Why?

Today Lisa T. and I went skiing at Mt. Hood Meadows. When we arrived there was a large section of the bottom part of the resort closed off and patrolers said there was an incident. I thought to myself, it must be really serious, and it was.

05:21 PM PST on Friday, January 5, 2007
By KGW Staff
GOVERNMENT CAMP -- A skier was killed Friday after a collision on a trail at Mt. Hood Meadows.

KGW
Mount Hood.
Hood River County deputies said 45-year-old Portlander Geoffrey Scott Bradeen died after a collision around 9:45 a.m.

Officials said it appeared he was skiing on the North Canyon run when someone else crashed into him. Deputies said it appeared Bradeen may have fallen and was hit in the head by a snowboarder while trying to get up. An assistant medical examiner on scene determined the head injuries to be the cause of Bradeen’s death. Police said that the victim was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash.

"I honestly have not seen a situation like this in 20 years," said Mt. Hood Meadows General Manager Dave Riley, "where there was a fatality and one of the people left the scene."
The area where the death happened was closed for investigation and deputies were trying to interview a snowboarder who may have more information.

No charges were expected, since it was not being investigated as a criminal matter, deputies said.


I am not going to even go into a diatribe about my personal opinions on this situation, those who know me know exactly how I feel (Long Live ALTA!!!). All I can say is that what happened is totally inexcusable, it was on a GREEN RUN which is really wide and mellow. What if that had been a child, what if it had been my child? I realize that there is an inherent risk in skiing. To me that means that I need to be careful of what I am doing and where I am doing it and attentive those around me. It's the same concept as driving a car too fast, I don't care how good you think you are at it, you don't have any control when you have to dodge an obstacle or stop suddenly. Is it that complicated to understand? My thoughts and prayers go out to the family. As for the snowboarder who caused all this, YOU SUCK!!!!

Ironically, I had an altercation earlier today with a snowboarder that almost hit me from behind and he had the nerve to shout obscenities at me when I told him to watch where he was going. Another skier told me on the lift he almost got hit as well by a snowboarder who had to cut across the entire width of a run so he could catch his 1/2 inch of air off his "sweet jump". All I can say is "I MISS ALTA, I LOVE YOU!!!"