March 24. 2012- Where my life would be changed drastically. My friends and I wanted to ski the backcountry in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, so we rode the tram up at JHMR, and then hiked further uphill to where the start of the places we wanted to ski were. One of my friends went first, and he waved to let me know it was safe to ski, and I went second. I took a few turns, and then my ski must have fallen off, because I slid down on snow for nearly 800 feet, stopping by crashing my head on a rock. The one friend that was below me hiked up, and the other two skied carefully down. I was unconscious, but still breathing. My friends waited for the ski patrol to arrive (since we were in the backcountry, it took around two hours), and they took me down to where the helicopter could pick me up. Then, I was transferred to another helicopter, which took me to the hospital in Idaho Falls where I would stay for the next three weeks.

Recovering from the injuries is hard in itself, but I have to realize that my life will never be the same as it used to be. This injury makes me realize how great my life used to be, and while the same things can’t make me happy anymore (like traveling the world to ski, for one), I need to find new things that make me happy.

While I never wish an injury like this to happen to anyone else, it’s made me take a step back and realize the small things. This injury was really severe, but it’s made me back up and look at things from a new perspective. And I wouldn’t have stepped back if this injury hadn’t happened to me.