Another One Bites The Dust (Thursday 02 January 2003)

So, it was my first day back on the mountain for 3 weeks (thanks to a sore tendon in my right knee), and it couldn’t have been a more miserable day if it had tried. The freezing point was above the highest peaks on the mountain and it had been raining all morning. Ben and Ben arrived only a couple of days before and this was their first day on the hill so there was buzz in the group when we set off in the morning, despite the appalling weather.

When we arrived at the ticket office in the morning, the girl behind the counter recommended that we shouldn’t bother going up as the conditions were so bad. There was some brief debate but in the end we decided to give it a go. Ben and Ben had managed to get passes from people who had had enough so it was worth a few runs as they didn’t have to pay. Or so I thought…

We got to the top and the rain was fairly torrential. We agreed to stay on Emerald for a few runs so that the Benz could get their legs back. Bob and I got to the chairlift and decided to have another couple of runs – the Benz had had enough already and headed directly for the bar.

At the top of the chairlift, I got up and rode down the hill with my back foot resting just in front of the binding. As I was coming to a standstill, a small devil child hit my back leg and I twisted and rotated on my front knee. The pain was terrible but more horrible was knowing straight away that this would mean another long period off riding. And the little bastard didn’t even stay sorry. Neither did his Dad. And they were American. It really couldn’t have been any worse.

Went to the doctors and he told me that it would be 2-4 weeks depending on how the physio goes.