a little sun in the late afternoon, but otherwise overcast and cold (had the electric heater on most of the afternoon)  outside temps are guesses

Saw a horrific accident at the bottom of catapult this morning while riding the quad lift at catamount.  The motion caught my eye in the distance (I was quite a ways below) and I saw the guy tumbling literally like a rag doll -- talking to someone else who'd also seen the accident (and had commented just prior that the guy was going way too fast and out of control), it sounded like he'd tried to "bomb" the run -- that had to put him (i'm thinking) at 40-50 mph (or above?) when he bought it -- there was even time for me to say "that was some scary wipeout" and the one of the guys I was riding up with to say "I don't think it's over yet" and sure enough, a still tumbling body then reappeared in our view and finally came to rest right near the exit  of the main (short) lift (actually hung up in the orange rubberized protective fencing) -- we were still quite a ways away, but there appeared to be movement (someone else who was closer said he appeared to sit up for a second) and then not so much -- it was very hard to ride up past on the lift, helpless to do anything, while everyone just waited for the first ski patrol personnel to show up.

After skiiing a run (and talking with a few others who'd witnessed it), I went up again and by that time, a whole army of ski patrol had descended on the scene and they started down the mountain with him (he looked conscious but in a lot of pain).  As I was coming down again, there was an aircraft overhead but I didn't look up.  Since I was about beat anyhow, I just headed for the car and spoke with one of the guys with a ski instructor jacket, who said that he'd tried to get up out of the gurney as they were attempting to put him in the ambulance (which seemed like a good sign), but rather than leaving I unfortunately got to watch the lifestar helicopter land at the edge of the parking lot.   They powered down (maybe that's SOP, I don't know) and I left without seeing how long it was before they hauled him away.  I sure hope the poor guy's OK, but after what I witnessed, it seems there's a good chance he may not be...