Question: Ski instructor recovering from life-changing ski injury. Do I tell students?

[snoWYmonkey]

@Ddharma I just read this whole thread and wanted to reach out and find out how your recovery is going and to see if you have had a chance to ski this wild and whacky year or are holding off for a bit.

 

[liquidfeet]

I second that request. @Ddharma, how are you doing?

 

[BonStarlet]

Hello!
Last March I shattered my leg below the knee (on the mountain where I teach) and was reassembled on or around 8 April 2019. I am still learning how to walk, I’m still working on range of motion, I am 100% committed to physical therapy.

Somewhere in that timeline I understood that I was being presented with a rare and precious opportunity: I get to learn how to ski again. I am dedicated to spending this season on green runs (uncharted territory) and practicing basic technique over and over and over again. Ball of foot, pressure left, turn right. Poles in front, shin touching boot tongue. This has been awesome. I easily associate my downhill ski with the turn and recognize the transition point.

I am a pre-cert adult-beginner ski instructor. I strongly relate to my first time beginners and certainly the instruction I am getting directly translates to my teaching.

I seek thoughts from the instructor angle but especially from a beginner student skier’s point of view.

Should I ever let students know why I truly relate to them?

100% would love to re-lean to ski from you as I am 7.5 weeks post op from a gnarly tib/fib/ankle spiral fracture situation. It could scare some people off -- but at this point in my recovery, I would legitimately travel to you to have someone who understands what it feels like to stand on your ski for the first time after something like this.......