I have the old MZ-R2 and my friends have the newer players that come with the Sony MD bundles. Anyway, we are avid snowboarders here in Colorado, going to Monarch, Loveland, Keystone, Brekenridge, and Copper Mountains (about 2 hours away by car). There are about 6 of us who go, and over the last year we have gotten really good on the boards. We are even doing some extreme stuff. Well, one day, we got to thinking that we would take our MD's up with us and enjoy our music on the top of the slopes. Needless to say, we have had many 'face-plants' and 'skull-crushes' with the MD players on us, boarding through the fresh powder.
The best story comes from my friend... he was boarding on a 10% grade cliff, listening to Metallica, and started to lose it. He did a face-plant hard on an ice ridge. He said he was knocked out for a while, but when he awoke, Metallica was still playing!
Danny Davis ([email protected])
March 2001
A couple of years ago I was skiing in Switzerland. We came across the worst slope I have ever seen and I tried to negotiate across it to an easier spot to continue the run. Unfortunately I fell backwards (the slope was about 60 degrees!) and the next thing I know I'm hurtling down the mountain at about 50mph. Thankfully, the slope was just that, a long flat stretch all the way to the bottom without any obstacles. By the time I stopped I had fallen about 1000ft. I was lucky I hadn't killed myself and even luckier that I hadn't broken any limbs.
After picking myself up, in a state of shock, I could hear my headphones (packed with ice) still playing. I opened my jacket (that was mostly full of snow) and pull out my damp Kenwood Mini-Disc player. It was still playing! Apart from a very slight dent in the cover, it was completely fine.
I cannot confirm whether it skipped on the way down, but it has performed fine ever since. The dent stares at me each time I put a new disc in to remind me of the Fall of 1999.