S
Hi all.
I had just finished building my 2013 500XCW / TS 120RAW and took her up to the mountains for a shakedown. Snow was perfect and a quick 15 minute rip at the trailhead showed it was a "Go for liftoff"
I'd spent a day last year riding a well set up Husky 450 all day with a guide up in Oregon and I quickly remembered how to turn the beast on packed trail. This was going to be a great day!
Went back to the truck where my sled head buddies were. Got ready to leave and had to cross about 25 feet of bare asphalt.
I had already had a couple of sketchy moments on some shorter patches of asphalt, the ski was very unpredictable, so I took it really slow.
But as I was making my way across, the rig started to tip to the right. Before I could even put my foot down (Tall seat height + 29" inseam= bad combo) the ski instantly shot out to the left and I went down.
My foot was pinned under the bike, but no big deal, or so I thought. I had my dirt bike protective gear on and good Klim snowbike boots on.
While I was trying to lift the bike off me to pull my foot out I looked down and to my horror, I saw my foot was pointed backward!
FRACK!! I just broke my Effing ankle. I didn't really feel much pain, shock I guess. Sure as hell, once I pulled my foot out from under, it was flopping around like a boneless chicken.
It was just a freak thing that happend SO fast. I must have caught the toe of my boot just right as I was going down and it twisted backward.
Turns out I had snapped the Tibia, Fibula and cracked the Talus. Went to the local mountain Hospital but they were not equipped or staffed for this, but they tried anyway to reposition the big mess.
I'll save y'all the gory detail but it sucked big time. Pain was way over the top, literally seeing red. They tried 3 separate times but finally gave up, put a cast on it, tossed me a quarter, and said to call someone who cared.
So I went to the ER at my hometown hospital, and they repositioned the bones better, recasted it and scheduled surgery for the following week.
Surgery is done now and I'm stuck in a wheelchair (Surprisingly my wife wouldn't let me get a motorized one) for 2-3 months before I can put any weight on it.
I'm sure the veterans here know about how tricky it can be, but for my fellow newbies, You've been warned! I so wish that I had gotten off and walked it across the bare patch.
I missed out on a spectacular day & many more this season, There's about 15 - 20 feet up high in the Sierras right now!
I had just finished building my 2013 500XCW / TS 120RAW and took her up to the mountains for a shakedown. Snow was perfect and a quick 15 minute rip at the trailhead showed it was a "Go for liftoff"
I'd spent a day last year riding a well set up Husky 450 all day with a guide up in Oregon and I quickly remembered how to turn the beast on packed trail. This was going to be a great day!
Went back to the truck where my sled head buddies were. Got ready to leave and had to cross about 25 feet of bare asphalt.
I had already had a couple of sketchy moments on some shorter patches of asphalt, the ski was very unpredictable, so I took it really slow.
But as I was making my way across, the rig started to tip to the right. Before I could even put my foot down (Tall seat height + 29" inseam= bad combo) the ski instantly shot out to the left and I went down.
My foot was pinned under the bike, but no big deal, or so I thought. I had my dirt bike protective gear on and good Klim snowbike boots on.
While I was trying to lift the bike off me to pull my foot out I looked down and to my horror, I saw my foot was pointed backward!
FRACK!! I just broke my Effing ankle. I didn't really feel much pain, shock I guess. Sure as hell, once I pulled my foot out from under, it was flopping around like a boneless chicken.
It was just a freak thing that happend SO fast. I must have caught the toe of my boot just right as I was going down and it twisted backward.
Turns out I had snapped the Tibia, Fibula and cracked the Talus. Went to the local mountain Hospital but they were not equipped or staffed for this, but they tried anyway to reposition the big mess.
I'll save y'all the gory detail but it sucked big time. Pain was way over the top, literally seeing red. They tried 3 separate times but finally gave up, put a cast on it, tossed me a quarter, and said to call someone who cared.
So I went to the ER at my hometown hospital, and they repositioned the bones better, recasted it and scheduled surgery for the following week.
Surgery is done now and I'm stuck in a wheelchair (Surprisingly my wife wouldn't let me get a motorized one) for 2-3 months before I can put any weight on it.
I'm sure the veterans here know about how tricky it can be, but for my fellow newbies, You've been warned! I so wish that I had gotten off and walked it across the bare patch.
I missed out on a spectacular day & many more this season, There's about 15 - 20 feet up high in the Sierras right now!
