Skiing & Boarding the Mountains of Salt Lake City
Trip Start
Aug 15, 2007
1
89
91
Trip End
Jun 01, 2012
Alta, Utah
Friday, January 20, 2012
Visits with this active family include early morning coffee chats, short order cooking for the kids and off into the mountains for some biking, trail running, hiking and our favorite skiing. Being that it was ski season we decided to spend a week hitting the snow as much as we could. We also were following through with a promise to our boys that once they "mastered" skiing, we would let them jump into snowboarding... and so off to a local snowboarding shop we went. This is where Brian, my brother-in-law, was a huge help... as soon as we entered the shop he broke into a lingo that is a language all it's own... one that is unique to those from the Western states -- that play in the valleys, canyons and mountains of this globally renowned playground.
By the time the boys had the 4B's needed, boards, boots, and binding... and a bag, we had spend a bundle... but a much smaller one then if Brian had not been with. For years he has helped us with buying bikes, ski's and boards... just one of the many great things about him... for he is one of the nicest guys you can ever meet. Our boys love him... and his name is often thrown out in "rec" talk when we are in various other circles... most of the talk is about how he is an awesome mountain biker, a killer telemark skiier who skins up, or drops out of a helicopter on mountain peaks so he can take in some fresh powder and of course some talk on his "man cave" (his garage) usually comes up as well... especially how he plays a mean game of pool while listening to some vinyls on his turntable. After I paid for everything and we started to leave the young kid that had helped us pick out our stuff, told me that the slopes were thin and to make sure that the boys didn't do some butt dragging over any chocolate chips... my furrowed brow was all he needed to add that we should watch out for the rocks sticking out of the snow because the snow cover was thin due to a lack of snow storms this year. I kind of figured out what he was saying before he filled me in... with a "thanks man" we were out the door and ready to hit the slopes.
Next morning we headed up to Brighton Ski Resort... one of the best for boarders and decided to spend the day letting the boys learn how to snowboard. Just when Carsten was getting the hand of the "toeside"& "heelside" turns, tragedy struck... a quick fall backwards, an outstretched right arm and a snap of both the radius and ulna. The mountain medics were on the scene, checked him out, placed him in a sled and brought him into the chalet with the big red plus sign... a lift of the shirt and they figured he had broken his arm... the xray confirmed a major break. They bandaged him up and we took him into the children's hospital in Salt Lake.
Watching the doctor give Carsten some anesthesia and start to twist pull his arm in multiple directions, like he was a human gumby, while he tried to backtrack the break, so that the bones would line up, was too much for Deb... she headed out of the room after the nurse told her that they only wanted one accident in the family. Before Carsten was put under I told him that I would stay with him during the operation... so I did... but wow... after watching the procedure I can honestly say that I could not be an orthopedic surgeon. During the whole ordeal Carsten was amazing... keeping his head and wits... no crying, screaming or freaking out took place... he is a tough kid! Since the break we have been back home in Chile for a few weeks, seen the doc a second time... putting on a new cast and he is on his last 3 weeks before his final cast is taken off.
It was tough for him not to be able to snowboard or ski... but hanging out at the Shaw's place proved a nice deterrent... lots of tender loving care, cable, food and drugs to dull the pain.
Aidan and I went up skiing with Brian and Deb a few times at Alta and Brighton Ski Resorts... lots of great runs, sunshine, wicked winds on one day, a little fresh dusting of powder one early morning and a few pit stops for some hot coffee and cocoa with a massive pile of fries at a mountain top restaurant... perfect!
After changing out flights so we could stay an extra 3 days to let Carsten recoup... we were off to Atlanta, Georgia to stay with our close friends Carsten, Kristina and their 3 kids Mads Emil, Emelina & Matilde. From here we would catch out long flight back to Santiago, Chile to spend our last 4 weeks of summer vacation hanging out close to home... mostly to let Carsten recuperate.
During our extra days in SLC Aidan, Brian and I headed up into the mountains to do some skiing... Aidan decided to wait for on the snowboarding. It was, like always, an awesome time of heading up the mnts... cutting down them and grabbing a bit of spiked coffee and a mound of fries. We all felt a little guilty about leaving Carsten behind... but figured that if it was one of us... we would want everyone to not be held back... and this is exactly what he had told us.
We also did a little bit of sledding, a few trail runs on a light dusting of snow in the valley as well as a cool little photo shoot that "A" and I took after a fluffy dump hit the city.
