We had Sunday off since the rest of the family other than the Grom and I wanted to walk - which seems SO SLOW after DH. But all was good.
So today we got up reasonably early and hit first lifts. Plan Aā¦..I would do the Blue with the Grom as a warm up for him and relaxing vibe for me - and it was. After the vertical corkscrew berms of St Luc, the blue at Crans was a chill thing. Nice. And then I would get bread and go back to the house and pick up family, the Grom would do circuits of the Red and then we would have lunch.
Only Plan B kicked in. We did not have a Plan B.
It turned out that Plan B was get a call from the Grom whilst I was at the bakers. āEr Iāve crashedā¦.and I think I have broken my fingerā¦ā. So Plan B turned out to be:
Grom manages to idle down to Arnouva, where a great pistuer inspects him and straps up the finger. Good man.
Then itās both bikes to friend Yves at Swiss Mountain Sports otherwise we will have to lift them off the roof repeatedly if we go to Sion hospital. Yves recommends the local medical centre for a quick X ray and evaluation before running the gauntlet of waiting time at Sion.
The Grom has
A modified forearm - grazing full of dust
Red eyes from getting a face full of dust and grit
Significantly grazed shoulder. No added grit.
Significantly grazed cheek and temple. No dust inserted.
Grazed arse.
Cheek which is swelling fast - but teeth seem fine
And rapidly swelling little finger with chunks out of it - āit was at a weird angle so I straightened itā
Soā¦possibly dislocated and reset, or broken. He attacked a berm at just slightly too high an entry speed, grabbed just a tiny bit too much front brake and off went the bike 50m cartwheeling down the mountain, while he did a right side slam onto the ground.
The staff at the medical centre in Montana are just great. Straight in for an X ray, and then out to be cleaned up by a gauze and antiseptic wielding care assistant. Who is kind and gentle and reassuring.
The medic is mighty confused by Gromās finger. āThe X ray shows it is not brokenā¦.butā¦ā. āAh we both sayā¦itās been an odd shape for a very long timeā¦broken beforeā¦ā. She laughsā¦āthatās all good thenā. No concussionā¦the Bell DH MIPS full face has done a brilliant job - itās completely trashedā¦broken visor, crack in interior, dented and cracked outer. Completely fugged. well done Bellā¦.a bad thing which could have been infinitely worse but for a great full face helmet.
Plan B is sh-t. I donāt like it. I preferred Plan A.
Plan B costs 250chf in medical bills, which I think is really reasonable for two X rays and 90mins of professional care.
The Sender has slightly twisted Boxxers, but that is a quick fix, and I put some new headset bearings in for good measure.
The Grom looks like he has done ten rounds with Mike Tyson, and is both stoic and reflective. We watch the GoPro footage and the berm seems so innocuous as he approaches. But itās a highly kinetic sport and all that energy can do a lot of damage. A momentās error can be a fright from which you instantly recover or body slam from which recovery is slow and painful.
I am sticking to Plan A in future.