SARAH BURKE, SNOW OR NO SNOW, NYS $ FOR NYS SKI AREAS
Our lead story this week is a sad one. Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke succumbed to head injuries received while practicing in the same half that snowboarder Kevin Pierce was in when he suffered his traumatic brain injury. Burke was a true leader. Without her athletic ability and passionate advocacy, women's skierpipe would not be an Olympic event.
Her untimely death raises the question if freestyle has gone too far, gotten too dangerous. Every season we read about young skiers or snowboarders who die doing the thing they loved to do most, as if their passion for the sport justifies every risk they take. They are glorified in print, film, on TV. The media attention making the risky behaviors even riskier.
This is what I wrote but decided not to include in the video blog, just in case there is any doubt what I think about the issue.
Canadian Freestyle team CEO Peter Judge said it was a simple 540 that she missed, a "freak of nature: in his words. So simple that the best skier in the world bashed her head on a rock hard ice pipe and died. This is a 540 snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler does of most of her runs, does it look simple. (Cut to Bleiler doing a Crippler 540 at the US Snowboard Open halfpipe)
The Associated Press said that Kevin Pierce has recovered and is now back on snow. Truth is Pierce will never recover. He now says the sport is too dangerous, although he probably means to dangerous for him to compete in.
Jake Burton is quoted as saying that "if halfpipe riding became really dangerous the riders would do something about it. It wouldn't be cool any more." He has more faith in the wisdom of teenagers and young adults that is justified. Left alone they will push the sport to unsafe levels because they, like all young people and in spite of the evidence, think they are immortal.
The X Games are coming up real soon, the stage where Sarah Burke made her claim to fame. I love these sports, but I don't watch the X Games. They are extreme beyond reason, have pushed the envelop of every sport they tough beyond safe limits. It's personal taste, but I don't like snuff films for athletes. I won't tune in to watch someone break their body trying an insane stunt. At some point responsible adults have to step in and set some boundaries. It's elementary parenting, and without it the kids will continue to kill themselves.
(I can be a bit much. Back to the recorded content.)
On to happier thoughts. We're finally getting some snow in the northeast. It's a fact of life in the ski business that until snow falls on Boston Common or in Central Park, skiers don't come out in force. Makes no sense because all the ski areas are making snow. Just 25 miles from Boston at Nashova Valley they had 100 percent coverage this past week. In Quebec they've already received 175cm of powder and are expecting 25 more in this coming storm. Stratton in Vermont and Hunter in New York are both open top to bottom with plenty of snow, as are most of the other ski areas. Well, there's a storm blowing in tonight and tomorrow, so it's time.
On the back page of this blog, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo unveiled his budget this past week, and it contained good news for skiers in the state. He proposed giving $94 million from the Environmental Protection Fund for improvements in state parks, historic sites and ski areas. This means significant capital improvements are in store for Whiteface, Gore and Belleayre, which he also wants operated by the Olympic Regional Development Authority. Prospects for passage look good.
That's snow news, be well 'til next time.
Tony Lanza, hostof the RadXSports television show, is an employee of Belleayre Mountain, a division of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
Another RadXSports video with producer Gerry Pallor
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Snow News Video Blog 1 13 12by GerryPallor42 views
@133mehul Read the description, we call Jake Burton (among others) an idiot. That might get a few people, mostly Burton employees, agitated.
GerryPallor 3 weeks ago
hmm boring
133mehul 3 weeks ago