December 31, 2024
Written by Barbara Levine
On December 19, 2024, on the 49th anniversary of our first date, my 87-year-old husband Stan crashes at the bottom of a race course on Mammoth Mountain, while skiing at full speed.
⛷️ Preface
Stan has been skiing for 66 years since 1959.
Together, we have skied most of the areas in the Western U.S. and Canada, as well as several in France, Italy and Switzerland. Stan has also skied in Germany.
I had to give up skiing in 2008 after 44 years in the sport when I began needing body parts replaced or fused. Once I was no longer able to ski with him, Stan joined ski groups to ensure he had people to ski with.
Stan became a member of the Over the Hill Gang Los Angeles (OHGLA), which has since been renamed the On the Hill Gang Los Angeles. OHGLA organizes monthly ski trips to Mammoth from January through April.
Additionally, every December, Stan attends the Ski/Ride/Race Camp* at Mammoth, where he skis with an instructor and a small group of students for five days.
* The Ride in Ski/Ride/Race Camp refers to snowboarding where one rides on a snowboard. The Race refers to the last day of the five-day Camp when all of the ski groups compete in a race down a slalom course.
🌨️ Drive to Mammoth for the 2024 Ski/Ride/Race Camp💨
On Saturday, December 14, Stan and I drive up to Mammoth for the start of his five-day Ski/Ride Race Camp that runs from Sunday-Thursday, December 15-19.
We get off to an early start at 7:30 am for the 326-mile drive to make it in time for the 3-5 pm check-in, deciding to forego our usual breakfast stop near our home.
We always take our Tesla when we travel, and it needs two stops to charge its batteries on the trip to Mammoth. With a stop to eat, the trip takes us 8 hours.
We usually travel with our Boxer Henry, but our daughter Tiffany has taken him for the week. This will spare Stan from having to walk him on icy sidewalks before and after skiing each day. It is very challenging for me to walk him because I need two hiking poles to keep me stable and safe.
Because of Stan's failing eyesight, I do most of of the driving. I do allow him to take the wheel on the middle stretch from the charging station in Mojave to the one in Lone Pine, where the road is straight and there is very little traffic. Actually, the Tesla does the driving, but the driver has to remain alert with hands on the wheel at all times.
A blizzard with strong winds is forecast for the Mammoth area today, bringing several inches of fresh snow. The final stretch of the journey is 40 miles from Bishop, where I drive up the winding road into the mountains. It soon begins to snow, and as we ascend and approach Mammoth, the snowfall becomes heavy and the wind intensifies. Occasionally, the wind gusts are very strong, reducing visibility to nearly zero.
At this point, we decide that there is no way we are going to drive up to the mountain from our condo in this weather for the registration. Stan calls Chris, the coordinator, who readily agrees to meet him early tomorrow morning before skiing to sign him in.
We make it to the condo safely, and Stan unloads the Tesla in the snowstorm with the help of a folding wagon we carry with us, while I handle the unpacking. Fortunately, Stan had also contacted Greg, our condo manager, earlier and asked him to please have our sidewalk* cleared of snow before our arrival.
* The sidewalk from the parking area to our condo is down a steep, slippery slope, where it turns up another shorter slope, and turns again onto an icy path to our condo door.
☀️ The Legend⛷️
Sunday, December 15: The weather has changed completely overnight. The sun is out and the winds have died down.
Stan joins the same advanced class at the Ski/Ride/Race Camp with the same group of gals that he has been skiing with for the past 16 years. Because of his failing eyesight, he usually follows one of them down the slope to help him differentiate the terrain changes ahead.
Last year, Stan was with two groups, each with an instructor, that skied together. After each run, the instructors gave each student tips on how to improve their skiing technique. When the instructors got to Stan, they had nothing to tell him. They gave him the nickname, The Legend. At first, he thought it was because he was so old, but they assured him that it was because he skied so well.
When Stan gets back from the mountain today, he tells me he has been demoted to a group of less advanced skiers. When I ask him why, he says it is because he kept following the wrong skier down the hill. However, he is happy with his two new female classmates and his new instructor.
💨 High Winds Close the Ski Lifts🚡
On Monday, December 16, Stan returns from the slopes earlier than usual at 2 pm. The winds have picked up and the ski lifts his class were using have been shut down. He had to take a ski bus back up to the main lodge where he has a locker (Locker # 1), and then take a bus back to the condo.
🩳 Stan Goes Down🩴
Because it is early and we have nothing planned, we decide to go to the jacuzzi in our condo complex. Stan wears his swimsuit underneath a thick robe with sandals on his feet.
As we near the door to the spa, he decides to take a shortcut and slips on the small icy slope. He takes a nasty fall, but he is able to get up and proceed to use the jacuzzi and sauna, and walk back to the condo afterward. However, his right rib cage has a sharp pain when he moves the wrong way.
☀️ Sunny Weather & Great Skiing⛷️
The next three days (Tuesday-Thursday, December 17-19) are sunny with low winds and great snow conditions. Stan skis very well in spite of the occasional pain in his ribs.
Having fractured six ribs myself in a fall on our patio, I suspect that he has fractured one or more of his own. We decide to take no action, knowing there is nothing to do for a fractured rib but rest and let it heal. Did I say rest? Stan the Man would never let a little pain slow him down.
On Tuesday after skiing, the classes all gather at Tusks Bar in the Main Lodge on the mountain. I take a bus up to join the festivities and meet Stan's fellow students and instructor.
Stan's instructor Colin gives me a copy of the video he took of Stan skiing earlier that day. You can view the short video by clicking on the frame below.
⛷️ Stan Crashes & Burns 🏥
Thursday, December 19: This is the last day of the Ski/Ride/Race Camp, and the classes all participate in a ski race to demonstrate the skills they have learned. The weather is beautiful and Stan has been skiing well all week, so he decides to race.
At 10:30 am, Stan calls me and asks me to pick him up at the Ski Patrol station in the main lodge. I drive up to the mountain and find him lying on a cot. He is unable to walk, so he is pushed out to our car in a wheelchair. I am told to take him to the Emergency Room at the Mammoth Lakes Hospital near our condo.
On the drive to the ER, I learn that Stan had successfully negotiated several gates on the slalom race course. Click on the clip below to watch the video taken by his instructor Colin before Stan crashed and burned.
Near the bottom, he was going at full speed and became confused as to where the final gate was because of his poor eyesight and several blue markings across the snow.
He collided with a pole which struck his goggles and he became entangled in ropes. His boots failed to release from his ski bindings, leaving his feet turned 180 degrees from each other.
His instructor, Colin, inspected Stan's skis after the Ski Patrol took them off and found that the DIN* settings of his ski bindings were set to 6, a level usually suited for a much younger, more advanced and aggressive skier.
* DIN stands for Deutsches Institut für Normung, which is German for "German Institute for Standardization." In skiing, DIN is a scale used to measure the release force of ski bindings. A higher DIN setting means more force is required to release the boot from the binding.
• Too low: The boot could release too early, such as while skiing down a hill
• Too high: The boot might not release in time to prevent injury
Stan was unable to walk and was taken away by the Ski Patrol on a toboggan - his only such experience in his 66 years of skiing!
🏥 The ER at the Mammoth Hospital🧑🏼🦽
Thursday, December 19: I spend the day with Stan in the ER while they are taking X-rays and CAT scans of everything from his head to his toes. I ask them to also scan his right rib cage to see if he has any damage from his fall near the jacuzzi three days earlier.
It is is very chilly in the ER, and Stan keeps asking for more blankets. He is very weak and uncomfortable in the ER bed. I am cold also, and wear my down coat over my fleece while sitting in a hard chair for hours.
Scan Results: Fortunately, Stan's brain is OK, but he did fracture his right knee, sprain his right ankle, and fracture his left ankle. As we suspected, he also has a fractured rib from his fall earlier in the week.
Hopefully, he may escape without surgery on his right knee. The other fractures and sprain should heal on their own with time.
Boot and Brace: Stan is fitted with a large ‘boot’ on his fractured left ankle and a knee brace on the right leg, both of which he must wear full time for 6-8 weeks. He is not allowed to put any weight on his right leg.
🩼 Crutches and Walker: Next, they unwrap a pair of crutches for him, but decide against having him try them out because he is so weak due to the trauma from the accident.
Instead, he tries using a walker. He has trouble going more than a few feet, especially since he is allowed to put weight only on his left booted foot. The aide says that at that rate, it will take him 15 minutes to reach the toilet, and takes him there by wheelchair.
At the end of the afternoon, the ER is ready to release Stan. I tell them that there is no way that I can get him down our icy sidewalk to our condo! And it is much too late for me to pack up the car in the dark and drive him 8 hours to LA! They decide to admit him to the hospital overnight. I can pick him up tomorrow morning and take him home.
🧳 Packing Up & Charging the Tesla 🚙
🧳 Loading Up: On Friday, December 20, I get up early as usual, and pack up everything so we can leave as soon as Stan is released from the hospital. I successfully haul three wagon loads to the Tesla, pulling the wagon with one arm and balancing gingerly on the icy sidewalks with a hiking pole in the other. I load up the cooler from the refrigerator so it is ready to go.
Next, I am going to drive the Tesla to the Supercharger, which is located next door to our condo complex, and charge it while I have breakfast at our favorite place named The Breakfast Club.
🔒 Locked Out!! 🔐🔑 I don't want to carry a purse with my walking sticks, so I carefully set my Tesla and condo keys on the counter to put in my pocket when I leave. I place my driver's license and credit card in one pocket of my jeans and my cell phone in another. Then I put my parka on, and lock and leave the condo.
When I get to the Tesla, it won't respond or let me open the door! I reach for my keys in my pocket. but they aren't there!! I have left them behind, and I am locked out of the Tesla and the condo!
I call Greg, our condo manager. but only get a message on his personal and office numbers. I start walking around the complex, hoping to find him outdoors since I don't have his condo number.
I find Greg by his idling pickup where he is talking to a couple of his workers. I catch him just in time – he is about to drive to San Diego. Greg meets me at our condo with the spare key and I am back in business.
🐄 The Cow Palace: I leave the car at the Tesla Supercharger and walk to eat at The Breakfast Club while it charges. I like the food here, but I adore the decor. Everywhere you look is decorated with cows, especially Holsteins (the black and white ones).
I grew up on a dairy and cherry farm in Michigan, and we raised Holsteins. I tell the restaurant staff that they should change the name of the restaurant to The Cow Palace.
When I get back to the condo, I call Stan to see when he will be released, but he tells me that they want to keep him for another day and night. He is very weak and can barely get across the room to the john in a walker.
I unload the contents of the cooler back into the refrigerator, and settle in for a long day alone.
🦄The Unicorn: I talk to Stan during the day, and he is very cheerful. He says that the nurses are cute and give him lots of attention. He also tells me that they gave him the nickname The Unicorn. When I ask him why, he said it is because he is so unique – he smiles all of the time and never complains, unlike their other patients.
🔒 Locked Out Again!? I want to visit Stan in the hospital, so I carefully make sure that I have my keys in my pocket when I leave the condo. Once again, the Tesla doesn't unlock when I approach it. I retrieve the keys from my pocket, and they are the wrong ones!! I have taken the keys to my Porsche and our home by mistake.
Once again, I call our condo manager Greg, even though I know he is in San Diego. This time he answers, and tells me I am out of luck. When I ask if there is anything I can do short of calling a locksmith, he says that perhaps his girlfriend Anna can get the spare key.
I go back to the condo to wait for Anna. After 15 minutes, a guy walks around the corner and says, 'Good morning.' He turns in at our condo entrance porch and opens the door – Anna has sent him with the spare key. He turns to me and says, "Your door was unlocked."
By now, I am beginning to doubt my sanity and decide to remain in the condo the rest of the day. Later that afternoon, I get a call from daughter Tiffany saying that her husband Jason and their daughter Juliet will be arriving late that evening to ski for a few days. They will help me finish loading up tomorrow and see us off at the hospital.
🚙 The Long Drive Home 🧳
Saturday, December 21: After loading the last items into the car, Jason, Juliet and I drive to the hospital at 10 am where we are shown to Stan's room. We meet his physical therapist who gives the final OK for him to be released.
Stan is wheeled out to the Tesla for our long 8-hour drive home with two stops for charging. The hospital gives him a walker and makes arrangements for us to pick up a wheelchair in Bishop, 40 miles south of Mammoth.
We get home in the dark at 6 pm. I am able to get the wheelchair out of the Tesla and set it up for Stan. Daughter Tiffany arrives around 7 pm to help me finish unpacking the car.
Tiffany retrieves my old walker from high up In the garage, allowing Stan to keep one by the bed and bathroom, and another near the couch in the family room. She also finds my old toilet support seat with armrests.
👨🦽➡️The Long Recovery
Monday, December 30: Stan is doing amazingly well, but he has several weeks to go. I was astonished when he wheeled out to join me the first morning home. He managed to get out of bed, use his walker to go to the bathroom, and transfer to his wheelchair all by himself.
We decide that I am capable of taking care of Stan for the time being, without having outside assistance. In addition to my usual sous chef duties, I have assumed Stan's chef responsibilities (under his guidance, of course 🤪).
Stan's injuries rarely give him any pain, although his shoulders and chest hurt from the effort of using the walker with only one leg for support.
🏋️ Our Personal Trainer
Monday, December 30: Our personal trainer, Jennifer, resumes her visits three times a week. Fortuitously, she is also a licensed physical therapist and an orthopedic surgeon from Germany, currently working towards obtaining her medical license to practice in the U.S. Jennifer examines Stan's X-rays and CAT scans and develops a new workout routine for him.
Wheelchair Exercises
Tuesday, December 24: Jennifer sees us two days in a row because she is taking Christmas off tomorrow. She comes bearing gifts for both of us and for Henry.
👨🏻⚕️ Orthopedic Trauma Specialist 🩻
Monday, December 30: I am able for the first time to back the Tesla out of its tight garage space and load the wheelchair up into the back – I knew I could back the Tesla out of the garage, but I have always let Stan do it. I drive Stan to see an orthopedic trauma specialist recommended by his friend Jerry, who formerly owned the clinic.
Everything is healing fine, and the new doctor sees no need for further tests. The large, heavy 'boot' on his left foot is replaced by a light, velcroed 'shoe.' Another six weeks should have Stan back on his feet (although probably not back on the slopes this season).
🎿 Dreaming of His New Ski Boots
Wednesday, January 1, 2025: It's New Years Day, and Stan is sitting on our patio, dreaming of the new $800 rear-entry ski boots he plans to purchase for his next skiing adventure. For years, he has struggled to put on his warmed-up boots in the condo and, even more frustratingly, to take off his cold boots by his ski locker.
There will most likely be two changes he will make when he skis again next winter – he won't be entering any ski races and he'll be changing the DIN settings on his ski bindings to those more appropriate for his age.
⛷️🏥 The End🧑🏼🦽🏋️
🎿 Stan's Disclaimer
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