Joined the club yesterday

Snow Patrol
Originally uploaded by Dshot.

The ignominious club of those dragged down the mountain on a sled by the ski patrol.

I hyper-extended my left knee in some fresh powder while snowboarding. Ouch! I didn't need to go to the hospital, but there was no way I was going to be able to board down the rest of the way.

While it is a season-ending injury, it's not a career-ending injury. :-)

Happily, it happend at the end of the day yesterday, and I'd gotten in a fun-filled day of boarding. (Have I mentioned that the Stokes Family South Austin is in CO on vacation? Today's our last day.) This little injury in no way dampens my infatuation with snowboarding. Wow. It is so very much fun!

EDIT 03.03.07: To add, for Walter's sake, that at the moment of impact, I felt a *pop* and *grind* in my knee as I flipped head over heels. Sue was skiing behind me and came up to ask if I was ok. I was too busy gasping in pain and trying to throw the releases on my snowboard to drop the weight from my leg to answer her. Then, board off, now face-up, and while I packed my knee with snow, she asked if I needed her to call the ski patrol. A few moments passed while I weighed the shame of the drag-down with the pain in the leg. "Yes, please call them."

Now that three days have passed, I'm happy to report that my femur must have popped out and then right back into the knee socket, since my leg can bear weight and I'm walking, slowly, on it with minimal pain. I'm up to my fourth joint I've had pop in and out in my life: right elbow, both shoulders, now left knee.