To some extent, everyone's questioning themselves right now. I haven't climbed steep rock in years and only ski really steep snow in bounds, so I don't feel I'm risking death everytime I go to the hills. My kids are grown and my wife is used to it. If I was risking death on a regular basis this would really shake me up, and not just make me cry looking at the pictures. I do feel terrible about this guy, but I am going skiing tomorrow on something mellow. His closest friends may or may not change what they are doing, or how they do it. Everyone reacts differently. I lost an old friend to a climbing accident many years ago and it slowed me down some, and got me to start wearing a helmet. I never really considered quitting - it just slowly happened over the years.
Few people think that what they are doing is really that dangerous. We all find ways to look at what we are doing in a reasonable way. We all climb or ski well below our limit. We are all skilled in certain ways, and educated in others. We can shrug off most accidents because we wouldn't have done it that way, or we wouldn't have been there in those conditions. I've already been over that check list with myself today.
The fact of the matter is if we love to play in the mountains, we are going to be in danger some of the time. We can be on the ragged edge of sanity, or the presumed safety of the low angle. We can all get hurt....on any day. Nobody can guarantee safety, or tell anyone else how safe to play, or exactly how to do it. Nobody listens that much anyway.
For me I've never enjoyed being in a position where one fall or slip would probably cause certain death. Obviously, I've never been a free soloist, or a truly extreme skier.. I've always liked the security of ropes and partners, and lines that were clean and landings that were good. That doesn't mean that I've never made critical turns or been in spots where the only way out was up. I've just limited those times as much as possible over the years. For me, that's how I've kept my balance.
I'm so sorry that man died yesterday. He looked like he was having a wonderful life.
Skiing the "steeps" of Windy Acres tomorrow.
