ASPEN, Colo.: Every May 8 for the last four years and, he vows, every one going forward freestyle skier Colby Stevenson could be found in a similar setting: hanging out with friends, usually on top of a mountain somewhere.
Its his celebrate life day, a reminder of how everything can change in the blink of an eye.
On a late-night drive back to Utah from Mount Hood on May 8, 2016, Stevenson fell asleep for a split second. He overcorrected and his truck rolled again and again.
From the moment he woke up in the hospital with what was classified as a traumatic brain injury because of a fractured skull he pondered the same question: When can I ski again?
Five months later, he returned.
Last winter, he was on top of the freestyle skiing world at the Winter X Games, winning slopestyle and the inaugural ski Knuckle Huck event.
Its a miracle that Im well enough to be able to ski at my highest level, said the 23-year-old Stevenson, who finished seventh in the slopestyle event Sunday at Winter…