My dad passed along the story in the local Sun Valley paper about Arnold’s unfortunate accident, which identifies the culprit run:

The California governor, Hollywood actor and part-time Ketchum resident was taken off the mountain in a ski patrol toboggan after he reportedly tripped over his ski pole, fell and broke his right femur near the half pipe on Lower Warm Springs, a gentle ski run marked “Easier” on Sun Valley trail maps.

I think it’s hilarious they took him such a short distance in the toboggan. I suppose it would have been a little more undignified for the governor of California to slide down the hill on his ass, but it would have been a lot faster.

I’ve seen Arnold ski (he blew by me real fast one time and I almost went and “accidentally” sprayed him on a hockey stop, until I recognized him and realized he could crush me like a bug), and that’s maybe four, five turns at most from the bottom of the mountain.

As my dad put it, “That is almost as bad as breaking it in front of [ski shop] Paul Kenney’s.”

That injury would be dad’s from about six years ago, when he fractured his tibia slipping on the ice walking from returning his skis over to the hot dog stand.

To Arnold’s credit, he at least agreed to seek medical help immediately. Dad drove all the way home to Atlanta, then waited another two weeks and eventually had to have the bone reset.

In tomorrow morning’s LA Times there’s an update that finally, among many other things, discloses some of the circumstances surrounding the Governator’s skiing accident:

A friend who spoke to Schwarzenegger after the accident said the governor was “aggravated” about what happened, describing the accident as a “slow fall” on an icy surface.

Schwarzenegger’s press office would not release any details about the accident. But Adi Erber, a ski instructor who was with him at the time, said Schwarzenegger was standing still before the accident, preparing for the final 200 yards of the run.

The governor’s ski pole became caught in one of his skis, causing him to trip and fall, Erber said, describing it as a “freak accident.”

He said the governor was in pain and that a rescue team took him down the hill on a toboggan.

I said it before as a hypothetical, and I’ll say it again now: I’ve taken that ride in the toboggan, and it’s no fun for either party.

Still no word on what run he managed to mangle himself on, but from what it sounds like, he could have done that on any run and still come out feeling just as dumb.

Well, probably even dumber if he did it on some easy slope. But still, I can say from experience that injuring your leg doing something simple in the midst of an extreme sporting experience is, indeed, pretty damn aggravating.

Apparently it’s a good thing I wasn’t out on the slopes today, because I would have had to deal with the circus of Arnold Schwarzenegger snapping his femur up on the mountain.

I feel a bit bad for him, as I’m well aware that leg injuries are No Goddamn Fun.

Especially if some poor ski patrol guy had to snowplow down the mountain with him on a sled. I’ve taken that ride before, and it’s pretty undignified for both parties.

I’m not seeing anything about it in the AP story, but the ever-reliable Boise local news was reporting he did it on Arnold’s Run (which is, of course, named after him). Which, if true, is fucking hilarious.

More to come tomorrow, I’m sure.