Death by Snowboarder

In article ,
wrote:
On 2/27/2005 12:55 PM, thinnmann wrote:
clobbered this girl... you've seen it... they are rediculous... I don't
know if she died for real but I could believe it since there were about

Unfortunately, JH does not have ski out areas...

But we have a Sheriff's Department. The snowboarder in question has been
charged with manslaughter.
--
According to John Perry Barlow, "Jeff Davis is a truly gifted trouble-maker."

In article ,
TrueWest wrote:
On Fri, 25 Feb 2005 17:16:26 -0700, rosco
wrote:
It is rumored...
Link to recognized source please...
sounds like rsa rumor.

Captain Jim Whalen of the Teton County Sheriff's Department announced that
manslaughter charges were filed in this case. You can probably read all
about it at Http://www.jhnewsandguide.com Wednesday. Its a weekly paper.`
--
According to John Perry Barlow, "Jeff Davis is a truly gifted trouble-maker."

In article ,
foot2foot wrote:

It's way too soon to be so sure of who did what.

Jim says the snowboarder from MD, who was wearing a helmet, had ample
opportunity to turn away from the poor unfortunate 28 year old woman
from MA, who was *not* wearing a helmet, and didn't, according to several
witnesses who saw the accident at the bottom of Laramie Bowl by the
Sublette quad lift. The TCSD is on the ball and sure of who did what...
--
According to John Perry Barlow, "Jeff Davis is a truly gifted trouble-maker."

"Fritz M" wrote in message
ups.com...
Chuck wrote:

My two bucks
says the kid knew he was skiing too fast, had been warned before, but
just didn't care

Or he thought he was okay going too fast.

I was approaching the lift at Loveland earlier this season when *wham*
I got clobbered by a boarder. The boarder berated *me* for going "too
slow" in the slow zone. I was going "too slow" because it was a busy
day.

At least you didn't "turn right in front of him". I was having my usual
early morning run down an easy front blue at keystone, run was deserted and
I was on the extreme edge of it, and I was amusing myself doing turns within
one groomer width ie they were very regular, short, equal turns. Suddenly
Blam I was hit from behind. I turned to find a large angry snowboarder lying
on teh ground, furious because I'd "turned right in front of him".

ant

So far this is not a requirement at either Mammoth or June--so I don't think
it is an "Interwest thing"--yet. But it is a great idea. I wonder what
Carl or Rusty will think. It's too bad I hadn't read this sooner. I rode a
couple of chairs and skied a couple of runs with Carl on Sunday. If I have
the chance, I'll mention it to him or at least drop a "comment card" with
the suggestion.

--
I ski, therefore I am
"JQ" wrote in message
...

"Mary Malmros" wrote in message
...
Jim Strohm wrote:

rosco wrote:

Confirmed the rumor today, same scenerio. With the hard & fast

conditions, ski patrol is being extra Nazi. Too bad, this.


Hmm, prevention is probably preferable to body recovery.

Has any ski hill ever considered taking a proactive approach to safety
training, like exchanging attendance at a 20-minute safety lecture at 8
am for a $5 discount coupon on that day's lift ticket?

In a fashion, yes. At Stratton, people are required to sit through a
safety video before they can enter the terrain park. Not sure how
enforcement is done, but from what I've heard, they've got a yurt right
there so people can't argue that it's inconvenient. I have no data on
whether this policy has coincided with a decrease in injuries or
accidents, but that information might be out there somehow.

--
Mary Malmros
Some days you're the windshield, other days you're the bug.


I think that may be an Intrawest thing, they are also doing it at Mountain
Creek and there is a $5.00 fee. Mountain Creek has one section of the
mountain that is a dedicated terrain park. The other terrain parks is
open
to anyone and there is no safety video that you need to watch. I like the
idea that the resorts give discounts lift tickets to all those that watch
the safety videos. This way many of the youth skiers/boarders can be told
may of the do's and don'ts. They certainly aren't learning them from
their
parents.

JQ
Dancing on the edge

YES!

--
I ski, therefore I am
"Jeff Davis" wrote in message
...
In article ,
wrote:
On 2/27/2005 12:55 PM, thinnmann wrote:
clobbered this girl... you've seen it... they are rediculous... I don't
know if she died for real but I could believe it since there were about

Unfortunately, JH does not have ski out areas...

But we have a Sheriff's Department. The snowboarder in question has been
charged with manslaughter.
--
According to John Perry Barlow, "Jeff Davis is a truly gifted
trouble-maker."

Mary Malmros wrote:

Jim Strohm wrote:

rosco wrote:

Confirmed the rumor today, same scenerio. With the hard & fast

conditions, ski patrol is being extra Nazi. Too bad, this.


Hmm, prevention is probably preferable to body recovery.

Has any ski hill ever considered taking a proactive approach to safety
training, like exchanging attendance at a 20-minute safety lecture at 8
am for a $5 discount coupon on that day's lift ticket?

In a fashion, yes. At Stratton, people are required to sit through a
safety video before they can enter the terrain park. Not sure how
enforcement is done, but from what I've heard, they've got a yurt right
there so people can't argue that it's inconvenient. I have no data on
whether this policy has coincided with a decrease in injuries or
accidents, but that information might be out there somehow.


Whitecap doesn't let people ski on their nastiest runs until they are
cleared. I don't know what the process is but my guess is they send someone
out to ski with you and judge if you are capable of going down the runs
without killing anyone in the process (self included).


--
E-mail decoding instructions. Your keyboard is the key. Shift the letter on
the keyboard one position to the right for the plain-text. If the letter is
a w,s, or x then shift one position to the left for the plain text. For
example: "srg" (the first three letters of the host) is "ath" in plain
text.

Studies on ski safety have shown a helmet will not protect someone who
is moving or is hit by something moving at more than about 12 mph to 15
mph

Witnesses say the 16 yr snowboarder descended the intermediate slope at
an extremely high rate of speed. He hit the 28 yr female who was
skiing slowly infront of him. Witnesses also say the boarder did did
not alter his direction to avoid Donahue, even though there was ample
room to do so.
************************************************** *********************

Teen charged in Ski Death


A 16-year-old Maryland snowboarder was charged with manslaughter Friday
following a fatal collision at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.

The teen, whose name was not released, was charged in the death of
skier Heather Donahue, 28, of Massachusetts, who died Friday of head
injuries.

Capt. Jim Whalen of the Teton County Sheriff?s Office issued a press
release that gave the following account of the incident:

The crash occurred just after 11 a.m. Thursday near the bottom of
Laramie Bowl, an intermediate run on the upper part of Rendezvous
Mountain.

The snowboarder descended the bowl at an extremely high rate of speed
and hit Donahue, who was skiing slowly, witnesses said. He did not
alter his direction to avoid Donahue, even though there was ample room
to do so, witnesses said.

The force of the collision broke the snowboard in two and sent both
people sliding up to 30 feet down the mountain. Donahue, who was not
wearing a helmet, immediately lost consciousness.

Ski patrol responded and quickly transported Donahue to the Teton
Village Clinic at the base of the resort. From there she was taken to
St. John?s Medical Center in Jackson; that night, she was flown to
Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls.

Donahue suffered numerous internal injuries and a significant head
injury, Whalen said. The snowboarder, who was wearing a helmet, had
only minor injuries.

Donahue died at the Idaho hospital. A preliminary examination indicated
she died of the head injury. An autopsy was to have been performed over
the weekend, but results were unavailable.

After hearing of the woman?s death, deputies arrested the teen. He was
taken into custody for about two hours and released to an adult friend
of the family who had accompanied him to Jackson. It is believed he
returned to Maryland on Saturday and is with his family, Whalen said.

Manslaughter is a felony that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in
the state penitentiary. The snowboarder was charged under Section B of
the statute for killing somebody "involuntarily but recklessly."

Sheriff?s Sgt. Lloyd Funk said the snowboarder also was charged with
reckless endangering, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail.
The statute prohibits engaging in "conduct which places another person
in danger of death or serious bodily injury."

Wyoming law governing recreation stipulates that "no person shall ski
in a reckless disregard of his safety or the safety of others." The
snowboarder was not charged under this section of the law, which
carries a misdemeanor penalty.

Funk said the county attorney will decide whether to prosecute the teen
as an adult or juvenile.

Anna Olson, spokeswoman for Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, said she and
her staff was "so shocked and saddened" by the incident. In her eight
years there, the resort had not had a collision of this nature, she
said.

Sorry, but while it IS his responsibility to avoid you, this sort of
thing DOES happen and is unavoidable statiscally speaking. Before doing
any kind of traversing turns, I always look uphill. Haven't you ever
been walking down the sidewalk, and you and a person approaching have
to do a little "dance" as you both try to decide where to go? His
response of berating you was more wrong than hitting you, in my opinion
- the later was an accident, but he had control of his mouth.

The fact is, sometimes downhill people DO do things that are
unpredictable for uphill skiiers and riders. These accidents happen all
the time, on both sides. I have been hit (as a down hill person) by my
own share of skiiers in my seven years on the hill. When I am, I just
try to smile and dust us both off (when the skiier stops, that is) - it
makes for a much more pleasant atmosphere. Stangely enough, I have
never collided with a rider. This is why I tend to stay in the park
exclusively.

The thing that bothers me most about everyone's attitude is the whole
"us vs. them" mentality that continues to be propagated towards riders.
I am 32, and I doubt you will find a more courteous rider on the hill.
The thought of people cheering the guy getting manslaughter charges
without knowing what *really* happened is just another sick part of
this accident. If this had been a skiier, would you have the same
animosity? Only individual posters here know for sure.

That said, I hope that her family gets through this OK.