As I work on the mountain, I am constantly reminded of the dangers of my chosen sport. During the two hours that I shoot on Born Free, I usually see in the neighborhood of 3-5 people being ferried down the mountain in Ski Patrol sleds. The odd thing is I just see the sleds. I have no idea what happened to them or how badly they were injured.

When I see the sleds I always thing about how lucky I am never to have been in one. I started skiing at the age of 3. The worst injury I can remember suffering is falling and biting my lip. I recall the incident vividly. I was skiing along at the end of the day under chair 1 at Mammoth Mountain in California. I was making nice little turns when I caught and edge and did a massive face plant. When I recovered, everything was where it should be expect I had that coppery taste of blood in my mouth.

That's the worst that has ever happened to me and I hope it stays that way. As I get older I feel curesed by my luck, because I think I'm due, so instead of taking risks and improving as a skier, I lean towards being cautious, which is probably the smart move since I one of millions of Americans without health insurance.