Everyone knows that a career in skiing carries a variety of inherent risks. Too often, it seems, we hear of top athletes in the sport ending their season or career thanks to injuries sustained while pushing their limits in the sport they love. However, we often overlook the recovery process. We hear about the injury, lament at its implications, and don’t think much about it until we see the athlete makes his/her triumphant return to snow. What’s forgotten is the weeks, months, or years of recovery time, and the everyday struggles these athletes battle. In the video above, Dane Tudor reflects on the day he dislocated his hip while shooting in the backcountry, and ponders the effects the injury has had on his mindset for the upcoming winter.

Related: Watch the gruesome crash that ended LJ Strenio’s 2012 season