Dan Longoria

Many years ago when I lived in Chicago a friend and I used to go snow skiing. As beginners we both took many pratfalls of a histerical nature. On one trips toward late evening, the temp was dropping and the number of skiers was thinning down.

I had a habit of swinging my right ski pole over the top of the tow rope to facilitate holding on to the tow rope easier. As night was falling I had done just that as usual. As my friend passed me he took a particularly hilarious fall. I started laughing and somehow tripped and fell. As I fell, the ski pole tether somehow wrapped itself around the tow rope and I found myself being dragged toward the massive wheel which kept the tow rope in constant motion.

As I got closer I started to panic as I could not get upright and the tether was wrapped around the rope tight.

I was perhaps 20 yards from being dragged into the wheel when I remembered the pocket knife I always kept on me. I pulled it, somehow, and opened it with my teeth…and dropped it. I held my tight to the ground and retrieved the knife in time to cut the tether and release me and I estimate I was less then 15 feet from almost getting killed by that wheel.

And this is a true story.

james bond escape