The Nissan Freeride de Tignes was a couple weeks ago. I skied a really good line up top, and then clipped some peppery rocks near the bottom, stupidly tumbling and dislocating my shoulder. I was sitting at the bottom feeling sorry for myself as I watched Adrien Coirier (FRA) take the worst crash I’ve ever seen. I stopped feeling sorry for myself. I thought my friend was going to die, and memories of Neal Valiton flashed through my head. Neal did die, in a freeride competition on this same mountain two years ago.

Luckily it turns out Adrien was OK. Two lungs filled with blood. 5 broken vertibrae (but no spinal damage). 4 broken ribs. Broken scapula. Just two weeks later when I visited him at his parent’s house in Landry near Les Arcs, France he was mobile and talkative. Though skinny; he lost 10kg in 10 days after the accident since he couldn’t eat with all the morphine intake.

Adrien is an inspiration. He is fearless. Where seeing his fall and his injuries shake my confidence in my continued participation in the sport, I see in his eyes only another challenge to overcome (this was his first year back after a year off due to knee injury) and the intense desire to once again be standing confidently on top of another challenging mountain.

The Grande Baume

My line. I crashed lower.

Adrien’s line. Yellow is the fall.

In the hospital.

A real skier.