Snowmass ski patrollers are still trying to figure out how and why a 27-year-old snowboarder ended up at the bottom of a “20-foot cliff in a permanently closed area near the Elk Camp lift,” according to a story in the Aspen Daily News.
According to Aspen Skiing Co. spokesman Jeff Hanle, when his friends found him below the cliff, they called 911 and a nearby ski instructor called ski patrol, who treated the man for multiple injuries and brought him to a waiting ambulance and to Aspen Valley Hospital. The man was wearing a helmet. . . The two companions the man was riding with “didn’t see [the accident] happen – that’s what was in their initial report,” said Hanle. “We can’t tell if he skied off [the cliff] accidentally or on purpose, or at all.”
A 39-year-old Amercian man and his 19-year-old son were caught in an avalanche while heli-snowboarding at Alice Mountain on January 8, 2009. According to the Calgary Herald the father was severely injured.
The U.S. citizen was buried for approximately 10 minutes, before rescuers dug him out, RCMP said. . . . His 19-year-old son was caught in the avalanche but remained on the surface, while the two others were able to ski out of the avalanche to safety.
The man is reportedly in stable condition at Mills Memorial Hospital in Terrace, B.C.
[Editors’ Note: Sadly the 39-year-old father has died from the injuries he suffered according to a story on BC Local News]
God, we love local news coverage of those crazy urban boarders who get all urbany all over the urban landscape to shoot for their boarding videos. This time they were in Spokane, Washington shooting an urban boarding commercial for Nike.
These guys are urban snowboarders they board in cities, down railings, and over alley gaps, jumping from one building to another. . .
According to a story on KGW.com the days of trauma between skiers and “scum of the earth” snowboarders is long gone.
On the slopes these days, most skiers and snowboarders give little thought to what is strapped to whose feet. They go about their similar goals of riding powder, caching air, or just reaching the bottom of the slope. . . Skiers and snowboarders even ride together as friends. The image of snowboarders as young, rebellious outcasts is long gone.
Ah, harmony on the hills. Blue birds tweeting everywhere, and yet, most skiers are still tools. How do you explain that?
Kyle Suske, 25, of Athens, Wisconsin died Wednesday night at Granite Peak Ski Area from blunt force trauma to the chest, according to a story in the Chicago Tribune.
Capt. Diane Lotter of the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department says no one saw the accident but it appears Suske was trying to cross some moguls, lost control, became airborne and landed awkwardly. A friend who was snowboarding ahead of Suske found him face-down in the snow. He was wearing a helmet.
William “Billy” Khourie III, 22, a snowboarder from Elk City, Oklahoma died Wednesday night after hitting his head while riding an advanced-intermediate run at Breckenridge Resort on Tuesday January 6, 2009.
The Breckenridge ski patrol was called to the accident on an advanced-intermediate trail at about 1 p.m. Tuesday and they took Khourie to Breckenridge Medical Center before he was transferred to Swedish Medical Center.
Khourie suffered a massive head injury after running into a wood post at the resort. According to the Denver Post on January 8, 2009 he was “brain dead” but being kept alive “awaiting organ harvesting.”
Urban snowboarding progression means getting into more and more strange-ass places at speed. And sometime, getting pushed just doesn’t cut it. That’s why “legendary park tool builder and Forum Staff Filmer” Kurt Heine developed “an urban tow-in winch capable of speeds up to 40mph,” according to a post on Forum Snowboards.
Eddie Wall dropped in on the bad boy pictured below, and will be using this piece of artillery with the rest of the Forum team on urban street assaults all season long.
Kelly Ferrone and his friend triggered an avalanche just out-of-bounds at Brighton, Utah on Pioneer Ridge Peak.
Kelly Ferrone triggered the avalanche, which swept his friend away. Ferrone said, “I unstrapped and started running at full sprint through powder up to my waist, and when I got to him, I kept yelling ‘Marco,’ and he’d yell ‘Polo’ until we found each other. He was buried up to his waist and wrapped around a tree, and I had to dig him out.”
Neither snowboarder was wearing an avalanche transceiver nor any other backcountry gear. Looks like Ferrone’s headphone survived, though.
