Member of the Month

KilaTsunami
October, 2024

Online

Welcome to the Newschoolers forums! You may read the forums as a guest, however you must be a registered member to post. Register to become a member today!

Death and skiing

profile picture
codizzle
Posts: 896 - Karma: 2,253
after learning of CR's death last week, I began questioning whether the risks of skiing at the highest level are worth the rewards.

anybody else have similar thoughts? if so, care to share them?

i gotta admit, i'm pretty torn.

I take into consideration other ski and snowboard pros who've either lost their lives or seriously hurt themselves this decade: Shane McConkey, Kevin Pearce, Billy Poole, Marc-Andre Belliveau, Doug Coombs, Craig Kelly, Tristan Picot.

is this just a fluke?

is there any other professional sport out there that can claim this many lives in the span of seven years (mountaineering, hunting, moto/auto racing???)

... just wondering where people are at.

with sincerity,

cody raisig
Mar 2 2010 11:13AM
0 0
profile picture
feihlination
Posts: 8356 - Karma: 1,084
^^^

dont you fear that you can miss something? i wanna see more of the world and maybe even do it while skiing, i wanna feel how it is to get children, to raise them, and all that stuff, i want to try out different sports, meet more people.
even though i get so much love from skiing (i cant describe how stoked i am while riding pow) i someone just step back and say, "this is too dangerous", even though i miss 10-20 nice turns in hipdeep pow. in the park its not about death, but i feel like everything except for that is a possibility.




Mar 3 2010 7:37PM
0 0
profile picture
dweezileast
Posts: 9661 - Karma: 276
I see where you're coming from Cody and it's a rational way to look at the sport for sure.
Here's the example I always come back to because in all honesty I still can't get my mind around it:
Travis Steeger was a mad man. I didn't know him personally but it was readily apparent that he was in love with skiing on a level that I'm not sure many people, myself included, can comprehend. Above all, it's a tragedy that Travis had to die so young. That being said, I think the greater tragedy lies in the fact that he was killed by a drunk driver. I think it's that mentality that leads a lot of people towards the path that Shane, CR, Doug, etc. took. I even find myself tapping into it from time to time.

Disclaimer: in no way shape or form am I advocating going out and hucking your meat because you don't want to die anywhere but the mountain.
That being said, next time you go skiing consider how dangerous the car ride to the mountain is. Although it's not necessarily likely, there's a statistically strong possibility that you could die before you even get to put your boots on. Thinking this way truly put things in perspective for me.
In my opinion it's not a good idea to live your life with an ending in mind. One way or another, we're all going to find ourselves feeding daisies, it's the most defined fact of life. All the people who have died taking the sport further left us in the most dignified way they could have possibly imagined. Whether taking the sport further means ski basing off a cliff with very little reaction time in the air, or coming back from a traumatic brain injury to become a professional skier once again, these people haven't died in vain.
Mar 3 2010 7:38PM
0 0
profile picture
mseward
Posts: 1041 - Karma: 1,243

for me , i think , would i rather die doiing what i love , or die from cancer or something and have my family and freinds know there is no hope left for me( trust me , it sucks to be the family) .

Mar 3 2010 8:49PM
0 0
All times are Eastern (-5)