After Sunday’s whiteout and 8″ of beautiful, sparkling champagne powder I woke up yesterday looking forward to a great day of skiing.  I started early, and as the day progressed, the gloomy, overcast skies turned sunny.  I was so happy.  I skied by myself, since J and H were both sore (J’s hip and H’s ankles).  While I missed them, it was a happy day.  I did whatever runs I felt like doing, met some interesting people on the lifts, and was skiing very well, at least for me.  The new snow had softened up the bumps, the groomers were soft but fast, and I found lots of powder in the trees.  I met a couple of people who had never skied Snowmass (one from Australia and one from Wisconsin) and it was fun to hear their enthusiasm for this great mountain.

At the top of the Cirque…looks like the moon but a great place to find some incredible powder!

I was on my last run of the day, smiling inside and out, thinking about how lucky I was to be able to experience this, and how happy I was to have H with us for a few more days before she leaves to go back to college, and decided to take a quick run through some trees at the top of Showcase.  I felt really good, looking between the trees for my path, when all of a sudden it seemed like a big tree just appeared out of nowhere!  The ER physician got a kick out of that…of course, it was my fault.  I was probably a little too confident for my ability.  My first instinct was to put my hand up to block my inevitable collision, and luckily, I didn’t hit the tree with my head or any other body part.  I didn’t even fall.  I wish I could say I was making a miraculous save, like pushing some little kid out of the way, or something a little more exciting than just pushing away from the tree, but it was pretty non-impressive.  I wasn’t even going very fast.  As I skied home down Turkey Trot, finding tons of fresh powder on the way, I realized my thumb really hurt.

The Powerline Glades…great tree skiing for intermediates!

Long story short, I went home, iced, took four Advil, but it continued to swell and turn black and blue.  On my way to the gym I decided  to stop at the Snowmass Clinic, since they closed at 4:30, to have them take a look.  (Very happy surprise…even though they’re part of Aspen Valley Hospital, the cost of an X-ray and splint was a fraction of what we spent at AVH ER last year with H).  I was beginning to think I was probably over-reacting, but yep, the thumb was broken.  They splinted it and called to make an appointment with an orthopedic for the next day.  Coincidentally, my husband and daughter both had appointments with the SAME doctor on the SAME day!

Pretty much the smile I had all day long…until the last run

Here’s what’s good about getting injured in a ski town.  Dr. Purnell asked me what I ‘needed’ to do with this injury.  I looked at him and said, “Ski?”  I couldn’t imagine skiing, because it hurt so much, but he didn’t even blink.  He said he would cast it in a shape that could still hold a ski pole, and told me I could ski that afternoon!  The only problem is fitting a glove over the cast, and neither my gloves nor my husband’s would fit.  I bought some Large Down gloves for  $59 at GoLite, the new store in the old Aspen Candy Company spot, which work almost perfectly.

Perfect shape to hold a ski pole!

I had a great afternoon in Aspen with a little retail therapy to make me feel better!  We’re heading into a dry few days, but the sun will be out, and there’s a lot of snow on the ground, so I’m looking forward to it!  Sure, fresh snow is awesome, but sunshine and blue skies just make me happy.  I’m looking forward to our day with ski instructor extraordinaire, Sam Green tomorrow!