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Season Ender

12K views 78 replies 46 participants last post by  Ken2234 
#1 ·
I broke my back yesterday riding with a bunch of guys from the forum.

A few mistakes made on a stupid small 10 ft kicker spelled disaster for me.

I can walk though, I should have a full recovery. I'm just done for the year.

Doc said I was incredibly lucky the breaks happened where they did.

Face Eyebrow Forehead Nose Cheek


Nose Joint Water Neck Medical imaging





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#9 ·
I'm still in the hospital, fresh dose of Dilaudid for this is a good time. haha

It was warm, 55 degrees or something. The snow wasn't bad though, faster than I expected so we were happy about that.

Dave, Leo and I go though the park once to kind of scope things out. Everything looked like shit and we didn't hit anything on that lap. We came back around on the next lift and for some reason I decided to hit the first jump.

The first mistake was that I seriously misjudged the drop in zone and started off too high. Secondly, I forgot the snow was faster even though it was soft so I doubled down on my stupidity.

So one of my bad habits is coming in on the jumps favoring my heel edge. Sometimes I catch myself, correct it and land the jump. Other times I end up washing out the landing.

Well since the snow was so soft, when I came in hot on my heel edge and ended up kicking my board out from under me and flying parallel to the ground. Since I was going to fast I overshot the transition and landed flat, on my ass/lower back and boom, broke back mountain.

I knew I had to get out of the way but all I could manage to do was roll over on my knees as I groaned in serious agony. I managed to crawl to the edge of the run. Ski patrol gave me the ride of shame on a board and sled down the hill and the ambulance took me right to the hospital.

The thing that really bothered me was that I was afraid of ruining everyone else's day and I kept telling them to go ride off without me. haha
 
#27 ·
...The thing that really bothered me was that I was afraid of ruining everyone else's day and I kept telling them to go ride off without me. haha
Yeah,.. Like we're the kinds of "douche nozzle" friends that would do that????
;)

We appreciate you worrying about "Our" day while you're on the ground in agony! :laugh: Dude, just gotta accept that some things are more important than the "Ride!!" (...Like making sure you are all right and will be able to ride again, cuz there's nothing more important than the ride,.. Right?) ;) :) :D

I'll second that post and say,.. Here's to 2013/14!!! You'll be waiting on me in the lift again fer shur!!! :D
 
#17 ·
The trick with over shooting jumps is don't freak out put that landing gear down. Lift the front knee up and let the tail set down first and roll into the landing. If anything try to snap the tail of the board and ride it out or when you hit just slide. Slush kind of negates that, that's what got me last year with my elbow.
 
#18 ·
man that sucks, im out for the season too and at this point maybe next year too kinda bummer but all that matters is that you live to ride another day. i remember bein in the hospital, had me oxy codin and cottin plus morphine and delluida i was flying pretty high. hope your nurses are pretty bangin mine were :D. hope they didnt slam a catheter in ya those fuckers suck.
 
#46 ·
To be fair to Sam, there was no way he was going to get that board back down any. He slipped and slipped hard. Board was more than 90 degrees up in front of him and the jump was only a 10 footer so he wouldn't have had enough time even if he tried. It was doomed from the start.

I honestly was about to laugh at him because I was getting ready to hit the same jump until I saw him. I rode past the kicker and saw/heard that this was no longer a laughing matter.

Crazy thing is, I was more scared than him initially. Dude is so damn stubborn. I was yelling at him to quit fucking moving. Neck/back injuries necessitate you stay put or you risk further injury.

Anyway, I'm glad you're already discharged Sam. Like I said, don't be bummed about the kicker thing. None of us have to hit the park up and no, you won't be killing our stoke. 99.9% of the stoke comes from riding with you guys alone. The other .01% comes from the fact that I'm even able to be out there riding at all haha.

Also, in terms of speed checking, I was more referring to speed checking the first few attempts so you get to know the jump. Then you can just do your drop zone thing.

I do what Snowolf said though. I like to speed check at the top rather than change my drop zone. But right now, I still have a mental hurdle that's making me speed check too much.
 
#23 ·
Hope you recover fully and take it slow. Could have been so much worse.

Park is overrated anyway. If you don't hit the park you eliminate a huge amount of the injury risk.

I may do a few runs if conditions are good, but always take it slow and easy on the first run.

I prefer pow landings of natural hits, sure this also has some risk but if you scope out the landing area well its like having a foam pit.
 
#24 ·
Hope you recover fully and take it slow. Could have been so much worse.

I prefer pow landings of natural hits, sure this also has some risk but if you scope out the landing area well its like having a foam pit.
:thumbsup:



Recover soon and be back stronger than before man.
 
#28 ·
Although we may not agree on some things, I feel for you man. I also haven't ridden for a while due to injury but a broken back sounds really painful and scary:thumbsdown:. Luckily it wasn't the worst case for your back though, I wish you a full recovery:thumbsup:
 
#29 ·
Bummer, sorry to hear. I have a constant fear of overshooting jumps and usually knuckle. Something tells me knowing your story is not going to help my progression in jumping. :D Take it easy and get well soon! :thumbsup:
 
#30 ·
The irony is that we had initially planned to go over to Cannonsburg for the US Airbag demo tour. But given the shitty weather, and the fact that Leo hadn't got his permission slip signed, we opted to stay local instead of driving 2+ hours, paying extra money for the bag pass + lift pass, etc., just to stand in line with 100 kids to hit one kicker a few times.

Get better soon man. Maybe you can squeeze in a day or two in April if Boyne is still open. Stick to the groomers and do all your rehab and PT.
 
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