1999 - THE PAST CONTINUES

1999 

The Curse of Ricardo and

Never underestimate the value of the ski patrol.

(Ski patrol at the top of the Bridger Lift.  Bridger Bowl)

1999 was a special year for me. 

A while back, I mentioned that I have been forced to believe in "suggestive coincidence" by a really lame past experience.

That lame past experience...

 (Ricardo - Undated dumpster photo)

My good pal Ricardo and I were chugging up the Snow Ghost chairlift on the backside of Schweitzer, a northern Idaho ski resort. 

It was February 13th, and I had just turned 21 years old.  The big TWO-ONE! I was a man.

Finally being 21 was only made better by the fact that I was a part-time student at Montana State University and was working a part-time, nighttime dish washing job.  "Why does any of this matter?" you might ask...  It matters because I was 21 years old, worked 20 hours a week, went to school 6 hours a week and had 7 days a week to ski.  My dream of all dreams had come true.  I could ski everyday and still work towards my future.  I was a ski bum with direction...

 (1999 - Doug, Brian, Keith - Lone Peak Summit.)

(1999 - Ian Klepatar airs into the top of Z-Chute. The Ridge, Bridger Bowl) 

So anyway...Back on the Schweitzer chairlift, Ricardo and I were talking "chair-talk,"  mumbling through our ski jackets about conditions and weather...the standard things two people converse about on a bumpy 15 minute ride up a mountain.

Somehow, the conversation veered into more dicey territory...we started talking about injuries and crashing and other negative, bad ju-ju chair talk.  I remember not being especially happy with this...but perhaps only in retrospect.

So Ricardo turns to me and says, "Do you think you could break a knee?" 

I didn't know.

We unloaded the chair, met up with the rest of our friends and skied the ridge over to a steep little forest, appropriately called "Siberia." 

The five of us skied down the tight trees.  The snow was good but a little sticky and wet, as it usually was at Schweitzer.  

Halfway down, we lined up above a little roller, which is just a mound of snow that rolls smoothly over.  Sometimes, these rollers make great natural jumps.  One after the other, my friends shot down and jumped the roller and disappeared into the trees.  Ricardo hit it and then stopped to watch me.  I went last and that's where it happened....

10 minutes after Ricky asked if I could break a knee, I was lying in the snow... with a broken knee.

Coincidence or evil, black magic curse? Depends on who you ask.

When I landed, my skiis sunk in deep and stopped dead in the cement-like snow.  I fell forward but my bindings didn't release and my leg snapped.

I was immediately pissed, not because I was hurt, but because I knew the moment it happened that my ski season was over.

I spent the next 40 minutes waiting for the ski patrol to find us, cursing and throwing my equipment around, trying to stand-up as if nothing was wrong.  When the patrol did finally get to us, I spent another 40 minutes tied to a stretcher and dragged behind a snowmobile,  engulfed in exhaust fumes, up and around to the main lodge.

Can you break a knee?  Yes.  Very easily, in fact. 

Surgery cost around $15,000 and I was faced with the possibility that I would limp for the rest of my life.  This turned my magical 21st year on the planet on it's head. Now, I could ski ZERO days a week, had to quit my job, couldn't go to the bar, and had to stumble around an icy campus on crutches.

Thanks Ricardo...for carrying the blame all these years.

 

I was broken and couch-ridden, playing hundreds of hours of Cool Boarders 3 (the finest snowboarding game ever made, btw) to pass the time, while my friends came home with ear to ear grins, covered in snow and exuding the kind of glee that comes from an epic pow day on the mountain.

Poor me.

What else happened in 1999?

 

Stu skied the Headwall.

Coldsmoke played the Filling Station.

Forrest jumped the big gap at Raidersberg.

 

Doug shot the Keithalope.

My little bro joined the USMC.

A gallon o f gas was 98 cents.