Bill's Turn - What Happened at Taos

I figured I should at least contribute a couple paragraphs since that is our only picture from Taos and I'm in it.

Eric was considering entering the competition at TAOS and I told him I would join him if he entered. He did enter and I joined him. Its been a few weeks since the comp so the memory has faded a bit but the first day was quite remarkable. The first time I saw the West Basin Ridge first hand I was truly impressed. The conditions on that first day however were quite unremarkable. It was very hard and windblown from the previous storm and the unusual wind direction and was going to require all the ski survival skills I had. This venue was truly a no fall zone.

The mindset is to find the line that will enable you to get the best score possible. Too technical and you get docked in the aggression and fluidity and/or control categories. Too open and easy you get docked in the line and technique categories. So to find that line that is just at the "over your head" level without being over your head is as much or more of the competition than the actual competition is.

I had picked a line that day near the same area Eric had chosen named waterfall with a back up line down the sardozky spine, or the demons throat as I named it. I had to go to the back up line when I falsely assumed my first choice was out of bounds for the venue. Lesson learned - always check with the judges and/or officials when unsure of something. Turned out that line was open and it scored very well if you stuck it.

The greatest part of this event was the addition at the last moment of a masters division thanks to Scott Kennett, Tim Naylor and Leo Van Derbosch. Now this changed everything! I had a chance to go to the semi finals! All I had to do was stay up and ski strong. I had also learned that unlike the rest of the field the masters qualifier run would count in points towards the semi finals. So I figured I had better make a really strong run and not just "stay up".

10 inches of new snow on comp day! What a change a day makes! The start line - the constant questioning of the line I chose. Why do I do this? It is very stressful for me and I have heard of people throwing up. That hasn't happened to me yet but I can see how it does. Eric goes right before me and I watch as he approaches the waterfall area. He looks like everything is going good and then he is out of sight.

At the last minute I make a huge mistake, I see a rock from the start that I like and decide to hit that before I head over to the line I want to finish with.
Skier ready 3,2,1 GO!
I head off with a strong start, I feel ok with my first few turns as I approach that rock. I come off it -hip checking the landing- knowing I was a little loose and coming out with a little more speed then I wanted, but I try to traverse skiers left fast in an unfamiliar section and hit a spine blind going airborne. Time slows to a crawl from this point on. I do not remember much other then the sliding down hill head first towards a tree and the long walk down since my ski was irretrievable at that point.

Turns out that I hit a tree while airborne losing both ski's from that encounter and hitting the tree with my head knocking myself out. Ego damaged but all else good. My regards go out to Roy Leckonby who was not as lucky as I and had to be hospitalized after landing a huge drop hitting his head on a snow covered rock shelf. He is expected to make a full recovery!