride goofy and I didn’t realize it until I was skateboarding with the neighbor girls next door. So Jim flipped my bindings and I went out and found the whole thing to be ten times easier. Flipping from toe to heel was nearly effortless. Not the crazy hip shifting act it was when I was trying to ride regular. Riding down perpendicular to the hill is slow. If you keep your board more parallel to the hill, you go faster. (Common sense to those of you who know what I’m talking about, but remember – some of our readers are from hawaii, where not much boarding takes place). With my feet facing the more comfortable way this time, I spent much less time slowing myself down on perpendicular slides, and more time gliding down parallel-wise. So I’m going faster than I’m used to.

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Me, before I broke my knee.

Having fun, going faster. Oh, there’s even a video. Jim and I decided that every year we will take a video of ourselves coming down the hill, so that we can see our progress. We missed last year, for which I am thankful because all it was last year was a huge falling down fest. Here’s Jim’s video too.

So everything’s cool and I’m going down these hills pretty nicely, yet *still* falling off the chairlifts… You know, learning to skate on the opposite foot and deal with the chairlift again is such a pain. I look like new girl on the lift and people laugh at me piled up at the end where normal people slide off nicely, and then I go running down the hill like I semi know what I’m doing. My mad skillz are very unbalanced.

Anyhow. Back to the story I was abbreviating for all you fine people. I fell. Sure, I fell lots of times, but this time I was going pretty fast, and my board got caught in the the snow, and it forced my knee to bend further than it was really wanting to bend. The ski patrol people had to come save me! Poor jim had gone down the hill first, and when he noticed I wasn’t behind him and heard me on the radio saying that “someone is calling for help” I think he just about had a Freak Out Attack. He took off his board and came running up the hill, and this is not just a hill. If you’re starting from where he was, it was like a mountain, with thick snow, where your boots sink, and you have to lift your legs super high, just to be able to step forward.

So the ski patrol guy puts a brace on my knee and asks a million questions about the injury, and rolls me into this sled thing, which is then pulled by a motorized snow mobile thingy, down to the skihill hospital, where they treat things like broken knees. If you’ve ever been at the hill when one of those things goes whizzing by, you know what I’m talking about. Whenever I see them, I think they’re carting out some poor Sonny Bono, because they pack you in this blanket, so no one can really tell if you’re alive. I think the blanket is there because snow might get kicked up around you.

The knee is getting better. It’s not really broken. I’m just trying to play the sympathy card. I’ve learned that it doesn’t like it if I run, so I’ve had to stop doing that for a bit.

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