On Seattle Ridge, just below Gretchen's Gold in the Meadows Hill area on Bald Mountain, Feb. 23 at 10:30 a.m., a skier hit my husband, Dick Gadsby, from behind, popped him out of his skis, and knocked him 25 feet down the hill where he landed on his back.
An eyewitness described the skier, who shouted "watch out" before he collided with Dick, as a man approximately 6 feet 2 inches, weighing 220 pounds, in a medium-gray one- or two-piece ski suit, with no helmet. This assailant just skied away with barely a pause.
Dick Gadsby has been a ski instructor on Bald Mountain for 40 years. He was skiing with one of his favorite clients, on a beautiful clear day, on soft creamy snow, when he was slammed from behind. Dick put his skis back on, skied his client to the bottom of River Run, collapsed, and was transported by ambulance to St. Luke's Wood River Medical Center. He was treated with pain killers and an examination and released. And so begins the nightmare.
Something was clearly very wrong when our daughter, Hillary, and I called the ambulance at 3:30 the next morning. After hours under evaluation in the emergency room, Dick was readmitted to the hospital in severe pain. He spent the following three nights at the hospital, then was released again to our care.
But Dick's hands and arms became numb and he was coughing up blood. His local doctor admitted him again to St. Luke's. Blood clots in his lower leg and one lung were found.
Possible swelling and damage to his cervical spine also were suspected. Dick needed anti-coagulant therapy, but there was danger of bleeding into the spine, raising the threat that he would become paralyzed below the neck, possibly permanently, unless surgery were performed to repair damage in his cervical spine, his doctor told us.
Quickly it was decided to put Dick on a life flight to St. Alphonsus Medical Center in Boise.
Dick survived the flight and was admitted to the intensive care unit at St. Alphonsus, where neuro-surgery was performed to correct the spinal cord problems. Before the surgery, a filter was implanted in his abdomen to prevent blood clots from moving to his lungs from his lower body.
Dick spent two long weeks in the hospital before our daughter Hillary and I were able to bring him home, where he is recovering from his injuries. Full recovery could take a year or more.
The callous carelessness that led to Dick's life-threatening injuries made us angry, but now we feel mostly sadness that such things happen in this ski community. We only hope this story will prompt some re-examination of how and why we ski.
If anyone has information regarding this incident on Bald Mountain, please call the Blaine County Sheriff's Office or the Sun Valley Ski Patrol.
It's a miracle that Dick did not die that day on Baldy.
Sunni Gadsby
Sun Valley
