Winter Park Road Gap

[jamesdeluxe]

A sad story about a skier who didn't clear the road on Highway 40 near Winter Park: link

 

[Tony Crocker]

Sad indeed. What jumped out at me was that this:

Originally, the path was to begin above a cliff. He practiced coming off those rocks and into the runway of the jump, but his ski kept popping off as he landed. Eli told him to make sure it was fixed before he tried the jump.
“If your ski is malfunctioning, this might not be the best thing to do,” Ziggy chimed in as Dallas tried to fix the bindings.

 

[jimk]

Too much testosterone is a dangerous thing.

 

[EMSC]

Super tragic story. So many things wrong.

I only read portions of it, but the kid had his entire identity wrapped up in being/becoming a big name, big mountain skier. And he wasn't performing well enough at the Big Mtn comps so turned to, essentially desperation, to do this stunt. That part of Berthoud pass has 3 lanes of traffic (2 up, 1 down). Surely he could have found a more appropriate spot where the road is only 2 lanes wide for example, etc... Very clouded thinking with no mental off ramps available for him.