Back to Brighton - Glenn Takes a Spill

I was up near 6am after a really good night of sleep. It felt a little odd to wake without Mindy at my side. In the dark, I started coffee then played on the internet and did some writing. I headed to the gym around 715am and ran three miles on the treadmill in about 26 minutes. Felt really good. Did 40 curls with 15lb dumbbells before heading back to the room.

Tommy was up having coffee and playing on his iPhone. The plan was to ski Brighton again. We would get there by taking the resort shuttle from the village to Moonbeam, and then the UTA bus to the Brighton ticket lodge, though we planned to ask the resort shuttle driver for a lift all the way to Brighton.

We were ready to depart in record time. We headed out of the condo around 9am. The resort shuttle was there a couple minutes later. Same guy as before. We offered some extra cash for a ride to Brighton, which is only a mile or so up the road and right next door to the Solitude Nordic Center. He agreed as long as we were the only shuttle riders. We were, so he took us all the way to Brighton.

It was another sunny day, but with scattered clouds. There was a small line at the ticket window but it moved fast. Chatted briefly with a guy from Cincinnati who was in the next line over. We were headed up the lift by 945am.

We skied Snake River and Great Western for about two hours on a packed powder surface. Tommy complained of leg cramps and lagged behind on most runs. Glenn and I took on our first true black diamond. It was groomed so it was fairly easy. Near noon we took a break in Molly Green’s, the same place we ate & drank on Monday.

I was hungry but didn’t want to stuff myself. I had one beer and a plate of wings. We were inside for maybe an hour. After lunch the sky clouded over completely for the first time all week. We headed to the Milly Express lift and terrain on the western edge of the park where there are fewer trees and more boulders. The runs are a bit steeper there, too, and a little less familiar. The flat lighting left it difficult for me to ski aggressively. Tommy made it clear that he was taking the easiest way down which was still a bit tougher than the rest of the park. At one point I thought I was following Glenn and skied out to the face which was a rugged black with numerous ledges and boulders. I realized last second that it wasn’t Glenn. I had to peg up an incline to get back to the blue trails. Yikes!

After one more run off of Milly Express, we made our way back to the Crest lift. I’m thinking it was near 230pm. We skied off the Crest lift several times. More often than not we would get separated on the many paths down but then reconvene at the lift’s base. We headed down a run together with Glenn skiing up on an 8’ sidewall feature that had to be about 150’ long. I almost followed but opted not and skied on faster than he and Tommy. I skied all the way to the base taking several different trails. I skied it really slow due to flat lighting. I more than expected Glenn to be waiting at the lift’s base. He wasn’t. I wondered if one of the two had taken a bad spill. I waited for about ten minutes before Glenn and Tommy finally made their way down. I waved towards them but only Tommy acknowledged. Glenn was uncharacteristically lagging behind. I motioned for them to join me at the lift but Tommy waved me off pointing towards Glenn. It soon became clear that he was hurt. He fell off that 8’ wall.

Glenn headed into the lower level of Molly Green’s and checked himself for any obvious injuries. Said he landed on his shoulder and side and was in a lot of pain. In fact, he was wincing in pain. No outward appearing injuries. A UTA pulled away just as we settled into the lodge. Tommy checked the schedule. Another bus would come by within 30 minutes. I asked Glenn if he wanted to leave. Yep. A few minutes later we saw a bus pull up to the pick-up shelter. We hurried out to insure we didn’t miss it. In fact, we skied over to the bus shelter.

Tommy asked the driver of he’d stop at the village versus the Moonbeam lodge thus saving us the hassle of waiting for the village shuttle. Nope! Said he simply couldn’t. Lucky for us (Glenn) the village shuttle pulled up at the Moonbeam lodge just minutes after we exited the UTA bus. We were back at our condo by 4pm.

I quickly got cozy with my book and a couple bloody Mary’s while Tommy put the TV on the MeTV channel where we watched Hogan’s Heroes. Around 730pm Tommy & Glenn headed out to dinner, back to the Honeycomb Grille. I opted not. Wasn’t that hungry, though I did have a handful or two of Cheezits. I was tired and headed to bed before 930pm.