On Feb 25, 2015, my dream was almost destroyed when I was blindsided by a reckless skier in Montana resulting in a shattered humeral head (shoulder) and a labral tear (hip). The shoulder surgery on March 2 resulted in nine pins, one plate, one cadaver bone and an 18 month recovery period. My surgeon gave me a gift when he came up with this fix in lieu of a complete shoulder replacement. The hip surgery was at the end of June. The rest of 2015 was spent rehabbing my injuries. My shoulder will never be the same (physically & aesthetically) and I'm not as strong as I once was, but I'm not going to let it stop me from doing the things I love to do.
We headed out to Rossland, BC on March 12, 2016. Our cat skiing reservation was for Monday the 14th. We rented Rossignal Soul 7's for the day (I highly recommend them). We arrived at Big Red Cats office next to Red Mountain Resort, loaded a bus at 8 am and drove to the base parking lot some 45 minutes away. The group consisted of 3 guides (Kauri, Kine & Sasha) and 11 clients [2 Swiss, 1 German, 1 Dutch, and 7 Americans (1 Californian, 1 New Yorker, 2 from Connecticut, 3 Minnesotans)]. Each member of the group was equipped with a avalanche beacon, a 12 foot probe and a shovel. We learned how to assemble our equipment and practiced using it in case of an avalanche. After that is was time to load up Goldfinger (our cat) and head out to untracked powder!
It is beautiful, peaceful and quiet in the backcountry. I was able to do 5 out of eleven runs before my shoulder wore out. My kids did an amazing job skiing the powder and trees. Kevin caught big air off a huge snow covered car size boulder and threw down a spread eagle before nailing the landing. That jump was the talk of the day. By our last run the group and guides were bonded by this incredible shared experience. Enjoy the images from the trip!
