Bionic Man

Here is the my story for how I went out of town skiing for the weekend and came home with titanium in my leg!

We left for Denver, CO on Valentine's Day. We got our luggage, rented our SUV, stopped to buy lift tikets and groceries, and headed out to Brekenridge, CO where we rented a nice three bedroom cabin with an outdoor hotub. Once we got to the cabin, we unpacked a little and headed to town for our dinner reservations at the Blue Lagoon, and great place that was perfect and served a very good steak.

Day 2: Friday
Friday we deceided to ski Breckenridge. The conditions were perfect. It was sunny all day, temps in the upper 20's, great snow conditions. We started right away getting midway up the mountain. Amy and I had not ski'd in 2-3 years, last time being Red Lodge, MO. It did not take us long to catch the hang of it again. In the afternoon, Brian and I split off from the girls for some black diamond and 1 double black diamond run. We got a good workout and the skiing was challenging and fun. We were saving the peak for the afternoon, but were quickly running out of time and were fatiguing fast. When it was time to make the call at 3:30p (lifts start closing at 4:00p) we learned that they shut the peak down at 3:00p daily. Too late. Thta's ok, we have two more day of skiing ahead of us.

Day 3: Saturday
We were feeling nice and refreshed after sitting in the hottub after skiing Friday and getting to bed a little early. We previously decided day 2 would be out at Keystone, followed by Vail Day 3. We were up early, had breakfast and made our way to Keystone at 9:00a. We took some pictures at the top of the mountain from the first gondola ride. It was a great view. We decided on a 3.5 mile green circle run to start the day and get warmed up. More stopping for pictures and a movie on the way down. After the last set of movies, this is where Pete's day goes bad. He sees a nice liitle path on the side of the run through the trees, like many he took Friday. They provide a little more excitement on the easier runs and sometimes offer a jump at the end. Galan probably had too much speed entering the trail, which didn't head back into the main run right away and got narrower and narrower weaving through trees. Galan could shave off much speed through the narrow trees and started to loose his footing. As a tree approached right in Galan's path, he needed to leap at the last minute to his left to avoid hitting the tree head-on. Galan felt his lower right leg glance off the tree pretty hard and he tumbled, his skiis releasing.

Galan figured he either deeply bruised his lower leg or fractured it. He was able to bend and move his knee normally. Galan thought about trying to stand up when he reliazed he would not be able to go on and was encouraged not to try and stand. He made the decision to call to ski patrol and skirted his way out of the trees on his behind.

The doctors were great and the rest of the trip may be written in another post. Long story short. The hit with the tree put enough pressure on my knee to break my tibial plateau in three pieces and tear my miniscus away from the lower joint. I received a plate and 4 screws to hold the break together to heal. It does not appear I did any ligament damage or if I did, non e of great concern that they would let heal naturally anyway.

No weight bearing for 6-8 weeks. I see the orthopedist Monday and will post on my physical therapy routine. I should be healthy enough for waterskiing season, and I might be a litte delayed for motorcycle riding.

I feel bad for Amy because she now has to handle all of Isabel's transitions and driving duties. SHe's been a trooper and I can't thank her enough. I will definately be less adventourous in the future knowing an accident like this can have such a big lasting impact on our daily lives. I would not avert skiing, or even the black diamonds, but there is no need to take trails through the trees, when the wide open runs are really just as fun.