I have been recouping from a skiing accident for the last couple of weeks.
Richard, Kochhar, Anurag, Rishi and I went skiing in the White Mountains for the long weekend of MLK day (14th, 15th and 16th Jan). We started for Jackson NH early morning on Saturday January 14th 2006. It was raining heavily in Boston but we thought things will improve as we move up north. The pour was a drizzle when we reached the base camp of
Wildcat Mountain. The snow report said ‘fast and slick’ – a definite challenge for intermediate level skiers. There were a few folks out on the snow so we decided to sneak in a few runs and then regroup to assess the situation. Anurag and Rishi went for their snowboarding lessons. Kochhar, Richard and I took the express to the top.
It was sleeting at the top. We planned to stick to the green trails for the first run. Kochhar and I stuck together as he was having a hard time navigating the green. Richard got separated from us on the way down. The greens on this mountain are not rated properly specially the one called the Tomcat. There were many high gradient slopes with sharp turns. The trail became increasingly difficult as the sleet became a drizzle and then to rain.
Kochhar fell and injured his thumb badly. We took a break to put some ice on it and catch our breath. Later in the day Kochhar found out that he had a hairline fracture on his thumb. Further down the trail the rain had caused the snow to melt exposing rocks. It was becoming increasingly hard to make sharp ‘S’ turns to navigate through the slush, rocks and little streams of rain water.
I was scouting ahead for Kochhar when I came to a segment where water had exposed rocks right in the center of the trail. Up ahead there was rain water cutting diagonally across. Further, the trail was the very narrow at this point and was turning right into a sharp corner. In short all the hurdles of that trail and of that day had come together to challenge us around that turn.
I stopped about 20 yards from it and asked Kochhar to take off his ski and walk this bit. I on the other hand, thought that I would go very slow and will be able to navigate it. I had failed to see the surface of the rock under the rain water. I started my decent navigating around the first few rocks and the slushy snow and was able to keep the speed in check. I was almost through.
As I went over the rain water, my left ski went over the exposed rock. The sudden change in surface and as a result in friction, took me by surprise. I tried to keep my self balanced but it was too late. I was directly on the path of an even bigger exposed rock surface. I couldn’t keep my balance after that and fell. It was not a bad fall as I was not going fast but the edge of the left ski had delivered a hard knock on my right knee. I felt the pain rise from my knee. I tried moving my toes – they moved. Moving the knee hurt but I could move it. I was not sure if I had a broken knee cap or if the pain was from the impact. I released my skies and sat upright. Kochhar had come to my aid by then. He was congratulating me on my first fall of the day and how the snow had won this round. Something like that…
I tired to stand up and a sharp pain went through my leg. There was pool of red under my feet. I sat down immediately and rolled up my pants to see the injury. The wound surprised both Kochhar and me. It was a three inch long and about a half inch broad cut that went right till the bone (or whatever the white stuff was). This was serious and we were about 2 miles from base camp. Kochhar told me not to move anymore and went off as fast as he could to get help. It was just after 12 pm on the watch. I sat there pressing the wound with my hand and thinking what dope I was to risk it. I could have played it safe and walked it. Fifteen minutes later I saw Kochhar coming back. He was not able to find anybody in the vicinity and had come back to make sure that I was not unconscious. He was not ready to leave me alone and said that we should wait till some one comes along. We waited for another 10 minutes but no one came. I was starting to feel cold and the rain had soaked my gloves and was starting to go through the water resistant jacket. I decided to limp my way down using the ski pole as support. Kochhar was reluctant as it was all down hill and I was risking another fall. We finally agreed to walk down together with him in the lead. He would walk ahead and fast without loosing sight of me.
We started down. I would have gone about 500 yards when the pain started to become unbearable. I sat down there and tried to skid down sitting. The gradient was high enough to allow that but keeping the injured leg was exposing it to getting caught in the snow. I tried sliding backwards and made it for another hundred yards. By this time my behind was feeling raw and keeping the leg raised was tiring me up. I maneuvered my self to a corner and decided to take a break. Kochhar continued down. Another fifteen minutes passed before I saw a lady skiing down. I waved for help and asked her to rush down and inform the medics.
She took my poles and skies and raced off, stopping to let Kochhar know that he should walk back and be with me. Walking up a snow covered mountain in ski boots is not easy. Kochhar came up panting and cursing himself for smoking so much. By this time both of us were very wet and cold. Kochhar had snow in his shoes from the walking that was now turning into a puddle inside.
We waited cursing the trail management for not closing this treacherous segment and for not having ski patrols on. It was past an hour since my injury when the guy showed up with the evacuation sledge. He tied a bandage around my leg to put some pressure on the wound and asked the control to call an ambulance. He requested another sledge for Kochhar as I wanted him to accompany me to the hospital.
It was a short ride on the sledge to the base camp. They cleaned the wound further and put fresh bandages on it. I changed into dryer clothes that Kochhar got from the car. The ambulance came and it was a good 45 minutes ride to the Memorial Hospital in North Conway. The pain had subsided and I the medic was keeping me occupied in conversation. The ER was not that busy as most of the injuries occur on the slopes and no one, except idiots like us, were out skiing that day.
They gave me warm towels to calm my shivers. The laceration, they said, was a clean cut to the bone and had cut through the skin, epidermal and muscle layer. The resident had to call the attending as the tendon had retracted up my thigh. They will have to pull it out clip it to the wound wall, clean the wound thoroughly till the bone and then stitch the entire three layers. They numbed the area with Novocain. I must say that the pain almost made my cry. It was tougher than the pain from the actual cut. I almost jerked the doctors hand aside once. All through the numbing process I was mumbling ‘Give me Novocain’ from Green Day. It took a good hour for the attending to suture the wound but the results were phenomenal. The cut was just a thin line. I was given some intravenous medication to fight any infection and prescribed some painkillers for when the Novocain wore off. They restricted my knee movement with an immobilizer which is like a straight jacket for the knee with metal sticks running through it to restrict bending. I was given crutches to take the weight off my right leg. It was close to 7 pm. The whole ordeal had last 7 hours. Kochhar had an immobilizer around his thumb. He had finally been able to change into dry clothes and remove the ski boots for the socks that the hospital gave him. Richard drove my truck to the hospital with Anurag and Rishi and we went straight to the hotel and soon thereafter to their in-house restaurant. The night was extremely painful as the Novocain wore off and we were not able to buy the prescribed painkillers. Everything closes by 8pm in and around Jackson and Gorham.
The finally rain had become snow overnight and accumulation was close to six inches by morning – perfect conditions for skiing. What a waste. The roads, however, were treacherous as the sun had come out for a bit and snow was melting and freezing into ice. We started back after a good brunch and took the Kancamagus highway west and then I 93 all the way into Boston.
It has not been bad since then. I limp around the house. Friends bring in the food, walk the dog and more importantly take me to the doctor. I am working from home. It’s boring but is heeling the wound fast. They will take the stitches off next Monday and then a week of physiotherapy. I should be back to 100% by end of next week (Feb 5th). It would have been three weeks since the injury. Hope to be back on the mountains when I return from India by mid March and make peace with the ski gods of the White Mountains.
