 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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PG, If you follow the url back, you get to cascadeclassics with the sad announcement: "In memory of Ben Colin Manfredi, November 27, 1978 - November 9, 2003". 
Ben Manfredi features on the site. Do you know what happened to him?
Did he fall down one of those crevaces......
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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I can only assume the picture was taken at the moment when the guy in the "much too close for comfort" was trying to ski over the crevaces. He was playing with death if he wasn't. It is still too dangerous as the snow supporting him may be just an overhang and has no strength to support his body weight.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| The avalanche photos are only entertaining because we survived |
I think I would agree with that!
But they do seem to like to take the odd risk. I wonder if a snowHead knows anything about this group, anyone?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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He died white water rafting ... See here. These guys are serious adrenalin addicts. But no judgement intended, they live their lives to the full, and the words on the tribute page seem very apt....
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...Mountains mask my madness
by feeding me chaos and serenity
This alone blinds me from false reality
and immerses me in nature's fantasy |
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| Nature seizes you! A mountain's darkened silhouette, a river's calm eddy in the midst of madness, or a blanket of clouds laying your other life to rest and setting a blind man on the road to sight. Each journey into the clutches reminds you of the fury and each journey reminds you of your reasons for returning. These are our journeys and our reminders... |
Last edited by You'll need to Register first of course. on Sun 23-05-04 21:20; edited 2 times in total
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Thanks PG, what a boring life I lead....
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Jonpim, I was just thinking along similar lines... which life is the most 'worth living' ... a predictable 70+ years (if you're lucky) with 2.4 children and a steady job until the former abandon you and the latter becomes an unbearable grind, or 25 years of sheer, selfish exhilaration, going out with a bang rather than a whimper.... 
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Surprisingly there is adrenalin in a steady job by overcoming difficulties. Achievement doesn't has to be doing something dangerous. One's life can be important to the world, even in a small way. If one doesn't feel he can contribute to this world then he doesn't die happy really.
There is nothing wrong in bringing up children until they are able to stand on their own feet. The future, life, dignity and happiness of your children depend on the your effort of looking after them. It is a much harder challenge to see it through I would have thought. I don't know about others I got one hack of a kick when I saw my children manage first time to ride a bike, swim in water and ski on a slope.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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PG, it is a tough one. The real crunch being that the 70+ years are not "predictable". Cancer, heart attack, accident, whatever can strike any day, and suddenly all that sensible safe living seems a terrible waste.
It may be possible to get some sort of balance, but I suspect we all make a decision early on to be Thrillers or Plodders. Us Plodders keep the world ticking along, but in quiet moments wish we were Thrillers. Maybe the attraction of skiing is that it allows us to be Thrillers for a week or so.
Time for bed....
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Jonpim, I think that has plenty of merit. On a personal level, skiing provides the opportunity to be a Thriller a few times a year. We all recognise that potentially one is always a second or two away from a fall/accident/life altering moment, especially when pushing on for more experiences and pushing back one's own limits.
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Id rather live til 70- trying to kill myself in avalanches and white water rafting isnt thrilling or fun to me- its stupid and selfish and to be perfectly honest I dont see the point
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You know it makes sense.
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I can appreciate the appeal and sense of achievement of doing what 'they' do. How many of us really have the balls to do the same thing. At the end of the day you weigh up the risks and take your chances, and pray to God you live to see another day. There are old skiers and bold skiers ~ but there are no old bold skiers.
Each to their own I say. But even gentle skiing carries risk eg, slipping on ice and cracking your head could be fatal. Ok there are helmets but how many people bother to wear them?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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I've got a huge amount of admiration for people who can do stuff like this, but I never could. My knees started to go wobbly just looking at the pictures 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Nadenoodlee, Why stop at 70? I think you get a free lift pass at Val D at 75. I fancy qualifying for that!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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By day I'm a software engineer, but for 4 weeks a year I'm a daredevil on planks - and I wouldn't change it for the world!
I'd also like to climb Everest. It's funny really, from about November on I'm really careful about what I do as I don't want to risk hurting a limb - however as soon as I'm on the piste I find myself flipping over and over, sliding 50 feet on my face and LOVING it! 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I'm not sure where the division comes between foolhardiness and a reasonable minor risk.
Would some of you consider me as a risk taker? The 2 experiences I put on this site a few days ago (the Alagna fall and the Avalanche) were from Ski Club of GB holidays.
I reckon I fall over a couple of times in a week of skiing. I don't feel I'm pushing-it particularly.
The only way to feel I'm challenging myself, as I did when I was new to skiing is to ski the steep and deep, and that involves a small amount of risk. In return I get the thrill I no longer get from the piste, ballancing just within what my skill can handle, and the sense of freedom of making the first tracks in a place where there are no lifts or other skiers, just nature and a few friends: natural snow, chamoix, and sometimes an eagle if I'm lucky.
And yes, just very occasionally there is that little thrill of fear to spice it. (But a beginner feels much more).
One afternoon last year we crossed another set of tracks, the first we had seen that day. We joked with our guide he was taking us where there were crowds, but he reassured us they were our own tracks from the morning , doing another route.
On the occasions I get on a crowded piste after that I feel in at least as much danger: more really, because I have no control over what some other idiot might do.
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Mon 24-05-04 20:03; edited 1 time in total
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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The "much too close" picture is not necessarily THAT stupid, assuming he is going fairly quick and has spied out the crevasse from the side first. The first picture on the other hand is pretty scary as he is mid-turn and if he was to fall outward then he'd be a goner.
I had an unintended crevasse scare last April while skiing the Breithorn in Zermatt. I've done quite a few 4000-ers before, but this was the first (so far, only!) one I've skied down, and as I was on the summit ridge the weather started to turn, so that by the time I was skiing down, while it wasn't exactly a white-out, the light was very flat. I was following the approximate line of my ascent so thought I knew where I was going, but must have deviated maybe 50m and had to do a panicky emergency stop as I realised I was about to ski into an evil looking unjumpable crevasse on a 35 degree slope. I had to side-step up and around it and I had serious disco-legs! Not fun.
This season I took up snowboarding so I could get my thrills on nice safe green runs again!!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Ah, the North Cascades, thats right in my back yard. They are the mountains I see every day, weather permitting, looking east from Bellingham. Now that the North Cascades Highway is open again for the summer there are actually lots of places where you can hike to ski. This year we didn't get the usual late spring snow storms, it has been warm and mostly dry, snow is melting faster than usual. The forests are as dry now (below the snow line) as they would be in July in a normal year. We are looking at a bad wildfire season.
As far as living past 70, I'm all for it and I only have 15 yrs and 3 months to go. I plan on skiing all of those years too 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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AChris Bish, fter 70 you start to rot -and all the men die off - i dont think id be a very good old lady - 70 would be my time!
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Nadenoodlee I suppose you could consider associating with younger men... might extend your enjoyment till the 80s?
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All I can say is roll on my 80s, when I'm the only player in the nursing home, surrounded by all my women.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Plake, The power of the darkside...........feels gooooood doesn't it! 
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Kramer,
Your dream situation is what I call hell!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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A better situation is to die at 90, shot by a twenty year old jealous husband.
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Nadenoodlee, not in my family. The men have usually out-lived the women, and one of my great (great?) uncles was run over by a motorbike at the age of 94, whilst going for his daily walk.
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You know it makes sense.
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Well I for one, have every intention of growing old disgracefully. I'd love to be a bit more of a dare devil but I will have to make do with what my legs will manage. I had a go at abseiling last week.......climbed up fine and belayed down after a fashion, but I'm afraid when it got to the 'proper' abseil my brain was telling my legs that they could do it however they were 'off line' (it was so b****y frustrating), so I had to give it up as a bad job. Never mind there is always next time!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Lorraine Agass, That's nothing to be ashmamed of, abseiling isn't a sport it just a required evil for some climbing like seas cliffs etc. It's a perfectly reasonable attitude to be be nervous of it, as opposed to some gung-ho sort of moron who regards it as an end itself.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Three years ago I went boarding at LDA with friends. We arrived to a massive dump and the first morning found us marvelling at the conditions - brilliant sunshine, blue skies and powder on piste and off and not much in the way of crowds.
That morning I travelled faster than I have ever done on a mountain, carving turns and whooping with my mates.
Someone suggested an off piste run. I went with it and never questioned anyone.
10 minutes later I was at the bottom of a cliff, having fallen 35 feet and bouncing and tumbling over rocks. I broke my elbow and my coccyx and ws choppered off the mountain and rushed to Grenoble for surgery on my elbow. I now have a mother of all scars on my arm.
There is a hell of a lot more to the accident and the aftermath but what I learnt and wish to share is this:
Never listen to someone elses judgement of your abilities. Its an individuals sport afterall and its up to you to get down a mountain in one piece.
Pick your own line down a mountain. Don't follow blind. And choose your own speed.
Mortality exists! I discovered 4 or 5 people were killed off that very cliff (so I was told) that season, and I was lucky to land on my back bottom and not my head.
I celebrated my injury for a long time, thanking my lucky stars for the windfall of another life. Not a day goes passed without a twinge/ache in my arm and with age it will get worse...so I won't ever forget it.
Yes I have been back on the slopes. I board hard, but within my limitations and if I have to be alone I enjoy the solitude. If I am with friends well they just have to wait for me if they are faster, and if they want to. I enjoy it more and more every year.
My point is this. Do what you have to do. If its Plodding, well Plod. If its Thrills, get Thrilled. But 'listen' to and 'see' the signals. I am living a life I could easily not have had and an very mindful of that.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
skanky
A better situation is to die at 90, shot by a twenty year old jealous husband.
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That reminds me of the story of the young chap who finds an eighty year old men crying by himself on a park bench...
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Come on Kramer, don't leave us in suspense 
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Kramer, bloke asks hime what's wrong and he says that he has just married the most beautiful, sexy young wife....?
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