A couple of years ago this happened to a young boy around 10 years of age on the North Face at Mount Snow. I arrived right after it happened and he looked in very serious condition. I never did find out what happened to him, by I think about that often.
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Another Skier Death/Sugarbush
- Thread starter UVSHTSTRM
- Start date
A couple of years ago this happened to a young boy around 10 years of age on the North Face at Mount Snow. I arrived right after it happened and he looked in very serious condition. I never did find out what happened to him, by I think about that often.
That sucks.
My understanding is that he was a regular visitor with children in the ski program.
UVSHTSTRM
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Isn't this the crash at Sugarbush? I lot of you seem to think it is Smuggs, but doesn't it say in the paragraph that leads the video that it was at Sugarbush? Perhaps I am missing something.
I know in the original report I posted it said he was 30, but today on WCAX they said that they confirmed his identity and age (now 41). I was assuming that these were the same incidents, just had the age wrong in the initial report. Am I wrong here, were there in fact two seperate deaths at the same mountian?
As others have stated, sleeper, the run at sugarbush where the incident happened, has no chairlift on it.
UVSHTSTRM
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I just realized that. I actually was watching the video and noticed there was another video which shows sleeper with no lift. I knew something had to be up. Thanks!
from_the_NEK
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The video is definitely from Smuggs (where no one has died recently).
I think the person who took the video has been waiting for a skiing death to be reported in Vermont so they could claim they caught the death on video. They are straight up lying about the content in the video to get people to watch the video and so far it has worked great resulting in 74000+ views.
uke:
UVSHTSTRM
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The video is definitely from Smuggs (where no one has died recently).
I think the person who took the video has been waiting for a skiing death to be reported in Vermont so they could claim they caught the death on video. They are straight up lying about the content in the video to get people to watch the video and so far it has worked great resulting in 74000+ views.
Funny thing is the guy filming this is a total scumbag (potentially), yet his friend or liftmate is right there for all to see! I can't imagine be so shallow as to do something like this. However could it have been posted elsewhere and somebody else decided to use it in conjuction with this story.
RIP to the gentlemen at the bush... very sad. Man, with all the news of recent deaths and that video-- I am going to hold a little refresher course with my kids... they are getting older and getting fast... I have to somehow get them to understand how quickly you can cross a tip or catch an edge and be headed right into the trees...gotta say, between my daughter getting hit, me breaking a rib and all of this...I'm a little spooked- noticed it the other night-- I was much more defensive and way more aware of skiers around me...didn't help that I was skiing on banana peels thanks to a bad tune...
jaja111
New member
The headline for the vid never mentioned anything regarding the location or time of the incident when it was originally posted on liveleak. Now that it does, its most likely / obviously falsely reported. Remember, we're talking about liveleak here - not exactly the pinnacle of journalistic integrity.
billski
Active member
I can tell you what I witnessed on Saturday morning about 10AM at Sugarbush. I'm sure it wasn't the same accident. We were on the Superbravo express quad. On Lower Birdland (black) just below Lower Jester, a male boarder took air over a lip, landed on his chest, slid down at a fast speed, veered into the woods on skier's left. His face smacked dead on into a large tree, his lower body wrapped around the tree. He was motionless, we told him not to move and we would get help. We shouted for skiers on the blue trail above him to go down to him. At the top, one in our party ran into the patrol building on Allyn's lodge. Patrol bolted out grabbed a sled and went mach schnell.
Next lift we saw the single patroller there, the guy still in the same position. Next lift, there were four or five patrollers there, holding his head and putting him on a backboard. Next lift, they had him in the sled, his face was an absolute bloody mess (I recall a helmet), and they had oxygen on him. They took him down through the scratchy, steep, sketchy bump run. It was one of the worst I've ever seen. I still remember his face smacking into the tree. Eeeeuuuuuh.
This all says to me, EVERYONE needs to be EXTRA careful this year. Greens ski like blues, and blues ski like blacks. Blacks, well, they were open at Bush, with lots of warning signs. They were not fun at all. MRG took it to the next level and kept the blacks closed. We had no intention of hitting blacks.
Next lift we saw the single patroller there, the guy still in the same position. Next lift, there were four or five patrollers there, holding his head and putting him on a backboard. Next lift, they had him in the sled, his face was an absolute bloody mess (I recall a helmet), and they had oxygen on him. They took him down through the scratchy, steep, sketchy bump run. It was one of the worst I've ever seen. I still remember his face smacking into the tree. Eeeeuuuuuh.
This all says to me, EVERYONE needs to be EXTRA careful this year. Greens ski like blues, and blues ski like blacks. Blacks, well, they were open at Bush, with lots of warning signs. They were not fun at all. MRG took it to the next level and kept the blacks closed. We had no intention of hitting blacks.
I flipped out on my little one over the weekend. She had been progressively going faster and faster with less turning on each run until she basically just pointed them straight downhill on a moderate pitch. The speed she picked up was horrifying to me as all i could think about was her catching an edge or "freezing up". I told her if she ever pulls that again, she can forget about skiing for the rest of this year. She was cool after that but I will be watching her very closely this weekend.
I used to enforce time outs for my son when he pointed em down hill (or failed to consider his surroundings, or appeared to be unable to stop at any given time)... each time he did it into the lodge he went for 1/2 an hour, or longer... and usually ended with an ultimatum that one more time and we were done...worked at the time... but he is getting better and more confident... and faster... scares the crap out of me.
Abubob
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hammer
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Make me feel lucky that my bailing on turns and straightlining down a short steep section on Sunday went OK. Some days you pull from your luck bag I guess.
Lot of people out there skiing and riding faster than usual with the frozen granular conditions.
Lot of people out there skiing and riding faster than usual with the frozen granular conditions.
Abubob
Well-known member
Good advise considering the wide spread hard pack conditions in the Northeast.
billski
Active member
Good move.
It's not just tips or edge. The conditions are uber-challenging and dangerous, moreso than last, or most other seasons. Things get scraped down in a matter of minutes, not hours. This is exactly why I started at opening bell, and toned it down after 10am. After 2pm, some of the runs were downright scary, which is one big reason I went over to NASTAR in the afternoons.
Like we said in another thread, this year it's all about good judgement. Not just caution, but making wise choices. May none of this happen to you.
Angus
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Haven't clicked on link but I don't want to see somebody badly hurt or dying on the side of ski trail (or anywhere else for that matter) kind of sick IMO. It just re-enforces what has been said, adjust your skiing style for the terrain and conditions and stay in control.
BenedictGomez
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One thing reading report after report of serious injury and/or death in the last year or so that has had an impact on me, is that I will no longer ski relatively fast near the edges anymore. Just not worth it, regardless of the fact that that's where the snow is.
I'm not sure if anyone has kept the data, but IMO, it seems that a remarkably high percentage of these incidents involve a high rate of speed near a trail edge.
It also seems that most of the accidents seem to involve intermediates with enough skill to get themselves into danger, and not enough skill to quickly get out of said danger, but the truth is anyone regardless of skill can hit a snow snake or death cookie or freakishly cross a tip.
I'm not sure if anyone has kept the data, but IMO, it seems that a remarkably high percentage of these incidents involve a high rate of speed near a trail edge.
It also seems that most of the accidents seem to involve intermediates with enough skill to get themselves into danger, and not enough skill to quickly get out of said danger, but the truth is anyone regardless of skill can hit a snow snake or death cookie or freakishly cross a tip.
Horrible news and my condolences to the family.
I'm almost positive I saw this guy on the ground. He was being attended to by I believe 2 people at the time. Not sure if they were ski patrol or not. He was on the black Sleeper Chutes section right before the blue Sleeper run enters in from the right side. I chose the Sleeper run as it still had some nice soft ungroomed snow vs. the steeper crusty Chutes section. Where the trails intersected I came to a stop. Just to my left a bit uphill and between 2 trees about 3 feet apart was the guy flat on his back. I heard him saying over and over "it hurts it hurts it hurts". It looked pretty bad to me but I didn't hang around long. I skied to the bottom and met up with my GF and told her about this poor guy. After a quick break we came out and heard the ambulance sirens coming. Never thought it would end like this.
I'm gonna say this was my first time back skiing in 5 years and I did have a great time despite some iffy conditions. I love to carve but easy skidding and slowing down became the order of the days for me. I will make no assumptions about how this terrible accident happened but the thing that struck me most all weekend was just how fast people are moving these days and just going straight down. The speed so many people carry in those crusty, icy conditions was very unsettling to me. I love doing lots of turns at a nice medium speed and felt like I needed eyes in the back of my head not to be taken out over and over again. By fractions I missed being taken out by a boarder going so GD fast it would have been a horrific collision. He was able to flip me off though like it was my fault. I was eventually taken down by a woman from behind trying to squeeze by me on the trails edge where I tend to go for softer snow and to be out of peoples way. Thankfully no one was hurt and only a wicked bruise on my hip to show for it. The only time I hit the ground all weekend BTW so I feel like I ski in control and use pretty good judgement for the most part. Sadly for this guy he wont get another chance and a family is left devastated on what was supposed to be a fun weekend ski trip
I'm almost positive I saw this guy on the ground. He was being attended to by I believe 2 people at the time. Not sure if they were ski patrol or not. He was on the black Sleeper Chutes section right before the blue Sleeper run enters in from the right side. I chose the Sleeper run as it still had some nice soft ungroomed snow vs. the steeper crusty Chutes section. Where the trails intersected I came to a stop. Just to my left a bit uphill and between 2 trees about 3 feet apart was the guy flat on his back. I heard him saying over and over "it hurts it hurts it hurts". It looked pretty bad to me but I didn't hang around long. I skied to the bottom and met up with my GF and told her about this poor guy. After a quick break we came out and heard the ambulance sirens coming. Never thought it would end like this.
I'm gonna say this was my first time back skiing in 5 years and I did have a great time despite some iffy conditions. I love to carve but easy skidding and slowing down became the order of the days for me. I will make no assumptions about how this terrible accident happened but the thing that struck me most all weekend was just how fast people are moving these days and just going straight down. The speed so many people carry in those crusty, icy conditions was very unsettling to me. I love doing lots of turns at a nice medium speed and felt like I needed eyes in the back of my head not to be taken out over and over again. By fractions I missed being taken out by a boarder going so GD fast it would have been a horrific collision. He was able to flip me off though like it was my fault. I was eventually taken down by a woman from behind trying to squeeze by me on the trails edge where I tend to go for softer snow and to be out of peoples way. Thankfully no one was hurt and only a wicked bruise on my hip to show for it. The only time I hit the ground all weekend BTW so I feel like I ski in control and use pretty good judgement for the most part. Sadly for this guy he wont get another chance and a family is left devastated on what was supposed to be a fun weekend ski trip
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