Down time in Chile
August 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment
The summer of 07 I was invited to go on a trip to South America with a couple friends of mine, we planned to be in Chile for 2 weeks and Argentina for one. The first week went really well, we had 4 pow days and the stoke factor was super high. We heard there was a contest the next Saturday so I thought it would be fun to go in and maybe win some quick skrillas to help pay for the trip. The contest ran from afternoon till evening so the temperature of the air and snow would change drastically. The qualifiers went well and the pre-final went smooth also until the sun dropped behind the mountains, making the snow quite a bit faster. I had already landed a solid run which left me confident about the finals so I was just going to play it safe and do something stock. I didn’t really account for the change of speed that would occur and came into the jump at the same pace as before. I knew as soon as I was leaving the lip of the jump I miscalculated!! Spinning out of control all I could think of was trying to spot my landing and protect my head. When I hit the ground and bounced and slid to the bottom and thought to myself “that wasn’t that bad” so I unstrapped and when I tried to get up and walkway from the landing I felt sharp piercing pains shooting through my foot, and had to get a hand walking to the lodge to assess the damage. after 20 minutes of have a new heartbeat in my lower left leg I decide I couldn’t finish the finals because the pain was just too much. Now back in the hotel for the last 4 days with assorted pain killers and ice packs I wait it out to see if I should go for an x-ray. where were staying is about 1 hour from the hospital down the sketchiest narrowest road you’ll ever see in your life and I cost’s about $150 to get a ride there, Oh and did I mention you have to book your ride at least a day in advance…. so while everyone is out slashing it up having fun in the sun, I just wait in the hotel till we leave and then get some x-rays to see what’s wrong.. The only thing I can do right now is stay positive and just be happy that it wasn’t my knee and thank my angel’s for watching out for me!
Dream Maker at Bear Mt. was nightmare
August 2, 2007 | Leave a Comment
On April 13th of this year I was making runs through the park at Bear Mt. , Killington , VT. All was well and I was stomping some big jumps when things went for the worse. It was windy and the jumps were baked out and not maintained. The park had been closed for the week and we were the first group of riders to use it since it had been closed. So as you can tell conditions werent ideal. I made my way through and then started down the runway for the last big kicker , started my rotation for a 180 but then for some reason , I bailed out. I stopped in mid air and basically dropped straight to the knuckle. My left leg was first impact and immediately snapped my Tib and Fib in the lower part of my leg. Then to brace myself , I stupidly put my arm out and due to high velocity impact , it hyper extended , dislocated and fractured my elbow. So there I was on the transition in extreme pain , nobody around and my season was over. Talk about being bummed. The pain in my arm was the main problem. I even unstrapped my board myself and was able to sit up while waiting for Ski Patrol. All the riders blocked the jump like a small army and that was inspirational. I had to have emergency surgery on both my leg and elbow and had to spend 2 nights in Rutland Regional [thanks guys]. Fast forward nearly 3 months and here I am trying to figure out the IRF. I have 22k in bills , no insurance and NEED HELP. tlaravie7@hotmail.com
