1/22/10 & 1/23/10 Alta then Solitude

[socal]

Feeling lazy and pretty down after an guy hit me going full speed at while I was in line for the Summit Chair at Solitude on Saturday but I thought I'd share some pictures from a great (started off that way) weekend in BCC/LCC. My knees pretty banged up, seeing the orthopedist later today and MRI later this week, hoping for the best, but it sure feels pretty bad right now.

Alta on 1-22, got up there at 6:15 to beat the canyon closure, got 5th chair and i got to make first tracks down High Ruster. A buddy took a spill on the otherside of Piss Pass and lost a ski, I kept going. Snow was much heavier than Saturday but still nice.

Waiting to load at about 9:45am.

So nice with not one track on the way up.

Found some very lightly tracked off to the looker's right of supreme (supreme bowl had closed for the day), short but sweet.

Same Spot, back for more.

Short little videohttp://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...authkey=Gv1sRgCL3HuYmPmZLk6gE&feat=directlink

Solitude on 1-23:

The day was this good!

 

[Admin]

Good luck at the doc! Fingers crossed for ya.

FYI, those "skier's right of Supreme" shots you reference ... sure you don't mean "looker's right"?

 

[socal]

Good luck at the doc! Fingers crossed for ya.

FYI, those "skier's right of Supreme" shots you reference ... sure you don't mean "looker's right"?

You're right, oops. I'll fix it. Fun little area over there. I'm always looking to head to the lookers left under the lift, into supreme bowl, or up to catherines so it was nice to get a few laps in over there, not as steep but we had lots of fun.

 

[socal]

Good luck at the doc! Fingers crossed for ya.

News was bad, without a mri he knew the mcl was torn, acl looks ok though. Find out more by the end of the week. Season's over as is my marathon training.

 

[rfarren]

Good luck at the doc! Fingers crossed for ya.

News was bad, without a mri he knew the mcl was torn, acl's looks ok though. Find out more by the end of the week. Season's over as is my marathon training.

AHHH!! THat sucks. You should write a really mean letter to the idiot who did that to you.

 

[Marc_C]

You should write a really mean letter to the idiot who did that to you.

Or your lawyer.

 

[socal]

You should write a really mean letter to the idiot who did that to you.

Or your lawyer.

Something I need to think about and look into especially given the out of pocket costs I'm going to have for treatment. Anyone have a recomendation?

Regarding the injury, anyone have a grade 2 MCL tear? What was the recovery like? Back to normal? How long? etc?

 

[Powderqueen]

What a sad ending to your story :-(

Wishing you a speedy recovery.

 

[BobMc]

Arrrgghhh.

I've had several posts written and almost posted. Each time I think better and delete.

Socal, sorry that you were hit and injured. I was in line when you were struck, I didn't see it, but saw the aftermath. Once again, sorry it happened.

But, suing a ski area or a person who committed an accident in a ski area, LAME. That's all I've got to say about that.

 

[socal]

Arrrgghhh.

I've had several posts written and almost posted. Each time I think better and delete.

Socal, sorry that you were hit and injured. I was in line when you were struck, I didn't see it, but saw the aftermath. Once again, sorry it happened.

But, suing a ski area or a person who committed an accident in a ski area, LAME. That's all I've got to say about that.

I hear you, this is a really tough situation for me and it's really just a bad situation all around but I'm not sure it's just so cut and dry. Keep in mind things like a person's financial situation, insurance situation (aka, out of MY pocket costs), and how they make their livelihood before you make judgment. All I'm saying is that this isn't just a simple inconvenience for me....

And for the record I would NEVER consider suing the resort, they did a great job of treating me on the hill, getting me down safely, and treating me in their clinic (not to mention they're mailing me a free lift ticket, even though they clearly had nothing to do with the incident). I'll be sure to bring those guys in their patrol some beers next season to show my appreciation for their help.

Again, just something to think about, and i've yet to make any decisions as I still haven't gotten my MRI and don't know how much this whole thing is going to cost ME, how long it's going to take to get better, or what the long term effects on MY life are.

 

[rfarren]

Arrrgghhh.

I've had several posts written and almost posted. Each time I think better and delete.

Socal, sorry that you were hit and injured. I was in line when you were struck, I didn't see it, but saw the aftermath. Once again, sorry it happened.

But, suing a ski area or a person who committed an accident in a ski area, LAME. That's all I've got to say about that.

I agree about the ski area, but not about the person. I believe, that a skier is fair game. It's always the uphill skiers responsibilty to avoid collisions. If you're an idiot who skis out of control and you injure another person because of it, you should be held responsible. You're held responsible if you get in trouble in the bc, why should that be different when you take someone else out.

The ACL takes about 6 months before you are back to normal, but I don't know about the MCL. Although, I don't think the MCL is as bad a recovery period. As long as you have health insurance you should be fine, otherwise, you're looking at a hefty sum. Last year I needed two Cat scans, and both cost about $1000 each, although I have insurance so I didn't have to pay for it. An MRI I believe cost around $1000 too. Luckily, MCL repair surgery is an out patient procedure, so it shouldn't run more than $20,000. Just to give a comparison. Last year I had a Laproscopic Appendectomy. The procedure itself costed around $19,000 I think the insurance company paid around 10,000 as that's how they roll. My hospitalization was insanely expensive but by that time I had reached my deductible so I wasn't on the hook. It was crazy as they charge my insurance company around $120,000 for 9 days of hospital stay. The insurance company I believe paid around $25,000.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Don't pay attention to BobMc... he's still upset because he was sued for punitive damages:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhjBlPucpd0

 

[socal]

Arrrgghhh.

I've had several posts written and almost posted. Each time I think better and delete.

Socal, sorry that you were hit and injured. I was in line when you were struck, I didn't see it, but saw the aftermath. Once again, sorry it happened.

But, suing a ski area or a person who committed an accident in a ski area, LAME. That's all I've got to say about that.

I agree about the ski area, but not about the person. I believe, that a skier is fair game. It's always the uphill skiers responsibilty to avoid collisions. If you're an idiot who skis out of control and you injure another person because of it, you should be held responsible. You're held responsible if you get in trouble in the bc, why should that be different when you take someone else out.

The ACL takes about 6 months before you are back to normal, but I don't know about the MCL. Although, I don't think the MCL is as bad a recovery period. As long as you have health insurance you should be fine, otherwise, you're looking at a hefty sum. Last year I needed two Cat scans, and both cost about $1000 each, although I have insurance so I didn't have to pay for it. An MRI I believe cost around $1000 too. Luckily, MCL repair surgery is an out patient procedure, so it shouldn't run more than $20,000. Just to give a comparison. Last year I had a Laproscopic Appendectomy. The procedure itself costed around $19,000 I think the insurance company paid around 10,000 as that's how they roll. My hospitalization was insanely expensive but by that time I had reached my deductible so I wasn't on the hook. It was crazy as they charge my insurance company around $120,000 for 9 days of hospital stay. The insurance company I believe paid around $25,000.

At this point (without the MRI) I'm looking at no surgery but 6-8 weeks of 3x a week physical therapy (some, but most certainly not all of which is covered by insurance). ACL is much worse, or so the doctor said with a sigh of relief when he said my ACL looked okay. My meniscus is probably the one thing the MRI will determine. I can feel a "click" when i flex my knee so unfortunately I'm not sure how that will look. I do know that that may require surgery and more rehab.

I've gone my whole life as a skier and football player with not one serious injury so any permanent damage (arthritis, pain after workouts, etc) is a real bummer for me. But like I think i said before, the biggest disappointment is missing the LA Marathon, I've been training for something like 9 months and was pretty much ready to go already...sigh...

 

[jamesdeluxe]

I only skimmed this thread earlier and apparently missed the description of the accident. Smart idea to pull it if you're on the phone with Rabinowitz, Rabinowitz, and Rabinowitz.

 

[socal]

I only skimmed this thread earlier and apparently missed the description of the accident. Smart idea to pull it if you're on the phone with Rabinowitz, Rabinowitz, and Rabinowitz.

Ha, nah, didn't pull it, must have just written it in a different thread. Pretty easy to describe. I was standing (poles planted in the snow) in line for the Summit Chair at Solitude, looked down to reach in my pocket and next thing I knew I was 10 ft down the hill and grabbing my knee. My LOOK bindings are turned up to either 8 or 9 and I came out of both of them. Poles were still in the snow after the accident. Good thing I was wearing a helmet.

 

[Texastrips]

And since I have stood in that exact spot numerous times ... what about the person who ran in to you? Who was it? What kind of assistance did they offer? Their insurance ought to cover some of this. (Any time you have physical therapy, your insurance company usually phones to check if there was someone else involved who was liable in order to pick it up from their insurance company. We just had this when my husband hurt his knee playing tennis with our daughter. LOL.) I would definitely try their insurance - or rather have your insurance people try their insurance.
Very bad luck for you. We always think - false security - there's less of that wildness at Solitude than most places.

 

[Tony Crocker]

The health care debate spawned by socal's injury is here:

viewtopic.php?t=8589

 

[skibum4ever]

Socal, the pictures of you skiing and the powder are great; the last 2 pics, with you and Ski Patrol, not so great. Sorry you were injured like that. No one should come into a liftline with sufficient speed to knock you down. If both bindings released you were hit very hard. :twisted:

I was run into in a liftline at Beaver Creek. Not as badly as you, but I was knocked over and ended up with a broken thumb.

My one and only time at Mt. Baldy, I saw 2 different idiots come into 2 different liftlines and knock at least one person over. For that reason I have never gone back to Mt. Baldy.

Best of luck with the healing process.