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Snowbike newbie makes rookie mistake. Costs him bigtime

S

Speedy88

Member
Hi all.

I had just finished building my 2013 500XCW / TS 120RAW and took her up to the mountains for a shakedown. Snow was perfect and a quick 15 minute rip at the trailhead showed it was a "Go for liftoff"

I'd spent a day last year riding a well set up Husky 450 all day with a guide up in Oregon and I quickly remembered how to turn the beast on packed trail. This was going to be a great day!

Went back to the truck where my sled head buddies were. Got ready to leave and had to cross about 25 feet of bare asphalt.

I had already had a couple of sketchy moments on some shorter patches of asphalt, the ski was very unpredictable, so I took it really slow.

But as I was making my way across, the rig started to tip to the right. Before I could even put my foot down (Tall seat height + 29" inseam= bad combo) the ski instantly shot out to the left and I went down.

My foot was pinned under the bike, but no big deal, or so I thought. I had my dirt bike protective gear on and good Klim snowbike boots on.

While I was trying to lift the bike off me to pull my foot out I looked down and to my horror, I saw my foot was pointed backward!

FRACK!! I just broke my Effing ankle. I didn't really feel much pain, shock I guess. Sure as hell, once I pulled my foot out from under, it was flopping around like a boneless chicken.

It was just a freak thing that happend SO fast. I must have caught the toe of my boot just right as I was going down and it twisted backward.

Turns out I had snapped the Tibia, Fibula and cracked the Talus. Went to the local mountain Hospital but they were not equipped or staffed for this, but they tried anyway to reposition the big mess.

I'll save y'all the gory detail but it sucked big time. Pain was way over the top, literally seeing red. They tried 3 separate times but finally gave up, put a cast on it, tossed me a quarter, and said to call someone who cared.

So I went to the ER at my hometown hospital, and they repositioned the bones better, recasted it and scheduled surgery for the following week.

Surgery is done now and I'm stuck in a wheelchair (Surprisingly my wife wouldn't let me get a motorized one) for 2-3 months before I can put any weight on it.

I'm sure the veterans here know about how tricky it can be, but for my fellow newbies, You've been warned! I so wish that I had gotten off and walked it across the bare patch.

I missed out on a spectacular day & many more this season, There's about 15 - 20 feet up high in the Sierras right now!
 
Man, that is rough! Sorry to hear it. I totally get the pain of a fluke incident taking you out right at the onset of a great day. Hero to zero in a blink of an eye. Been there. Not to mention the months following to reflect on how you could have avoided it!

Good luck on your recovery!
 
our sport is extremely dangerous, **** happens... recoveries like these can be so frustrating and play games with your head, trust me, I know.

on the positive side; at least you didn't have to go through an extraction in the back country

good luck with your recovery and heal up...
 
Sorry to hear the bad news. Last yearI lost out on a full season, 2nd trip out I had a mishap loading on my deck. 10+ years of loading on a deck and never had an issue. Sled landed on top of me and I broke 4 ribs and a vertebrae. I am 53 and I am really starting to feel all of the old motorcycle/snowmobile injuries from years past. Wishing you a speedy and full recovery!
 
Thanks fellas for the positive thoughts and wishes. It does help.

Would love to say I’ll be back in no time but the surgeon says it’ll be a long recovery.

Really hate to miss the upcoming glorious snow and dirt bike seasons, dammit. Just bought a new KTM 250 XC

That’s the way the ankle crumbles I guess…

Like daloof says, at least I wasn’t way the hell out there, which was the plan for the day. Can’t imagine layering that on top of all this
 
Oof! Hope it's a quick recovery, I've laid er down a few times in the road. Seems to help if you keep one foot off the peg and out while going down plowed roads or crossing blacktop

Sent from my SM-S901U1 using Tapatalk
 
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