Adam L. Reiner – Splitboarding, mountaineering, and lifestyle in the Colorado Rockies

On a rare saturday in which I am in Denver and my boy Brian has a day off from the retail gig, we decided to head up to Loveland Ski Area and hike a few big mountain lines with convenient access via chairlift.  After a few warm up runs, we headed north from the top of Lift 9 and switched over to the climbing skins. We soon were stopped by a rope. We could see four patrollers and a sled high up on the ridge, so we sat and had a snack while watching the show.

BOOM!! Blast after blast went off, as patrol cut the slope. There was one small surface slide, but otherwise the snowpack was stable. Finally, the guy on the sled came down to us with a thumbs up sign, and opened up the ropes.

We scrambled to the summit and switched over the gear. There were two other skiers who bootpacked up behind us. The first guy on teles dropped in off the cornice and made a few turns, and it looked like excellent powder. I hiked a bit up the ridge with my board and made a very smooth drop directly down the face, making great turns in the snow before traversing over to the “chutes”.

There are about four chutes above Lift 8, and each one has its own difficulty and aethetics. The skiers went down the large middle chute, but Brian dropped in at the end and called me over. It was a narrow, S-curved couloir, and I made about 5 good jump turns before straightening it out and cruising down the apron to the main ski area.

While back on the lift, we discussed what to do next. Because it was a full moon, clear skies, and we had all our backcountry equipment, we thought of hiking out of bounds at the end of the day. After talking to ski patrol, we learned that the best way to leave the area was via a gate at the top of Lift 1.

On the way over to Lift 1, we decided to hit up the terrain park for a run. There was some jib event going on, with tents and music. However, the upper park, containing two “big air” jumps, had only a few people sessioning. We hit both jumps with decent speed, and I felt very confident. When we got to the lift, I turned to my partner and said “lets do it again”. We had watched multiple riders brake check before the jump, and land short on the end of the transition. I knew I could gather a lot of speed and air it out.

The second time around, Brian went first and threw a spread eagle. Then it was my turn. I started from much higher than usual, and I straight lined it directly at the feature without making a turn. As soon as I got airborn I completely lost balance. My head and body leaned over to the left, and my board was no longer under me.

“Ahhhhhh!” I screamed as it hit the ground hard. I don’t recall blacking out, because I kept screaming “My legs! Help! I broke my legs!” I was sliding out of control towards the second jump, but stopped myself and managed to take my board off.

The next moments were a blur. Brian had climbed back up to my position, and I asked him to go back to the landing and grab my goggles, which had flown off my head upon impact.

I don’t know how long it took for ski patrol to show up, but soon I was surrounded by a group of people who were all doing different things and asking me questions.

I knew my name, my partners name, the day of theweek and my location. However, I did not know what month it was, nor did I know what I had just done. However, Ski Patrol took one look at my helmet and said “we’re taking you down.”

Still in a concussion daze, they strapped me to a sled and took me to HQ. There I started hearing witness accounts of what happened.

“He was going fast, man.”
“Forty or fifty feet to the ground!”

Luckily, they managed to pull off two of my jackets without cutting them. When they found the avalanche beacon strapped to my chest, they said “That is strong procedure, man.”

I don’t know if I agreed to take an ambulance or not, but soon I was strapped to a backboard and loaded up. Right before I left, Brian showed me the accident report he filled out. On it was a picture of a stick man with a cloud saying “I’m going big!” and spiraling out of control.

The 50 mile ambulance ride down the hill was painful. My head was strapped so tight to the board and I was in exteme pain. My legs were strapped down, and all I wanted to do was flex my knees to see how they felt. I had most of my mental state together, and I chatted with the EMT while complaining of the uncomfortable conditions.

The ER at St. Anthony’s was the most chaotic scene of all. It must have been a slow week, because all these anxious young interns and nurses were all over me, like a scene out of the TV show “ER”. As soon as I got in, one guy says “Sorry, bro, but we’re cutting off these clothes.” Another one stuck some needles and an IV in my left arm. Soon a woman came and drew blood from my right arm. All throughout the nightmare, I could see people passing my helmet around, and everyone was shocked at the condition and telling me how lucky I was to be alive.

After a trip to the CT scan, and X-rays on my knees, I was left in peace. I listened to the monitor beep, and closed my eyes for a bit.

Soon I heard “Hey buddy,” and woke to see Brian standing over me. “You alive?”

“Yeah,” I said, but my knees hurt.

The nurse came back in and told me that I didn’t have any broken bones, and it was probably a sprained MCL. However, the bloodwork showed that I had a high white-blood cell count.

“Isn’t that good?” I asked, thinking back to the elementary school science classes.
“Well, it is a sign of intense trauma, so we are going to flush you with an IV and take blood again. You’ll be here for a few hours.”
“A few hours?!” I whined.

So for the next two hours I was moved out into the hallway. I patiently watched the IV drip go down slowly, while observing the hospital operations. I was going crazy, texting my girlfriend repeatedly, asking her to come and get me the hell out of there!

Finally I was released at 9 p.m., and I hobbled out to the car with a knee immobilizer on. I have proclaimed my retirement from the terrain park, but I can’t wait to heal up the knee and get back into the backcountry for the Spring Season.

What my skull would have looked like without the helmet.

Just when the climate started to get mild after the brutal winter, Aspen woke up to a raging storm this morning. It took me 90 minutes to drive to town. When I got here I turned my truck around at the parking lot, threw it in reverse, and floored it. When my truck came to a stop, I got out. Ajax reported 10 inches…so instead of riding fresh powder, I grabbed my lunchbox and went to work.

Welcome to adamlreiner.com!   After screwing around for countless years on Xanga and Myspace, I’ve finally coughed up the ten bucks and registered MY DOMAIN.  I will be doing a lot of blogging and photo posting, but the ultimate purpose of this website is to turn my writing hobby into something more serious.  Thanks to my brother at WEBOSIS for helping me out!  –Adam

<P>I have a friend who has a drinking problem.&nbsp; When he has too much to drink he gets loud and out of control.&nbsp; He will cuss repeatedly, yell at people, and even insult complete strangers.&nbsp; Back in the fraternity days, this behavior was quite entertaining.&nbsp; However, now that we have grown up, most of us consider it unacceptable.&nbsp; He has even admitted to having this problem, and as more and more of his friends started to abandon him, he vowed to change his ways.&nbsp; However, this past weekend he was back to his old self.&nbsp; Even when our close friend tried to explain to him his problem, he responded with “I don’t give a fuck!”&nbsp; Finally, when the server cut him off, and he responded with some very rude comments, I knew things had gone too far.&nbsp; Soon the bar manager was out talking to him.&nbsp; The manager probably talked for 20 minutes, he did not throw my friend out of the bar, but merely gave him a lecture on respect (especially for women) and behavior.&nbsp; My friend finally listened to the manager, said “I’m sorry” a dozen times, and stopped drinking.&nbsp; However, had my friend first listened to our other friend who tried to tell him the same thing earlier, there would be no need for the manager to come out at all!</P>
<P>I have had my past struggles with substance abuse.&nbsp; I caused many problems for myself and those around me.&nbsp; However, I have overcome my problem long ago.&nbsp; I have no quit drinking completely, but more in moderation.&nbsp; When I was young I had always watched my Dad act in social situations.&nbsp; He would almost always have a beer in hand, but while his buddies were throwing back 3 in a row, he would drink more moderately.&nbsp; By the end of the night my Dad would be calm and cool while those around him were rowdy and intoxicated.&nbsp; These days, I find myself acting the same way.&nbsp; I like to drink beer, but I seriously dislike the feeling of being drunk.&nbsp; This past weekend, I had a cocktail before dinner, followed by a glass of wine, and then a couple of beers through the night.&nbsp; In between drinks I drank glasses of water, coffee, and danced out on the floor empty-handed.&nbsp; By the time my friend was getting lectured by the bar manager, I was completely sober, drinking a glass of water and watching my friend’s actions in disgust.</P>
<P>As we left the bar, the manager said to us “you can judge a person by the friends he keeps.”&nbsp; Because we were all polite, and some of us even apologized to the server on behalf of our friend, he was spared an ejection from the bar.&nbsp; </P>
<P>It did not take much to convince my friend to give me the keys to his car (thankfully).&nbsp; But although I was totally sober, it does not make up for another problem I have: a speeding problem.&nbsp; Whenever I am on the highway, you can find me in the far left lane, moving faster than the cars to my right, and riding up on the tailgate of a car in front of me.&nbsp; In my opinion the left lane on most highways should not have a speed limit, but unfortunately it does.&nbsp; As we were driving back to my friends house on the highway, I was cruising in the left lane when I saw a car start to creep up on my right side.&nbsp; So, naturally, I sped up (there should be no reason for a car in the right lane to be moving faster than the left).&nbsp; He started to creep more and more, and I sped up more.&nbsp; Then he changed lanes and got behind me.&nbsp; He was tailgating me, so I moved even faster.&nbsp; I finally hit 80 mph when my rearview mirror exploded in flashing red and blue!&nbsp; </P>
<P>My inebriated friend in the passenger seat started to freak out.&nbsp; “Are you okay, man?” he kept asking as I pulled over.&nbsp; It was very obvious that the cops were aiming for a DUI sting…but I was totally confident.</P>
<P>The cop walked over and told me I was speeding, checked my license and insurance, asked if I still lived in Colorado (this incident was happening in Illinois) and if I had an up to date insurance card (mine renews every september, and I assumed the new card was waiting in my mailbox back home), and asked whos car I was driving.&nbsp; Finally, he asked me to get out of the car and walk back to his squad car.&nbsp; Both my friends in the car thought they were going to be picking me up in jail, but I wasn’t worried.&nbsp; At first I thought the cop was going to make me blow in a breathalizer, and I wondered if he was prepared for me to tell him that it wasn’t going to happen (not ever, thank you).&nbsp; However, he simply said to me, in a casual manner “I just have to do a test to make sure you are safe to drive”.&nbsp; He moved his pen back and forth and up and down, and I followed with my eyes, and he told me to get back in the car and he would write me a warning for the speeding. I thought for a second about explaining to the cop that I was only speeding because he was creeping on my right, but I figured I was getting off easy so I’d just let it go.</P>
<P>I got back in the car and my friends were shocked. “I can’t believe you’re back in the car!” one said.&nbsp; </P>
<P>”No worries,” I told him,&nbsp; “I know I’m sober, the cop knows I’m sober.&nbsp; I’m a sober friend driving a couple intoxicated friends home.&nbsp; This is how it is supposed to work.”</P>
<P>As a growing Catholic, my favorite of Christ’s teaching is to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”&nbsp; In a more holistic sense, this theory translates to karma.&nbsp; When you bestow good karma upon those around you, you will be rewarded when you need it most.&nbsp; Because I had watched my friend spiral into a drunken mess, I had slowed down my drinking, to stay alert and more responsible.&nbsp; Because I had been polite and calm when my friend insulted the bar staff, he was spared an ejection.&nbsp; Finally, I was rewarded by staying out of jail after a fun night on the town.&nbsp; I only hope my unfortunate friend starts to realize this power and curbs his behavior for the better.</P>