SteveInOregon Posted February 19, 2010 Report Share Posted February 19, 2010 I was doing my usual surf & turf, ( turning hard then sliding out ) basically charging it hard trying to keep it tite and on edge last night on my local extremely hard packed ice encrusted steep and then I noticed a bright green flash zip across my line of site in the steepest-fastest part of my run were I practice "the norm" between falls ( Im getting better I fall ever 3rd run , lol ) I knew immediately "LASER" I thought to myself because it was just zig zagging across my fall line that it was someone trying to get my attention, I thought "hummm this must be a new tool for the ski patrol to get people to slow down" , but there was no one around me, I had the run completely to myself and I was not even close to the "slow zone". I had a flash back my heart raced and then I settled down and blew it off. (I watched a helicopter go down years when a laser blinded the pilot) So I come back up the lift and then sat on the bench to wait patiently for a new crop of teen sliders to mush while silently saying in my mind "just go away" , then verbally to one of them "no its NOT a mono ski". I told the liftie at the top about it, he said he they dont use lasers at all , and that would look for it. I pop up, take off and do my thing, this time I clear my view then hard heel side when I get max speed while looking way in front of were I am going looking back over my blind side ( literally my right side I am blind in that eye) and POW I am blinded by a brilliant flash of green white light, like a flash bulb going off in the face, I am immediately blinded and now I must stop , so I just lean back and plow the heel side I entered and fall back on my hip bone point as fast as I can so as to not skid the 20 or so yards of the trail then down a cliff and into the trees. I am going fast and it takes a long time to come to a stop. I am now blind, I cant see a dam thing, only a bright throbbing vibrating light inside my head, I just sit there and try to wait it out, it took a minuet or two just to see !!! I know it came from up hill up at or near the lodge, so I bail out of my bindings , leave the board off to the side and half jog the 200 or so yards up hill, I was furious to me this is a weapon and a felony , its not a $5 dollar dime store red laser, this is a much more powerful weapon or signal laser. I crest the hill-slope gasping for air ( try jogging in hard boots at 7,500ft asl ) I spot it, it is coming from a big yellow school bus, from the 3rd to the last window, I half, clop, skid, jog my way to the school bus , I jump into it, it is full of high school age boys, some sort of athletic team , all I can say whikle gasping and yelling is "who has the F'ing laser the green laser, I see the kid who is sitting in the seat it is coming from , I say "you blinded me with that F'ing laser". I push and jump between the full isles of standing boy's almost right on top of the kid who blinded me, a bunch of the "team" grabbed me and are pleading with me while pulling me backwards and telling me at the same time "stop dude stop" "back off dude". All I could do was keep venting my anger and telling him that he committed felony and to give me that F'ing laser, by then the whole team is blocking this kid. One nice level headed smaller kid stood out and got my attention and he chilled me out. I mellowed a bit and then caught my breath, they let go of me, then I gave the kid who pointed the laser & blinded me a lecture on how that is considered a weapon in war and if you point that at the wrong guy you will get killed. I told him about the pilot who got killed and how I can call the cops over and have you arrested for assault and how lucky you have a dozen guys between you and I and left the bus. I took the brave young man who placed himself between me and the crowd who talked me down and had him step outside and make him promise to get that laser and report him to the coach or who ever is in charge . I went back , did a few more run's. I am not proud of snapping, I only have one eye left and I will not loose it to a teenager who thinks its fun to ruin someone life for fun. I think the only thing that kept me from real damage instead of the temp blindness was the full tint goggles I wear because I didn't have my clear night time replacements with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heroshmero Posted February 19, 2010 Report Share Posted February 19, 2010 Damn Steve, I don't think I would have let him off that easy. My reaction would have probably been a lot worse than your "snapping". Where was that? Ashland? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveInOregon Posted February 19, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2010 Damn Steve, I don't think I would have let him off that easy. My reaction would have probably been a lot worse than your "snapping".Where was that? Ashland? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think it was the 200 yard up hill snow jog in hard booots that took at lot of the steam & venom out, lol. Not to mention a bunch of high school athlete types who had a hold of me,lol. Ya Mnt Ash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted February 19, 2010 Report Share Posted February 19, 2010 dude, press charges, he'd get off easily but you'd of made your point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobble Posted February 19, 2010 Report Share Posted February 19, 2010 +1 on pressing charges. i'd see an eye doctor too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveInOregon Posted February 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 dude, press charges, he'd get off easily but you'd of made your point. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- That came to mind many times while going back up the lift, each time I rode up I thought of that and also how ai cold of killed him and "I" would be the guy in handcuff's. But Your right, I thought the same thing > that he would get off with some parking ticket fine and I would have to spend a lot of lost work time in court. and re-hashing the anger, and if he would have copped and attitude in court , I would probably really loose it and lose my freedom for good. I don't want to die of brain cancer or high blood pressure from all this anger, so I want to save my own sanity and drop it, that was the internal conversation I had when I hit the bar for a beer after I was done that night. I think the long run up the hill and the bus full of kids keeping me from a really bad ending was a blessing, My vision in my good eye is fine today , my hip is sore, but I wear a padded under pants so I was prepped for falling. ( like I always do ) That is the 2nd time in a row I have been there when they bring almost a dozen school bus loads of kids to literally log jam the mountain. The next time I see a string of school buses I am getting a refund, I spend to much money to waist it baby sitting the mountain, in fact for awhile there I was the only adult on the run for a half dozen run's !!! I am cool now I can relay this to you guys to see if you have had any bizarre incidents like this with a level head today. :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingCrimson Posted February 20, 2010 Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 No cool stories here, but I've got something to cheer you up... It's unfortunate that not every one can show up at a resort with a 40 foot banner of these three fine young men. They are a great role model for all young snowboarders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveInOregon Posted February 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 No cool stories here, but I've got something to cheer you up...It's unfortunate that not every one can show up at a resort with a 40 foot banner of these three fine young men. They are a great role model for all young snowboarders. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The guys on the poster look like SnoGansta's,lol. "It must have been a good day, I didnt have to carve with my AK" , lol. So whats it like at Mnt High & Baldy is it a good groom for carving ? I lived up in Green Valley Lake about 30 miles strate east of mnt Baldy in the San Bernadino Mnt's and Big Air Green Valley board park ( single lift ) was literally the view out my front window about 500 ft away ( I walked to the lift ever morning , but I only did Big Air GV and Snow Valley & S-Summit and *Bear Mnt ( formerly *Gold Mine in the 70's / 80's) and they kind of suck when compared what these guys here have to play on in Aspen and Utah. So what about Baldy & High ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingCrimson Posted February 20, 2010 Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------The guys on the poster look like SnoGansta's,lol. "It must have been a good day, I didnt have to carve with my AK" , lol. So whats it like at Mnt High & Baldy is it a good groom for carving ? I lived up in Green Valley Lake about 30 miles strate east of mnt Baldy in the San Bernadino Mnt's and Big Air Green Valley board park ( single lift ) was literally the view out my front window about 500 ft away ( I walked to the lift ever morning , but I only did Big Air GV and Snow Valley & S-Summit and *Bear Mnt ( formerly *Gold Mine in the 70's / 80's) and they kind of suck when compared what these guys here have to play on in Aspen and Utah. So what about Baldy & High ? An Ice Cube song with snowboard lyrics? Lots of puntential there! Mountain High has decent grooming. I mostly go because it's relatively close, and they have night riding 7 nights a week. There is a mile and a half long blue run with 1600 feet of vertical serviced by a highspeed quad that WAS mostly carvable top to bottom. Now it's got jumps all over it and it's dangerously crowded.. Baldy has ONE run suitable for a carving board, about 800 feet of vert but it's a slowwww chair. Baldy is all about trees and steeps. Lots of good pics from this season. http://www.bomberonline.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=29115 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photodad2001 Posted February 20, 2010 Report Share Posted February 20, 2010 No cool stories here, but I've got something to cheer you up...It's unfortunate that not every one can show up at a resort with a 40 foot banner of these three fine young men. They are a great role model for all young snowboarders. Louie Vito is from my home mountain. We rode together a few times way back when before he went pro. His mom always used to drive him out 2-3 times a week and would sit in the lodge for hours while he rode. While his parents were buying him all his gear, passes, and carting him around and sitting for hundreds of hours a season in the lodge, I was lucky to keep my parents from taking my board away at that age. (that was way before snowboarding was in the olympics and even before most resorts even permited snowboarding, they thought it was some fad that was going to die out and I'd lose interest. Hmm, they've changed their tune over the years) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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