Background information
Simply chocolate like a Sprüngli
by Patrick Bardelli
Piste good. Hand broken.
19.3.2019
Translation: machine translated
Skiing again at last! At the end of January, I'm back on two skis in Laax for the first time in 15 years. It's marvellous and cries out for more. Shortly afterwards, I'm skiing in the Hoch-Ybrig area and screaming. With pain.
I just wanted to go skiing. And I wanted to ski. Up and down, again and again. After all, I had a lot of catching up to do. It was exactly 15 years that I had to make up for. This is what came out of it:
But first things first
I probably have the classic ski biography of a Swiss boy. My first time on the slats at the age of seven, my dad was my first instructor. Then ski school during the Christmas holidays, sometimes in Scuol, sometimes in Davos. Ski camps in Sörenberg and on the Stoos. Every other winter weekend on the slopes of Meiringen-Hasliberg, Obersaxen or Andermatt. And then a 15-year break. Why? Sometimes I didn't have the time, sometimes the money, sometimes the desire.
At the end of January, I'll be in Laax for the "Patrick does sport with ..." section and will be back on the boards that used to mean the world to me. You can read the articles here:
Now I want more. Time to get my equipment up to scratch. The February winter sale at Galaxus comes at just the right time. I hit it and stock up from head to toe. I'll be hiring skis and boots from the ski resort until further notice.
In Wendyland
"You're welcome to spend the night at my place if you don't mind sleeping on an air mattress". No, I don't mind at all. My colleague Manuel Wenk invited me to Einsiedeln for a long weekend. From there, it's a short hike to Unteriberg and finally to Hoch-Ybrig. Welcome to Wendyland. Wendy Holdener is omnipresent here. Practically no house is without a banner advertising the local's successes. This is where she learnt to ski. And what's right for Wendy can only be cheap for me. After all, double world champions are made here.
"If only you had come earlier"
It's just after 10 o'clock on a Friday morning when I get out of the Postbus at the valley station in Unteriberg. The rain is beating down on my face, fog hangs in the fir trees. "Maybe you'd better stay dry today and spend the day drinking coffee," I think to myself. Nonsense, an old Indian knows no pain and a little wetness won't do any harm. I will regret this attitude later. For now, the bus driver sympathetically tells me that I'm pretty unlucky with the weather. The sun had been shining for the last few weeks. "I wish you'd come earlier," he grumbles in farewell, closes the door and leaves me standing in the rain. Shortly afterwards, I'm at the Sternen mountain station at 1811 metres above sea level. Meanwhile, the rain has turned to wet snow and the fog is now everywhere.
The (almost) perfect day
It's just before 3 pm when I decide to call it a day and take on the last descent of the day. Meanwhile, sleet is falling from the sky and the fog has mutated into an impenetrable grey broth. And yet it's the perfect day for me. Skiing has got me back. I love it. And the weather can go fuck itself.
Stinging pain in my left rib. More of the same in my left hand in a minute. I'm lying head first on the piste. The weather has got me ... and I immediately realise that something has broken. The snow in the sticky snow has unpleasant consequences. And the day is only almost perfect. It ends in the emergency room at Einsiedeln Hospital. Diagnosis: fracture of the metacarpal bone. I wish I'd got here earlier or gone for a coffee.
Aloha PAHoA
A few days later. Next stop PAHoA. It's not a surfer's greeting in Hawaii. It stands for "Perioperative Anaesthesia Holding Area" at the Kantonsspital Baselland. Here they specialise in hand surgery. And in the PAHoA, my broken part is prepared for the operation. The anaesthetist uses ultrasound to check the nerve pathways in my upper arm and asks if I'm a boxer. The broken metacarpal is one of the classic injuries in this sport. Me a boxer? That would be nice! Then I'd certainly have a great story to tell about an epic fistfight. Instead of just falling down while skiing. Suddenly the doctor stops and says: "My God, he's huge." What do you think?
"See this white dot here on the left?" He points to the ultrasound monitor, "That's one of your nerves. It's normally three times smaller. I've never seen anything like it." Okay, thanks. I seem to have strong nerves. I'm going to need them for the next few hours.
And the next time on "Patrick breaks something ..."
From the PAHoA to the operating theatre and back again. Or how the wire gets into the hand. You wouldn't want to miss that, would you? Exactly. That's why follow my author profile here.
Header image: All-round protection? No way!
Patrick Bardelli
Senior Editor
Patrick.Bardelli@digitecgalaxus.chFrom radio journalist to product tester and storyteller, jogger to gravel bike novice and fitness enthusiast with barbells and dumbbells. I'm excited to see where the journey'll take me next.
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