Lianne's perspective... Sunday!

People were lazy again on Sunday. Derek made scrumptious muffins before he and I headed out to ski on the newly-groomed slopes under bright, sunny skies. I couldn't decide if I liked the snow better groomed or fresh-fallen. It was a lot faster when groomed. We split up for him to try the blues again, and I stopped by the lodge to see if Marie and Ran were ready and if Kami and Jeff were awake. We'd arranged to meet Marie and Ran at the main Shaver Center lodge and get them skis. They were just leaving when I got there, so I popped in and out. I only skied one more slope before going back to the Shaver Center. They weren't there, but I found them at Starbucks and we got back over and met Derek. It was Ran's first time skiing, so I kind of took over and got him through the ski rentals and such before we hit the bunny slope area. It's not really a defined slope so much as a gentle area in front of the center that leads to the main slopes if you go one way and the beginner lift if you go another. It was too late for a real lesson, so Derek and I did our best at teaching Ran. Marie didn't even get into her skis she was so busily taking pictures of it all. :> In fact, Derek and I had to ski her skis and poles down to her to make her put them on for the short time she did -- onto the lift and off again. Shin splints suck. She went back to taking pictures of us. I had a good time with the teaching, though, and Ran only fell once in that area. We didn't get to teach him for long, though, and he was just getting the hang of things when they closed that side of the mountain. Diana met us at the Shaver Center and we played some air hockey, but not much... they'd swapped the regular puck for a rubber one, and it just wasn't as much fun.

So back to the lodge we went, waiting /forever/ for the damn shuttle. I was a little worried about getting enough time at night skiing, since I hadn't rented the skis for Monday like Derek had. But Jeff and Kami had been busy while we were gone... chili was bubbling on the stove when we arrived. So Derek made some cornbread to go with it (since we'd already devoured the corn muffins they brought with them the day before) and it was /delicious/. Diana said it was the best chili she'd ever had and I'm inclined to agree with her.

We loaded up for the night skiing with Marie as our shoe holder, since she wasn't going to be skiing and Ran and I would be turning in our skis over there once it closed, and Ran drove us over rather than fussing with the shuttle again. That was a very nice thing and got us over there ever so much quicker. We got Ran started on the bunny hill over there and then he shooed us off to ski by ourselves for a bit. The slopes there are different... all of the green ones send you back by the entrance, so after the one run we swung back around to see how Ran was doing. Great, as it turned out. So we took him down the regular slope with us. He got out of control a little bit, but only fell twice and was doing pretty good until we got to a steeper bit where people were blocking the side that was shallower. So we stopped there for a bit, weighing the options, but then the people finally started to move and we started up.

And that's about as much as I remember about that, because right as I started up and started to turn to get closer to Ran, something happened and I was suddenly falling backward. But the ski bindings didn't release (which they are designed to do) and my left leg was trapped underneath me at a very bad and excruciatingly painful angle and I was screaming and screaming and I couldn't stop screaming in repeated gasp for breath screams. I think that scared me more than the pain, that I couldn't stop the screaming. Usually when I get badly hurt I'm very quiet... I must have gone beyond the no-noise pain to the next level.

Derek finally got over to me and undid the skis, and once they were off I rolled over on my stomach and just grabbed fistfuls of snow and pressed my face and goggles into the snow. I finally stopped screaming enough to tell Derek and some unknown guy who came to help that it was my left knee. It took a while for the ski patrol to get there, though, and hardly anybody was coming down the hill... it turned out we were about 30 minutes from closing instead of the 90 we thought we had left. I managed to flex my leg and the pain receded enough for me to start talking and joking and telling Derek that he'd be driving the whole way back home the next day.

My leg was splinted and Ran and I got to ride on a tow behind a snowmobile up to first aid, but they really didn't do much. All they're allowed to do is either prep for emergency transport to a hospital (the nearest one being over an hour away) or give advice. I went with the advice since it wasn't broken and bought a full-leg immobilizing brace (I went to a doctor when I got home and found out I tore a knee ligament, so it'll be a while before I'm healed). I borrowed some crutches and we went back to the lodge, where everyone was horrified. We were due to leave in the morning, so I propped myself up on the couch to join the rest in watching Supersize Me before zonking in the same spot for the night. Ran was being very solicitous and gave me some Percoset and clementines. :> Supersize Me was something I bet I would have watched in a college class if it had been around then, and I'm sure one of my professors is now teaching it (his specialty is the culture of food). It was interesting.