It is pretty wild (and sorta cool) to see skiing all over the mainstream media recently. Too bad it took a bunch of awesome people dying for the bigger audience to realize the risks many skiers take every day. Unfortunately, I think Rob Gaffney speaks a lot of truths in this MSNBC video and I sure hope we can all survive the next 10 years. LIVE TO SKI!!!
F that! I disagree with you. Rob Gaffney speaks like a sell out bitch. I remember him growing up and have now lost respect for him. A bunch of awesome people have been dying and trying for a very long time; skiers, climbers, boaters, surfers, soldiers, etc… What has changed is the widespread publicity and shear numbers willing to try. The line in the sand is most of this people would have done their passions despite the camera and glory. Personal enjoyment, progression and responsibility can’t really be measured at the f-ing news desk!
I think this is media hype. What a bunch of crap from Gaffney. The folks in WA who died made some hugely STUPID mistakes. They should have never been in there that day. High hazard, with lots of new snow on an ice crust. As far as the other accidents with Squaw skiers, they were all taking known risks and that’s part of what we do. The Sierra is actually a pretty safe range as far as avalanche hazard – nothing like CO, UT, or BC with their continental snowpacks. No offense intended Steve, but who cares about MSNBC other than the public who sits in front of a TV and doesn’t ski.
Dunno. I do think that sponsorships, and the pressure to perform are moving the sport to some pretty extreme places – but I don’t know that that is a problem in general. As sad as it may be – everyone’s life,and their choices, are only their business, and no one has to do these things.
Worrying to me is the fact that due to the relativly new interest in backcountry skiing in the mainstream media, there is a new awareness in the general public about what goes on there, and as usual, they don’t really know anything about it.
I just went on a big trip to a place far away and “extreme sounding”. I was with my wife, and we went on super-mellow tours with no funny stuff that any grandma could’ve handled. We know what we are doing, and checked the snowpack AND hired a private, local guide.
Long story short: when we got back, the director of the kindergarden where we have our two kids met us at pick-up time and asked us into the office. She sat us down and asked us how we could reconcile ourselves with the danger we were putting ourselves into, and to imagine how our children’s lives would be without parents! (We politely explained, but I don’t think she bought any of it, and it felt awful to even have to. We were too shocked to be indignant, as we should have been.)
Grandma – who took care of the kids while we were away, explained that she had had nearly daily calls from her friends saying pretty much the same things.
Contrast this to our friends – all skiers – who think the trip was great, and who know we are über-conservative and trust us when things get dicey in the bc.
I just wonder how long this duality will last before the masses of poorly informed, yet highly opionionated result in increasing attempts to criminalize our hobby. The sentiments I heard this weekend surprized me.
i grew up watching the old MSP’s movies and will always have a ton of respect for rob gaffney. losing several of his closest friends in a short period of time has effected him as it would anyone. calling him a “sell out bitch” seems way out of line. how about exercising a little compassion before spraying non-sense on the internet?