Stephanie Gilmore, the four-time ASP Women’s World Surfing Champion and probably the sweetest pro surfer ever was attacked outside her home last night (December 27, 2010) and beaten with an iron bar, according to a story on ABC.net.au.
The 22-year-old has a broken wrist and cuts after the attack outside her home in Tweed Heads on the New South Wales far north coast. . . Police say Gilmore was approached and hit twice by the man who then fled on a pushbike. . . She was taken to hospital for treatment.
The man reportedly returned a second time to her home and friends and neighbors “held him” until police arrived. The man, who was denied bail is being charged with “numerous offenses.” Our thoughts are with Stephie and we wish her a speedy recovery. She is tough.
Maui’s Kai Barger and Tanner Hendrickson towed a 15-year-old shark bite victim to shore at Ledges last week, according to a story in the Star Advertiser.
Barger said he heard one of the bodyboarders scream but couldn’t believe that there was a shark nearby. He watched as the two bodyboarders paddled slowly back toward him and his friends. . . “I asked them if they had seen a shark and he said that he had been bitten by one,” Barger said. “He lifted his leg and his fin was gone and all of the skin on his shin was off. It was really gnarly.” . . “We just told him that he was O.K., that he still had a foot, and that he was going to survive this,” Barger said. “We just did whatever we could to keep him calm.”
Barger and Hendrickson towed the boy to shore and then reportedly used their leashes as tourniquets on the boy’s leg until EMS arrived. Nice work.
A missing 20-year-old snowboarder was found dead Christmas Day in a “fast flowing creek” in-bounds on Blackcomb Mountain, according to the Vancouver Sun.
It appears that the unidentified male went down a gladed run, fell into the creek and was unable to extricate himself, Whistler Pemberton RCMP Sgt. Steve LeClair said Saturday. . . The snowboarder, who was on a family vacation with his parents and other relatives, went missing late Friday afternoon. He was last seen by a cousin at about 3 p.m. near a treed section of the mountain. . . About 45 cm of snow fell overnight, further delaying the search as ski patrollers conducted avalanche control procedures before searchers could enter the area where the snowboarder was last seen, said LeClair. The man’s body was found by a dog-handler team in the creek.
The cause of death was not yet reported. This is the fifth snowboarding death at a North American resort in the past five days. Our deepest sympathies are with the snowboarder’s family.
[Update December 28, 2010: According to a story in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, the snowboarder found was Cooper Plaxco. He was from Windsor, California and was a sophomore at Humboldt State University. Here’s what probably happened:
“He was down about 15 feet from the surface of the snow,” said Doug Forseth, Whistler Blackcomb resort’s senior vice president of operations. . . Forseth said the creek had been covered in a “snow bridge,” and it “probably just looked like a snow field to him — I think that’s exactly what happened.” . . Plaxco, an avid skateboarder and snowboarder, was wearing a helmet and his board was still attached to his feet when searchers found his body. He was face down with his head underwater.]
A 22-year-old snowboarder from Casper, Wyoming and a 5-year-old girl are dead after a collision at 2:30 PM Friday afternoon December 24, 2010 at Hogadon Ski Area. The girl and her mother had stopped on a run and the snowboarder apparently hit them, according to a story on Trib.com.
The snowboarder crashed into a five-year-old girl and her mother as the two were stopped on a ski run, Sheriff’s Lt. Mark Sellers said Saturday. . . All three were taken to Wyoming Medical Center. The man and the girl were pronounced dead at the hospital. The mother, who lives in the Casper area, was injured and remained hospitalized a day after the crash. An update on her condition was not available.
The collision occurred on a “black-diamond” run called Dreadnaught and the Sheriff’s office is investigating.
Knowing nothing at all about this particular case we are reminded of one thing: if anyone riding at a resort can’t avoid hitting someone who is stopped on a run they are riding well outside their abilities. Period.
We can’t even begin to imagine the pain these two families are going through this Christmas. Our thoughts are with everyone involved.
The 19 Surfing Santa’s of Cocoa Beach, Florida attack the surf and spread a little holiday cheer “and maybe consume a little.” It’s no Shipsterns Bluff, but Merry Christmas anyway.
A 15-year-old Portland snowboarder became the fourth snowboarder to die at Mt. Hood Meadows this year, according to a story on OregonLive.com.
A Portland boy, who was not identified, was discovered lying face down in the snow at Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort at 9:24 p.m. on Wednesday (December 22, 2010). The lifts closed at 9 p.m. and members of the ski patrol were clearing the slopes when they discovered his body near the North Canyon trail.
The cause of his death is still unknown and reportedly being investigated by the local sheriff’s office.
[Update December 28, 2010: According to a story on KPTV.com the Medical Examiner has stated that the snowboarder who died, Illya Petrovich Sirosh, as “not killed in a snowboarding accident,” however, they are still working on finding the cause of death.]
Lyndie Irons, widow of Andy Irons, is asking a Texas court to delay by six months the results of the three-time world champion’s autopsy and report because she fears it will “damage the . . . surfer’s brand,” according to a story on Courthouse News Service.
Based upon ‘leaks’ that have already occurred within the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office and the press reaction to those leaks, the branding of Andy Irons’ company will be immediately, irreparably and severely tarnished if the official autopsy report is released at this time, when the coverage of this event by the press is at a frenzy,” she says.
Sadly, it is requests like this that lead to even more speculation and make it seem that there is more to be worried about. Ultimately, we hope Lyndie’s wishes are respected. We will have years to discuss the autopsy results after the civilian media has moved on to some other tragedy.
[Update 8:55 PM: A Terrant County Judge has reportedly approved Lyndie’s request to delay the autopsy release until after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can conduct some research, according to KITV.com. The autopsy will not be made public until May 20, 2011.]
Snowboarder Christian Rea, 35, of Tuscon, Arizona died on Saturday, December 18, 2010 at Colorado’s Wolf Creek Ski Area after dropping a 40 foot cliff in the resort’s Water Fall area and landing on his head, according to a story in the Valley Courier.
Mineral County Coroner Charles Downing said the injuries from the landing resulted in his death. . . “He ruptured an artery in his neck. He hyper extended his neck backwards and ruptured the artery that goes to the brain stem, and that cut off the blood supply to the brain stem and it killed him quickly.”
Apparently, one of Rea’s friends had made the drop but told Rea and another snowboarder to go around.
“He was hollering to his other friends ‘don’t do it, go around,’ and it was too late for the young man and he skied down off of that at a pretty good speed and ended up landing on his head.”
Wolf Creek is having a rough early season. After Rea’s death on Saturday the resort was closed on Wednesday afternoon December 22, 2010 when the resort experienced another avalanche. No one was reported injured in that slide. Our thoughts are with Rea’s friends and family.
What has Jamie O’Brien been up to lately? Do you care? We do. Turns out he hasn’t been in the water for a long time and he’s looking forward to it. We are, too.
Wondering what 17 feet of new snow looks like? This photo from the top of Mammoth Mountain’s Chair 23 gives a little idea.
This photo was taken yesterday (December 21, 2010) during a break in the storm as Ski Patrol was throwing hand charges off the top of the Chair 23 for avalanche control. Ski Patrol is working really hard to get the terrain open so props to them for all their hard work during this storm!
When they finally get the top open snowboarders will be exiting the chair into a snow tube at 11,000 feet the right into the Wipe Outs. . . amazing.
Stephanie Gilmore, the four-time ASP Women’s World Surfing Champion and probably the sweetest pro surfer ever was attacked outside her home last night (December 27, 2010) and beaten with an iron bar, according to a story on ABC.net.au.
