I’m a traveler. The last few years of my life have been filled with new experiences and adventures year round, especially once the snow starts to fall. In the winter I’m always on the road; traveling to competitions and ski events, chasing storms, or just heading to different places to meet up with friends. Even when the driving stops and I’ve reached my destination, my days are filled with tours in the backcountry, non-stop days of skiing at the resort, and recently epic speed riding flights. Then WHACK, and my whole life came to a stand still.

Dropping into "The Key Hole" at the Alpine Meadows comp

With 1300miles added to my odometer, I sighed with relief as I turned my car off, and another ski road trip was complete. I had just competed in Alpine Meadows, California at one of the Tough Guy Productions’ Big Mountain Telemark Series stops. The comp went well; I placed 7th, and it was great to see all all my friends and fellow competitors. I came home to a fresh vail of new snow and I was excited finally to be back in Sun Valley for longer than a week! I was having a blast skiing in the “The Burn” (the fire scorched backside of Baldy) with my friend Miles Fink-Debray. Miles is an alpine racer, and we hardly ever see each other due to conflicting travel schedueles, so it was great to actually ski together. We had been charging and had gotten five, amazing, untracked Pow-laps in. With our sixth lap almost complete, we were almost back in the resort in a section called “Windows.” Like the name implies, there are natural open areas in the glades which allow for skiing fast and not having to worry about dodging trees. My hoot-n-hollerin’ turned to yells of pain after a WHACK. I slammed my shin into a tree stump that was hidden under the new snow, like a racer would shin a slalom gate. I was in so much pain that vision was going black and tunneling. After managing to get down and into the doctor I was relieved to learn how lucky I was. I had dislocated my knee, but everything else was somehow intact! Considering that I should have broken my leg, and I should have torn all the ligaments in my knee, I am thankful to have a relatively minor injury. With the help of Dr. Stephan Siele, at Ascension Holistic Health Center, I’m already off crutches and walking around semi-normally!

This injury has given me a timeout and a chance to slow down for a change. I cannot remember the last time I had to just chill and lay low for a month. I’m hoping my physical therapy allows me to get back on skis before the end of the season, and I’m healing really fast, so send good vibes my way! Also, I might be able to work with Sun Valley Adaptive sports and have a chance to try out a sit-ski, so I’ll at least be able to get on snow again this season even if my leg isn’t quite ready!

It was a cloudy day so instead of jumping into flat light, I worked on my hand drag 360′s off the knuckles…

The Level of Competition on the men’s side of things was amazing. The new snow made sure that big drops, spins, flips and stomped landings were a common occurrence today. Drew Tabke, Lars Chickering-Ayers, Mat Jackson, Spencer Brinson, Griffin Post, skied the top five mens runs.

The Sun Valley athletes all skied some big gnarly lines and placed well within the field. North Parker flashed a steep big line and sent a big air into 8th. Drew Stoecklein and Griffin Post skied similar lines off a huge triple staged cliff drop. Griffin stomped his landing putting him in 5th, while a little backslap left Drew in 16th. Axel Peterson skied a super fun line but over-rotated on his 360 while sending it over a 30-40ft drop, causing him to crash and score low in the control category. Axel ended up in 39th after his crash. Collin Collins was the last competitor to ski today, and after sitting in the cold wind up at the top he threw down one of the most stylie runs of the day. Collin threw a huge 720 over a 40-50drop which boosted his score in the style category leaving him in 15th place.

Collin Collins’ 720 was sicker than H1N1″ — Judge Dash Longe

a:Collin Collins p:Billy Swan

Tomorrow, the top 20 Men and 7 Women from today, will jump in the heli to compete in the finals on Mackenzie Face! Be sure to tune back in to the FWT live webcast at 10am PST.