I bought a season pass at Grand Targhee for $250! What a great deal! My friends, Nate, Tyler, Jessica, Brandon and I decided to go snowboarding last Saturday. It had been snowing all night in Rexburg, which means the mountains were getting some serious powder as well. I get a text every morning tell me how much snow Grand Targhee gets. I woke up on Saturday to a text that they received 16'' of new snow! We anxiously drove up and awaited the great day ahead of us.
As we pulled into the resort, the entire parking lot was full. We had to create our own spot and hike up a little hill to get to the main lift. We walked into a winter wonderland, with multitudes of people busily walking towards the lifts and around the lodge. There were people coming from all over the state to participate in the magic. My friend even met a couple from the Netherlands who heard of the great conditions. The powder was incredible, up to mid-thigh! Although it is soft and light, powder riding is a lot harder because you have to move your whole body in order to move the board.
A couple runs down, and I see my roommate Jessica at the bottom of the hill. She asked if I had seen Brandon, because she had talked to him a little bit ago on the phone, and he said he would be right down. It had been awhile, and she was starting to get worried. I told her to let me know if anything happened. A run later, Tyler and I stood in line for the lift, and I saw on the white board, "Jess Hobbs, go to first aid." Since I was a kid, I have always wanted my name to be on that board. Now that I knew someone whose name is on the board, I was not so thrilled. Reading my roommate's name stopped the beat of my heart. We walked over to first aid, and I asked the ski patrol where Jessica and Brandon were. They told us how Brandon had hit a tree and got a concussion and was rushed in an ambulance to the hospital! I immediately called Jess and found out that he is okay, but had to run some x-rays and test, and that he had lost some of his memory. He didn't remember calling Jess... She asked me if at the end of the day, we could bring her board and his skis and bag down to the hospital. I said we could, and she said to take our time and enjoy the day because they were going to be doing work on Brandon for a while. With guilty pleasure, I enjoyed one of the most incredible powder days of my life! Powder gives me an extra boost of confidence because if I fall I will not get hurt. So I was exploring new parts of the mountains. While riding through the trees, I would think of Brandon and his sad circumstance and would feel the pang of guilt again. I would continually check-up on Jess and Brandon and she assured me that I should continue taking advantage of the snow.
Around three o'clock, Jess called me and told me that Brandon's car needed to be taken to the hospital somehow. Tyler and I were both exhausted so we decided to go to the hospital and get the keys, drive back to the resort parking lot, and drive his car down for him. On the way back from the hospital, on the way to Brandon's car, Tyler said he forgot his poles, and had to go back to our initial parking spot. I couldn't get ahold of Nate, and hadn't seen him in a couple hours. As I was calling Nate, Tyler took the wrong road, and we ended up on the cat track. Two feet deep in powder, and his Subaru Outback was stuck. Really stuck. I called a friend over, and after laughing for a good thirty seconds, he called his friend with a big truck and hitch to help us out. Nate finally found us, and started digging out the tires of the Outback. We left the rest of the work up to the truck. After three attempts, the massive truck pulled out the car. We were now on our way to Brandon's truck, which was parked way up in the upper parking lot. We turned corner after corner up this hill in the deep snow. We couldn't find his car. We check the last place it could be, and we see a pile of white. It is covered in snow! It barely turns on.. now we have to dig this car out,too! While Nate backs it out, Tyler and I push with every bit of strength we have. We finally get it out, and drive to the hospital.
We walk into the Hospital, and see Brandon and Jess. His face is swollen and his shoulder has an enormous knot. Poor kid! He was such a champ, and didn't complain about the pain one bit. The most memorable and one of the most fun snowboarding days of my life. I love adventures, and although Brandon was in a lot of pain and we had to dig cars out in the bitter cold, we all had positive attitudes and it made for an enjoyable journey! I learned a lot about the advantages and disadvantages of the cold, dry, deep powder and the sturdy, concussion causing trees!
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