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.

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.

Meet George (70 years old). He managed to ski several runs despite a) a pinched nerve that causes chronic back and leg pain and b) falling once on his own, and c) getting plowed into by a snowboarder.

Because of b) and c), he was sore enough that he was not able to ski today. He, however, has good excuses.

Meet Ellen (25 years old), George’s daughter. She skiied two runs yesterday and then came down because a six-month-old ankle injury was bothering her, and upon taking of her ski boot, had her ankle swell to approximately the size of a grapefruit.

She is still limping slightly, and will spend the remainder of her two-week ski vacation…not skiing. She is duly ashamed of being completely outpaced by her father, who, shall she remind you, is seventy goddamn years old.

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Coming out of the third person for a moment, I would really not recommend giving yourself an avulsion fracture to anyone.

The orthopedist warned me it’d be at least six months before it was back to normal. Six months and two weeks apparently is not long enough. Bah.