This turned out to be a very disappointing ski trip for me, as I dislocated my shoulder on the first day. Only got in about 3 hours of skiing.
Susan and I went up to Jackson Hole with 27 other members of the Clear Lake Area Ski Club and another 160 or so of the Texas Ski Council. We had a direct flight in to Jackson and had no problems getting there. Getting Susan some rental skis was a major hassle, as the resort was packed and the shop where our club had arranged a discount didn't have anything in stock. We had to go to three other shops before finding a suitable pair. I passed on trying the night skiing at Snow King Resort in town and instead put my skis in the shop for a tuneup.
Sunday morning we got on the gondola as soon as it opened. We tried a few warmup runs on the groomed runs and then skied a few runs with some fellow club members over on the Apre Vous section of the mountain. We lost them when we dropped into a tree run with lots of leftover powder. After another tree run, we headed back down to the gondola and went over to the Thunder Chair. For our first run, we stayed under the lift all the way down, catching up with some friends from one of the other clubs. They were headed down to the base for lunch, so Susan and I took the chair back up for another run before taking our own lunch break.
I was a little concerned about taking Susan down a double black diamond run on our first morning, but it turns out I should've been more worried about myself. The run of choice was one of my favorites, Tower Three Chute. It starts out as a moderately steep bump run with a mild double fall line, then turns down the hill and gets very steep. It usually has lots more soft snow than the adjacent runs. Problem was, that soft snow hid at least one rock, which I hit with the tip of my downhill ski right in the middle of a turn. Ski stopped; I didn't. I got pitched onto my left arm and my shoulder dislocated on impact. As I started to slide down the hill right at the start of the steep section, I could hear Susan yelling "Self Arrest! Self Arrest!", just as I had on our first trip to Taos. As I tried to get my one remaining ski downhill, it released as well. At that point I was going downhill headfirst and quickly picking up speed. Did I mention the trees and rocks below me? Somehow I managed to miss them all while spinning around feet first. I tried in vain to slow down on my back by digging my heels in along with my right arm. I was finally able to get on my stomach and dig in with my toes and my right elbow. Even if I'd been able to hang on to one of my poles, I wouldn't have been able to do much with it with only one arm. I finally came to a stop at the steepest part of the run, right between the two cliffs.
I yelled down to some other skiers to call ski patrol and told them where to find me. An instructor and her student took my equipment from Susan and brought it down to me. Susan came down just after them. She hadn't seen most of my slide, as the run was too steep. Good thing, as it was pretty scary. As we were waiting for the ski patrol, a bunch of other skiers came down the run, kicking lots of loose snowballs down on me. One lost it about 20 feet above me and slid right into my crossed skis. I waited until he was a few feet away before bailing out and sliding down another 5 or 6 feet.
When the ski patroller got there, he offered to try to reduce my dislocated shoulder. I asked him if he had an x-ray machine with him, then politely declined. As soon as he took off his skis to build a platform for the sled, he promptly slid down the run 10-15 feet. When the other two patrollers got there with the sled (after closing the entrance to the run), they had to lash it between two trees to hold it in place. The ride down to the clinic took a while, and wasn't exactly comfortable whenever I got bounced onto my left side. They did the best job possible under the conditions.
As soon as we checked in at the clinic, the admitting nurse sent Susan off to our condo to retrieve some shoes for me as they wouldn't let me walk in ski boots. After preliminary x-rays, they started to work on getting my shoulder back in place. The nurse started off by saying what I didn't really want to hear: "Our policy at the clinic is to do unmedicated reductions." That meant no pain relievers or muscle relaxers until after it was popped back in. It took 5-10 minutes of manipulation by three of them before it finally went back in. Hell of a way to start a ski week. Absolutely no fun. I scanned in a pre and post-reduction x-ray, if you dare to look.
I was given orders not to ski and a sling to keep my arm immobilized. I spent the rest of the week wandering around the base area, watching tv, scamming internet access at one of the hotels, and hanging out at the Mangy Moose. It really stunk having to watch everyone out enjoying the great snow. At least I didn't hurt myself screwing around. I was skiing well and under control right up until that hidden rock stopped my ski. It could just as easily have happened on any other run. There weren't any other rocks visible on that part of the run, and was no reason to suspect any.
On Tuesday, I wrangled a complementary tram sightseeing pass and joined Susan and some other club members for a ride up to the top. Took quite a while to wait in line. Of course, I wasn't missing any ski time, so it didn't bother me too much. Once we got up top, the clouds had started building on the ridge so visibility was limited. I took everyone's picture, then wandered around taking a few more snapshots after they headed down.
Wednesday was my birthday, and just about everyone else took the bus over to Grand Targhee for the day. I hung out at the base and condo. That evening, some club members in the adjacent condo invited us over for a great home-cooked meal. Our condo-mates also cooked dinner, so I got to eat twice. Pete whipped up a great birthday cake substitute using some ice cream and cookies. It made for a great birthday celebration. Didn't quite make up for not being able to ski, but came close. We had a great bunch of people to share the condo with on this trip. Unfortunately, one of them managed to break a bone in her foot on Sunday, which led to a separated shoulder the following day when she had trouble turning her skis and fell hard on it.
On Friday, Susan and I took a snowcoach tour of Yellowstone. It was snowing most of the day, so again visibility was limited. We thought about joining the snowmobile group, but knew my shoulder couldn't handle it. It was a lot of fun. We saw 10 moose before we even got to the park. Lots of elk and bison in the park. Saw Old Faithful do its thing twice and got to hike around the geyser basin. The ride back out was pretty bumpy, which really gave my shoulder a workout. The couple behind us had it much worse. She had a sore neck and he had 3 herniated disks from previous injuries. We didn't get back to Teton Village until 7:30 that night, just in time for dinner at the Final Awards Banquet. The highlight there was when our club president commandeered the microphone and presented Brenda and me with "walking wounded" awards: t-shirts with "Jackson Hole Paramedics: Thank You For Your Support". Cute.
Hopefully my orthopedist won't have to perform surgery. I'm hoping for a quick rehab, but probably won't get it. Don't know how long it'll be before my shoulder gets back to "normal".
Think SNOW!!!