Andy Matthew, started off on the road to a great season, but with some unfortunate injuries that were more horrific than he is willing to let on, he is back on his skis and focused for next winter.  Here, in his own words, are the highs and lows of the 2011/12 season, and a short edit of him back on his skis at the end of the winter, following a big head injury.

So yeah round up of the season… Was bloody weird, I was stoked on it and was going to, and in fact did progress massively. Breckenridge at the start of season was the best thing I could have done, so much fun and my skiing improved ten fold. Then just before the first competition, Denver Big Air, I managed to get a little excited and miss a landing and hurt my knees. It went downhill kinda after this. Denver was fun as hell, thanks to Tony and everyone else, but yes, due to some faulty boots and a weak left knee I messed up the competition side of things and hurt myself some more.

Next up was the World Champs. So stoked to be in it and when we got there and started riding, everyone else was moaning about the course. I kinda liked it, and the fact everyone else was whining about it got me even more pumped. The conditions were crap, the speed was crap and as a result it came down to my last practice run before I could put my run fully together. Not exactly ideal in any shape or form, especially with the last jump being pretty big and built on a corner. I was feeling good though, I had it in my head what I wanted to do. Last booter came, having landed everything else that I wanted to do I was up for the Kangaroo. Hit the corner, then the kicker, then 1 flat spin, saw the landing, not enough time so spin it out, over the knuckle travelling backwards, black. WINNING!!! 3 days in hospital and the only thing I remember is apple sauce and a scalpel cutting my eye lid. Not even much recollection of my flight home to Scotland. Thats my first serious crash in all my years skiing, and I like to think it was pretty impressive. When I got home I had some messages from Park City ski patrol saying it was pretty horrific and Pat Sharples UK Oakley Team Manager), also added in that the ones who dealt with me, after I was taken away in a chopper were back at the top, pretty distraught. Hmmm, wish I remembered my first chopper ride though. Found all my documents and stuff the other day and the name they gave me was Trauma Bobsled which is pretty damn cool!

Back in the UK i was VERY pissed off at myself, I never fall and I had done it twice this season. I also couldn’t walk straight and would fall getting out of bed. It did my head in to have gone from such a high to such a low and not even remember much of it. So yeah that was that season written off, and it really frustrated me as I had lots of plans and up until the point it started going wrong I was fully on track. But like everyone kept telling me, it happens sometimes, and I would be lying if I thought I would get away without a serious crash. Maybe I’ll just do backflips from now on, that seemed to get VERY well received and apparently they get you girls. If that fails then maybe my apparent James Franco looks will get me by? Maybe not…

So, yeah the season was a bit of a right off, highlight was definitely not falling on my face. But you can bet your socks I will be back next year, the way things started this year has told me I can do what I set my mind to in skiing, so just you wait for next october-ish time. But in all seriousness, I am all ready pumped for next season.  Check out the recovery edit below:

The Recovery Edit from Andy Matthew on Vimeo.