Battle Wounds - A Closed Park and a Lesson Learned

In 2003 I went to my home mountain, Thredbo, in Australia, to go snowboard. The snow had been real icy that year and the jumps were all closed due to the crap conditions. However, I decided to go off the jumps anyway. As I hit one jump, my board slid out from underneath, which caused me to fly through the air about two meters (seven feet) off the ground. I was soaring through the air with my body in a horizontal position, so when I came down I landed on my hands and knees onto large chunks of ice. This crash ended up taking half my face off, breaking my ulnar (arm bone), and dislocating my radius. I now have a scar on my face. I learned my lesson—the park was closed for a reason.