Nobody can say that Mark McMorris doesn’t love snowboarding. But that love is expensive, and he’s paid for it with skin and bone. And luckily, not his life. In a recent sit-down with a Canadian newspaper in between travel, the gifted 23-year-old snowboarder outlined in detail, the horrific list of injuries he has dealt with following a crash in the British Columbia backcountry with his brother, Craig, this winter.
McMorris–who had a remarkable year, winning at the X Games and the U.S. Open, following a break to his femur in 2016–apparently caught an edge and drifted awkwardly off a jump, impacting a tree as the team was filming.
“I just whacked it out of mid-air,” he told the paper. “It was not a small tree and (it didn’t have) branches on it. I hit it all on my left side. I did a front-side 360 and as I turned around it was just like right there. And then it was just — boom. I broke everything, like 16 bones or something in one hit. That’s like a car crash.”
McMorris broke his jaw and left arm, ruptured his spleen, suffered a stable pelvic fracture, rib fractures and collapsed his left lung. Surgery followed the flight-for-life to repair his arm and his jaw, he told the publication. On an Instagram story today, he posted a quick video as he was on his way to the hospital to check for an infection. “Off to the hospital right now because I think my jaw’s infected again,” he said. “Pretty much have a golf ball in my cheek. F***!”
So he’s definitely still battling.
McMorris didn’t immediately return an interview request for comment. In the article, though, he credited his brother and the team he was with for saving his life. This quote was particularly vivid: “I didn’t think I’d ever snowboard again when I was laying there,” he said. “I was awake and was waiting. As soon as the helicopter got there (90 minutes later) I went to sleep. I remember the whole time waiting, just trying to survive because (I) ruptured (my) spleen and my jaw was just hanging. I was puking. I thought I was going to die — literally.”
Scary moments for sure. Sounds as if the Olympic bronze medal winner’s rehab is going well (other than the infection) and his spot is safe on the 2018 Canadian Olympic team. He can’t wait to snowboard. Still loves it. But damn if that love ain’t spendy.
