The year before last I was snowboarding at Sunshine and was going through a treed area that was quite wide (as far as those areas go). I probably had a 10 foot wide area to get through, so nothing dangerous... a green run even! It was near the end of the day and my legs were at that point where they were just tired enough to fail me. I was on my heel edge but my legs were so tired my toes slowly began to drop until I dug my toes in, which sent me flying. Again, I'm not going terribly fast, but the fall turned out to be the real problem.
I hit fairly hard, but I didn't slide. I just stop dead in my tracks, face down, but slightly elevated off the ground. It happened so quickly that I didn't realize that I'd landed on top of a broken-off tree. It hit me just below the armpit, so it caught my jacket and left me completely unscathed. It wasn't big, probably about the size of a broom handle. I couldn't shake the idea that had I fallen 6" earlier (which when you're moving is probably 0.005 seconds) I would have taken it right in the throat.
It was oddly impactful. Perhaps it's having kids, or going through more loss, or just not having the ignorance of youth. It's not in the same ballpark as many of you, but I legitimately avoided snowboarding for the entirety of last year because of that feeling. The first time I went back was last weekend and it was OK. Not as fun as it used to be though. Every single run was a combination of "that would kill me... that would also kill me... oh you better believe that'd kill me".
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