It was late March at Jay Peak, Vermont. It had snowed the night before and Drew Green, an engineer from Connecticut and a season passholder at Jay, set out with his friends to enjoy the late-season powder day. Green skis when he’s in the backcountry but inbounds and on powder days, he prefers his snow skate, essentially a snowboard without bindings. Anyway, he was out there having a ball. When suddenly, a tree stump ended everything. (Warning: There are some gory details below.) These are his words.
It was that kind of spring day that you’re always waiting for. A powder day with no crowds. We’re riding in the woods, having a good old time, hooting and hollering and jumping off things. We’re way out in the woods and maybe I was a little too excited? Hard to say. But I went off a drop and there was a blind landing.
I would describe it as a vampire stake-shaped stump. I was hoping to sail over it, but the stump hit my back legs and my left leg was stabbed by the vampire stake. Here’s the amazing thing: It did not penetrate my Baker Bibs. I think what happened is my bibs acted like a membrane. They saved me from getting splintered wood into my flesh. The stump took a banana-sized piece of meat out of the back of my leg. It went in four inches.
It was my first pair of Baker Bibs. I was on my third season in them and they were holding up strong.
After I hit the stump, I was looking for a hole in my pants. But my bibs were undamaged. I was like, what happened here? I ended up unzipping the side vent and I could see that my baselayers were soaked in blood.
I ended up pulling the elastic boot gaiter on my bibs up and over the injury and twisting the fabric and tying it to create a tourniquet and try to slow the bleeding. That worked well enough that I could get out, with my friends following me, to make it to the ski patrol shack at the bottom of the mountain.
I walked into ski patrol, and I said, 'I’m opened up.' They cut off my pants and baselayer, and once the wound was exposed, everybody’s jaws just dropped. They weren’t expecting to see that. Jay Peak ski patrol is the best. They put on a more solid tourniquet, called an ambulance, and I got a ride to the emergency room, where they stitched me up and sent me home on crutches.
The doctor said if I’d gotten wood in there, infection would have been a serious concern. I was very lucky to not have splinters lodged in my leg.
The main issue might have been complacency. I was in an area I’m familiar with, and I was acting too comfortably. That was my main mistake. Also, it’s a good reminder to always ride with friends.
[Drew Green is now the proud owner of a new pair of Baker Bibs. He hopes to never encounter vampire stakes in the woods again.]