Middlebury Magazine

  • Recent Stories
  • Menu
    • Features
    • Pursuits
    • Q&A
    • Editor’s Note
    • Old Chapel
    • Road Taken
    • Review
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • How Did You Get Here Series
    • About
    • Advertising
    • Contact
    • Support
    • Writers’ Guidelines
  • Search

Summer 2020 Road Taken

Airlifted into Adulthood

A backcountry accident prepares the writer to stand on her own two feet.

By Krista Karlson ’17.5
Illustration by Jasu Hu
August 24, 2020
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • Email icon

I didn’t expect to tumble into adulthood in such an undignified way.

My chest hit the tree with a heavy thud. I gulped for air but got none. I scrambled to my feet and staggered, snowshoes clanking on the icy trail, to where my friends waited. “I hit a tree,” I squeaked, trying to feign nonchalance as stars exploded in my eyes  .

My right side was tender from the impact, but there was no way to know whether I had broken any ribs—or worse, punctured any organs—without going to the hospital. An Adirondack backcountry ranger brought me, first on foot and then by snowmobile, to the nearest outpost. The snowmobile felt like a wild horse under me as every bump blasted my aching body.

At the outpost, a helicopter descended out of the opaque sky, kicking up a blizzard when it landed on the frozen lake. Following the ranger, I hobbled toward the helicopter as quickly as I could. When I reached the open door, he grabbed my right arm, which was connected to the side of my body that was likely mangled in some form, and yanked me in. I screamed, but he didn’t hear over the roar of the blades. We lifted off. The mountains were such a dark green that they appeared almost black.

We arrived at the hospital quickly. As I stumbled into the tiny emergency room, the nurses and doctors stared and whispered. I didn’t look like someone who needed to be airlifted; I looked like someone who needed a shower.

I lay there for hours, the staff seemingly indifferent to my presence. After an MRI, which showed a broken rib, maybe two, and some blood in my lungs but nothing serious, they shoved me some Tylenol and told me to wait for my friends to pick me up. I was ashamed at having caused such a circus.

Alone, with nothing in hand except a pair of crummy down booties and a dead cellphone, I felt the familiar tug that had accompanied every negative life event until this point: wanting my mom. But she wasn’t coming to get me. I was a sophomore at Middlebury, and this was the first time I had ever had to completely rely on myself—not just the “go away to college” kind of self-reliance, but the “bad things are going to happen and you’re going to have to figure it out by yourself” kind. I signed the hospital papers, took guesses at which tests and scans to receive, and would eventually be held accountable for the classes I missed.

I think everyone reaches a point like this, when they become the sole proprietor of their own life. Some people start young, having to fend for themselves in difficult family situations; some, like me, remain innocent just long enough that the eventual shift is somehow surprising.

After the accident, I lost confidence in the backcountry, convinced that I was reckless and incompetent. Then I became overly careful, questioning the mildly risky adventures that my friends and boyfriend undertook. I was the parental figure, coercing others into packing a first-aid kit for even the smallest jaunts and tut-tutting if they hadn’t saved emergency contacts in their phones.

Now, five years later, I’ve reached a sort of equanimity: a blend of confidence and carefulness that nods to both the inherent dangers and the incredible thrills of life outdoors. I’ve become more accustomed to trusting myself to make big decisions, in the backcountry and in life.

Last spring, at the top of a 1,000-foot rock climb, my partner was waiting with a ring.

I said yes.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Recent Stories

Features

What’s The Deal?

The story behind the critically acclaimed podcast, hosted by Middlebury Institute professor Jeffrey Lewis, that tells you everything you need to know about the Iranian nuclear deal.

By Rhianna Tyson Kreger
Photo illustration by Paul Dahm
December 16, 2020

Hunger Fight

How two Middlebury alumni are building on the local food economy to help hungry Vermonters.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photographs courtesy ShiftMeals
December 3, 2020

My COVID Road Trip

With their mother ailing, a writer and his brother hit the road for a cross country trek as a pandemic takes hold across the country.

By Charlie Tercek ’83
September 11, 2020

An Education Unto Itself

The stories of five teachers—all grads or current students of the Bread Loaf School of English—as they attempted to make sense of the unknown.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Illustrations by Tilda Rose
July 21, 2020

Dispatches

Otter Nonsense

Who had giant mutant otters on their 2020 Bingo card?

By Matt Jennings
Photograph by Daniel Houghton '04
December 17, 2020

Marble Works

How recycled stone from a College building has a second life in the local arts world.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photograph by Todd Balfour
December 16, 2020

Home Schooled

With COVID restrictions temporarily halting normal campus activities such as in-person lectures, a pair of faculty members devised a digital alternative that should have a shelf life for years to come.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Illustration by Harry Campbell
November 5, 2020

Home, Heart

A student-designed affordable home wins major architectural award

By Stephen Diehl
Photographs by Lindsay Selin Photography
October 8, 2020

Catching Up with Elise Morris

Our colleagues in Athletic Communications talk to the women's soccer player about one of higher education's most pressing issues: sexual assault prevention and awareness on college campuses.

By Ali Paquette
Photography by Ali Paquette
October 7, 2020

Since We Last Spoke: Hunter Sykes, MA IEP ’05

The latest in our new series, in which writers and subjects from magazine stories past reconnect, catch up, and reveal how their lives have unfolded . . . since they last spoke.

By Eva Gudbergsdottir
September 24, 2020

The Meaning of Alexander Twilight

We celebrate the 225th anniversary of Alexander Twilight's birth by continuing to examine his complex legacy.

By Matt Jennings
Photograph courtesy Middlebury Special Collections
September 23, 2020

In Isolation in Middlebury, Vermont

The fifth story in a seven-part series: audio portraits created by Middlebury students in the spring of 2020, capturing their initial days of sheltering in place.

By Olivia Green '20
September 21, 2020

Back to School, Part II

Faculty impressions from the first week of classes.

By Stephen Diehl
Photograph by Paul Dahm
September 17, 2020
View All

Pursuits

Next Steps

For much of his life, dancer and choreographer Cameron McKinney '14 has met any challenge or setback head-on. Why should now be any different?

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photograph by Yeager Anderson '13.5
August 26, 2020

Q&A

Major News

A visit with history professor Bill Hart.

By Matt Jennings
Photograph by Paul Dahm
February 25, 2020

Editor’s Note

A Brilliant Fogg

Saying goodbye to a dear colleague and friend.

By Matt Jennings
Illustration by Jody Hewgill
February 25, 2020

Old Chapel

The Magnitude of Systemic Racism

Acknowledging a national scourge and examining the work that must be done at Middlebury— individually and collectively—to combat it.

By Laurie L. Patton
Illustration by Montse Bernal
June 9, 2020

Road Taken

Airlifted into Adulthood

A backcountry accident prepares the writer to stand on her own two feet.

By Krista Karlson ’17.5
Illustration by Jasu Hu
August 24, 2020

Quotation

A summer immersed in a language can do wonders, as veterans of Middlebury College’s famous language-learning program can attest. The lockdown is clearly going to amount to the equivalent of about two summers, and there are mini-Middleburys happening in millions of houses worldwide.”

—John McWhorter, writing “The Coronavirus Generation Will Use Language Differently” in the Atlantic.

Podcasts

Alone Together, Ep. 9 with Jessica St. Clair ’98 and Dan O’Brien ’96

Dan O'Brien ’96, a playwright and poet, and Jessica St. Clair ’98, a comedian and writer, join President Patton for our final check in with the community during COVID-19 self-isolation. Dan and Jessica are a true power couple in the arts that met in a Middlebury improv group. They discuss Dan's magazine essay "Life Shrinks: Lessons from Chemo Quarantine," how reopening the country feels a lot like remission, and how their art is evolving to reflect the pandemic.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
June 15, 2020

Alone Together, Ep. 8 with Dick Clay, Covid-19 Survivor

In this episode, Dick Clay, a student at the Bread Loaf School of English, shares his story of recovering from COVID-19. Dick discusses when the seriousness of the virus hit him, the "wilderness path to recovery," and how he will process this experience through writing.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
June 8, 2020

Alone Together, Ep. 7 with Jodie Keith and Jacque Bergevin, Essential Workers

In this episode, we hear from Jodie Keith and Jacque Bergevin, who have been working with custodial services to keep our Vermont campus safe and clean. Jodie and Jacque share what campus has been like since the students left: what it's like to schedule hourly sanitation of buildings, how every day feels like an empty Saturday morning, and that the infamous Middlebury squirrels have lost a bit of weight.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
Photography by Bob Handelman
June 1, 2020

Review

Editors’ Picks for November and December

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
December 4, 2020

How Did You Get Here?

Lizzie Apple

By Georgia Grace Edwards
July 11, 2018

Aube Strickland

By Georgia Grace Edwards
July 11, 2018

Stephen Bissainthe

By Julia Trencher
July 11, 2018

Videos

In the Blink of an Eye

Gone in less than a minute—the middle of June 2019 to the middle of June 2020, as viewed from the rooftop of the Mittelman Observatory.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
Video by Jonathan Kemp/Mittelman Observatory
June 10, 2020

All the Feels

Current students, alumni of all ages, parents, faculty, and staff come together to sing Middlebury's alma mater "Walls of Ivy."

By Chris Spencer
May 26, 2020

A (Virtual) Visit with Kenshin Cho ’20

Laurie Patton chats with the political science major and SGA treasurer, who has been unable to return to his native Tokyo.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
April 18, 2020
Middlebury College
  • Alumni
  • Newsroom
  • Contact Us
  • icon-instagram

The views presented are not necessarily those of the editors or the official policies of the College.

© 2021 Middlebury College Publications.