(Long form) What it's like to break your leg skiing and be saved by ski patrol

On Jan 15th 2023 I went off punk rock (under snake lift) at Brighton Resort, Utah. It was a great powder day and thought sending a drop over my skill level would be fine because the powder would save me. Drop was way bigger than I expected and I panicked, causing me to tuck and turn. My left ski tip landed at a forward angle that was steep enough to stop me from riding it out. My binding didn't release and the boot snapped my tibia and fibula as I fell forwards. I felt the pain probably 1/2 a second later and watched my leg flop in a way that I knew it was broken. Luckily it was under a ski lift and ski patrol came quickly.

As I rode in the sled, my weight slid me to the bottom to where every bump compressed the fracture making it quite painful.

There are 2 parts to the ski patrol facility. One is ski patrol and the other is a clinic. Any work done by ski patrol is free, but to be admitted to the clinic to get medication and X-rays costs money and is billed to insurance. Because I didn't want to risk a hefty bill if my insurance didn't cover it, I chose to not be admitted to the clinic. No X-ray or pain meds at this time.

I found, after I was sitting inside, that if I pulled away from my foot, stretching the fracture into traction, I had a large amount of relief. Because I assumed the hospital would cut my boot off, I asked ski patrol to take it off for me (can't waste a good pair of boots). I had probably 6 of them peel the boot off of me. Was probably the 2nd most painful experience of my life (1st comes later). I could tell they did a great job despite the pain. Then they wrapped me up in a cardboard splint.

My wife came up from Provo and drove me to the hospital (because I didn't want to pay for an ambulance haha). Getting down the canyon was slow due to avalanche control. The break occurred around 11AM and I didn't get to the hospital in Provo until about 5PM.

When in the ER, I was give Fentanyl by IV while they took the X-rays. I was happy that I wouldn't have any more pain. Wrong, I felt everything and it was more painful than when ski patrol took my boot off with no meds. My wife was embarrassed as I was screaming. She kept saying "shhh... This was because at this point she didn't believe it was broken (she says I have a low a low pain tolerance).

The next morning I had an Intramedullary nail surgically put in my Tibia with no cast. There are 2 main methods of insertion for this type of surgery. One above the knee cap and one below. They did above on me. They had me do toe touches that same day.

In April of that same year (2 months later) I was able to get back on skis. I could only do the bunny hill and it was quite painful.

1 year and a few months and I am 98% recovered. I can do everything I want (skiing, mountain biking), but I just don't quite have all the strength back in my quad muscles.