Here’s my take as a 28 year old ski bum with a history of orthopedic injuries who just re-tore his ACL last Friday:
Take care of your body first, worry about skiing second, and worry about tricks and progression last.
My senior year of high school I tore my ACL in December and missed out on TONS of awesome high school stuff, senior year varsity Lax, parties, dances, all that stuff. But the rehab grind taught me a lot about how to take care of my body and mentally bounce back from adversity. At the time I was so bummed about everything I was missing out on I felt like skiing could never be worth it, but, I stuck to my guns and was playing full contact college football and hitting pre season jibs in less than six months from the surgery. Had a strong and healthy 6 years of skiing SUPER hard, and lots of other activities and workouts.
Fast forward to age 24, 2nd year out west, drove down to Alta from Jackson for their closing weekend, wasn’t really sessioning the jump because I was catching up with old friends, but then as 4pm approached I was bummed I had only hit the jump once. The slush was turning into ice and I changed my drop in (not realizing this new area was where the PC jump jocks/olympians were dropping in from) and I chucked what I thought was going to be the best backie of my life. Went about 120 feet instead of 40, should’ve tucked for double but I just never had that skill set tbh.
landed flat on my back, broke 4 vertebrae, fractured hip socket, fractured femur, fractured tibia, torn miniscus, torn hip labrum. on top of that I got a blood clot post surgery because I was so immobilized and I was smoking cigarettes and abusing my pain killers. I’m lucky I walked away from that one at all.
that injury straight up took me 3 years to feel a hundred percent. Once the docs and the PTs cleared me after about 8 months, I still didn’t feel like myself. My bones had healed, but the scar tissue and atrophy made me feel like an old man. I went back to PT and literally retrained my body to function properly starting with the smallest most obscure muscles you’ve never heard of. Got into yoga and cycling, and finally started lifting heavy again about 1.5 years out from the injury. Another 1.5 years of INSANE work (I’m talking 500 hot yoga classes, lifting 4 days a week, hiking, jogging, swimming) and I finally felt like myself again on the hill. Even then, I wasn’t totally ready to assume that same risk and kept it pretty conservative. I continued that process of self care and eventually got so strong that I got back into some flips and corks, but one of my biggest rules was that everything had to feel good, seek the good feelings and don’t push through pain. And take the time to stretch and rest.
This year I felt like an absolute BOSS back on the skis. I had (dangerously) recaptured that feeling of invincibility, was skiing every single day, doing all of my old tricks in the park (and learning new ones), boosting natural hits, linking doubles and triples on cliff lines, and taking substantial risk in the backcountry. I was so proud of the work I had put in to get back here and that fire was burning brighter than ever, but a lot of it was just a toxic self loathing coping mechanism. Managing the hotel restaurant in a popular vacation destination during COVID was taking its toll, and I was just pushing myself too hard without taking the time to stretch, rest, and repair. Gyms/yoga were closed, socializing wasn’t happening, I was back on the booze and nicotine and not taking care of my body enough to ask it to do these extreme things. My work stress was insane, the skiing wasn’t making me feel any better, and I had this sense of dread that I was about to get hurt. Because I knew I was asking too much of my body without giving what it needed to succeed.
Friday 3/5/21 I told myself I was gonna stack clips that day, starting with a front 4, a trick I’ve done since I was 20yrs old. Didn’t warm up, didn’t ski before, didn’t do any progressions or front 2s, just started trying to rip the 4 around first run, blew my knee out run #4.
Right now I’m bumming super hard... if I didn’t care so much about tricks I could just be out ripping the groom in the sun w the homies. But I DO care about tricks, there’s Just nothing else like it. Was really upset the other night thinking about having to officially retire from being a freestyle skier. But I’m not going to make an ultimatum about it. I know my body will heal and I’ll feel pretty good next season. It’s just a question of how much risk you’re willing to assume. I’m also bummed about missing out on my favorite summer activities.
At the same time, I have so many friends Who’ve blown out ankles, knees, hips and backs in rec soccer games, co-Ed kickball, workouts or just in daily life. It’s just part of life and you can’t always control when or how it happens.
I know a lot of my most recent injury is the result of losing my conscious/present mindset and just not taking care of my body. Your injury sounds super scary, and it’s worth re-examining your relationship to risk after something like that happens. But if you REALLY love something you can’t turn your back on it. My biggest advice to you is to just have fun!! Do what feels right, don’t force it, don’t push through pain. Everything else will come naturally. If you’re serious about continuing to pursue tricks/freestyle goals then take that passion off the hill and live and breath it year round. Workout like a beast!! Biggest things to work on are core, joint stability, and flexibility. Some heavy weight training can help you absorb those big hits as well. Get time on trampolines, seek some coaching and try to get on water ramps/airbags. Get a mountain bike, rollerblades, and build a backyard setup with your friends in the summer! Chase fitness and flow states with all your heart and the skiing will evolve naturally. Just never forget that feeling of being paralyzed, because it’s just not worth the ultimate price. I have friends who ARE permanently paralyzed, I have friends who are no longer with us.
Live to ski another day!! Never lose sight of what you want to do tomorrow, even if it means you don’t lace that trick today!
Till next season it is.
