My favorite Alpine Meadows moment needs a little set up, so he goes.
Back on Presidents weekend I was skiing with my 10 year old (by the way, Im married with 3 boys ages 13, 10 and 8). Anyway, I was trailing Nikolas as he barreled down Rock Garden onto Loop Road, hit the jumps and was headed towards Hot Wheels Gully. I passed him right before the trail crossing leading into the gully. I stopped and waited by the trees at the entrance and saw Nik just about to come across the trail. At the same time the biggest human being I have ever seen was racing down the trail Nik was just about to cross. The collision I witnessed was one of the worst things I have ever seen. In a split second a thousand things rushed through my brain. I was very scared Nik was seriously hurt. I kicked my skis off and rushed over to him . There was blood all over the snow next to him. I took him into my arms he looked at me with a terrified look and asked me, “am I ok, Dad?” I’ll be honest; at that moment I had no idea. I was thinking of the worst possible things, I was real scared. Turns out the blood was from the guy who ran into Nik (somebody said he was an ex San Francisco 49er), his face had connected with Nikolass helmet (yeah, thank god the kid wears a helmet!).
The ski patrol was there in seconds, and Nik got a ride down the mountain in the stretcher. The folks at the first aid station were amazing and took real good care of Nik. I must thank all those amazing people once again. The thank you card was not enough! We were really lucky that he walked away from the collision with a broken thumb, cut on the face, a and some aches and pains. I wasnt sure Nik would ever want to ski again .
Ok, I know what youre saying “wheres the good stuff?” Here it is!
We came up to Truckee Sunday April 4th (we have a house there) Alpine Club passes loaded up for the kids spring passes for my wife and myself – ready to have the spring break of our lives. As most of the family headed over to Summit to hit Alpine Bowl, Wolverine Bowl and the terrain park in between Summit and Kangaroo, Nik was only interested in Roundhouse . we must have skied Dance Floor 600 times. By Wednesday I was danced out. Then something happened! Niks brother Jack was bragging about getting massive air and shredding Scott Chair etc. etc. and trying to get Nik off the Dance Floor. A little pressure from the brother never hurts!
Now here is my 2009/2010 Alpine Meadows Moment (I know finally!). Nik was ready for a change of scenery! As we are headed up Scott Chair in preparation for, as my son Jack would say, shredding Gentian Gully I looked at Nik and said are you sure youre ready for this? He just looked at me a nodded. As I trailed my boys through the trees and onto Gentian Gully I was amazed at what I was seeing – they really were tearing it up. Nik was acting like the accident had never happened! Im telling you the greatest joy I have in life is watching my boys have fun, and even more so selfishly watching them have fun doing something I have loved since I was a kid! I’m telling you the memory of that run will keep me going until next seasons first trip the Alpine!
The rest of the week was spent with the whole family skiing together. There wasnt much of the mountain we didnt ski! And I am telling you there is nothing cooler than skiing with my boys! And to think I wasnt sure if Nik would ever want to ski again. He keeps bugging me for one more trip .
Submitted By: Matt
