Week in Review: November 27 to December 3

There are many adjectives that I could use to describe the past week. A few that come to mind would be: scary - exhilarating - sickening - amazing - shocking - beautiful... the list goes on and on. Let's start from the beginning. On Sunday, a large storm was beginning to roll into Northern Utah. Like any storm day, Tony Aadland and myself decided to go do some resort laps since Snowbird was finally open for the season. Everything was going fantastic til the final run of the day. I know a lot of skiers and snowboarders believe it's bad luck to call last run. Maybe it's a dumb superstition... Maybe there is some truth to it. On our last run, Tony decided to spin off a cat track we'd been jumping off of most of the day. He ended up landing flat and on an icy patch, causing his board to come out from under him and sending him flat on his ass. The impact caused his spine to compress. I was already at the bottom of the run when it happened. He ended up riding down to the bottom and told me he hurt his back. At first I didn't think he was seriously injured. Seeing him ride down made me think he just took a bad fall and would be fine by the next day. After getting down canyon and eventually consulting his girlfriend on what we should do, we were on our way to the University of Utah Hospital. After about eight hours, we learned that he had a burst fracture in his T7 vertebrae. Luckily his spine wasn't damaged and he is not paralyzed. It could have been far worse. That being said, Sunday night was rough. It's a sickening feeling learning that your best friend just broke his back. Lucky for Tony, his girlfriend Ally Armstrong is an incredible physical therapist. Lucky for both of them, I'm great at making smart-assed comments to keep the mood light. The quote of the week definitely goes to Tony. Prior to today, he needed someone to tie his shoes for him. One of the times I helped him he made the remark "I'd rather have help tying my shoes than wiping my ass." Classic! I'm happy to report he's getting noticeably better each passing day. Meanwhile, winter had arrived in full force with storm totals near 40 inches for Sunday and Monday. Tuesday offered some bottomless blower pow laps at the resort. Wednesday I did a night tour with our friend Mike. We rode USA Bowl in Big Cottonwood Canyon in total darkness and single digit temperatures. That was definitely the coldest I have ever been on a tour. Thursday provided another touring opportunity, this time up Grizzly Gulch with Eric Berg. We rode a really fun south facing line with crazy deep cold smoke pow. On Friday I did another night tour, this time with Ally. It's been fun watching her progress her riding and knowledge in the backcountry. The week ended with my fourth tour in four days with four different people. Tanner Crow invited me to go on a tour up Grizzly Gulch on Saturday. We found a really fun chute in the Honeycomb Cliffs area on the ridge separating Little and Big Cottonwood Canyons. It was a mandatory straightline followed by huge pow turns on the apron. A very fun line to cap off a very hectic week.