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!
skiermanSo basically he was a comp. kid whose only goal in life was to "make it" in skiing and he decided the best course of action was to send a feature well above his ability and judgement levels with gear he didn't understand and shouldn't have been using.
When horrible stuff happens like this its not due to a single bad decision, its a compounding of bad decisions. The parents aren't to blame, the friends aren't to blame, it all comes down to the individual who ignored all the red flags. If it doesn't feel right, don't do it, it could save your life.
Lenny-I dont think the gap was necessary above his skill/ability level. Seems like he was just really desperate to get the clip and ignored a serious gear malfunction. If he was on a proper setup he would've stomed that shit and it would've been a legendary clip.
BradFiAusNzCoCaI honestly can’t remember which subreddit I saw it in but there was a really good Washington post article about the incident recently.
Long story short: he did everything right but had binding issues he overlooked and ski popped off on the run up. Sad all around.
**This post was edited on Apr 7th 2025 at 12:05:50am
Lenny-I dont think the gap was necessary above his skill/ability level. Seems like he was just really desperate to get the clip and ignored a serious gear malfunction. If he was on a proper setup he would've stomed that shit and it would've been a legendary clip.
GetshiftyThe article I linked goes into what happened in a bit more detail. Was pretty heavy reading about the perspective of his parents and friends leading up to the incident and factors that pushed him to still go for it despite poor snow conditions and malfunctioning equipment.
Risk management is very important in this sport and instagram clips don't always show that.
deadhead420Not that it really changes anything about the story but does anyone know if he was hit by a car? or if his trauma was from pavement/gaurd rail alone
thebusiness19Man that is a heavy read, midway through the article rn 😭.
My immediate reactions:
He felt like he wasn't getting any younger at 21. That is wild. Candide and THall are still going crazy at like twice the age. I totally understand how it can feel that way with how crazy skiing has gotten if you are trying to make some form of living out of it though.
BradFiAusNzCoCaI honestly can’t remember which subreddit I saw it in but there was a really good Washington post article about the incident recently.
Long story short: he did everything right but had binding issues he overlooked and ski popped off on the run up. Sad all around.
**This post was edited on Apr 7th 2025 at 12:05:50am
BigPurpleSkiSuitYeah.....there's a weird sort of unspoken truth that exists in my opinion. The people I know who've made the tour showed the potential and ability to ski at that level from an age much younger than 21. At least at Snowbird so far, I've seen 3 of them. 2 of them have made the tour. Every one of them was a monster from 18 or younger, and when I started noticing them at Snowbird, you could tell the level was there in a way that surpassed others.
When you're trying to make the tour, if you're not a phenom by a young age, it's almost impossible to be able to do it. I know so many skiers who are incredible, like you see them ride and you're like how ? How do you do that? and it's still not enough because of how few spots there are to qualify, and how much it costs to travel around and compete. To develop that level of riding ability, you need time on snow through your childhood in a way that Dallas didn't have, at least not in the way his competitors did. He had mostly weekends to ski, while his competition skied 6-7 days a week.
I felt so bad reading the part where he wanted to go to a winter sports school, but his parents couldn't afford it. No one can say whether things would have been different if he'd grown up doing that, and this could have happened to anyone (and still could), but I don't think he would have felt the same pressure had he been skiing more from a young age, and felt more secure in his abilities and realized potential. I'd imagine that pressure only got worse the more he travelled to the FWQ qualifiers and spent money, and felt the financial burdens on him. It's a damn shame, and I feel terrible for him, his family and his friends.
Hope he's up there skiing pow 7 days a week now, not a care in the world.
theabortionatorSeeingthe pics from other angles make it seem far more doable. In the original stuff from last year it was really hard to tell what the spot looked like.
I still think the take off looks pretty half assed, especially for a spot you were planning for a year. Sure, completely fine for a quickie to drop a cliff at the resort, but a place like this you can bring shovels and spend time.
Like possibly extending it out a bit farther if needed. Getting the angle ride where its smooth and wont buck you at a high speed. The last thing you want regardless of the trick is to hit a steep bump at high speed.
It sounds like his ski came off before possibly and not from the takeoff, but if you have a binding that isn't 100% a steep sudden takeoff like that could totally throw your ski off and is somewhat likely enough to be a massive concern. Especailly if it was coming off so frequently on a small cliff that you had to change your approach.
The gear thing def sucks. When you're into April you see the season ending, you get frantic to get it done. If it's right its right, but never worth forcing it especially on somethinf high risk.
I remember somebody posted a thread on here years back about some kayakers. The one guy was good at always frankenstiening stuff and living the dirtbag life. I think hos skirt or whatever it's called failed because it was janky and thats what lead to his death. Super unfortunate.
Bad shit can happen for no reason at all. But trying something high risk with a massive known gear issue is stacking the deck against yourself really hard.
"If you don't do it this year, you'll be one year older when you do"
Stay safe fam!
theabortionatorSeeingthe pics from other angles make it seem far more doable. In the original stuff from last year it was really hard to tell what the spot looked like.
I still think the take off looks pretty half assed, especially for a spot you were planning for a year. Sure, completely fine for a quickie to drop a cliff at the resort, but a place like this you can bring shovels and spend time.
Like possibly extending it out a bit farther if needed. Getting the angle ride where its smooth and wont buck you at a high speed. The last thing you want regardless of the trick is to hit a steep bump at high speed.
It sounds like his ski came off before possibly and not from the takeoff, but if you have a binding that isn't 100% a steep sudden takeoff like that could totally throw your ski off and is somewhat likely enough to be a massive concern. Especailly if it was coming off so frequently on a small cliff that you had to change your approach.
The gear thing def sucks. When you're into April you see the season ending, you get frantic to get it done. If it's right its right, but never worth forcing it especially on somethinf high risk.
I remember somebody posted a thread on here years back about some kayakers. The one guy was good at always frankenstiening stuff and living the dirtbag life. I think hos skirt or whatever it's called failed because it was janky and thats what lead to his death. Super unfortunate.
Bad shit can happen for no reason at all. But trying something high risk with a massive known gear issue is stacking the deck against yourself really hard.
"If you don't do it this year, you'll be one year older when you do"
Stay safe fam!
BradFiAusNzCoCaI honestly can’t remember which subreddit I saw it in but there was a really good Washington post article about the incident recently.
Long story short: he did everything right but had binding issues he overlooked and ski popped off on the run up. Sad all around.
**This post was edited on Apr 7th 2025 at 12:05:50am
