A Rail And A Grade 3 Concussion Later

It was late spring and I had just learned to do rails. I had started hiking Alpenglow during the week, when Alyeska was closed, to ride the few rails they had. I'd done some straight rails and was feeling pretty good, so I decided to move up to the bigger rainbow rail. A friend and I built the jump in front of the rail and packed down the runway to the rail. As I hiked up to make my first attempt, my friend took position to take some pics. I hit the little jump and landed on the rail okay, and began to do a 50/50. Then, all of a sudden, my board goes off to the left and my body to the right. I hook the rail behind my knees, my upper body gets flung back and my momentum throws me into a backflip of sorts, unhooking my legs from the rail and sending me into a spin. On the upside of the spin I am told I smacked the back of my head on the bottom of the rail, took down the orange fence that was put under the rail and face planted into the ground. My friend told me that I laid motionless for about a minute, then jumped up yelling, "I can't believe I didn't hit my head." He then helped me into the truck and we left to continue a day that I don't remember. A grade 3 concussion later, I know now to always wear a helmet.