Snowboarding

Click the photo to see how huge Mammoth’s”Super Duper Pipe” really is.

Kevin Pearce may be in critical condition in a Salt Lake City Hospital, but his spirit is hovering like a whisper in everyone’s ear at Mammoth Mountain this week for the the second stop of the US Snowboarding Grand Prix.

Event organizers, riders, and the media are all sending positive energy his way, but at the same time wondering how thoughts of his accident on the double cork are going to affect the riders in the final two open Olympic halfpipe qualifiers.

During the riders’ meeting as the Mammoth Mountain Ski Patrol went over their safety plans all we could really think of was KP. And when the Grand Prix’s Scotty Palmer said that CE certified helmets were required and that while no one checked for CE cert stickers at Copper the technical delegate would be checking inside everyone’s helmets at Mammoth all the coaches in the room seemed to nod, having been reminded again how serious this game is.

“This is probably the first time many of these kids have actually realized that they could die snowboarding,” one event official told us. “It’s heavy.”

Twelve years ago the first US Olympic snowboard team was named at Mammoth and while the team won’t officially be announced here, it could get pretty well sewn up by Saturday. The Olympic team will be chosen based on the best two results from the five US Snowboarding Grand Prix halfpipe events. But there’s a catch. The first three events are the only events that are open. The two halfpipe events coming up in Park City on January 20-23, 2010 are by invitation only. Only those with a statistical chance of making it in to the top four positions in the men’s and women’s fields will be invited.

“This is where we making the cuts,” said US Grand Prix Tour Director Eric Webster. “The Mammoth events are like Friday on the PGA Tour.”

Those who don’t make it into the top four of the standings at Mammoth may not get another chance for Vancouver.

Men’s qualifiers begin tomorrow morning at 9:30 AM (click here for Mens and Women’s official start lists). Stay tuned for complete side-of-the-pipe coverage.

Follow the jump for the full Mammoth event schedule.
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New York Times writer John Brauch had just completed a profile on Kevin Pearce when he got news of the snowboarder’s injury. Here’s how he tells it in the NYT.

Many know Kevin Pearce. Many know Simon Pearce. Few link them together. I found it fascinating — a father and son, connected by their ability to create in utterly different disciplines, famous to vastly different audiences. . . Yes, that was the story. . . On Dec. 21, Pia Pearce cheerfully gave a tour of the family’s house in Norwich, Vt., and the house’s renovated barn, well known on the snowboarding circuit as the ultimate hangout — a skateboard ramp in back, a great room inside stocked with a pool table, foosball, air hockey, stereo, guitars, a refrigerator and couches. . . The story was written Thursday. A call to the Pearce house later that afternoon was intended to let them know and to double-check a couple of things.

Sadly, that is when Brauch learned that Kevin had been injured earlier in the day. Read the rest of the story by clicking the link.

[Link: The New York Times]

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“We have been overwhelmed with the outpouring of love and support from Kevin’s friends, family, and fans from every corner of the world. We thank each and every one of you for your kind thoughts, messages and prayers. We would like to extend our most heartfelt thanks to Kevin’s doctors and nurses for all they have done and all they continue to do. Kevin is the most extraordinary and determined son any two parents could hope for and it is wonderful to see how loved he is.” —Pia and Simon Pearce

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Three snowboarders have reportedly been arrested by Valais police for allegedly setting off an avalanche near Zermatt, Switzerland on Thursday, December 30, 2009 that caught a group of seven, including five children according to a story on Genevalunch.com.

The avalanche near Zermatt Thursday is reported by Le Matin to have been set off by three young men, ages 18-25, who were snowboarding off piste. The avalanche hit a groomed slope and caught seven people, including a group of five children, four of whom were buried. They were promptly dug out by nearby restaurant workers in the area and their companions. One, a 14-year-old, was treated for shock.

If found guilty the snowboarders could spend up to three years in prison for “obstructing a public path.”

[Link: Genevalunch]

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In a release this evening (January 2, 2010, 5 PM PT) from Kevin Pearce’s representatives at Mosaic Management we learned a couple new details of KP’s accident. Number one, he was wearing a helmet. And secondly, he hooked up on his toeside edge after completing the double cork, and third, that he still has a long way to go.

Here is what the doctors are saying:

. . . Holly Ledyard, M.D., a Neurointensivist (a physician with specialized education and training in critical neurological conditions) at University of Utah Health Care states….“Kevin sustained a severe traumatic brain injury. He is currently in intensive care and in critical condition, but stable and has not needed to undergone surgery at this time. He is intubated and being kept sedated. The focus over the next week will be watching for any swelling in his brain and keeping his brain pressure normal. Kevin has a long recovery ahead of him.”

To share positive thoughts with Kevin and his family and friends click here for the Well Wishes to our Frend Kevin Pearce facebook page. Follow the jump for the entire release.
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This morning (Thursday December 31, 2009) while training in the Park City Halfpipe snowboarder Kevin Pearce, 22, was seriously injured during a “double cork,” according to a story in the New York Times.

Pearce’s mother, Pia, said that she was told that Pearce hit his head against the edge of the half pipe and was knocked unconscious. He was taken to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, she said, where doctors planned external ventricular drainage to relieve fluid buildup. They hoped to lessen the sedation after surgery, she said, hoping he would regain consciousness.

Our thoughts are with Kevin and his family and friends.

[Update 10:06 AM Jan. 1, 2010: The New York Times reports that Kevin is still in “critical condition” this morning and “A spokeswoman for the Pearce family, Danielle Burch, declined to say on Friday morning whether Pearce was conscious. The hospital is not providing further information at the family’s request.” Click here for a facebook well-wishes page.]

[Update 3:09 PM PT: The University of Utah Hospital has confirmed that Kevin Pearce is in their hospital and is currently listed in critical condition. According to ESPN Pearce suffered a concussion during qualifying at the US Grand Prix at Copper Mountain on December 11, 2009.]

[Link: New York Times]

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