Beck Has a Major Crash!

I've preached to all of my kids to always beware of the people who don't ski in control. It's a lot like driving, I tell them. It's not enough to drive down the road, or ski down the line only paying attention to yourself. There's always someone out there that is not as good as you, and they're the dangerous ones. Well, today, one of the scariest moments of my parenting life happened, and it was on one of the easiest parts of the mountain. Jude was leading the pack this time, with Tait, me then young Beck following at a leisurely pace. We took a slight diversion to the left to get a little air- one at a time. Bringing up the rear, Beck hit the jump, then initiated a right turn off of the little hill. And, just as Murphy's Law states, some speed freak who couldn't control his speed, let alone make a simple turn, panicked and T-Boned the little guy, sending him somersaulting down the hill, launching him clean off the ground and out of his Volkl skis. After Boo came to a stop, I skied to him to pick up the pieces and check for broken bones. I replay the hit in slow motion over and over, the vision of his head snapping backward on impact, then the look of confusion as he sat stunned, not quite in tears yet. Luckily, the extent of his war wounds are a small scrape under his right eye, with a goggle imprint, swelling and bruising under and around his eye socket. What's more stunning to me, is the reaction of the guy after the accident. I used my best effort not to scream at this guy and throw a right hook when his first comment was that it was Beck's fault, irregardless of the fact that Beck was at least 100 feet downhill of this guy, giving him enough time, had he checked his speed on the double green run, to slow down or make a VERY simple diversion to avoid collision. After I extracted an apology from him, he promptly got his skies back on, skiing away as he said that he was only leaving because I was there to take care of the boy.

Long story short, we skied to the bottom of Chair 4 and had a discussion with Ski Patrol, who within minutes, flagged the middle-aged, reckless skier down and hopefully read him the act. I am aware that accidents happen, but being a father of four, I can't imagine fleeing the scene of a crash that, to all who witnessed it, was potentially catastrophic. The moral of the story is to take great care of your kids- watch out for others' kids, and be considerate and nice this Holiday season. Beck is fine, albeit a little rattled about the whole ordeal. Me, on the other hand?? I'm a mess! I hope to never see another crash of this magnitude happen to my kids or any one else's. The Telluride Ski Resort is the most incredible place to ski and is no more dangerous than any where else! We just ran into a little bad luck, that's all. Happy skiing!

Beck's Gonna Have a Shiner!

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