An artist’s rendition of the Grateful Dead, skiing’s favorite jam band. Acrylic on canvas. In mid-January of 2020, Leger signed out with Jackson Hole ski patrol at the top of the tram, and headed to S&S, an in-bounds couloir with a narrow, consequential entry and mandatory twenty-plus foot drop. It’s not far from the famous Corbet’s Couloir, and is seldom skied even by lo-cals, but those who commit usually have experience or are under experienced mentorship. Leger had skied it countless times. “I landed exactly where I planned to,” he says. “I expected it to be so deep, like a diaper of pow. Instead, it was this rock, covered by three inches of zero density snow. I misread what was going on.” Solo and filled with adrenaline, Leger wasn’t immediately aware of the magnitude of his crash. “I thought I could ski down, but my leg didn’t work,” he says, adding that it was then that he called mountain patrol. “Jackson Hole Ski Patrol was so quick; Pete Linn dropped in via Corbet’s and booted up so fast; he got there first and he was so calm. But it was a tough place for them to get me out of.” The ambulance ride to the hospital quickly became a life-flight to Salt Lake City. There, doctors found a broken femur, pelvis, hip and sacrum along with one broken thoracic vertebra, seven broken ribs, a broken scapula and a punctured lung. A few surgeries and a bit over a week later, Leger was sent back to Jackson to begin healing. Confined to bed, then a wheelchair for the first couple months, Leger grabbed his paintbrushes and “started slapping paint around.” Six months into rehab, it was obvious the hip and femur damage wouldn’t heal properly, and Leger underwent a full hip replacement. During a time of turmoil, the art kept coming. He made it back to snow for opening day that season, but says it was three years before he physically returned to normal. During that time though, Leger’s art has blossomed and gained admirers around the world. It still covers the spectrum, from humorous takes on pop culture to the bliss and action of powder days. Leger himself admires everyone from Renoir and Seurat, to Warhol, Robert Townsend and Eizin Suzuki. He won’t have a show, though, he tells me: “I’m not a business guy. I want to do things because I like them.” And that he does, regardless of expectations. Consider one of his favorite ski buddies: Willow the Siamese cat. “She always likes to ride on my shoulders, so, I figured I’d just take her skiing,” he says. Willow makes her Jackson Hole appearances on Leger’s shoulders, sporting goggles and a jacket. And the one subject he hasn’t had the artistic courage to tackle? “I haven’t painted the cats yet,” Leger says. “I don’t want to fuck it up.“ It’s the utter delight in life’s possibilities which makes Leger tick, and he finds it without end with the blend of family, community and art. “It’s just the art of living, having fun with my time on the planet,” explains Leger. “In society, people create problems for themselves. I’m all too eager to avoid that. The conquest of the useless, now, I think we should focus more on that.” 094 The Ski Journal
The Ski Journal Volume 17, Issue 3: Page 94
