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Headline RSS FeedSnow gods keep adding insult to injury
February 6, 2008 —
Injuring your knee during the storm cycle of the century after 33 years of virtually injury-free skiing is a bit like going undefeated during the regular season and throughout the playoffs then losing the Super Bowl.
You can tell yourself (and anyone else who’ll listen) how lucky you’ve been, how many epic powder days you’ve had over those past 33 years, how many incredible days you had this season before getting hurt, but the fact of the matter is, they’re out there in waist-deep fluff, hooting and hollering and holding up the Lombardi Trophy, and you’re at home with ice on your knee.
Apparently I was viciously mean to somebody or some small animal in some previous life, because this is one big, brutal karmic check I’m being forced to cash right now. Luckily, like Tom Perfect, I have a super-model wife at home to help me drown my sorrows … and keep stats like these away from me:
January snowfall on Vail Mountain was 98 inches (the average for the month is 64). That ties December’s 98 inches for the most snowfall in any month in the past seven years. The previous high was 96 in December of 2006.
The seasonal cumulative total at Vail on Jan. 31 was 239 inches, which is four and a half feet above the average of 186 and less than 100 inches from the seasonal average of 330 inches with two and half of the snowiest months left before the lifts shut down.
It snowed 24 days of the 31 days in January in Vail, the highest number of days in one month in recent history (at least seven years back). The second highest number of days was December, when it snowed 22 days of the month.
Beaver Creek also recorded its snowiest December and January since 1996, receiving 93 inches of snow in January compared to 105.2 inches of snow in January of 1996. The historical average for the month is 52.4 inches.
Beaver Creek got 90 inches in December compared to 100.9 inches of snow in December of 1996, and the historical average for the month is 54.6 inches. Overall, Beaver Creek got 234 inches of accumulative snowfall through Jan, 31, and the historical average through that date is 169 inches.
And the snow just keeps coming. So far in February Vail has had another 22 inches of snow for a total season-to-date of 271 inches. Crazy.
All of this means maybe the snowpack will be so deep the powers that be will extend the ski season and by some miracle I’ll get back on skis before the lifts shut down. Dr. Steadman is telling me that, despite the fact that my ACL is gone in my left knee, I may be able to get away without reconstructive surgery. After all, I’ve been skiing without a ligament for 16 years, so why start now?
Only thing is, if I get back on skis by, say, late March or April, it’s doubtful there will be acres of light fluffy powder waiting for me. Which makes getting back on skis after the storm cycle of the century (SCOTC) is all but a distant memory a bit like going undefeated during the regular season and throughout the playoff, losing the Super Bowl, then flying all the way to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl.
Still fun, but somehow not quite the same.
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