Skiing eh? Sounds like so much fun. And it is! We had an 8 day trip to La Tania, in the three valleys ski area – the largest ski resort in the world. Kate also managed a 6 day stay in the hospital in the lovely village of Moutiers, but more on that later, I’ll first cover the skiing stuff.
George and Martin, friends from work, organised this trip and we just tagged along. The package was “fully catered” which included flights, transfers, chalet accommodation, breakfast and dinner. Our chalet had a spa as well! The building was amazing, relocated from Russia, with lots of exposed timber. Rumour was that there were even Russian revolution era bullet holes, but we didn’t find them. Our chalet hosts Jamie and Helena cooked and looked after us for the 7 night stay. They were amazing! We even had cake waiting for us for afternoon tea when we returned from skiing.
Monday – Day 1 was a beautiful day…
Monday included an attempt by me to remember how to ski. I succeeded and was surprised at how much I remembered, kind of like falling off a bike? As Kate had never skied, she attended ski school and was utterly disappointed by her lack of “ability”. She didn’t feel that the school gave her enough practice, well, she said she got a lot of practice of falling over. She also said it was an experience to have the instructor crash tackle you to stop you from going through a shop window. After her schooling, we then went down the green (easy) run “Plan Fontaine” for Kate could practice skiing (and falling over) on, but she still felt overwhelmed, so on…
Tuesday – Day 2 We went to a gentle easy slope to practice. By the end of day 2 Kate was really happy with her progress, some turning and some stopping. Oh, she also had more falling over practice. Bruises started to show…
Wednesday – Day 3 I placed Kate on a gentle “bunny” slope to practice and I went off and did some skiing on my own, and some reconnaissance for future areas for Kate to play on. Kate progressed on this day, getting better and better, but she also added to her bruise collection…
Thursday – Day 4 We went to a novice area (that I had found the day before) so she could practice longer runs at higher altitude (i.e. better snow). This one was a nice wide slope, fenced off from the rest of the runs, but she still managed to find some places to fall over (and she also ran into the fences). By the end of this day, she was really impressed with her improvement. Was it time to hit the real runs?
Kate and her fence
Friday – Day 5 was the day of the green runs. We started by doing the run she was practicing on on Tuesday. She did really well and proved to herself that she could control her skiing (i.e. less falling over/running into fixed obstacles). So we then continued down other green runs until we had done all bar one green run in the Courchevel valley. Up until now, to get out of, and back into our area (La Tania) we had used the bus system. By taking busses to Courchevel we were better positioned to start taking large ski lifts to a larger number of runs. Kate was feeling that confident, we decided to not use the bus to get home, but to ski home. To do this, we had to travel further up the mountain. Our options were limited to get back to La Tania, and it required for us to use two blue (the next step up from green) runs. We then used “Plan Fontaine” to get back home – this time Kate had no trouble with this run that gave her trouble on day 1. With two blue runs under her belt, and all the green runs Courchevel had to offer, we ended the day on a high.
Saturday – Day 6 was our last day of skiing before we headed home Sunday morning. The day started out bright and clear. With great hopes for beautiful views and a full day of skiing, we headed out of La Tania. At the top of the bubble lift, we discovered that the next lift required to get out of our part of the valley wasn’t opening for another hour. Given that, we decided to descend “Plan Fontaine” again. This run Kate was very familiar with by now, so I thought it would be a nice ease into the day. Due to the clear conditions overnight, the snow was very icy – conditions that Kate had not experienced before. Coming down one of the steeper slopes, Kate hit ice. She started to brake, but hit more ice and started sliding sideways down the slope. She kept sliding and spun around and ploughed straight into a route marker pole, back first. These 3 inch poles are covered in padding to soften any blows, but due to the speed, Kate was thrown around the pole. Seeing this was horrible, she was whipped around the pole by her lower back in a way that you know there will be major damage. When I got to her she was screaming in pain. She could move her toes and fingers though, so my absolute worst fears of paralysis were reduced.
I called for the ski paramedics who arrived in short order. They assessed her and the four of them transferred her into a special foam mattress that they could shape to her body to support her spine and limbs. They then sucked out the air from the mattress making a hard and supportive shell. Kate was transferred to a sled and one of the paramedics then skied Kate off the mountain to a waiting ambulance. We were transferred by ambulance to a doctor’s surgery on the mountain. Xrays confirmed that Kate’s spine wasn’t out of alignment, but there were fractures. Due to the lack of more sophisticated equipment, the doctor transferred us to the Moutiers hospital. Following this second ambulance trip we arrived at the emergency entrance for the hospital.
Kate had a CT scan which revealed that she had fractured two vertebrae. This form of damage is usually results in a full recovery. But now we had started our next holiday – the one based in the hospital.
That night I called our travel insurance company to start the coverage for medical expenses and to organise repatriation to the UK. On Sunday, Kate was measured for a corset (a form of back brace) which she received on Monday. The corset was a wonderful addition to Kate’s hospital time, because it meant she could get out of bed and start walking around. The corset keeps her spine rigid so she can’t move the injured parts, this means no pain (unlike the pain you would experience if you broke a bone then bumped or moved that area of your body). Our two options for repatriation to the UK were by road ambulance (about 800 miles, 12-14 hours) or by medical flight. While the flight sounds easier, we would have to wait for the next flight, which was on Saturday – a full week after the accident.
Kate all wrapped up
Kate in her corset
Kate showing she can now feed herself!
The hospital were prepared to discharge Kate on the Wednesday, so we chose to take an ambulance back to the UK as soon as possible, which happened to be on Thursday .
I knew she was going to be ok early in the piece as she started to think about my welfare, even though she was the one flat on her back with a fractured spine. She asked…
“Are you ok?
Have you had a coffee today?
Have you had a beer today?
I don’t want you to wast away…”
So I was sure things were ok…
We have since found out that the corset is not always a common form of care in the UK. So thanks to our travel insurance, Kate has the corset, which means she can be somewhat mobile. She can’t sit, but she can perch on the edge of tables, chairs or stools. She also can’t bend down. Her main positions are now lying down, or standing up. But all this is great! She can walk, we had a great holiday, and it’s only a matter of time until she’s all better and we can head off to do some more skiing. Yes, she is quite keen to do more skiing, she loved the holiday! As did I. Well, the first part was the best bit…
The whole photo gallery is HERE
some thumbnails…
