She just looks like she would be fun to hang with, doesn't she? In every picture or film I have seen her in, she looks like a fun, vivicious, gregarious woman. Married to Liam Neeson for many years, of course, everyone knows by now she died while skiing. This was not a Sonny Bono accident where she was blasting down the slopes and hit a tree. She was receiving lessons on a beginner's slope when she fell and hit her head. A number of people have asked why she wasn't wearing a helmet. As a huge fan of skiing (and the incredible feeling of being so high you can literally hear the silence), I would never even think of wearing a helmet. I have been snow skiing more than fifty times. The incredible rush of flying down the mountain on your skis would somehow be compromised with a helmet. Yes, I know, better to be safe than sorry but it has NEVER dawned on me to wear one. If you fall, you are trained to fall in a certain way where your body, being relaxed, takes the brunt of the blow. I have fell with the best of them and have hurt my back a couple of times, but have never landed on my head. I can't wait till I get back to Colorado and visit Dillon, A Basin or Mary Jane again. I very rarely go on a blue slope, never on a black one, and always on the green (beginner) slopes. There is something special about taking the lift to the very top of the mountain, taking twenty to thirty minutes to ski back down, thighs hurting so bad you are crying like a baby and then doing it all over again. True bliss and one journey I would never think of putting a helmet on to enjoy.
Here is a map of Winter Park. I always took the lift to Mary Jane, which is the at the top of the runs, on top of Winter Park. What fun!
