Thensensationreturned to him,
andhebeganmoaning about the
painpiercingthroughhis spine. Fitz-
patrickandTremblayarrived on the
scene,andsoonthefiveof them were
diggingdelicatelyaround Crouch,
noneofthemwantingtodo anything
thatwouldleavehimparalysed.
Whentheygottheteenout, the men
gingerlystraightenedout his body
whilePoolesprintedback to the chop-
perfora stretcher.Close to 2.40pm,
about 20 minutesafterCrouch first
begantofall,thepilotflipped the pro-
pellersbackon.Camposand Jackson
climbedintotheaircraft along with
Crouch.Oncesecured,Poole lifted off
fromthemountainsideand pointed
towardstheWhistlerMedical Clinic,
some 20 kilometresaway.
Itwasn’tuntilthechopper was out
ofsight,andFitzpatrick and Trem-
blaywerealone,thatthe emotional
weightoftheeventbegan to set in.
Fitzpatrickwasthefirstto cry. But he
wasn’tthelast.
Ittookalmostafullweek to sort
throughtheextentofCrouch’s inju-
ries.Besidestheknocked-out teeth,
he’dtornhispancreasand fractured
threevertebrae.Hewasthankful to be
alive,andstillis.
“I thought I was dead,” he says. “I
honestly did.”
However, at no point in the months
after the accident did he contemplate
not getting back on his snowboard.
Not everyone on the mountain that
day sees it the same way. For Cam-
pos, last year’s ski season was the most
emotionally gruelling of his career,
while Fitzpatrick has spent months
questioning why he and Crouch and
the others even fathomed putting
their lives in danger for the sake of a
thrill and a film. Poole has taken him-
self out of the heli-skiing business.
Although he says the timing is a co-
incidence, he has struggled with what
happened. “That winter affected me,”
he says. “I’d be lying if I said it didn’t.”
Last September, Stay Tuned – the
film Crouch was working on – pre-
miered in Zurich. Days after that, and
five months removed from the ordeal,
he got some good news from his
doctors. “Cleared to board,” Crouch
announced on social media, along
with the image of himself being rolled
into an MRI machine after his fall.
And now he says he longs for a
return to the very ridge where he
nearly died. “I’d like to go back and
conquer that mountain.”I Agreed to What?!
I liveinfearofthe things I may have agreed to while absent-
mindedly saying “uh-huh” to my kids.
@copymama58 august 2019
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