“How embarrassing.”

This is what 21-year-old City College student David Flieger thought as he rode down the base of the mountain, holding his arm to his body.

He had to tell instructor Natalie Phares he had sub-luxed his right shoulder after attempting to jump off a small cliff.

It was his second run on the first day of the school’s annual winter break trip to Mammoth Mountain for PE 118 and 119.

He was taken to the hospital, where they put his shoulder back in place, which was the easiest part of the whole ordeal.

“The most painful part was telling my girl instructor I got hurt on the first day,” Flieger said.

Flieger returned to the hotel only to realize that the trip had ended for him, even though there were four more days until his class returned to Santa Barbara.

Ski instructor Ingrid Schmitz-the one responsible for organizing the annual expedition to Mammoth-said she wasn’t ready to leave Flieger in the dust.

Prior to the trip, Flieger had brought a video camera and asked if he could film parts of the classes.

But Schmitz had big ideas for Flieger. The U.S Snowboarding Olympic Grand Prix was about to begin on Mammoth and Schmitz was going to attempt to get him a full access media pass for the event.

After Flieger spent Tuesday recuperating, Schmitz told him to meet her at 8 a.m. the following morning.

“I’ll have a plan,” she said.

Once the other students had been dropped off at the mountain, they began the quest for a media pass.

With Flieger’s film equipment strategically placed to stick out of his back-pack, and her MVP mountain pass in full view, they told the media office their story said Schmitz.

Flieger said he was there for a school project and needed a media pass to get footage. Without any further questioning, Schmitz said a pass was handed over to the two.

This is when Flieger’s fun began.

He was free to head over to the media pit-the only student on the trip that would get this chance. Flieger was now among well-known media members, including NBC and Snowboard Magazine.

Though NBC had exclusive rights to the finals, Flieger said he received access to all the practice runs and the preliminary trials at the competition.

He found himself standing in the middle of an Olympic Qualifying event-one that did not disappoint said Flieger.

Snowboarder Elijah Teter performed a trick never seen before, earning it the name “Teter-Totter.”

The favorite to win, Shaun White, was upset by Danny Davis, who was riding in honor of close friend and fellow rider Kevin Pierce. Pierce had recently suffered a traumatic brain injury training in Utah.

It may have not been the same as getting to ride himself for five days, but Flieger said filming the U.S Olympic snowboarders White, Davis and Scott Lago was a suitable replacement.

“There is always a silver lining in a dark cloud,” Schmitz said.

Fleiger eventually managed to get back on the mountain with his sling on, though at an admittedly much slower pace than he would have liked.

“When the lift operator asked what happened, I said I was trying the Teter-Totter!” Flieger said.