I’m flying down the mountain on my snowboard through a heavily treed slope in the national forest. I’m in total command. Confidently zipping in between the trees, popping and porpoising, the snow spray from each turn sparkling in the sunlight that is filtering through the evergreens. Life is perfect. I’ve got it all figured out. As I pass a denser group of trees, I do a hard heel-side turn around the end of them and shoot into what I expect to be an open field of snow. My world goes black……..

I’m...