Dropping like a rock

Ever attempted something and have that attempt fail miserably? I can think of numerous things that I’ve done like that. Not all of them failed miserably, but a lot of them were failures. Every so often some were winners. I’ve got an example in my head of a particular ski accident I had.

I’ve spent a lot of time skiing and doing other winter sports. This is the first season where I’ve not gone skiing since I started. It’s very odd so I’ve been spending some time thinking how wrong it is that I didn’t get the proper time to do it this season. Doh, I’m going down a different path, let me sidetrack back to my original intent.

Freestyle skiing. Most likely you’ve seen it on TV or maybe for the Olympics. I did it while growing up in Park City. What else is a kid to do but ski in a resort town? I got pretty damn good at skiing moguls and of course a bunch of us were always doing something stupid with getting as extreme as we could. Jumping off cornices, rocks, or shooting through the trees or down a mogul run going mach 10. It’s part of being immortal. I got good at all three events Moguls, Aerials, and Ballet. Yeah, that’s right I typed Ballet.

Because I was good at all three events I was able to make the grade for going to the national championships every year. I think I missed one year when I started to specialize in just Moguls and Aerials. Well, my second to last year of competition was at nationals in Telluride Colorado. I went that year as an Aerial specialist and an alternate in Moguls. There is nothing like launching yourself into the air roughly 6 stories up while turning and twisting your body into wacky combinations to impress some judges.

Getting into it I just had my first memory of competition jumping. What a strange difference to where I finished up. To paint the picture imagine a relatively steep ski run that has a man-made (or sometimes natural) knoll that levels out to a drop off that is long and steep. The jumps are made to different heights and set at varying distances from the edge of the knoll. The jumps you see on TV are the big ones. What you don’t see is the little ones that kids start on. I’m chuckling to myself thinking of how scared I was the first time. After I made that first jump, all I could think of doing was going again.

Ok, nationals at Telluride. I was up early for Aerial practice. In fact I was one of the first 4 or 5 people there that day before jump practice began. The course crew were pulling down the ropes to open the jumps, sliding out the in-runs with their skis, prepping things. So we could start putting our jumps together for tomorrows competition. Someone in charge asked who wanted to guinnea pig the jump. Being the fearless flyer that I had become I put my hand up and since no one else yelled out, I was chosen to make the first jump of the day.

I was asked if I wanted a speed check. For those that don’t know a speed check is to have someone go down the in-run to see how fast the snow is feeling and then go to the side of the jump without jumping. Then relay the information to the jumper. I shook my head no and said I didn’t feel it necessary. Mind you I’m about to jump from the big jump which is probably at least 10 or 12 feet high, and set about 50 to 60 feet from the knoll (where it’s flat before it drops over the edge). This isn’t World Cup so it’s upright Aerials. Juniors weren’t allowed to do inverted Aerials unless they qualified for World Cup. Needless to say, that’s what I was shooting for, but I digress…

There I am, sideways on the hill mentally going over the jump I’m about to do in my mind for a warmup on the day. I figure I’ll take it easy and go for a nice big and long Daffy – Twister – Twister – Spread. Um… Meaning I’d do one leg in front, one in back like a forward split, bring them together, then twist at the hips and rotate left, then right with both legs at once, then come center and spread both legs to each side like hopping over a parking meter. I hope that makes sense. Ok, I’ve gone over it in my mind, I’m ready to turn and start.

I turn to go down the hill and I push a few skate maneuvers to increase speed. I’m in a prepatory tuck position, and get ready to pop off the lip of the jump. See, as you do this type of jumping you’re not cruising off the jump and catching air, you’re timing it so that you jump off the jump as your moving. You can’t push off too soon or too late as it will screw up trajectory. You also don’t want too little speed or you won’t make it over the knoll (that’s a fate nearly as bad as death). I’m feeling good about my speed and I’m entering the jump, I’m focused. I time it right and pop off right where I’m supposed to.

As you jump you are to look forward in the air, not down – it has to do with balance. Knowing that, I’m doing the Daffy, then the twister, then the next twister, then the spread. Now I look down to spot my landing and there’s a problem. I haven’t apexed yet. I’m still going up and now starting to come down. Main thing when jumping is, you do a majority of your tricks on the way up and one as you come down. I’ve done all of them as I was going up and still going up. Not good.

I’m well past the knoll as I’m dropping. They make the landing hills quite long and very steep for a reason. If you fall it’s less impact and easier to roll. I’m working on remaining up right without losing my cool. I can see the little pine tree bits on the ground to mark out where the landing hill is and I’m coming down, way down the hill, far past the sweet spot of the landing hill. In fact, I’m coming down literally where it’s flattening out. Meaning, I’m not going to get a soft hit and roll. I end up coming down at the very bottom and folding like an accordian. Instant pain shoots through my right leg. I eject out of both skis. Luckily we jumpers don’t use ski poles or I could have really hurt myself.

Turns out I had waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much speed. I out jumped the landing hill which is virtually impossible and I highly don’t recommend it. For even though it’s snow, it fucking hurts like hell falling from that far up with that kind of speed. I literally fell from like 6 stories in height. Several course crew guys immediately came down to gather my gear and help me up. Unfortunately that ended my day of practice. I was able to get up and ski away. But I had to rest as my right knee was throbbing and I had the wind completely knocked out of me. I’m sure I probably freaked a few of the other jumpers out.

In the end, I was able to compete but I didn’t do nearly as well as I had liked. My knee it turns out had broke and I didn’t know it. That following fall I had to have knee surgery to remove some bone fragments that were causing pain and have the ligaments realigned – I didn’t realize it was a result of the crash. That’s what kept me out of competition and nationals the following year, waiting for it to heal. It’s an experience I’ll never forget. I still like jumping and being in the air, but not when it’s over done like that.

I realize that dropping like a rock on skis is nothing like being a stone in a song. However, that’s the connection I made. It was a near skiing ending injury. I’m lucky actually that my knee is better than new since the surgery. I did choose Audioslave as the Fallen Friday for today because it’s over. I predict they will make a short lived come back like I did with my competition career for skiing (I missed going World Cup the following year by a tenth of a point and gave it up).

I don’t believe Audioslave will go beyond writing a couple more songs. It was an odd mix to begin with. Both parts of the band were respectable, but I think we all know it was a crazy ass mix to have Chris Cornell working with the Rage guys. You can easily tell who wrote what in each song as they each had such distinct styles that didn’t really blend. They tried and essentially it broke down and failed.

Either way, I really dig this song despite that odd mix. In this instance it worked very well amongst the wreckage, and if you don’t have this song, what the bloody hell is wrong with ya? (that last line should be spoken with a heavy British accent).

(** Disclaimer: If Audioslave’s label decides to make me relive my dropping like a stone from the sky, I’ll have to drop kick and jump the audio off the server. The post will remain to serve as memory of things that were tried and failed. **)