to break my neck. I have a long and storied history of skiing that I was not willing to forgo.
Darling First ex-wifey planned a ski trip at Snowshoe for she and my son and a friend who could ski with my son since he is a good skier. Friend bugged out so she called me to see if I would along.......awkward. I agreed and first day we skied hard on a day with reallyreally bad conditions. Back of mountain closed after a couple of bad accidents by folks. Son and I had no difficulty. As we were headed in we were discussing who got first hot shower. Son won so I did one last run.....slipping down the slope as the staff was closing the trail. Went full tilt down the mountain and hit some choppy stuff at bottom of the slope and wiped out spectacularly. managed to fracture 3 vertebrae in my neck. Ski patrol brought a backboard and strapped me on (they thought I had a head injury and kept asking how many fingers they were displaying....idiots). At Snowshoe lift is at bottom of slope and Lodges at the top of the mountain so the strapped me to the lift and sent me up. As the folks at the top were unloading me on the backboard they DROPPED me .....facedown in the snow. THAT was fun. Took me into the medical lodge continuing to stick fingers in my face to asses for head injury. Doc was busy with other folks but finally pulled back the curtain to come see me and he declared real loudly "Oh my God, its my DENTIST"!! Turns out it was a PA that practiced in my county for a while and was a patient of mine! Long story short....after a trip to a local hospital for films, a helicopter ride to Roanoke, and a trip to NC....... I ended up wearing a HALO device for 4 months while my neck fused. I was blessed as I had no neurologic problems and survived the ordeal of wearing the Halo. I was actually able to work with the halo in place (choice was to sit at home and be uncomfortable or to work and be uncomfortable) but was pretty scary for patients. Worst part of halo was I drove Alfa Romeo sports car at the time and getting in required maneuvering in horizontally and then flipping upright.....an extremely painful proposition. Since, I have survived a Superman dive over my handlebars when a dog chasing my bike ran into the front wheel collapsing it. Bike stopped immediately......I kept going onto the pavement. I remember thinking as I was sailing through the air ......" Crap.....my neck" and "This is gonna hurt" ....along with several choice expletives. Gotta start being more careful I guess.

Lots of other great adventures in the snow!! Many ski adventures, a car trip that could have been a disaster, a backpacking trek getting into a blizzard on Whitecap, etc! What fun!!