No more jumps

just because you make a mistake doesn't make you a jackass.
from the sound of the article, the jumps did sound like they were a little wack with all the accidents that preceded his. my heart goes out to him and his family.
but if i were in his case, or even in worse conditions, the last thing i would want to do would be to ruin park skiing for other people. skiing is an "an your own risk" sport and if you make a mistake you have to pay the consequences. i know i've made my fair share of bad judgements.. everyone does. it could happen to any of us.

Ya, I did think about it, Ive ended 2! 2 seasons because of injuries in the park. But did I go fucking sue the mountains because the jump wasnt built correctly to sustain a cab 5. It was my fucking judgement that got me hurt. I have imagined it on the other side, but first I wouldnt approach something like a shitty ass jump(assuming the jumps was) and go ahead and hit it not knowing what I was doing and overshoot it by however far. And as for big lines, Ive prob skiied shit that would scare the shit out of you anyday, and I want to fucking ride park and big ass jumps, so I dont want some kid fucking it up because of his bad judgement and lack of knowledge in the park. Go ski your big lines, Ill be there when the snows good, otherwise Im going to be in the park.

its cool though, I mean YOU must totally understand what it means to be a quadrapalegic for the rest of your life. yeah what a jackass that kid is an idiot! trying to stay alive and pay bills because he was out having a good time and something went wrong , sounds like us everyday huh, dont worry KC you will get yours, i bet that awesome atttude you have sets it up perfectly.

He didnt directly go out and try to shut parks down its just what happend. and this is going to be forgotten in the next few years all that is going to change is the jargon on insurance contracts the resort makes. maybe a few changes in the small run but in the end all for the better. Except for the kid, he still wont be able to brush his own teeth, yeah what a fucking asshole.

he didn't bother to find out the speed for the jump and decided to just charge at it anyways. he made that decision knowing that he may get hurt, but instead of taking responsibility for his own stupidity, he has to go and sue the mountain. i feel bad for him and his family, but i don't think it is right to make others pay for your poor decisions. We all make mistakes, but to overshoot a jump by 50 feet you have to be oblivious to your surroundings. Think of how much higher he must have started than everyone else hitting that jump.

look at northstar's jumps. they totally suck, the tombstones are big enough for a 80 footer and the jumps are only 25-35 feet, with really small landings!

I have seen numerous people over shoot Northstar's jumps and get sledded out. Even I can tell they don't know how or care to build good jumps. I think that SPT parks (the same company that manages the park in WA) has been reckless and is too busy trying to find the next marketing deal or next "x games" to build.

it does suck that one guy made such an impact on the snow sports industry. In my opinion, it sucks even more that it happened to SPT, because they do build the x games, and they are the alleged "experts" of park building. So, this will have an impact, because if the "experts" can't do it, who can?

some good can come from this lawsuit too, maybe poorly constructed jumps will be eliminated from northstar and other mountains. I don't think it is possible to eliminate jumps or not build terrain parks entirely. Look at canada, on a public health care system they still have jumps 50ft or smaller open to the public. I know 50ft might be too small for some of you, but maybe being able to hit a jump over 50 ft should be left to the pros? Besides, there's not many perks or being a pro anyways, let's give 'em one more! Plus a 50 footer that has proper specs approved by an insurance company, could most likely be taken to 70-80ft.

The fact that the kid is a quadreplegic has nothing to do with the fact that no one forced him to go off the jump. He was foolish, didn't assess the situation correctly and is now paying the ultimate consequence. Such are the risks of the sport. I sympathize with paraplegics and quadraplegics a great deal since I myself know I could not live that kind of life.

If he has health insurance that should pay for nearly all of his medical care, its not up to the resort to pay. In the same way if someone became a quadraplegic after surfing foolishly at Steamer's Lane in Santa Cruz, it would not be up to the city of Santa Cruz to pay his medical fees. In the same way if a kid gets hurt at a public park on the swing, its not up to the city to pay. Its about personal responsibility, if he had valued his life more, he wouldn't be a quadraplegic.

stating the obvious 

^link attached for calskier

thats hwy you have personal health insurance. You fuck up...YOUR responsible to have YOUR own health insurance to cover the fees. Don't take the ill consequences of your bad decisions out on others. This should be between the kid and his insurance and no one else. He chose to enter the park. I do howver feel very badly for him as I think we all should and I atleast hope he can heal as much as possible.

i think what nick means is that it can happen to anyone. it's like the marc andre benefit commercial before all the ski movies... we all want to fly whether its our first run through the park or our 10th trip to alaska, we can all fall.

as for health insurance, i am sure the kid exceeded that after the first year with all his medical bills. i remember when lucas got hurt and his insurance would no longer pay for his bills. these kind of injuries are expensive beyond comprehension. think about being air lifted to a hospital and how much that would cost.... so what are people supposed to do? how are they going to get the money that they need to live? its a touchy subject but i hope that can put a perspective on things.

surley hurting your knee is on a differnt magnitude than being paralized for life.

i hope none of this ever happenes to us, untill then maybe we could all have a little more compassion... and hope that terrain parks can create better technology to help reduce the risks. look at jons jump, that one kid overshot the shit out of it and walked away fine...

thank you.

well put, and as always nick, you only take the percentage of what you want to look at. NO I know what its like to be a quadrapalegic. I know how it feels to have no feeling in your legs and be basically paralyzed from the waist down coming out of surgery, and its pretty scary. But moving on, read this,

A local friend of Bend, Oregon and a fellow rider at Mt Bachelor, 14-year-old snowboarder, Tyler Eklund was seriously injured and paralyzed in a fall while practicing for a national competition near Lake Tahoe.

Tyler Eklund broke a vertebra in his neck Sunday April 1, during a practice run for the USA Snowboard Association National Championships at North Star Resort.

The teen is paralyzed from the neck down and not able to breathe on his own, after catching his edge and falling on a flat surface at the slopestyle arena.

The foundation has set up a special fund to help Eklund's family with medical expenses. You can donate to the fund at any branch of U.S. Bank.

Mike Eklund, Tyler's father, said his son "loves to snowboard. His goal was to make it to Nationals, and he did."



Skip the trip to Starbucks, Blockbuster, liquor store, this week and help a fellow "snow" friend if you can.

U.S. Bank — Tyler's Fund
All U.S. Bank locations are accepting donations on behalf of Tyler.
MBSEF is also accepting donations on Tyler's behalf. Checks should be made out to MBSEF with Tyler's name in the memo field. (MBSEF= Mt. Bachelor Sports Educational Fund)

I dont see this kid sueing. slightly diff so Im guessing you wont get my point nick.

speaking of insurance... i will be a certified California life insurance agent on May 10th at Norhtwestern Mutual Financial Network. The shit we do is mad dangerous, and if you are claiming life insurance, you can get it from a real soul brohan.

sorry , i didnt mean to leave out your quadrapalegic oopposite personality haha , how many years could you not move?

sorry , i didnt mean to leave out your quadrapalegic oopposite personality haha , how many years could you not move?

shocking, you dont get it.

Thats what happens when you think you know everything.

variables. The jump was bad enough UCD could tell , whats not to understand tough guy? haha open your mind there straightedge. Maybe that kid up at * new it was his fault and had no reason to sue. Its cool though i mean il just keep my own opinion I dont need to convice anyone. Call the poor kid names and talk a shit like you know how he feels Dont you think he has spare time to think about his mistake?.Is that the kind of stuff that makes you feel good about yourself? im out, this place sucks im so happy im at a new mountain. peace

There is a possibility that the lawsuit is out of this guys hands. Once his insurance company found out how it happened, they did some investigating and found out they had suit. Sadly for the resort, there was a record of many injuries on that jump, which may have partailly caused the ruling.

This kid who was injured at northstar was in a competition, therefore he had most likely signed a waiver, release the resort from liabilty. otherwise his insurance company may try to sue as well.

You guys aren't looking at the big picture. When someone incures medical bills to that extent, no one wants to pay out. and the insurance company will try to find someone liable, so they are released from the financial burden of caring for a quadrapaligic.

I am a park builder, so this affects my career in a major way. but i think this is being blown way out of proportion. Unless you live near and ride only smaller resorts. As of right now, there has been no trickle down from this suit, and if there is, it won't happen for years. not until after all of this is appealed several times.

I build park for a resort in Tahoe. Our policy for park builders is as follows.

IF YOU CAN'T RIDE IT, YOU CAN'T BUILD IT!

This ensures that every jump or rail is setup by someone who will go out and test it, then be able to tweak it so it's as safe and ridable as possible. I do not use computer programs to design parks, there is something seriously wrong with that, and i hope that never becomes an industry standard. I do believe that training more riders to be cat operators is the direction we should be headed in. we should not to put a mold on our parks, but put people on the cutting edge of the sport in the position to assess the quality and safety of the parks.

I don't think that the end of the terrain park is anywhere in the near future, someone will always find a way to satisfy that market.

Shelby

Please take a second and think about what you have to say about someone before you post it or even say it out loud.

When you buy a ticket or a pass that is a waiver.  When you enter the park that has signs around it with rope to block peple from entering, that is a waiver.  
It is possable that the kids insurence company persued the resort and not him but still If i were to go onto posted property and hurt myself hunting its entirely my falt eather way and starting a lawsuit would be asnine.  Just as this case is.

whoops, i meant to say NO, I dont know how it feels to be a quad.my bad