The real blame here is the ski resort marketing, which has been promoting unsafe behavior. Instead of advertising family fun activity, the new marketing kids are each trying to outdo each other with big air and cliff jumping. So few people can do this extreme jumping activity, this type of photo actually is stopping people from trying the sport for fear of failure.

This type of extreme jumping is not what mothers want to see. And who picks the family vacation site ? Why has skiing and snowboarding become completely flat in sales ? The Cruise ship industry is kicking the ski business into a 3rd tier activity. The Cruise business knows how to advertise.

The ski industry’s dirty little secret is the huge number of serious injuries caused by big air, huge hits and the like. This type of injury producing jumping activity is protected by state law to save the resorts from being sued for building unsafe jumps and features. The legal check and balance system has been eliminated by the State of Colorado — why? – Money. Remember in Colorado -85% of all the skier traffic is run by just 3 ski corporations.
Profits over people.

And I don’t see any problems now and I’m not asking for editing. It’s just that, when people make generalizations about risks that people are taking, and discussing Wallace in the same thread, there is a tendency for readers, and perhaps other writers to make assumptions about Wallace that are just not accurate. He took great pride in his professionalism, and I just don’t want his expression to be misrepresented or misunderstood.

I just want people to know that he was not heedless. This was not a stupid huck, without planning or intelligence. He was very professional, measured, and thoughtful.

Y’all be careful out there.

Weems

First, let me offer heartfelt condolences from our family to yours.

Here at WildSnow.com we believe these types of discussions are important — a way of honoring those whom tragedy touches, as well as perhaps preventing other misfortune.

Nonetheless, such dialog will always be imperfect, as yes, no one knows every detail. Even so, I believe we know enough about this winter’s accidents for folks to do some intelligent posting on the issues of risk/reward, ski movie making, the current state of skiing style and the like. Generalizations can actually help with this, as getting into details can detract from the greater issues. Even so, Weems, if there is anything here that’s an outright mistruth or just obviously wrong, please feel free to point it out and I’ll edit where possible.

Yours,
Lou Dawson

What killed Wallace was a rock underneath the snow. His aorta was ruptured so rescue would have been impossible.

He was a fairly conservative rider in these conditions, and I’ve seen him say “no” many times.

He worked with his brother, Packy–taking pictures of lines, discussing them, discussing snow speeds, length of jump, and much more.

I wish he hadn’t done this. But there is nothing here that suggests to me that he hadn’t really looked this over, that it wasn’t well within his skill and experience level, and that he did it for money or fame. He was just very proud to express himself this way. This was what he DID out there.

I can’t speak for ANYONE else who does this. But as a parent, I was satisfied that the odds of something like this happening were significantly diminished by his preparation, wisdom, and attitude. And even more significantly less than, say, getting killed in traffic.

We are heart broken, and this crappy movie didn’t end this morning, nor will it end tomorrow. But I know that these kind of things must be discussed. And I hope film makers and athletes will be wiser and more aware as they explore the limits.

I also hope that in your discussions, that you don’t conjecture or second guess Wallace. You really don’t know what happened. You weren’t there–either in the snow or in Wallace’s head. There are a lot of details that we have chased down, and conversations that were had before the accident. I know much of the story, yet I don’t know it all. And I know more than most do.

Thank you, however, for having the discussion. If it turns people who are NOT prepared away from this stuff, that will be a good thing.

Weems Westfeldt

a small jump for Derek Spong, a giant leap for mankind….