Granite Peak death

Barefootin_Fiendso was the guy a gomer who shouldn't have been hitting a jump at all? or not wearing a helmet? just trying to understand how this happens... regardless, sad.

dickrabbit3rd jump in sugar maple?

Asian-JohnI'd really like to see a credible source for this. So far I've searched the local news sources for it, and have been asking friends that work there; and nothing so far supporting this. If it is true, it's sad to hear that something like that would happen at my local hill, and vibes out to the families and friends.

Asian-JohnI'd really like to see a credible source for this. So far I've searched the local news sources for it, and have been asking friends that work there; and nothing so far supporting this

jabroni.we need sources cited.

but in all seriousness, SIP ive hit those jumps. and how did this happen if he had the correct speed OP? their jumps didnt havent been that bad unless something has changed in the last few years.

Asian-JohnThe run in is super steep and the fencing across the run to mark the drop in was down, so we think he pointed it in.

ADRIA-T.PIMPAny chance he went off the jump not even knowing about it or seeing it? I mean if it was foggy and he was new to the area then I think that's easily possible.

I know I hit a small knoll at geat speed near a park, ....only saw it about 1 second before (someone was yelling at me from chair just before.) I got a shit-ton of air, had to do a land back and sideways onto tails, but came out pretty much unscathed.

MinggHoly shit. That's so awful...

When I ride park I don't think I've ever thought "well maybe this could kill me." Most deaths(that I've heard about at least) people hit trees or get caught in an avalanche or something along those lines. But overshooting a park jump? Fuck. Thats scary as shit.

Asian-JohnFrom my friend that works on Granite Peak's park crew.

"Wednesday night a 29yo from Oshkosh went off the first jump in the east side park. It's a flatter set up jump for the ones following, around 30ft. The run in is super steep and the fencing across the run to mark the drop in was down, so we think he pointed it in. Sent it flat to his head, was in the ICU on life support till Friday night then they pulled the plug. He had 3 kids."

So sad to hear. My thoughts go out to his friends and family.

Asian-Johnaround 30ft. The run in is super steep and the fencing across the run to mark the drop in was down, so we think he pointed it in. Sent it flat to his head, was in the ICU on life support till Friday night then they pulled the plug. He had 3 kids."

Barefootin_Fiendi wonder if the fact that the fencing was down will open the hill up to any kind of liability?

MinggI highly doubt that.

MinggI highly doubt that.

john18061806When you buy a lift ticket there is an implied agreement that whatever happens isn't the hill's fault. I've known of a few ski hill deaths due to crashes into trees but nothing this terrifying. SIP

T.L.If what Asian john says is true there's a pretty good chance this incident could see a courtroom.

Asian-JohnThere are still a million ways around the liability wavier that you sign. Ski hills get taken to court a lot. I know Granite Peak, when I worked there, had 8 court cases going. One had just ended that lasted for 4 years. There are two ways that it would most likely end. 1.) The family pays the medical bills, and moves on; grieving their lost family member. 2.) The family sues Granite Peak for damages and medical bills.

MinggI highly doubt that.

casualIf the fencing was down and it allowed the guy to just mob into the jump and overshoot the landing by some absurd amount, the area very well could be liable, and given my experience with these matters, my gut says they probably will be.

casualYou can't be this naiive......If there was fencing, it was probably a baffle gate designed to force people to do 2 things: 1. Come to a complete stop at a designated location in order to have the correct speed for a feature, and 2. to force people to read signage.

If the fencing was down and it allowed the guy to just mob into the jump and overshoot the landing by some absurd amount, the area very well could be liable, and given my experience with these matters, my gut says they probably will be.

I'm not saying I agree with it, or that the guy shouldn't be responsible for his own actions (he should've speed checked, or followed someone in who knew the speed, not to mention, if he landed on his head, he likely neglected to pop, and did the classic lean back on takeoff to explosion), but I am saying that a jury of non-skiers often side with the guest over the resort. I don't care what waiver he signed, or what the ski safety act says, those things are dismissed in these situations pretty handily.

If there was fencing there to begin with, it's because the park crew understood that approaching this jump at high speed from an indeterminate drop in point higher than the fencing could lead to serious injury.

I'm sorry this guy died, and it's a terrible situation all around.

Asian-JohnMy friend, "And a little clarification for that NS forum. The fence that was down was not the one at the top alerting people that they were entering a terrain park. It was a gate to mark the appropriate drop in for people unable to determine the right speed by feel. One we put up but weren't required to."

casualYou can't be this naiive......If there was fencing, it was probably a baffle gate designed to force people to do 2 things: 1. Come to a complete stop at a designated location in order to have the correct speed for a feature, and 2. to force people to read signage.

If the fencing was down and it allowed the guy to just mob into the jump and overshoot the landing by some absurd amount, the area very well could be liable, and given my experience with these matters, my gut says they probably will be.

I'm not saying I agree with it, or that the guy shouldn't be responsible for his own actions (he should've speed checked, or followed someone in who knew the speed, not to mention, if he landed on his head, he likely neglected to pop, and did the classic lean back on takeoff to explosion), but I am saying that a jury of non-skiers often side with the guest over the resort. I don't care what waiver he signed, or what the ski safety act says, those things are dismissed in these situations pretty handily.

If there was fencing there to begin with, it's because the park crew understood that approaching this jump at high speed from an indeterminate drop in point higher than the fencing could lead to serious injury.

I'm sorry this guy died, and it's a terrible situation all around.

casualYou can't be this naiive......If there was fencing, it was probably a baffle gate designed to force people to do 2 things: 1. Come to a complete stop at a designated location in order to have the correct speed for a feature, and 2. to force people to read signage.

If the fencing was down and it allowed the guy to just mob into the jump and overshoot the landing by some absurd amount, the area very well could be liable, and given my experience with these matters, my gut says they probably will be.

I'm not saying I agree with it, or that the guy shouldn't be responsible for his own actions (he should've speed checked, or followed someone in who knew the speed, not to mention, if he landed on his head, he likely neglected to pop, and did the classic lean back on takeoff to explosion), but I am saying that a jury of non-skiers often side with the guest over the resort. I don't care what waiver he signed, or what the ski safety act says, those things are dismissed in these situations pretty handily.

If there was fencing there to begin with, it's because the park crew understood that approaching this jump at high speed from an indeterminate drop in point higher than the fencing could lead to serious injury.

I'm sorry this guy died, and it's a terrible situation all around.

Titsandwich11really? im well aware that the mtn can be held liable for lots of things and the waiver does almost nothing legally

but i think about 5% of the many, many parks ive ever been to had fences up to denote where to start for the right speed. how would having one, then taking it down, make them liable?

loganschnurI may be naive and never have had to deal with this, but how does the contract you implicitly sign when you accept the pass just get through out like nothing when a ski resort gets sued? He shouldn't have died, but it also seems like he was being reckless, negligent, and shouldn't have been in the park in the first place.

Titsandwich115% of the many, many parks ive ever been to had fences up to denote where to start for the right speed. how would having one, then taking it down, make them liable?

casualSome advice for the people quoting friends that work for the resort. Shhhhhhhhh. You are DEFINITELY not doing your friend or the resort any favors. How would you feel if transcripts from this thread, or facebook or whatever were evidence? Sounds farfetched and paranoid, but not really. In general, it's a terrible idea to talk in specifics about these things on the internet when you're peripherally involved.

casualYou're not thinking about this in terms of liability and litigation. For the record, part of my job is conducting accident investigations for these very situations. When the park crew decided a fence was necessary in order to prevent people from having too much speed, what they are essentially doing is saying to potential plaintiffs that they had an expectation that someone could be injured by carrying too much speed. By either removing it, and/or allowing it to be torn down/melt out or whatever, well, that's basically game over in court.

Had there never been a fence there to begin with, the resort would be in better standing legally. You can't acknowledge a hazard (say by fencing, padding, or signage) and then for whatever reason remove it without making some sort of significant change to the perceived hazard. That tells the court that the resort knew a hazard exists, chose to rectify it, then neglected/changed its mind. That is nearly impossible to sell to a jury faced with handing out fault and damages linked to the death of a young man and father.

An example would be a resort choosing to pad one snowmaking gun, and not another. If someone hit the unpadded gun, the first thing brought up would be "why is one padded and not the other? obviously you knew the potential danger, blah blah".

The truth is that even when all signage is appropriate, fencing or boo and rope is in place, when there is a catastrophic injury or death in the context of the terrain park and a manmade, resort built/placed feature, the resort will almost ALWAYS settle out of court.

I'm not in here debating whether or not this guy made a good decision for himself, or that in a loose conversation about accountability, responsibility for one's own safety and well-being, etc. I'd ever in a million years side with the guy. Litigation in this country, and often against ski areas is frivolous and greed driven, and it's pretty fucked up. But when push comes to shove, resorts fork over money because they can't really win one way or another. This case, about which i know next to nothing other than the rumors and claims made in this thread, sounds pretty open and shut to me.

Some advice for the people quoting friends that work for the resort. Shhhhhhhhh. You are DEFINITELY not doing your friend or the resort any favors. How would you feel if transcripts from this thread, or facebook or whatever were evidence? Sounds farfetched and paranoid, but not really. In general, it's a terrible idea to talk in specifics about these things on the internet when you're peripherally involved.

DobberThe drop in for this jump is ridiculous. It's around 30° and about 600-700ish feet from the top to the kicker. It's also a really skinny run. I've hit 60MPH on the runs next to this one.

This 5-jump line is on the opposite side of the hill from the main park. It is just a pretty strange set-up. The fence is 100% neccesary.

ADRIA-T.PIMPIf he didn't even know he was in a terrain park (due to missing fence,) then my bet is that he didn't even see the jump, foggy or not. Some skiers only look a meter or two ahead.

On foggy days, I've hit huge racing ruts after a course has been taken down and not groomed, on otherwise flat runs that I knew well.

Barefootin_Fiendi wonder if the fact that the fencing was down will open the hill up to any kind of liability?

MinggI highly doubt that.

john18061806When you buy a lift ticket there is an implied agreement that whatever happens isn't the hill's fault. I've known of a few ski hill deaths due to crashes into trees but nothing this terrifying. SIP

Asian-JohnMy friend, "And a little clarification for that NS forum. The fence that was down was not the one at the top alerting people that they were entering a terrain park. It was a gate to mark the appropriate drop in for people unable to determine the right speed by feel. One we put up but weren't required to."

MinggBut I've never really seen any kind of fence or rope to help drop into a jump. Unless there is some kind of requirement to have that I don't think it's fair to blame the hill.

MidwestLocalI ride GP almost every day and hit that jump line regularly. It wasn't foggy (too cold for fog, no major snowfall coming down) and visibility was fine both during the day and in the evening. The first jump on the east side is lit up very well at night, which makes me think that inexperience with where to drop in from and how fast to go were likely the biggest causes of the fall. I'm sure most of us have seen people overshoot, or short, jumps on all mountains. It usually is due to not having hit it before and/or not having someone to watch or ghost to get a feel for the required speed.

The fence, or lack of, isn't the culprit. People can still get hurt on jumps without drop markers. Yes, it does serve as a good reference point and I'm sure has reduced the number of injuries overall, but it doesn't make anything 100% failsafe. It comes down to skiing/snowboarding within your limits. If you're not sure about hitting a new jump, hang out at the top for a bit and watch others or ask for advice.

It's always tough to hear news like this. Especially when it's one of our own. But hopefully we, and others, can learn from it.

DobberThis is one of the least stupid 1st posts I've seen.

Mr.SaltyDobberinatel

He was almost at the base of the next jump.

How? Can we see a picture of the jump line? Or a description? Prayers going to those who knew him.