# Another Skier Death/Sugarbush



## UVSHTSTRM (Feb 4, 2012)

Not much info

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/...kier-dies-after-hitting-tree?odyssey=nav|head


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## snowmonster (Feb 4, 2012)

RIP. This is terrible news.


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## thetrailboss (Feb 4, 2012)

That sucks.  Sleeper is an intermediate trail with trees in the middle and to be honest I have seen folks ski it way too fast and get way too close to the trees.


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## Tooth (Feb 5, 2012)

I said to my wife yesterday at Sugarloaf that people seemed to really be flying down some trails that they shouldnt have been doing that on. I hate to "profile" people but some looked like it was their only ski weekend of the year.


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## ScottySkis (Feb 5, 2012)

So horrible, RIP this winter it seems is worse then previous winters


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## HowieT2 (Feb 5, 2012)

I flew down sleeper a couple of times yesterday.  Trees are widely spaced, but the snow surface was variable.  Terrible news.  Condollences to the family.


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## TropicTundR (Feb 5, 2012)

Not to sound morbidly fascinated by this, but is there a website that keeps a cause, location, condition, etc of yearly ski deaths.   I'm interested in statistics/correlations (not an egghead either).


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## frapcap (Feb 6, 2012)

We were in those woods at that time on Saturday and didn't see anyone/anything out of the ordinary during our runs. 
Unfortunate for him and the family. Good thing he had a buddy to get help as soon as they did.


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## AllegraCCat (Feb 6, 2012)

*Does anyone know if he was wearing a helmet?*

This is awful.  The ice conditions on the mountain last Saturday were unbelievable.  I can't say I'm surprised something like this happened.  It was bad and there were a lot of people on the mountain.


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## carbonXshell (Feb 6, 2012)

TropicTundR said:


> Not to sound morbidly fascinated by this, but is there a website that keeps a cause, location, condition, etc of yearly ski deaths.   I'm interested in statistics/correlations (not an egghead either).



Here's something that's maintained by a law firm out of Colorado...

http://www.skisafety-blog.com/ski_safety/


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## rocojerry (Feb 6, 2012)

Sad news.

I ripped Sleeper on Sat, thought the snow was pretty good...  There were some fun treeside jumps formed that I took advantage of-- reminds me that tree-side jumps should be taken with caution.


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## billski (Feb 6, 2012)

Saw this headline and it shocked me something awful.  We were there Friday and witnessed a boarder take a leap off  a knoll on Lower Birdland.  Fell face first, face smacked the tree head on, motionless.  We were the first to ski patrol.  They were with him a long time.  I won't go into the details. I've never seen anything so bad.  Appears to be a different casualty unless they got the trail names mixed up.  It was the same time of day.  The conditions were scratchy in the ungroomed areas.


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## drjeff (Feb 6, 2012)

Sometimes awful things happen while you are on the slopes and when you hear the outcome it really sickens one. I think I might have had a moment like that today   Really enforces the need to always pay attention when on the hill!


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## SKIQUATTRO (Feb 6, 2012)

a girl (racer, 9ish) fell off the lift at Pico Saturday...broken leg...they were approaching the top, raised the bar, she lifted up to get her poles out from under her leg and slipped off...


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## drjeff (Feb 6, 2012)

Expect to see another press release of another on mountain fatality in the next day or so


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## jaja111 (Feb 6, 2012)

drjeff said:


> Expect to see another press release of another on mountain fatality in the next day or so



I think I know what you're talking about. Did you mean to post the link to the featured Liveleak vid? 

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=42e_1328543568

RIP to the skier who succumbed to their injuries and vibes to the family. And vibes to the guy in the vid. What the hell happened there? Up in one ski listing to the right?


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## powbmps (Feb 6, 2012)

jaja111 said:


> I think I know what you're talking about. Did you mean to post the link to the featured Liveleak vid?
> 
> http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=42e_1328543568
> 
> RIP to the skier who succumbed to their injuries and vibes to the family. And vibes to the guy in the vid. What the hell happened there? Up in one ski listing to the right?



That's horrible :sad:.  I really can't believe the comments people leave about stuff like this.  F***ing morons.

Do you guys know where the video was taken?


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## billski (Feb 6, 2012)

It's too early to draw conclusions, but it seems to me these scratchy, FGR conditions are going to lead to a lot more injuries this year.  At Bush, there were ostensibly four or six injuries, including a parking lot attendant that fell on the lot ice.   Walking has been a bit scary everywhere.


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## billski (Feb 6, 2012)

powbmps said:


> That's horrible :sad:.  I really can't believe the comments people leave about stuff like this.  F***ing morons.


They are all either under 16 or have the mentality thereof.  :angry: While I'm a libertarian, maybe we need "adults only" forums.  And I'm not talking about porn.  Off my soapbox.


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## BenedictGomez (Feb 6, 2012)

jaja111 said:


> I think I know what you're talking about. Did you mean to post the link to the featured Liveleak vid?



Does anyone know where or when that was?

Conditions look pretty nice, maybe a few fresh inches of snow.  High rate of speed on a beginner trail maybe?


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## 2knees (Feb 6, 2012)

That is one nasty sound in the vid. At loon on sat patrol was coming through the flats by the Gondi at Mach one dragging a sled and almost knocking people down. The bag was pulled all the way over the skiers face but as they went by I and a dude next to me both got a look at his face as you could see into the open end.  We both said "I think he's dead" at the same time. Minute or so later another sled came by at a normal pace with another guy in it. He had a huge bandage on his forehead. I've googled stuff today but thankfully no reported death at loon. Scared the crap out of me though, seeing that guys face


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## thetrailboss (Feb 6, 2012)

jaja111 said:


> I think I know what you're talking about. Did you mean to post the link to the featured Liveleak vid?
> 
> http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=42e_1328543568
> 
> RIP to the skier who succumbed to their injuries and vibes to the family. And vibes to the guy in the vid. What the hell happened there? Up in one ski listing to the right?



Is that Smuggs?


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## billski (Feb 6, 2012)

thetrailboss said:


> Is that Smuggs?


All I can tell is that it's an old (aren't they all?) double chair, not many hills around it, and a modest vertical.  I suppose you could go to skilifts.org and ID the manufacturer and what resorts have them.


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## drjeff (Feb 6, 2012)

jaja111 said:


> I think I know what you're talking about. Did you mean to post the link to the featured Liveleak vid?
> 
> http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=42e_1328543568
> 
> RIP to the skier who succumbed to their injuries and vibes to the family. And vibes to the guy in the vid. What the hell happened there? Up in one ski listing to the right?



NOT the one I was referring too


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## BenedictGomez (Feb 6, 2012)

thetrailboss said:


> Is that Smuggs?



Doesnt look like Smuggs to me.  Cant think of anything @ Smuggs under a lift that is that long, dead poker-straight and relatively flat.  Plus I cant think of a spot where you can look around somewhat panoramic and not see much in terms of other mountains around you (looked fairly wide open etc..).


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## RISkier (Feb 7, 2012)

billski said:


> It's too early to draw conclusions, but it seems to me these scratchy, FGR conditions are going to lead to a lot more injuries this year.  At Bush, there were ostensibly four or six injuries, including a parking lot attendant that fell on the lot ice.   Walking has been a bit scary everywhere.



We skied Cannon on Saturday. I say skied, skidded would be a better descriptor. Except where they were blowing snow everything we sampled ranged from Eastern boilerplate to read the newspaper through the blue ice. Easiest way to ski it is to just point them and go really fast but if you fall there's the potential for it to end ugly. I'm an old guy and just won't do that. Really didn't feel very safe. They were blowing on Rocket (I think, I don't know Cannon that well) and you could still find ice under the blown snow. Not blaming Cannon, they seem to be really aggressive about blowing snow. But the rain last week coupled with the lack of natural snow has created some fairly dangerous conditions. We saw patrol working on an injured rider. We left before noon and an ambulance was pulling up as we were walking out. My guess is that there are considerably more injuries when conditions are as they are.


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## jaja111 (Feb 7, 2012)

1) I couldn't find any clues other than what's in the vid that indicated where, or even when that happened. All I know is that it was just posted and then featured.

2) Liveleak comments; while the channel may have the latest vids and news posted raw, the commenters / community are a true collection of the flotsam, jetsom, bilge waste, and sewage of the internet trolling world. Liveleak is an offshoot of the old Ogrish site which showed nothing but violent and shocking vids. I find the only real value it has is that it posts first usually. Plane crash? See it instantly on LL. Riots in Iran? See it instantly on LL. Cruiseship sinks? See it instantly on LL. It is never worth opening the comments as it doesn't take a genius to know what the comments already are. No info available in comments, ever.


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## jaja111 (Feb 7, 2012)

billski said:


> It's too early to draw conclusions, but it seems to me these scratchy, FGR conditions are going to lead to a lot more injuries this year.  At Bush, there were ostensibly four or six injuries, including a parking lot attendant that fell on the lot ice.   Walking has been a bit scary everywhere.



I skied Bristol Superbowl nite and it was a ghost town. I lapped runs having waited in a lift line 1 time and that was for the lifty raking the load area and I was the line. However in the 4 hours I was there two ambulances arrived and left, lights and sirens ablaze. Two patrollers stated to me it was one of the most difficult seasons they've seen for injuries due to the difficulties of conditions - some sand dumped on steel.


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## Morwax (Feb 7, 2012)

Ski or ride IN CONTROL!  I see way to many inexperienced skiers/riders going way to fast!


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## drjeff (Feb 7, 2012)

jaja111 said:


> I skied Bristol Superbowl nite and it was a ghost town. I lapped runs having waited in a lift line 1 time and that was for the lifty raking the load area and I was the line. However in the 4 hours I was there two ambulances arrived and left, lights and sirens ablaze. Two patrollers stated to me it was one of the most difficult seasons they've seen for injuries due to the difficulties of conditions - some sand dumped on steel.





Morwax said:


> Ski or ride IN CONTROL!  I see way to many inexperienced skiers/riders going way to fast!



Don't know if its even just inexperienced skiers/riders going too fast.  With conditons this year being more than ever flat and fast, it seems anectdotally to me that the average speeds are up all over the mountain (when you've got machined groomed man made/hardpack conditions as the "norm" for much of ski country this year, that's not really a surface too condusive for regular bump formation that tends to act as a natural speed deterent, then that granular from all the thaw/freeze/machine grooming cycles can really make the edges get an extra deep layer of granular as the day goes on before it gets regroomed out that night).  A few extra (or in somecase this year 10+ extra MPH) along the side of a trail with a deep granular layer and not as much of the typical side of trail snowbank heights that we usually see this time of year is just a recipe for disaster, no matter what one's ability is, if and when an accident happens.


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## billski (Feb 7, 2012)

While I don't consider myself a "great" skier by any measure, I generally feel comfortable and safe going down most any slope. Not necessarily with style or grace, but safely and generally in control.

However, with this year's conditions, I need to get much better at carving in these condition.   This might be accomplished by having better judgement on where to carve, when not to carve and when to check one's speed.  So, I'm dead set serious about getting a private lesson in the next week or so.

I have a sense it's more about good judgement and one's own strength to power through challenging terrain in control.  Reminds me of beginners so concerned about checking their speed when ice is encountered, they try to stop on the ice.

I'm putting my money where my mouth is, getting some critique and suggestions for improvement.


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## drjeff (Feb 7, 2012)

billski said:


> While I don't consider myself a "great" skier by any measure, I generally feel comfortable and safe going down most any slope. Not necessarily with style or grace, but safely and generally in control.
> 
> However, with this year's conditions, I need to get much better at carving in these condition.   This might be accomplished by having better judgement on where to carve, when not to carve and when to check one's speed.  So, I'm dead set serious about getting a private lesson in the next week or so.
> 
> ...



Good thought processes there Billski!  

I know that this year more so than before (and maybe it's just to set a good example when skiing with my kids), that I feel like when I get into a situation where the basic choices are to either speed up to make a tight pass or slow down by either just throwing the skis sideways and/or making a few speed dump style turns, that i'm choosing to slow down and then proceed again a few seconds later when things might not be looking as potentially troublesome


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## from_the_NEK (Feb 7, 2012)

Traillboss is correct, that video is definitley the Madonna Double at Smuggs. The beginning of that lift line (where this vid was taken) starts out at a low angle and slowly gains steepness. The clouds around the mountain in the video make it hard to see the upper/steeper part of the lift line. When the guy taking video looks backward, you can see the trail "Midway" that comes over from the Morse Mtn side of the resort.
I have not heard of any fatalities at Smuggs recently. So I'm guessing that person in the video survived.


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## SIKSKIER (Feb 7, 2012)

billski said:


> This might be accomplished by having better judgement on where to carve, when not to carve and when to check one's speed. .



BINGO Billski.This is exactly how you ski icy conditions.Look at upcoming potential turning spots and readjust where and how hard to turn.A huge part of being a great eastern skier is feeling that ski starting to slip on that ice and knowing to release a little till you reach the better snow or setting it harder if its edgeable.When you see a skier going through conditions looking unphased that you think are terrible,understand he/she is doing exactly what I'm describing.Its definately a huge feather in your cap when you can feel those subtle changes and react accordingly.


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## thetrailboss (Feb 7, 2012)

from_the_NEK said:


> Traillboss is correct, that video is definitley the Madonna Double at Smuggs. The beginning of that lift line (where this vid was taken) starts out at a low angle and slowly gains steepness. The clouds around the mountain in the video make it hard to see the upper/steeper part of the lift line. When the guy taking video looks backward, you can see the trail "Midway" that comes over from the Morse Mtn side of the resort.
> I have not heard of any fatalities at Smuggs recently. So I'm guessing that person in the video survived.



I only thought that it was Smuggs because it was a Hall Double and the liftline looked like the lower part of Madonna.


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## steamboat1 (Feb 7, 2012)

Another death.

http://www.registerstar.com/articles/2012/02/05/news/doc4f2de91f04387576594941.txt


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## vcunning (Feb 7, 2012)

A very sad year.  I just even had this discussion with my 12-year old on speed checks (he's very in control, but I've asked him to step it down a notch).  Our prayers go out to the families involved.

Here's a link from the NSAA and a paragraph.

http://www.nsaa.org/nsaa/press/facts-ski-snbd-safety.asp

Fatalities - According to the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA): During the past 10 years, about 40.6 people have died skiing/snowboarding per year on average. During the 2009/10 season, 38 fatalities occurred out of the 59.8 million skier/snowboarder days reported for the season. Twenty-five of the fatalities were skiers (18 male, 7 female) and 13 of the fatalities were snowboarders, (12 male, 1 female). Among the fatalities, 19 of those involved were reported as wearing a helmet at the time of the incident. The rate of fatality converts to .64 per million skier/snowboarder visits.


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## jaja111 (Feb 7, 2012)

billski said:


> .........This might be accomplished by having better judgement on where to carve, when not to carve and when to check one's speed.  .........



This is the theme of the whole season. We'll all be better skiers / boarders by the end of it utilizing what billski has said. Every time I have skied this season and someone has asked "how was it?" I reply with "it was like a game of chess!?!" 

Seems last year's equipment utilization was 90% ski and 10% brain. This year is 90% brain and 10% ski.


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## billski (Feb 7, 2012)

*On Skiing*



jaja111 said:


> "how was it?" I reply with "it was like a game of chess!?!"



"My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." - Forrest Gump

"Life is like pizza; when it's good, it's really good. When it's bad, it's still pretty good."


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## billski (Feb 7, 2012)

The skier who died Saturday morning after striking a tree on the side of a trail at Sugarbush Resort in Warren was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, according to a death certificate prepared by the state Medical Examiner’s Office.

James L. Wong, 41, a Bank of America vice president from Lexington, Mass., was skiing on a steeper section of Sleeper Run, a mostly intermediate trail, at about 11 a.m. Saturday when he apparently lost control and struck a tree. He was visiting the resort with his wife and two young children at the time.

Source


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## mlctvt (Feb 7, 2012)

SKIQUATTRO said:


> a girl (racer, 9ish) fell off the lift at Pico Saturday...broken leg...they were approaching the top, raised the bar, she lifted up to get her poles out from under her leg and slipped off...



A couple of years ago this happened to a young boy around 10 years of age on the North Face at Mount Snow. I arrived right after it happened and he looked in very serious condition. I never did find out what happened to him, by I think about that often.


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## thetrailboss (Feb 7, 2012)

billski said:


> The skier who died Saturday morning after striking a tree on the side of a trail at Sugarbush Resort in Warren was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, according to a death certificate prepared by the state Medical Examiner’s Office.
> 
> James L. Wong, 41, a Bank of America vice president from Lexington, Mass., was skiing on a steeper section of Sleeper Run, a mostly intermediate trail, at about 11 a.m. Saturday when he apparently lost control and struck a tree. He was visiting the resort with his wife and two young children at the time.
> 
> Source



That sucks.


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## HowieT2 (Feb 8, 2012)

billski said:


> The skier who died Saturday morning after striking a tree on the side of a trail at Sugarbush Resort in Warren was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, according to a death certificate prepared by the state Medical Examiner’s Office.
> 
> James L. Wong, 41, a Bank of America vice president from Lexington, Mass., was skiing on a steeper section of Sleeper Run, a mostly intermediate trail, at about 11 a.m. Saturday when he apparently lost control and struck a tree. He was visiting the resort with his wife and two young children at the time.
> 
> Source



My understanding is that he was a regular visitor with children in the ski program.


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## UVSHTSTRM (Feb 8, 2012)

jaja111 said:


> I think I know what you're talking about. Did you mean to post the link to the featured Liveleak vid?
> 
> http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=42e_1328543568
> 
> RIP to the skier who succumbed to their injuries and vibes to the family. And vibes to the guy in the vid. What the hell happened there? Up in one ski listing to the right?



Isn't this the crash at Sugarbush?  I lot of you seem to think it is Smuggs, but doesn't it say in the paragraph that leads the video that it was at Sugarbush?  Perhaps I am missing something.

I know in the original report I posted it said he was 30, but today on WCAX they said that they confirmed his identity and age (now 41).  I was assuming that these were the same incidents, just had the age wrong in the initial report.  Am I wrong here, were there in fact two seperate deaths at the same mountian?


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## 2knees (Feb 8, 2012)

UVSHTSTRM said:


> Isn't this the crash at Sugarbush?  I lot of you seem to think it is Smuggs, but doesn't it say in the paragraph that leads the video that it was at Sugarbush?  Perhaps I am missing something.
> 
> I know in the original report I posted it said he was 30, but today on WCAX they said that they confirmed his identity and age (now 41).  I was assuming that these were the same incidents, just had the age wrong in the initial report.  Am I wrong here, were there in fact two seperate deaths at the same mountian?



As others have stated, sleeper, the run at sugarbush where the incident happened, has no chairlift on it.


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## UVSHTSTRM (Feb 8, 2012)

2knees said:


> As others have stated, sleeper, the run at sugarbush where the incident happened, has no chairlift on it.



I just realized that.  I actually was watching the video and noticed there was another video which shows sleeper with no lift.  I knew something had to be up.  Thanks!


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## from_the_NEK (Feb 8, 2012)

UVSHTSTRM said:


> Isn't this the crash at Sugarbush?  I lot of you seem to think it is Smuggs, but doesn't it say in the paragraph that leads the video that it was at Sugarbush?  Perhaps I am missing something.
> 
> I know in the original report I posted it said he was 30, but today on WCAX they said that they confirmed his identity and age (now 41).  I was assuming that these were the same incidents, just had the age wrong in the initial report.  Am I wrong here, were there in fact two seperate deaths at the same mountian?



The video is definitely from Smuggs (where no one has died recently). 

I think the person who took the video has been waiting for a skiing death to be reported in Vermont so they could claim they caught the death on video. They are straight up lying about the content in the video to get people to watch the video and so far it has worked great resulting in 74000+ views. uke:


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## UVSHTSTRM (Feb 8, 2012)

from_the_NEK said:


> The video is definitely from Smuggs (where no one has died recently).
> 
> I think the person who took the video has been waiting for a skiing death to be reported in Vermont so they could claim they caught the death on video. They are straight up lying about the content in the video to get people to watch the video and so far it has worked great resulting in 74000+ views. uke:



Funny thing is the guy filming this is a total scumbag (potentially), yet his friend or liftmate is right there for all to see!  I can't imagine be so shallow as to do something like this.  However could it have been posted elsewhere and somebody else decided to use it in conjuction with this story.


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## Madroch (Feb 8, 2012)

RIP to the gentlemen at the bush... very sad.  Man, with all the news of recent deaths and that video-- I am going to hold a little refresher course with my kids... they are getting older and getting fast... I have to somehow get them to understand how quickly you can cross a tip or catch an edge and be headed right into the trees...gotta say, between my daughter getting hit, me breaking a rib and all of this...I'm a little spooked- noticed it the other night-- I was much more defensive and way more aware of skiers around me...didn't help that I was skiing on banana peels thanks to a bad tune...


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## jaja111 (Feb 8, 2012)

The headline for the vid never mentioned anything regarding the location or time of the incident when it was originally posted on liveleak. Now that it does, its most likely / obviously falsely reported. Remember, we're talking about liveleak here - not exactly the pinnacle of journalistic integrity.


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## billski (Feb 8, 2012)

I can tell you what I witnessed on Saturday morning about 10AM at Sugarbush.  I'm sure it wasn't the same accident.    We were on the Superbravo express quad.  On Lower Birdland (black) just below Lower Jester, a male boarder took air over a lip, landed on his chest, slid down at a fast speed, veered into the woods on skier's left.  His face smacked dead on into a large tree, his lower body wrapped around the tree.   He was motionless, we told him not to move and we would get help.  We shouted for skiers on the blue trail above him to go down to him.  At the top, one in our party ran into the patrol building on Allyn's lodge.  Patrol bolted out grabbed a sled and went mach schnell.
Next lift we saw the single patroller there, the guy still in the same position.  Next lift, there were four or five patrollers there, holding his head and putting him on a backboard.  Next lift, they had him in the sled, his face was an absolute bloody mess (I recall a helmet), and they had oxygen on him.  They took him down through the scratchy, steep, sketchy bump run.  It was one of the worst I've ever seen.  I still remember his face smacking into the tree.  Eeeeuuuuuh.

This all says to me, EVERYONE needs to be EXTRA  careful this year.  Greens ski like blues, and blues ski like blacks.  Blacks, well, they were open at Bush, with lots of warning signs.  They were not fun at all.  MRG took it to the next level and kept the blacks closed.  We had no intention of hitting blacks.


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## 2knees (Feb 8, 2012)

Madroch said:


> RIP to the gentlemen at the bush... very sad.  Man, with all the news of recent deaths and that video-- I am going to hold a little refresher course with my kids... they are getting older and getting fast... I have to somehow get them to understand how quickly you can cross a tip or catch an edge and be headed right into the trees...gotta say, between my daughter getting hit, me breaking a rib and all of this...I'm a little spooked- noticed it the other night-- I was much more defensive and way more aware of skiers around me...didn't help that I was skiing on banana peels thanks to a bad tune...



I flipped out on my little one over the weekend.  She had been progressively going faster and faster with less turning on each run until she basically just pointed them straight downhill on a moderate pitch.  The speed she picked up was horrifying to me as all i could think about was her catching an edge or "freezing up".  I told her if she ever pulls that again, she can forget about skiing for the rest of this year.  She was cool after that but I will be watching her very closely this weekend.


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## Madroch (Feb 8, 2012)

2knees said:


> I flipped out on my little one over the weekend.  She had been progressively going faster and faster with less turning on each run until she basically just pointed them straight downhill on a moderate pitch.  The speed she picked up was horrifying to me as all i could think about was her catching an edge or "freezing up".  I told her if she ever pulls that again, she can forget about skiing for the rest of this year.  She was cool after that but I will be watching her very closely this weekend.



I used to enforce time outs for my son when he pointed em down hill (or failed to consider his surroundings, or appeared to be unable to stop at any given time)... each time he did it into the lodge he went for 1/2 an hour, or longer... and usually ended with an ultimatum that one more time and we were done...worked at the time... but he is getting better and more confident... and faster... scares the crap out of me.


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## Abubob (Feb 8, 2012)

TropicTundR said:


> Not to sound morbidly fascinated by this, but is there a website that keeps a cause, location, condition, etc of yearly ski deaths.   I'm interested in statistics/correlations (not an egghead either).



There's this too: http://www.ski-injury.com/intro


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## hammer (Feb 8, 2012)

Make me feel lucky that my bailing on turns and straightlining down a short steep section on Sunday went OK.  Some days you pull from your luck bag I guess.

Lot of people out there skiing and riding faster than usual with the frozen granular conditions.


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## Abubob (Feb 8, 2012)

billski said:


> EVERYONE needs to be EXTRA  careful this year.  Greens ski like blues, and blues ski like blacks.  Blacks, well, they were open at Bush, with lots of warning signs.  They were not fun at all.  MRG took it to the next level and kept the blacks closed.  We had no intention of hitting blacks.



Good advise considering the wide spread hard pack conditions in the Northeast.


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## billski (Feb 8, 2012)

Madroch said:


> RIP to the gentlemen at the bush... very sad.  Man, with all the news of recent deaths and that video-- I am going to hold a little refresher course with my kids... they are getting older and getting fast... I have to somehow get them to understand how quickly you can cross a tip or catch an edge and be headed right into the trees...gotta say, between my daughter getting hit, me breaking a rib and all of this...I'm a little spooked- noticed it the other night-- I was much more defensive and way more aware of skiers around me...didn't help that I was skiing on banana peels thanks to a bad tune...



Good move.  

It's not just tips or edge.  The conditions are uber-challenging and dangerous, moreso than last, or most other seasons.  Things get scraped down in a matter of minutes, not hours.  This is exactly why I started at opening bell, and toned it down after 10am. After 2pm, some of the runs were downright scary, which is one big reason I went over to NASTAR in the afternoons.

Like we said in another thread, this year it's all about good judgement.  Not just caution, but making wise choices.  May none of this happen to you.


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## Angus (Feb 8, 2012)

Haven't clicked on link but I don't want to see somebody badly hurt or dying on the side of ski trail (or anywhere else for that matter) kind of sick IMO. It just re-enforces what has been said, adjust your skiing style for the terrain and conditions and stay in control.


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## BenedictGomez (Feb 8, 2012)

One thing reading report after report of serious injury and/or death in the last year or so that has had an impact on me, is that I will no longer ski relatively fast near the edges anymore.  Just not worth it, regardless of the fact that that's where the snow is.  

I'm not sure if anyone has kept the data, but IMO, it seems that a remarkably high percentage of these incidents involve a high rate of speed near a trail edge.

  It also seems that most of the accidents seem to involve intermediates with enough skill to get themselves _into_ danger, and not enough skill to quickly get_ out_ of said danger, but the truth is anyone regardless of skill can hit a snow snake or death cookie or freakishly cross a tip.


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## ktmdad (Feb 8, 2012)

Horrible news and my condolences to the family.

I'm almost positive I saw this guy on the ground. He was being attended to by I believe 2 people at the time. Not sure if they were ski patrol or not. He was on the black Sleeper Chutes section right before the blue Sleeper run enters in from the right side. I chose the Sleeper run as it still had some nice soft ungroomed snow vs. the steeper crusty Chutes section. Where the trails intersected I came to a stop. Just to my left a bit uphill and between 2 trees about 3 feet apart was the guy flat on his back. I heard him saying over and over "it hurts it hurts it hurts". It looked pretty bad to me but I didn't hang around long. I skied to the bottom and met up with my GF and told her about this poor guy. After a quick break we came out and heard the ambulance sirens coming. Never thought it would end like this.

I'm gonna say this was my first time back skiing in 5 years and I did have a great time despite some iffy conditions. I love to carve but easy skidding and slowing down became the order of the days for me. I will make no assumptions about how this terrible accident happened but the thing that struck me most all weekend was just how fast people are moving these days and just going straight down. The speed so many people carry in those crusty, icy conditions was very unsettling to me. I love doing lots of turns at a nice medium speed and felt like I needed eyes in the back of my head not to be taken out over and over again. By fractions I missed being taken out by a boarder going so GD fast it would have been a horrific collision. He was able to flip me off though like it was my fault. I was eventually taken down by a woman from behind trying to squeeze by me on the trails edge where I tend to go for softer snow and to be out of peoples way. Thankfully no one was hurt and only a wicked bruise on my hip to show for it. The only time I hit the ground all weekend BTW so I feel like I ski in control and use pretty good judgement for the most part. Sadly for this guy he wont get another chance and a family is left devastated on what was supposed to be a fun weekend ski trip


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