Replying to Whats with the ------- Karma

What up NS,
I am in the middle of another sleepless night on pain killers and I just wanted to comment on a couple of hostile NSrs thowing ----- karma at me for my overshoot and near death accident at Windells.  I already wrote something like this in another threade, but I am hella bored and I think what I have to say is important enough to make a new threade about it.

I agree that my accident at Windells was a consequence of a bad decision on my part.  We were up there to through and Evolution Tour event and the part was closed the whole time we were up there.  It opened the morning after the event.  We had to leave that day to make it back for the SLC tour event on the 9th, so we only had a couple of hours to ride.  Unfortunatly the conditions were bad.  It was flat light, icy, and all around bad conditions.  My freinds tried to talk me out of it, but I did not want to leave without hitting it.  I am 31 years old, I have a beautiful wife and a 2 year old son.  As sketchy as the situation was, getting hurt as bad as I did was the last thing I thought could happen.  I definatly let my desire to hit the jump cloud my better judgement.

Regarding my choice to throw a double front.  When it comes to hitting big jumps, I am just more comfortable going inverted than I am straight airing.  Fronts are my lockdown trick so that is why I did it.  I was not trying to show off or be wreckless.  They are just comfortable for me.

Skiing is not a sport to me.  It is a culture, a lifestyle, and a state of mind.  For me it is all about pushing it and progressing, and I do not have fun unless I am pushing myself.  My family and freinds worry about how agressive I ski, but it is what makes me happy, and I will ski with this state of mind until I am done. 

I have had a couple of NSrs call what I did wreckless and dumb.  I have been told what skiing is.
Skiing and snowboaring means something different to each of us, and we should not lable what it is for other people.  To some it is all about rails, or jumps, or switch, or backcountry, or park.  To some of us it is simply a release from problems at home.  To some skiing is life, and we should respect eachothers individual views of it.

I had a long conversation in the middle of the night with Tim Windell the night before my accident, and we talked about all kinds of things.  We talked about what Windells is all about.  It is a place for kids from all over the world to get together and celebrate life.  It is a place to be open to new ideas and find our own meaning for why we ride.  It is not a place to put up walls to possibilities, or force points of view on eachother.  Tim has created a very special place and he will have left a huge mark on the world when he is gone.  I hope Windells never stops sending kid home stoked on life.

Some time ago I found my reason to ride, and it is mine.  It is OK with me if you don't agree with my reason, and I will never bash what it means to anyone else. 

If all of you ride for yourself and your own reasons, you will never leave the mountain having a bad day.  Shit, I almost died that day at Windells, but I still had a great time and can't waite to go back.

I hope everyone finds their own reason, and when you do... Charish it and dont appologize for it.

Keep Progressing,

Brad Geiger