I talked to this kid on myspace and asked him about all of this shit and heres what he had to say.
Well, since you are the first out of the two dozen e-mails I've
received from whatever new message board popped up this time that was
actually somewhat reasonable... I'll give you my best response.
I
took COMPLETE responsibility for MY PART of my accident. I sat there
and said flat out to the jury that I realized I was going too fast when
I hit that jump. The fact is, this "small 15-foot tabletop" was
TERRIBLY designed and maintained even worse. What these message boards
don't talk about is the fact that there were more than 60 accidents on
that jump in the two months the mountain was open that year... more
than triple that of any of the three previous complete seasons, and
they didn't even bother to check them out. Five days before my
accident, a sponsored snowboarder overshot that jump the same way I
did, and broke his back (wasn't paralyzed, though)... and spent two
hours waiting for an ambulance with ski patrol spitting out his broken
teeth and telling them they needed to extend the landing, and still
they did nothing. And then, two hours before I was hurt, I kid was
carted off the same jump for the same thing... still nothing. And then,
I hit that jump going A LITTLE too fast (I'd been skiing for 20 years,
I wasn't an idiot)... and I ended up overshooting that jump HUGE. I
fell 37 feet onto FLAT ICE, that's more than four stories... you can't
tell me that's not a horrifically built jump. But do you think they
checked out their park after that? Nope. A friend I was with that night
took pictures, video and wrote a letter telling them they needed to
investigate their jumps, and they didn't... and nine days later a
19-year-old kid DIED overshooting a jump.
And THAT'S why I went
through at the lawsuit... for safety reasons. I have nothing against
this sport, I love it, like I said I spent 20 years doing it, and have
ZERO intention of ruining anything, but I felt like it was my
responsibility to bring light to the issue and try to ensure that these
jumps will be built correctly, so that some 10 year old kid that just
saw Sean White win his 32nd gold medal in the X-games doesn't go
bombing down a hill and hit a jump like the one I did, and wind up dead.
Trust
me, though... I understand everyone's beef with me. I had no idea it
would have this kind of affect (shutting down parks)... but I'll bet
money that it's temporary. Yeah, maybe parks will suck this year, and
maybe these wedge designs aren't the way to go, but I sincerely hope
that what my lawsuit accomplishes in the long run are some of the most
amazing terrain parks imaginable that are designed in such a way that
all the UNNECESSARY risk is eliminated for the most part... and that's
why my lawyers and I are hoping to get involved with some upcoming
legislature to make that dream a reality.
Anyways, like I
said... thanks for being somewhat cool about it, and not just sending
death threats or any other bullshit like that. I'm not try to change
your mind... but hopefully this clears things up a little on where I
stand...
----------------- Original Message -----------------
From:
Date: Nov 13, 2007 11:32 AM
First
off let me say that i am in no way here to yell at you and express any
hateful or demeaning feelings i have towards you. All im asking is for
a few answers.
I full understand that your life from here on
out is going to be extremely difficult and that the lawsuit that you
filed was basically necessary in order to get that money to help pay
for all of your medical bills which are going to be extremely
expensive. All in all i understand that the lawsuit was necessary and
that there really wasnt any way around it. What i dont understand is
why you couldnt be responsible for your own actions. You seem like a
normal guy who knows what hes doing when it comes to sports. You seem
to be an extremely good wakeboarder and seem to do pretty good and
other sports. All you did was overshoot a small 15' table top. It was a
simple misjudgment on your part and yet you feel the need to punish the
ENTIRE freesking and snowboarding community? I dont know if your clued
in to whats been happening with the moutains all over the United States
and Canada but let me fill you in a little bit.
The RCR,
Canadian Rockies, Have completely BANNED all jumps from any of their
mountains. The RCR includes 5 major resorts, two of which were known
for having quality terrain parks and know those terrain parks are
reduced to nothing. Within the united states know all jumps are not
allowed to have any 'kick' whatsoever and all jumps must be made in a
wedge shaped form with flat takeoffs. They must also have a landing
that is twice as long as its takeoff which is extremely tiny. I dont
know if you know this from experience or not but a jump with no kick is
WAY harder to overshoot than a jump with a flat takeoff. And when i say
WAY harder i mean it. You will guaranteed see more kids overshoot a
wedge style jump than a kicker. Terrain parks as we know it around
North America are being reduced to nothing and ruining a sport for
hundreds of thousands of people.
So why couldnt you just be responsible for your actions?