Owen Leeper Back From Surgery And Skiing Hard Again Just In Time For December Powder In Jackson

Photo: Sasha Motivala

A crash from last February left me with a tear in my labrum in my right shoulder. I was able to finish out the season, skiing well into August but I new I would have to get surgery before the winter. I scheduled surgery for September 25th which put my estimated two month recovery at opening day at Jackson Hole. During surgery the doctor found my rotator cuff was also torn, so the recovery time doubled from two months to four.

I was still able to hike, but was unable to do anything with my right shoulder. I was in a sling for 6 weeks, but still got outside hiking all around Jackson.

My doctor originally told me that skiing by Christmas was going to be a push and would still depend on my physical therapy and range of motion. Luckily for me, everything went well during PT and he cleared me to ski almost two weeks early! It was a good thing, I got two days of groomers to warm up the legs before the snow started falling. It took some time to get my legs back but the snow was great up high, but still grassy down low. 

Photo: Sasha Motivala

Starting on December 17th we got to ski powder everyday. We made it up Cody peak a couple times and got fresh tracks on Pucker and No Name face. Christmas eve it snowed again and we woke up to 9 inches of more snow. By December 26th the storm had dropped 37 inches! 

Photo: Tim Swartz